Some airbrush beginner questions

Glad you're having such good experiences off the bat! I'll do my best to answer a few of your questions...

HarryC

1.) For gravity feeding, how on earth do you thin the paints?  I tried mixing first in a cup then pouring into the gravity feed, but I think I lost about 50% of the paint just from transferring between mixing cup and airbrush.

I have a selection of glass bottles (Testors sells some, Badger too, you can probably find them on ebay for cheap in bulk) and mix in those. For small one-off jobs, I bought a box of like 1,000 1oz plastic cups.

For transferring paint, I buy disposable pipettes from TCP Global. It's something like $10 for 100, and they last for several builds.

If you still want to pour paint, try holding a toothpick, piece of brass rod, etc against the lip of the bottle as you pour. Instead of running down the bottle, the paint will run down that instead.

2.) What do you do with any left-over paint?  It's thinned so you can't put it back in the bottle -- is this more wasted paint?

It depends. If it's a one-off, I'll only mix a little and dump what's left over. If it's say a main body color, I'll keep it in one of those glass jars until the build is wrapped, then dump it, clean it out, and use bottle for the next build.

3.) The vallejo bottles have a convenient dropper to take a small amount of paint from the bottle, but the Tamiya paints have no such system.  I tried pouring from the bottle but the paint doesn't flow nicely and a whole bunch more was wasted dribbling down the paint bottle.  Is there an easy way to transfer the paint to a mixing bottle without losing a lot of it?

See those disposable pipettes.

4.) Should I be mixing the paint even thinner than 1:1?  I keep seeing that the consistency should be "milk-like" but even at 5:1 it looked milk-like to me.  If I can thin the paint even more I'd be saving a lot of money on paints!

You can thin the stuffing out of Tamiya, ESPECIALLY if you use their lacquer thinner instead of X20A. I've gone to 90% thinner for really light filter coats. My usual go-to for Tamiya is about 1.5:1 thinner to paint.

Vallejo doesn't reduce as well. Go much beyond 2, maybe 3:1 and you start getting separation issues.

5.) Am I correct in understanding that I can use rubbing alcohol instead of the Tamiya paint thinner to thin acrylic paints?  This seems like a pretty cheap solution if so.

Yes you can thin Tamiya with isopropyl alcohol. Don't thin Vallejo with it, though, since it'll clump up.

Personally I prefer to thin my Tamiya with lacquer thinner as I tend to get better handling out of it that way. Vallejo I thin with Testors universal acrylic thinner and/or Future.

My two cents:

HarryC

Yesterday was my first attempt at airbrushing, and I am very happy with the results I've achieved (and wish I had purchased an airbrush years ago).  However I'm left with a lot of questions I can't seem to find answers to.  Any advice would be most appreciated.

I have a huge collection of Vallejo acrylic paints, plus I bought a bunch of Tamiya acrylics.  Neither of these brands are diluted for use in an airbrush, so I have some Tamiya thinner which I mix 1:1 with the paint. My airbrush in a Badger 360, so it supports both gravity feed and suction.

1.) For gravity feeding, how on earth do you thin the paints?  I tried mixing first in a cup then pouring into the gravity feed, but I think I lost about 50% of the paint just from transferring between mixing cup and airbrush.

Answer: If I am mixing a small amount I put the thinner in the AB cup then the paint and close off the tip to back flush to mix.

2.) What do you do with any left-over paint?  It's thinned so you can't put it back in the bottle -- is this more wasted paint?

ANSWER: I try to use small amounts of paint using the above method so I don't have too much left over. If I am using Alclad or another type of paint that I don't thin I pour it back in the bottle. But if I am using a thinned paint I throw it away.

3.) The vallejo bottles have a convenient dropper to take a small amount of paint from the bottle, but the Tamiya paints have no such system.  I tried pouring from the bottle but the paint doesn't flow nicely and a whole bunch more was wasted dribbling down the paint bottle.  Is there an easy way to transfer the paint to a mixing bottle without losing a lot of it?

ANSWER: I use a spatula that I use for put to pick it up drop by drop...but see above I use small amounts of paint.

4.) Should I be mixing the paint even thinner than 1:1?  I keep seeing that the consistency should be "milk-like" but even at 5:1 it looked milk-like to me.  If I can thin the paint even more I'd be saving a lot of money on paints!

ANSWER: It depends on the paint like DoggsATX said...don't thin Valejo too much.

5.) Am I correct in understanding that I can use rubbing alcohol instead of the Tamiya paint thinner to thin acrylic paints?  This seems like a pretty cheap solution if so.

ANSWER: Yes you can for Tamiya...works well but not as good as either Mr. Leveling thinner or Tamiya's own stuff.

I'm sure I could come up with a million more questions, but I think this is a good start. :)

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Cheers,

HarryC

I mostly use enamel paint in my airbrush, but to offer a few comments/suggestions:

I buy inexpensive eyedroppers at the drug store to mix paints.  One for paint and one for thinner. 

If I just need a small amount of thinned paint I'll use the eyedroppers to count drops into the color cup and then use a toothpick to mix it on the bottom of the cup.  Just be aware that when you mix paint & thinner  in the cup the first shot out of the nozzle might not be mixed. I always give it a quick shot off the model to make sure that I'm spraying thinned paint.

Thinned paint will keep for a couple of days if you store it in a tightly sealed container.  I try not to mix more than I need.  My preference is to err on the low side and mix up more if I need to.

There have been many excellent articles in FSM over the years about airbrushing, including one this month by Aaron Skinner; might want to check it out.

Good luck,

Mark

DoogsATX

 

 

Yes you can thin Tamiya with isopropyl alcohol. Don't thin Vallejo with it, though, since it'll clump up.

Personally I prefer to thin my Tamiya with lacquer thinner as I tend to get better handling out of it that way. Vallejo I thin with Testors universal acrylic thinner and/or Future.

I used alcohol all the time on Vallejo paints until someone told me I wasn't supposed to. Now I still do. I mix with a stirring stick and it does initially clump up, but keep mixing and it will be fine. Windex also works nicely for Vallejo.

I've used thinned Tamiya paint 6 months after I first thinned it and found it sprayed just fine. The stuff has a longer than average shelf life. Your mileage may vary however.

I haven't tried Vallejo paints yet so I can't comment on them. Tamiya flats work very well with denatured alcohol for me. I also have bottles of 70% and 90% Iso alcohol and they work pretty well. I don't use that many gloss Tamiya paints but the ones I do use seem to work best with Tamiya's own X20 thinner with Iso alcohol coming in second. Denatured doesn't seem to work as well with gloss. Recently I've been thinning gloss or semigloss with Tamiya lacquer thinner and that works very well but not everyone wants to use lacquer thinner. Haven't tried that with Tamiya flats yet but will very soon. Just my experiences, others may vary.

Unless it's just a few drops of paint I always mix paint and thinner in a bottle/jar. I also have a 360 so I have a lot of bottles plus paint bottles I've emptied and saved. I've used straws or coffee stirrers for years to transfer paint from bottle to bottle or bottle to airbrush. Just cut off a piece a little longer than the bottle is deep, stick it in the bottle, cover the end with a finger tip and lift it out to transfer where ever. Depending on the bottles I'm using I'll cut the straw into 2 or 3 pieces. If I'm mixing something where I'm counting drops, I use a toothpick. Just dip it in the jar/bottle and then move it to the mixing bottle. Hold it above the bottle and count the drops. I use pipettes for adding thinner because it's easier to control and I can use them till the bulb splits.

IMO, thinning is something you'll just have to get a feel for. The more you spray and paint the more you'll learn. Don't be afraid to experiment. I believe that more people have trouble from not thinning enough than thinning too much.

 I've used Tamiya paints a year after thinning them with no problems. The more I use them the more I'm amazed at how well they work. Save empty paint bottles, clean them up and use them to save paints that you've thinned. That's something else you'll get a feel for after you've done it for a while, how much paint to mix/thin for what you have to paint.

Tony

Thanks all for the very informative answers!  Lots of painting planned for this weekend to practice some more. :)

RedCorvette

I mostly use enamel paint in my airbrush, but to offer a few comments/suggestions:

I buy inexpensive eyedroppers at the drug store to mix paints.  One for paint and one for thinner. 

If I just need a small amount of thinned paint I'll use the eyedroppers to count drops into the color cup and then use a toothpick to mix it on the bottom of the cup.  Just be aware that when you mix paint & thinner  in the cup the first shot out of the nozzle might not be mixed. I always give it a quick shot off the model to make sure that I'm spraying thinned paint.

Thinned paint will keep for a couple of days if you store it in a tightly sealed container.  I try not to mix more than I need.  My preference is to err on the low side and mix up more if I need to.

There have been many excellent articles in FSM over the years about airbrushing, including one this month by Aaron Skinner; might want to check it out.

Good luck,

Mark

Interesting comments, I too use only enamels (MM) and mix in the gravity cup by adding some thinner first and then paint, mix w/toothpick.  If anything I usually end up with paint too thick, so I add a little more thinner.  Also, you are correct about making sure you shoot some paint out first in case there is thinner residue from prior cleaning of AB, it also helps to check how the flow is.  But I have been dumping the unused thinned paint back into the bottle (yeah, I'm a little cheap).  Haven't had problems with that yet but then I don't measure how much paint:thinner ratio, I go by feel. 

Personally I never mix in the cup. I've had problems in the past with paint dropping right through the thinner and pooling around the needle and bottom of the cup. 

Yeah, I find frequent stirrings w/toothpick are required w/certain colors, white is the worst. I may just pick up a rattle can .