Thinning Paint

Buy a Tamiya stirrer, dip it in the paint mix and take it out. If you can see the edge of the stirrer, the paint mix has a consistency of 2% milk.

Well B57, it's actually fairly straight forward. I used a small piece of clear glass, used full strength milk and placed a drop on the side of the glass, watched it as it flowed down with gravity. Then for comparison, I did the same with 2% and noted the difference in translucency and the rate of downward flow.

When either the 2%, or correctly thinned paint drop, is placed on the glass side of the mixing bottle, the translucency and flow rate will appear the same. For that reason I mix in a glass bottle, not the metal cup, the glass allows sufficient light to illuminate both the inner and outer surface of the bottle, much more efficient way to "read" the texture of the thinned paint, as you examine how the drop flows and looks.

The 2% thinning technique makes the paint drop appear still thick enough that you can easily define where the drop is as it flows downward, the "trail" of the drop will seem quite thin and just lightly tinted, as the drop flows continues to flow down.

Give it a try, it does seem rather obvious what your mixed paint should look like, when you experiment with the milk drops. Works well for me, hope same for you.

Patrick

All hobby paints needs to be thinned for airbrushing - yes including scrylics. The only exception I believe is Vallejo Model Air brand paints.

C.J. - I agree with the others, MM Enamel needs to be thinned. For my use, I thin it quite a lot. I generally start at 5 parts paint to 2 parts thinner, then thin until I reach the "2%" milk consistency. There are many variables, such as the temperature of the air, the size and surface of the area to be painted.

I did use their Testors Universal Reducer, but found that a good quality enamel reducer from the paint store works at least as well. It seems a bit "hotter" than Testors, meaning it gives more bite and adheres well, less problems with paint lifting when removing masking materials. It is much more cost effective, the Testors is $10.00 for 8 ounces at the hobby shop, DuPont enamel thinner is $6.00 for a quart, 32 ounces. That's 4 times the quantity for $4.00 less, it works even better for me. I use lacquer thinner for cleaning the airbrush after use.

Some modelers routinely use lacquer thinner for thinning enamel and swear by it, I suspect it would give even better adhesion, since it's a great deal more aggressive than enamel thinner. Lot's of experimenting will make clear what works best for you. I do use a lot of MM enamel, I think it's a really good quality paint.

Patrick  

Yes for sure it does.A big can of their thinner goes a long way.I recommend it for thinning.To clean up,just go with hardware store mineral spirits.

I start with about half and half dilution.  Note that Testors enamel starts to age as soon as you open it to air, and the dilute stuff seems to age even faster.

Also, you do not need to be too exact on mixture.  You can make some allowance for different mixing ratios by playing with pressure and needle settings.  I'd say a 10% tolerance on mixing ratios is okay.

Cjones67

I am wondering if it is necessary to thin the paint (Model Master's Enamel) before you airbrush?

Yes, it most definitely will need to be thinned.  Model Master enamel thinner will work great with that enamel.  An "old school" rule of thumb was thinning it to the consistency of milk, but of course that may vary with the type of airbrush you're using and the amount of pressure at which you are spraying, as well as distance from model.  You will be well-served to mix a bit of paint and practice on some scrap pieces (or even an empty plastic milk/juice jug).  Remember your thinning ratio and try others to get a feel for what works best.  Good luck!

Gary