Type of paint and preferred airbrush methods

Since it’s your first time returning to the hobby, my advice is use paint brand thinner first until you’re really comfortable trying alternate method of thinners. I use Testors Universal Acrylic thinner (green bottle) for Model Master Acrylics, Tamiya’s brand thinner for Tamiya, etc...

 

For the most part I use Tamiya paint either with 91% rubbing alcohol or their own thinner at 50/50 paint/thinner sometimes for really transparent I'll thin it to 40/60. Life color paint thins and acts just like Tamiya I've used them recently and will probably stay with them for German rml colors since they are already color matched and won't need to mix Tamiya only has a few the correct color for that. Vallejo you must use their thinner I'm not a fan of them for airbrushing but love them for brush painting.

BKSmith

Thanks guys. I am sort of hoping for a lot of replies on this because I'd love to have one place to reference the topic (ok - selfish of me). Looks like others struggle with Vellejo too - I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. Question - do you use or recommend alcohol to thin the acrylics? Seems to work for me with Model Master and Tamiya, but not Vallejo. In full disclosure, I consider myself ok with the airbrush. I'm obviously more than a novice but I'm nowhere near this group in ability. But I'm enjoying the heck out of rediscovering my childhood passion and getting better with every model. This magazine and forum have inspired me to use PE, wax my finishes, try new things, and generally produce high quality models. And my youngest son is taking an interest so I get to pass it on!

 

Alcohol as a thinner/cleaner works OK with Tamiya acrylic, but is very much a problem with Vallejo. There is a reaction that turns the Vallejo into a thick and rubbery glob. Check your airbrush parts, like needle, nozzle and tip, everything at the front end. If you find that thick mess there, it can really affect the function of the airbrush.

One caution, avoid soaking rubber O rings in strong cleaning agents. Careful and gentle cleaning with lacquer thinner or acetone will remove that buildup on the metal parts. Just remove the O rings before hand. As a rule, it's the safest bet using the paint manufacturers thinning agents in their products. But basically, no alcohol in Vallejo.

Hope this is useful.

Patrick

This type of question brings up an issue in my mind.  I'm old enough to remember when newsgroups were around- forums that predated the web.  Used to use the old rec.models.scale group (great group!).

Most of the popular discussion groups had a FAQ, a site where Frequently Asked Questions could be found- with answers.  A few of these have survived as web pages, but they are virtually hidden, and most are not being updated.

We tell folks here to check past messages with the search window.  But, I personally find it doesn't work that great!  I suppose FSM could establish FAQ pages for its most popular groups, but I guess that would take a lot of work, and a lot of storage space.  Still, it would be a lot easier than the search engine feature.

 

I recently used Vallejo acrylics for the first time.  I mixed it with about 30% Vallejo thinner and 5% Vallejo Flow Improver.  The results were very good, and I had no problem with the airbrush.  

I still use Tamiya acrylics most of the time.  I feel comfortable with it due to years of experience, with Tamiya X-20A thinner.

Thanks guys. I am sort of hoping for a lot of replies on this because I'd love to have one place to reference the topic (ok - selfish of me). Looks like others struggle with Vellejo too - I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. Question - do you use or recommend alcohol to thin the acrylics? Seems to work for me with Model Master and Tamiya, but not Vallejo. In full disclosure, I consider myself ok with the airbrush. I'm obviously more than a novice but I'm nowhere near this group in ability. But I'm enjoying the heck out of rediscovering my childhood passion and getting better with every model. This magazine and forum have inspired me to use PE, wax my finishes, try new things, and generally produce high quality models. And my youngest son is taking an interest so I get to pass it on!

OK I'll bite...

I use acrylics a majority of the time.

Brands:

Model Master (Acrylics and enamels), Pollyscale. Aeromaster, Pollyscale RR, Tamiya, Gunze/Mr. Color, Humbrol (a couple tins in their enamel line), Badger, Alclad, and Mission Model acrylics.

Paint-thinner ratio and psi for airbrushing differs between paint brands.

Badger Double Action gravity feed Patriot 105.

Enamels: Humbrol, Colour Coats or Model Master. Thinned with Laquer thinner, Testors A/B thinner for the MM to a consistency like milk.

Air pressure around 20 depending on how it seems to be working.

 

You're going to get a ton of opinions. Work with what works good for you.

Hey, Brian -

Just a sample of what works for me:

Tamiya acrylic, usually no less than 50% X-20A, sometimes up to 70%, medium tip for the airbrush, PSI 14-17.

Model Master enamel 30-50% enamel thinner, PSI 15-20.

Testors small jar gloss enamel, 25-30% enamel thinner, 15-20psi.

I use Iwata fine tip single action, Paasche VJR very fine tip. Badger is brand most used, 200G single action, 100G dual action, 100LG, 105, 105 Extreme and Sotar 20/20. I have a variety of needle/nozzle sets for all of the Badgers, to accomodate jobs to be performed.

I rarely use lacquer thinner to reduce anything, but will if I'm concerned about "bite" for better paint adhesion.

Model Air provided a very nice finish, but for whatever reason I just never got it to work for me.