enamels

Enamels will require thinning for airbrushing and can benefit from smaller additions of thinner for brush painting. I use mineral turpentine to thin Humbrol and Testors enamels though both companies market their own dedicated thinner. I thin a small quantity at a time in a clean pet food tray until a drop placed on the tray wall runs rapidly into the paint pool but leaves a bold colour streak. No hard or fast dilution rates as I find different colours behave differently. I then test spray and fine tune the dilution as necessary.

Thanks Simon. Agree that there's no single dilution rate. Different colours have different ratios. Thanks once again.

Cheers

Even if you brush paint, I've discovered that it goes better if you thin the paint. Nowadays when I open a new bottle of enamel, I add three or four drops of thinner and a dozen or so pellets of #12 birdshot (to help when mixing - shaken not stirred) without even thinking about it. I use DuPont 3812S enamel reducer as thinner - works just like OEM thinner for Model Master, Humbrol, Testors (small bottle) and even in the few bottles of Pactra I have remaining. Initial cost is somewhat higher - 21 to 25 bucks a gallon, but as a gallon will last me 2 to 2 1/2 years, (even with airbrushing), I figure that's a lot cheaper than the equivalent amount of thinner purchased in the small bottles at the LHS.

I painted my 1/16 fig. with enamels (Tamiya - Flat Flesh) last night. They didn't turn out as to what I've expected. It's my first time using enamels though. I might have added too much tinner.

Maybe I'll stick with Acrylics next time. It was a nice experience though. Trying something new.

Cheers,

^ Tamiya enamels "glide" smoother than Tamiya acrylics. Maybe you were just not used to it.

They do "glide" a whole lot all right. Ya, I'm just not used to it. Will stick with acrylics in future.