water as thinner?

Some people thin with water, some thin with windex or windshield washer fluid. Some use isoprophyl alcohol and use a acrylic retarder such as Liquitex or Golden (make sure it's the thin kind!). I use Tamiya acrylics and Tamiya thinner, but I buy the 250ml bottle, not those dinky little bottles! The Tamiya thinner comes with a retarder already added.

A great source for acrylic paints and airbrushing (since MikeV doesn't have a website ) is MusicCity's website. Scroll down for airbrushing tips, thinning ratios and more acrylic paint references than you can shake a paint brush at!

I use water with Tamiya paint and it works ok, I havent had any problems so far but knowing my luck I'll have a paint meltdown soon enough.

I use Tamiya thinner too and I'm a novice airbrush user too the only thing is I need to figure the ratios of paint to thinner

hey guys

thanks for the input, i think i might look into buying some tamiya thinner.

thanks

blake

ok now that ive got the thinner question sorted out i was wondering what the ratioof paint and tamiya thinner was?

thanks

blake

hoffy wrote:

ok now that ive got the thinner question sorted out i was wondering what the ratioof paint and tamiya thinner was? thanks blake

MusicCity's website has an article on thinning. There is no one correct method. I eyeball about 3:1 paint to thinner, but what I'm really looking for is a milk like consistency. If I mix too much thinner I just lower the air pressure a bit, too little and I raise the pressure a tad.

From what ive read since ive been member Music Knows his stuff. As for me i just started useing Tamyia paints and love them but right off the bat i spilt my thinner and as picked up the bottle it smelled familer and so i did some reserch went out and bought a medeum size can of denatured aclchol for 3.95us works just fine and its cheaper than buying those little bottles gives you enought to paint and clean but

I only use the Tamiya Thinner in the 250ml bottles, those smaller bottles are a joke.

You can use isoprophyl alcohol but it tends to flatten gloss paints. I would suggest adding an acrylic retarder as well as the iso dries very fast. Tamiya Thinner includes the retarder, but I don't know if that alone will keep the gloss paints glossy. Keep a moistened Qtip handy to swab out the tip as that will also dry very quickly and clog the tip, and use a needle lube (Iwata Medea Super Lube or Badger Regdad) which also helps with the dry tip.

hey guys

thanks for all the info about thinners, im about to go practice painting some bombs now.

thanks

blake