Airbrush

soviet_plasticmodeler

Is that really modelers in EU use acrylic paints and litter airbrush when the acrylic paint cannot be removed? 

Also, What kind of paint that North american modelers use?

I just really curious about it.

Thank you

 

I airbrush almost exclusively acrylic.

I use acrylics and enamels. But my airbrush will only ever see acrylic for ease of cleaning and less odor.

Acrylic paint is easily cleaned in an airbrush with Lacquer thinners or white spirit. You can also claen most acrlics with an ammonia based window cleaner when you are done using the airbrush for the day.

soviet_plasticmodeler

...What kind of paint that North american modelers use?

I use a Paasche VL, double-action, siphon-feed brush.  I use both acrylic and enamels in my airbrush.

With enamels, I use either mineral spirits or lacquer thinner to thin the paint, depending on what I have handy.

With acrylics, it depends on the brand.  When I use Tamiya acrylics, which make up a large part of my paint box, I use Tamiya's own proprietary thinner.  I found that I get the best results that way; I have found that other thinners you might use with acrylics, such as isopropyl or water, do not thin the paint effectively, but give me clumps of paint.  I also use lacquer thinner with Tamiya's acrylics sometimes.  This produces an absolute dead-flat matte finish.

With other brands of acrylics, from makers like Andrea and Vallejo, to the craft store brands, I find that water or isopropyl work well for thinning.

When I clean the brush between courses of paint, I'll use the thinner I used for the particular paint.  When I break the airbrush down at the end of a session, I use lacquer thinner to clean it, and then I let the parts air-dry, unassembled, till the next painting session.

Hope that helps, droog!

Best regards,

Brad