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I used my citadel gun for the first time yesterday and something rather interesting occurred. I used Mechrite Red Foundation paint on a bunch of models.

When it was done and all had dried, i compared it to a bunch of models that I painted by hand with Mechrite Red and the colors were clearly different. The models painted from the gun had a much more pink hue to them while the ones painted by hand were clearly more red.

Has this happened to anyone or can this be explained? I really wanted them to come out the same color as the hand painted ones. Any easy solutions anyone can think of?

Thanks

The spray coat is usually very thin, did you undercoat the models before this?
If so, try a chaos black undercoat followed by the spray.
that should help give it a more solid colour.

Yeah, i undercoated them with Chaos black first, just like I did the one painted by hand.

I havent actually had this problem as such, do you dilute the paint in the gun and how much?
Sometimes it can be overdone causing the paint to thin so much it wont give a good coverage. (ends up much like a thick wash)

I did dilute it about 1:1. I did notice that it pooled up in the recesses like a wash but i just assumed this was how it should be applied. The first coat, i diluted them as suggested on the gun bottle but that was WAY too thin and came out like water

try using a test model and make the paint a bit thicker.
By using the test model/s you can try and get a good consistancy with the mix that you are happy with.
Also, once its a bit thicker you can get it working alot better.

I use the spray gun quite often watered down heavily to apply my own washes to models and save time.

The thing is, i gave it enough coats where the constancy shouldn't have mattered. It's all an even color with no black undercoat showing through

The problem is that using the spray gun even multiple coats wont allways do it.
Ive found that certain colours (bright yellows as the worsed) tend to act more like a wash than anything else, even when undiluted.

Ill dig out my spray gun and a few models and do a test for you when i get home, see if i can find the problem with it.

I too tried out my Spray Gun for the first time the other day. I did not use foundation paints. In the end, after practicing with my very bright custom orange paint mix and Scorpian Green over a Skull White undercoat, it was as if I needed not to have diluted them in the first place. I haven't tried it out with Foundation Paints, but in my case I think that less water is always best. I've heard some say to use half of what should be used for Foundation Paints. However, I'd imagine that it really depends on what colour you are using.

mattnaik wrote:I did dilute it about 1:1. I did notice that it pooled up in the recesses like a wash but i just assumed this was how it should be applied. The first coat, i diluted them as suggested on the gun bottle but that was WAY too thin and came out like water

Dilluting the Mechrite Red in the spray gun will get you a pinkish color. If memeory serves me right, when you paint by havd, you are not adding as much water as you do when you use the spray gun.

Change in hue is common when you spray/airbrush something because you are using alot more water (in theory anyway) and so the pigments separate a little more. 2-3 coats should get you the color you would get if you painted it on by hand.

I've had mechrite dry pinkish from applying my hand so i can fully see why when diluted even further it would spray pink, however, as a base to paint scab red over (which is how I do all my reds) pinkish is not really an issue.