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Hey guys,

I'm getting ready to use an airbrush with GW paints for the first time in a couple of years. What's the best way to thin the GW paints for airbrushing?

You can get airbrush thinner. Vallejo has some for example which helps thin the paints.

Alternatively, you can just use water, though it does not work as well.

There are various other products as well, however, I've used the Vallejo thinner and it is pretty good.

I will 2nd, hell, 3rd airbrush thinner

it is way, way better than windex/water mix, and you get a ton of it.

For GW paints i use Tamiya Thinner X-20A

I find whatever medium is usually used works best.
For GW it has to be water based
Tamiya works but it is basically isopropyl alcohol so it will evaparate quicker.

Tamiya Thinner is a must for Tamiya paint as water congeals it(But that makes for a great clotting effect when using clear red for blood)

Any special advise for GW Foundation Paints?

I have put GW, P3 and Reaper paints through my airbrush and I've always use water to thin without any problems. There really is no need to buy special thinner or medium unless, as Eisenhorn mentioned, you're using the Tamiya paints which are not acrylic based in which case you need to use their thinner.

I also generally just use water to thin. I do find a scoosh (technical term) of Windsor & Newton's acrylic flow improver reduces tip dry tho.

Water for GW paints, and alcohol for Tamiya acrylics have given me the best results, although water works fine for Tamiya too in most cases.

Airbrush paint thinner. I'm not a fan or using water/windex/rubbing alcohol, but I'm a perfectionist

winterdyne wrote: I do find a scoosh (technical term) of Windsor & Newton's acrylic flow improver reduces tip dry tho.

Scoosh... hehe....good point though. Flow improver is a real life saver if you get annoyed with tip dry (like ME!) Scoosh...

I have Vallejo thiner and Windsor & Newton fluid retarder and I usually concoct something using those and water.

Water on its own is perfectly workable though.

I have used Vallejo paints thinned with windex (w/ ammonia!!!) and it works very well. The paint gets a blue tint when it's still in the airbrush but none of that transfers to how it looks on the mini. You will get a similar effect from water and some ammonia.

I got this tip from the coolminiornot.com forum where you can also find a lot of other helpful tips in addition to the great information here on dakkadakka.

And always remember to clean your airbrush thoroughly after each use!

I've had good results with a 1:1 water to paint ratio on both Vallejo air metallics and GW's paint line, also mostly metallics.

I personally dont use airbrush paint thinner as GW paints are not airbrush paints so it doesnt have the same effects. I use Winsor & Newton flow improver for acrylic mediums. I get a 250 ml bottle for 10 usd at a local hobby store and you can mix it in a bottle at a 1 to 20 ratio of distilled water(bottled water) so it lasts a long time and is significantly cheaper. I just mix up a bottle and use it when i need it. The ratio of the water flow improver mix to paint usually varies depending on the pigment concentration of a paint. Basically how thick of a color it is. But my own general rule of thumb is a 1 paint to 4 flow improver ratio. If you want to see how it turned out feel free to look at my purifiers thread where i used an airbrush with these exact mixes. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/376879.page

50%Isopropyl Alcholhol, 50% Distilled water. Make sure you use distilled, it is free of any mineral contaminants, works better -