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Can someone explain what the optimum ratio of paint to water is for airbrushing a solid coat of paint.

Thanks

It all depends on the thickness of the paint. The new layer paint, new base paint, the old standard paint, and the old foundation paint all have varying thickness. You want the consistency of nonfat milk. Using only water is not advisable either. Common thinners are Windex, Isopropyl alcohol, or a store bought purpose-made thinner (Vallejo makes one that I use and I highly recommend it). You can also make your own using distilled water and airbrush cleaner mixed at a 10:1 (water to cleaner) ratio.

1:5 Windex to water is also very good.
As is 1:10 flow aid to water

I would advise not using isopropyl alcohol in citadel paints as it can cause the paint to clump in my experience, you can however use distilled water to good effect.
As ScootyPuffJunior has said, the Vallejo thinner is outstanding and it goes a long way too.
If your going to thin the paints then invest in some of the Vallejo style dropper bottles, it will aid in thinning the paints and give more control when putting the paint in your airbrush.

For citadel paints I thin for airbrushing in two ways.

First, all GW paints are thinned with about 10-15 drops of 10:1 Water/Liquitex Flo-aid when I buy them. That is what I use when hand brushing.

Then when I airbrush, I take the now diluted paint and mix it about 5:4 with Liquitex Airbrush medium. A little trial and error will teach you a lot about the ratio, as not enough medium and the paint will spray in splotches, and too much medium the paint will be very watery and will pool in the recesses of the model instead of having even coverage.

I use alcohol on some paints, used to use windex, but my favorite is golden airbrush medium.

Spray with water...get used to that, so you can get used to the brush and how it handles with thin liquid in it.

Then, try thinning your own paints, use what ever you like (try a few, its very subjective) ....you will VERY quickly see how thin you need it. its an experiential thing; your pressure, you needle size, the paint, the thinning medium...they all vary the process.

Practice; you will get it down.

Or just buy airbrush paints...I prefer vallejo model air.

for a solid color through your airbrush you dont need a good ratio. just thin it a lot and do really thin coats. if your paint is thin enough it wont really matter

Too thin and it pulls from the edges though.

It really is trial and error until you get the experience to do it well - and then they go and change the paints on you!

I personally use Tamiya thinners for basecoats. Unfortunately I haven't tried detail airbrush work with GW paints yet, but have had good results using a wide nozzle and doing basecoats.

When I started I used Tesco concentrated car windscreen wash (the blue stuff). That worked perfectly well at rations of 1:1 for basecoats but required having a cotton bud and Revell Colour Medium on hand to regularly clean the nozzle. After that I started add more fluid for thinner follow on coats. Not bafs for £1 per litre, but have looked at other opitions that are less alcohol based.

I have also used Tamiya X20a thiiners, distilled water and Vallejo AB thinners successfully with GW paints (the old range anyway).

From what I can tell the new range both chunks faster than the old range of GW paints and appears to be thinner. Just speaking from my experience so test it and find a good ratio.