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Hey guys, I got an air compressor in a trade recently and bought a new gun for it. I have never actually used one before so I was hoping to get a few pointers from some of your experiences. Now I know i cant just put some GW paint in a bottle and go nuts but I was wondering if i could still use GW paint with it and just need to thin it out. If you know the right mix ration or what not or what paint to use if not GW any help or thoughts would be appreciated. Also any techniques would be nice to know rather than trying trial and error. All your thoughts and comments are appreciated and thanks for taking the time to look at my post and help out!

1 part water to 8 parts paint should be a good ratio

 AntomanElven wrote:
1 part water to 8 parts paint should be a good ratio

No. For most paint, that is not even close to being thin enough to airbrush with. To the OP, search this board (this topic comes up a LOT) and YouTube for "how to thin paint for airbrushing" and go from there. Getting the right mix of thinner and paint will take trial and error, there is no magic number that works every time with every color in every paint range.

I recommend someone on youtube called "awesomepaintjob", very nice tutorials and good airbrush info, shows how to make a good airbrush diluter as water will not do the job (as far as i am aware).

as for the ratio, mess around until you reach a level that agreees with the colour that you are using as well as its purpose

Thanks for the input guys, always appreciated!

Ken @ Badger recommends thinning the paint to the consistency of 2% milk, whatever that is.

Gizmodious wrote:
I was wondering if i could still use GW paint with it and just need to thin it out. If you know the right mix ration or what not or what paint to use if not GW any help or thoughts would be appreciated. Also any techniques would be nice to know rather than trying trial and error

1.) Yes, you can use GW paint
2.) Yes, you have to thin it

3.) No, I can't tell you the ratio - and neither can anyone else here, any more then I can tell you how to ride a bike and then have you do it solely on my instruction. You'll get a lot of really vague ass advice, like "thin it so it's like milk" - whatever the feth that means. That guy quoted Ken Badger but lots of people say that. It's not good advice. It's meaningless advice, imo - it's like someone asking how to swim, and you telling them "by not drowning so much".


The truth is, you need to figure it out youself because there are a lot of variables, such as how old your paint is, what color, what brand, what PSI you're using, what specific brush you have, how far away from the area you're spray is... You have to do trial and error, frankly. I do about 70/30 airbrush medium to craft paint when I'm doing terrain, I do about 50/50 when it's GWS, and I play it by ear with other brands. If it's beading up, you thinned it too much, if it's clogging, it's probably too thick, if you're getting little hair spiders, your PSI is too high (and also probably too thin), if you're getting an orange peel effect, you're probably too far away... you can't start by asking how to do it perfectly, because we don't know what that is with all your variables. Instead, start by painting random junk for practice, and then post what specific problems you encountered, and we can advise how to fix them. And we go from there.

GW paints have a much higher viscosity than alot of other modelling paint. this is done for 1 reason: they know most people that buy their paint will use it straight from the pot, which they leave open when they paint. This just makes the paint dry faster.

If you MUST use GW paint through an airbrush, make sure it is plenty thin (like it was mentioned before, 2% milk.) Also, the lower the air pressure, the thinner the paint needs to be.

I cant promote vallejo model air paint enough. it is plenty thin to need little help to go through an airbrush. IT has excellent opacity. The metallics cover excellently. I just cant say enough good things about it.

To learn more about your airbrush, and other advanced techniques, check out awesomepaintjob, buypainted and schnauzerface minis on youtube. they are all excellent painters and have taught me alot.



Gunnvulcan

 Ouze wrote:
imo - it's like someone asking how to swim, and you telling them "by not drowning so much".

Got a nice laugh from that and sounds like I need to make a few things around my house a little more colorfull by testing out some different mixes. Thanks again for the info!

If your'e going to start airbrushing, you should check some youtube videos on the subject, these ones are a great place to start:
WGConsortium
- Getting Started Using an Airbrush (Airbrushing Intermediate Part 1)
- The Airbrush and Complete Overhaul (Airbrushing Intermediate Part 2)
- Airbrush Color Changes and Cleaning (Airbrushing Intermetiate Part 3)
- A Look At Cheap Airbrushes

Awesomepaintjob / Les Bursley
- Airbrush Rant

Would highly recommend subscribing to these guys, and if you're interested I can link some more channels with good airbrushing vids. The airbrushing intermediate vids will be a big help if you're new to it.