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Hi guys

Anyone have any useful tips on how to thin citadel paints?

also i keep getting a residue paint left at the bottom of my air brush? like the paint is clumping or not being diluted in the thinner? (maybe I'm not combing them well enough)

I'm using a neo airbrush and windex (for thinner)

thanks

They thin like everything else... Don't use Windex (it is not a good idea for a lot of reasons), use an actual thinner/medium (Vallejo, Liquitex, Golden, or make your own) and make sure you shake the paint before putting in the cup, add your thinner first, and then mix in your paint (I use an old brush to stir).

A number of people will warn against ever trying to mix directly in the cup. Doing so makes it impossible to strain out any chunks (clogging issue, if present) that may have made their way in and the shape of many cups (narrow bottom, awkward space around/under needle, etc.) makes proper agitation for a thorough blend difficult. If you want to be absolutely sure of your mix, do it in a separate container, then fill your brush, straining through fine mesh, if necessary.

While it's certainly the surer method, I wouldn't say it's absolutely necessary. When mixing in the cup, do as ScootyPuff says, adding your thinner first. That way, if anything gets left unmixed, it will won't be a thick glob of clog-inducing and/or crust-forming paint. If you take a while to use up your cup, an occasional stir with a toothpick or brush will help keep things properly mixed. Some paints settle rather quickly.

Another thing you could try looking at Vallejo's model air range, they have colours identical to the gw range. The paints dont need thinning and can be used straight from the bottle.

Also keep in mind what kind of thinner you use. Some of the citadel paints don't get along well with Alcohol based thinner like Tamiya's X-20A. Specifically Solar Macharius Orange turns into a clumpy mess that will immediately clog your airbrush. I know this, because I've just had this experience. Other paints will thin with Alcohol fine, for example Blazing Orange. It really depends on the pigment, which means it's going to vary by colour.

As Scooty said, please use real acrylic paint thinner, which is paint without pigments. You can dilute the paint with water, but that is not quite the same as the paint and is likely to leave irregular splotches. Don't use alcohol, airbrush cleaner or other cleaning products as thinner. Just because you can shoot it through your airbrush doesn't mean it's a good idea. ;-]

I found it quite useful practice to mix and stir paint in a secondary container. Plastic shot glasses work great for that and provide great visibility at a bargain basement cost.

Any gunk issues are either due to how you mixed your paint, or because you didn't clean your airbrush enough.

Destilled water and airbrush cleaner in squeeze bottles, a spray out jar and a box of kleenex do 99% of the cleaning of my airbrush.

Whenever I'm done with a colour or stop spraying for a few minutes, I dump out the remaining liquid and wipe out the paint cup with a tissue. That avoids flushing any half dried paint further into the brush in the next steps. I always use a 5ml cup even though I never need that much paint in a go, since I can reach inside easier for cleaning. That's a few seconds to deal with the excess paint. Then I'll fill the bottom of the cup with a few drops of destilled water and spray that into the spray out jar until no more pigment is showing when I put in water. Then I rinse the brush with airbrush cleaner and check for any leftover crap by spraying on the earlier used tissue. If needed, repeat some rinsing and the brush ok to be set aside without problems.

loganfraser wrote:
Another thing you could try looking at Vallejo's model air range, they have colours identical to the gw range. The paints dont need thinning and can be used straight from the bottle.

The Model Air range is not comparable to either the old or new GW ranges and should still be thinned slightly for the best performance. Vallejo Game Color is roughly the equivalent to the GW range that was recently replaced and it is not an airbrush ready paint range.

As most people have recommended, use an acrylic binder medium for thinning.

The paints are acrylic based, and as such should be thinned with acrylic thinner (that is an acrylic binder that has a lower viscosity than the paint)
Using anything other than some sort of acrylic polymer emulsion with your paint is guaranteed to reduce the adhesion, surface tension and consistency of the paint.
I don't know if you've done basic chemistry classes yet? or if its been a long time, if you recall them....
but acrylic's are made of long polymer strands of molecules, there's needs to be a certain % of them in the mixture for them to form the chains during the curing time (drying), without fully formed polymer chains the paint will flake and peel easily, and will probably be lumpy where there's more strands than in other areas - because they couldn't even out due to being too diluted.

My favourite product is Liquitex Airbrush medium, I see from your flag, that you're from UK?
In which case, http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-liquitex-airbrush-medium.htm thats the first place I'm going to recommend you go to

Using window cleaner isn't all that clever for a variety of reasons (i know it gets suggested all over the web, but its bad practise)

Firstly no one ever specifies that your supposed to use automotive grade glass cleaner, rather than household. This is because household glass cleaners contain vinegar as a surfactant, vinegar corrodes chrome. Chrome is what the airbrush is coated in (and it needs to be). So that's bad.

Secondly, once using the correct automotive glass cleaner, there's still the problem of the main ingredient being ammonia. I hope your wearing a chemical filter respirator while spraying your windex? (something tells me you aren't; trying to cheap out on paint materials, likely means you cheaped out on p.p.e gear too) .... a simple dust mask will not do, it needs to filter our organic chemicals.

...I mean you probably ought to wear a mask for spraying any paint, but using ammonia to thin everything is just making matters worse health wise. And the myriad of chemicals present in the glass cleaner, well one of them is probably the cause of the paint not thinning correctly, either that or mixing it in the airbrush is the problem, Invest in some disposable cups and pipettes

I think you need to use a 50:50 mix of the paint and some acyrilic thinner [I like the model colour thinner].

Also I request that posters on this thread stop misspelling "colour".

Wow, thanks guys

I really had no idea, i got the airbrush from a mate that no longer wanted the stuff and have just started using it. I'm a bit OCD when it come to cleaning so i clean it out after every use anyways and it looks in good condition (think it is only a month old anyways)

the vid on how to clean them really helped ^^

As for the windex, i had no idea. that stuff went right in the bin after hearing all that, and ammonia being the main ingredient! wow I was lucky enough to have done all my paining on my balcony (where most of my modeling & gaming is preformed)

Thanks again guys, i have got the recommended thinner on order and will see how that goes when it arrives.

Thanks

Edited for content.