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You can go as simple as adding water to make it thin enough.
It is highly preferable to use a proper thinner though, as too much water can reduce the adhesion of the paint and result in it scratching off too easily.
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The wise man doubts often, and changes his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubts not; he knows all things but his own ignorance.
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TLR version. Use water, windex, or airbrush medium to thin the paint until it's like low fat milk (meaning it leaves some streaks on the side of the mixing jar).
lliu wrote: Thanks! Do you have recommendations for which airbrush to buy? I have a Master Airbrush G233. Is it okay, or is there a better replacement?
Take a look at my post on the other thread that I wrote just a few minutes ago
There are only three Citadel paints that I've ever used with my airbrush (mephiston red, caliban green, and incubi darkness); for these, I decanted some into eyedropper bottles from the dollar store, and thinned them until they were quite liquidy. I have tried water, Lahmian medium, Vallejo thinner, Liquitex Ultramatte Medium, and Liquitex Flo-Aid. I didn't like water or Flo-Aid, and the others were pretty similar, though I ended up settling on Vallejo Thinner just because the format of the bottle makes it easy to dispense.
That craigcentral.com link is actually quite right: there isn't really an exact thinning ratio, as every airbrush is different, as is every needle for that airbrush. One thing that's important to note is that if you make your paint very thin, it won't clog much, but it will go on... very thin. It will take zillions of coats to create opacity with an airbrush, for instance, to cover black primer with very thin red. This is one of the reasons NOT to use a superfine needle -- if you use a 0.35 mm needle, you can use a thicker paint, and the end result will actually be better than using a 0.18 needle and fifteen coats of red. This is because the paint WILL pool into crevices.
I was actually speaking to the forge world team about this at Warhammer fest as I have had alot of problems trying to get the right consistency with citadel paints and they told me I was best not using them with an airbrush
They recommended Tamia paints, which sell an actual airbrush thinner. This is what they use.
Not going to name who told me this, but if that is what they are using on the official models it is what I will be buying later today to give it a go!
Tremble wrote: I was actually speaking to the forge world team about this at Warhammer fest as I have had alot of problems trying to get the right consistency with citadel paints and they told me I was best not using them with an airbrush
They recommended Tamia paints, which sell an actual airbrush thinner. This is what they use.
Not going to name who told me this, but if that is what they are using on the official models it is what I will be buying later today to give it a go!
That's interesting. I've never tried Tamia paints, but I'll give it a shot, thanks.
For the record, I have always had problems with Citadel paints in an airbrush. Not that it's impossible, just, the colors do not diffuse as nicely, do not go on as thinly, and clog more than Vallejo Model Air or Game Air at the same PSI. With Citadel, I usually need to use a little more PSI to avoid clogs, which gives me less control, and I am more likely to get visible dots. This is relatively minor for basecoating, but it's just one more thing to worry about, especially with 0.25mm and 0.20mm needles, if I'm doing OSL, for instance.
I have asked someone far more experienced than me that Citadel and Vallejo Game Color have a different acrylic resin formula that provides more chip resistance, since the idea is that people will be handling the finished work. I was told that a couple of side effects of this is that they are less ideal for airbrush, and that they dry more quickly.
I have asked someone far more experienced than me that Citadel and Vallejo Game Color have a different acrylic resin formula that provides more chip resistance, since the idea is that people will be handling the finished work. I was told that a couple of side effects of this is that they are less ideal for airbrush, and that they dry more quickly.
Thats quite interesting, seems logical. Theres certainly more than one kind of acrylic resin, as the poly-urethane 2pack car paints are still acrylic at the end of the day, theres also acrylic resins, thick artist style paints imitating thick oils, even your average house hold emulsion is acrylic... the theres the solid acrylic plastic all has its own properties, so it makes very good sense to assume that theres one ideal for airbrushing and another ideal for wargames paint. To properly compare paints in this way we might need a chemist, if anyone has the know-how for this area of expertise I'd love more info on the acrylic resins used in our favourite brands of paint.
'Ain't nothing crazy about me but my brain. Right brain? Riight! No not you right brain! Right left brain? Right!... Okay then lets do this!!
PM Sean_OBrien if you're interested, HairySticks. No idea if he could (or would - it's a rather tall order) spare the time for a full, in-depth writeup, but he seems to have quite a handle on chemistry. I'm sure you've seen him weigh in on various hobby products, before, all science-like. Seems to be the guy to ask.
The Dreadnote wrote:But the Emperor already has a shrine, in the form of your local Games Workshop. You honour him by sacrificing your money to the plastic effigies of his warriors. In time, your devotion will be rewarded with the gift of having even more effigies to worship.
Thanks for that link. Had a good read. I already do pretty much what he recommends, but with art store mediums in place of the acrylic floor polish ... May need to have a go with that for the sake of being cheap.
I purchase expensive Liquitex Acrylic Inks, because theyve got awesome fine pigments. I may have to have a go at the filtering some cheap paints out listed in that article too.
Really useful link as it happens.
'Ain't nothing crazy about me but my brain. Right brain? Riight! No not you right brain! Right left brain? Right!... Okay then lets do this!!
R version. Use water, windex, or airbrush medium to thin the paint until it's like low fat milk (meaning it leaves some streaks on the side of the mixing jar).
all has its own properties, so it makes very good sense to assume that theres one ideal for airbrushing and another ideal for wargames paint. To properly compare paints in this way we might need a chemist, if anyone has the know-how for this area of expertise I'd love more info on the acrylic resins used in our favourite brands of paint.