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Hey all,

I've picked up a great number of techniques and painting skills in my time on here. But one thing that still eludes me is some of the basic mechanics of making the best use of Citadel paints. I have some older Vallejo paints that are easy as hell to thin, get in my airbrush, etc, because of the dropper bottle. On the other hand, the citadel paints are thick, and come in those pots. It's great for painting right out of, without having any waste, but it's a nightmare to use if I want to thin it or get it in my airbrush (or both).

I may be overthinking it, but what are the best ways to make the most of my paints in the pots? Should I dump some out and thin it on a palette? And for my airbrush, should I just dump some in and try to thin it once it's in the gravity feed? It never seems to mix right once it's in the feed, but maybe I'm doing it wrong. My own laziness led me to putting unthinned Wild Rider Red in my airbrush yesterday, and it took me about 10 cups of thinner to finally get it all cleared out. Any tips?

Cheers

I use a syringe to draw paint from my paintpots. Also allows to control your mixture a bit better.

Another option would be to find empty dropper bottles and do it that way.

I don't normally use GW paints in my airbrush, but I have and I've used both techniques to some success.

I use a little paint spatula to get paint out and put it in a little plastic cup, mix it to thin there and then into the airbrush. That said, I usually port my citadel paints all to dropper bottles anyway.

@Firehead: A syringe is a great idea, I'll have to see if I can pick some up. I've tried the little plastic droppers, but since the paint is so thick I haven't had much luck. I would much prefer to use just Vallejo paints, but my FLGS only stocks Citadel, with Army Painter in limited selection. I might just order Vallejo online in the future.

@Kb_lock: I tried using one of my modeling tools (a bit like a little metal spatula) to move paint today and I had really good luck with that. I think I'll get some plastic cups or lids to mix paints in, everytime I mix in my airbrush I end up regretting it.

I usually mix in my airbrush with citadel stuff, but that is mainly because they are already partially thinned in custom dropper bottles anyway.

This time, however, I was teaching a mate about the wonders of plasticrack, and he was basecoating in a colour I didn't have (Which he did, in a citadel pot). I did initially mix it in the cup, but he was running out, so I sat at a different desk and mixed in a plastic cup out of necessity. Worked pretty well imho!

Also, painting directly from the pots is usually recommended against, as you tend to dry your paints out faster.

I use an old crappy size 2 brush that I've cut the tip off. I put a few drops of thinner in my paint cup to start with and just spray a bit of it through (just to make sure the thinner fills the passages before paint gets in to it) then I start dropping paint in from the pot using my brush, give a stir every few drops of paint to check the consistency.

I tried using eye droppers and it was mostly more hassle than it was worth, I end up using the brush to stir the paint anyway.

I have considered straining them somehow to see if it reduces clogging as clogging is the bane of my life, though I don't think there's much point straining them any time before putting them in to the brush, even droppers get little crusty bits around the edge quite quickly.

Depending on the thickness/age of your paint, a chemistry pipette might work, not the big expensive ones but the like plastic bubble ended ones.

OR a 1 ml feeding syringe works really well, you may be able to find them at certain pet stores.

(Other good uses for above mentioned syringes include feeding the cyberbunnies that inhabit the forge with us here and the 25 ml ones make great themed jello shots)

What? Hobby tools can have multiple uses!

FM Argos

I hate doing citadel paints in my airbrush. There are a couple of techniques I use when I must:

- if I'm doing an army, I'll decant about half of a pot into an eyedropper bottle, and add Vallejo airbrush thinner until it's quite liquid (not quite 1:1).

- if I only need one model, I'll tip a glop of paint into a gravity cup, and then add thinner as appropriate, in the cup. I hate doing this.

- I try to do it in my Paasche with a 0.65mm needle/tip so that jams are almost nonexistent.

Citidel paints have run fine in my airbrush, you just have to modify some things. What I have found that works best for me is the following:
I have purchased squeezable bottles from Pat Catans (Darco makes them I think) that will hold 3 times the amount of paint in a pot. I take a new pot and dump it into the bottle, the bottle has a removable cap that also allows you to put any number of 'drops' into the airbrush. Next I fill that same pot up halfway with Windex (Clear window cleaner with vinegar in a spray bottle) and shake hell out of it. Pour it in the bottle. Do the same thing one more time and you should have the vast majority of the paint out of the pot and this will give you a 50/50 mix in the bottle that will run through the airbrush just fine.

I always use a new pot for this and the nice thing about it is that after you airbrush and paint the other colours on the mini, a normal pot of the same colour paint will be usable for touch up and it will match perfectly. Have been doing this for years with no problems. The clear Windex with vinegar is the secret ... something about the vinegar makes the paint run through the airbrush well for me.

Buy a bag of 100 disposable 1.5mL pipettes from eBay.
Use pipette to draw a small amount of citadel paint and dump it into airbrush pot.
Add vallejo airbrush thinner to taste.
Put pipette back into airbrush pot and suck up/ spit out the mix until mixed.
Throw pipette in bin.
If there is a small amount in the airbrush pot at the end just dump it back into the citadel pot.

No mess, No waste.

Udo wrote:
No mess, No waste.

Except all the pipettes you're throwing out

I don't like pipettes at all. You get stuck with all the paint in the pipette, unless you're willing to work at getting it out :(

Really, the best way with Citadel (or any paint that is not airbrush paint) is to decant it into a dropper, and mix it properly with thinner. That way, every time you use it, it is the correct consistency.

Obviously, that's not practical if you only need a little.

I would recommend to mix your paint just before using the airbrush. I have bad experiences with storing mixed paint, especially waterbased colors and GW's stuff, as some areas dry up and clump. If that goes in your airbrush.. well you know the result. I always use a clean pot and mix it just prior to using the airbrush. Also I have better experiences with some brands than others, where GW's colors are by far the worst I have ever used in an airbrush no matter the consistency of the paint. Especially metallic paints tend to clump up and are much harder for me to get rid of. Tamiya with their own thinner is the best for me so far. Although unhealthy to use without a mask and needing to buy their own thinner etc. I find the paintingexperience and result much more satisfying.

I either use a glass eyedropper or those small coffee mixing sticks to scoop paint out and into a mixing pot.

Glass eyedropper is more expensive but you can clean it with the harshest of thinner without a problem.

Talys wrote:
I don't like pipettes at all. You get stuck with all the paint in the pipette, unless you're willing to work at getting it out :(

That's basically my feeling as well. I used a couple of different droppers and came to the conclusion it wasn't worth the effort. It sounds nice, just pick up some paint and drop it in to the cup... but then half the paint stays in the dropper and you have to use thinner to get it out, especially if it's a reusable one that you don't want tainted but even if it's a disposable one I don't like just throwing out a bunch of paint. So any convenience in being able to drop paint in to the cup is lost in the end.

Using a brush to extract paint has always been pretty easy for me. I don't even think about it any more, at most it takes maybe 5 to 10 seconds longer than using a dropper bottle.

I do use eye droppers for other stuff which is more suited to it like my airbrush cleaner and occasionally I use vodka when airbrushing and it's easiest to pour it in to a smaller cup and then use the eyedropper to transfer it to the airbrush. But I don't like using them for paint.

As a person who uses a LOT of brands of paints, the best solution in my honest opinon is to swtich paints.
The vallejo game air, and model air lines are very good (and can be brush painted) and the minitaire airbrush line is decent too.

If you must use citadel paints ....

go to your pharmacy, and ask for a medicine syringe, they will usually give you one for free (or buy some children s medication).

They are plastic syringes that you can suck up paint (or what ever) in measured quantities and squirt them out.

for thinning (search for it, there are HUNDREDS of posts on this) I prefer airbrush medium (either golden brand, or liquitex) as it mixes VERY well and never has a bad reaction with the paints.

Yeah, sometimes I thin with other stuff (tamiya acrylic thinner, 91% alcohol, used to use windex, etc.) but after having tried a lot of things (and breathed a lot of fumes...) I prefer the real airbrush medium...its worth every penny.

best of luck!

davethepak wrote:
The vallejo game air, and model air lines are very good (and can be brush painted) and the minitaire airbrush line is decent too.

I've never really liked brush painting with Vallejo's air range. I'll do it when I have to do it (say I airbrushed a highlight, I finish it off with a hairy brushed edge highlight of the same colour), but for the most part I prefer to airbrush the regular paints than having to hairy brush paint the airbrush paints.

Buy some empty pots, or eat lots of jam, the use them to make pots of pre thinned paints you use a lot.