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I just getting into miniature painting...

I have some Liquitex "Basics" acrylic paint (Mars Black and Titanium White. Vehicle: Acrylic Polymer Emulsion. Pigment: Synthetic Black Iron Oxide). It comes out of the tube very, very thick. Much thicker than my Testors, Vallejo, or Citadel paints. Its basically goop.

I can mix it well enough to create my perfect shade of gray, and its fine for detail work (I'm using a wet pallet). However I'm having difficulty thinning it to a consistency suitable for a base coat or wash.

I've tried thinning with just water (both tap and bottled water), but the paint becomes gummy and doesn't fully mix. Some of the paint does mix into the water, but then the color begins to separate.

I've tried mixing with "magic" wash: 4 parts water, 1 part SC Johnson Pledge Floor Care Multi-Surface Finish (what used to be called Future), and this mixes well, but the colors immediately separate, with black going to bottom and white going to top. (I mean they *immediately* separate the second I stop stirring with my brush).

Ideally I'd like to mix together a batch of my gray and store it in an empty bottle at a consistency similar to Vallejo, and use magic wash to thin it when needed. I've tried a variety of over the counter washes and they all make the model look very dirty. I'm trying to add some definition while maintaining a clean look, so I want a really subtle wash (the base coat is white or very light gray)

Is there something else I should be adding, or is the Liquitex Basics just the wrong kind of paint for modeling?

First off, Welcome to Dakka.

Artists acrylics are designed to mimic oils on canvas and are fantastic for that purpose. I can see them being thinned with enough Matte Medium but I have never tried it (might try when I get home tomorrow and can play with some of my wife's stuff).

If you are looking to create your own washes. Here is the man himself Les from Awesome Paint Job showing you how with inks.




Personally I tend to use oil washes over a gloss coat. It makes it much easier to get the desired coverage where you want it and clean up is pretty easy.

Hope that helps.

For the cheaper craft paints I personally use a 3:1 mic of water & pledge with future shine. If you choose to airbrush it I'd also add in a 1 part of at LEAST 70% isopropyl alcohol For a 3:1:1 ratio. But I use ceramic/craft paint all the time & produce good work. Even better with the airbrush. Thing is though, they separate so you may well have to remix from time to time.

@Red_Starrise do you use the 3:1 mix exclusively for washes, or for general thinning (say if you're trying to get the milk consistency for basecoat)?

I use it for both. I keep a premade bottle on my desk. For washes it depends on the effect but even for storebought washes like gw I still use this mix to help them settle into the recesses better & not just pool.

One thing you can do to make mixing easier is add a bb to the bottle you are storing your mix in. It will help agitate the paint when you shake the bottle.

Heavy body ('tube' paints) acrylics are intended for thicker applications. The pigment is more coarsely ground and found in a much lower density than in hobby paints (especially true of Basics, which are 'student' grade, i.e. workable, but pretty cheap and crappy, as paints go), as it's intended to be applied neat. When thinned to a similar consistency, these issues - normally less than critical - are exacerbated, leading to rapid separation, grainy applications, etc.

Thinning with acrylic medium, as well as water, can help, but they'll never behave like hobby paints. Better to leave them thicker and relegate them to terrain use or skip them altogether, IMO.

I added some Matte Medium with water and was able to thin them to a workable basecoat consistency. However when I add magic wash (3:1 water:magic wash) I have the same problem: the colors immediately separate.

I tried the same thing using a more expensive paint (Golden) and it worked a little better. It still separates but much slower, so I could imagine working with it (I'd just have to shake a few times while applying).

But it sounds like I should just invest in some hobby paints. I'm leaning towards Vallejo since the droppers would allow my to mix colors consistently between multiple sessions.

Were you using Golden's heavy or soft body paints? Their liquid acrylics (bottles, not tubes) work quite well, in my experience. They still take a little thinning to lay down perfectly smooth, but barely more than, say, a pot of GW paint. Much stronger pigmentation in many cases, too.

Regardless, I genuinely do believe that hobby paints are worth the expense. Pretty much any line (except GW) is reasonably priced (considering the rate of consumption on such tiny models) and simply works better for our painting tasks than most craft or canvas paints. I do like Vallejo and I do like dropper bottles (more for ease of dispensation and lack of paint lost to drying than for ease of measuring mix ratios), but don't discount other brands - P3, AP, and Reaper MSP all have good offerings, too.