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Hello everyone,

Due to some advice from fellow posters, I've purchased an airbrush and it's on its way, hopefully to help me finish my army finally! However I am kind of at a loss as to what paint I should get, or what paint will even work in an airbrush. I noticed citadel has air paints now, but they seem a bit expensive.. is there a more cost effective alternative that will produce similar results? There are alot of products out there, it's difficult for me to tell the difference between some of the paint "types".

Can I use any old paint as long as I thin it enough?

Thanks in advance for your help.

you might look up a review of paints for airbrushes as well

I've heard good things about minitaire (sp?) which is badger's own line - and they make airbrushes so presumably they know what they're doing with paints too?

Also, vallejo has game air, which I have actually used, and I do like it, except a couple of the metals are tricksy I've found. These are nice because they don't require any thinning, but you also then don't get as much paint effectively. On the other hand, you don't seem to *use* as much paint airbrushing either.

more experienced people will hopefully comment as well, but I do know of some people who just use their regular paints, properly thinned and do fine as well. I'm too nervous to attempt it, because I hate cleaning out clogs, but just know it can be done. Hopefully someone will share their recipe for the proportions as well.

Anyway hope that helps some Happy painting!

Yeah you can use your old paints, just need a bit more work thinning them.

I tend to just buy whichever brand and range has the colour I want.

It can sometimes be a bit easier for some techniques to use certain paints, for example the mottled effect on the side of my Bf109 can be very hard to get perfectly smooth, so I went out of my way to use Gunze acrylics thinned with Gunze lacquer thinner, because it tends to go on smoother and less susceptible to pooling when sprayed very thin.

But that's more of an odd circumstance, 95% of the time I just use whatever paint I have on hand regardless of the brand or paint range.

Having a good thinner will help a lot. I use Vallejo's AB thinner for Vallejo, P3 and GW paint. I use Humbrol acrylic thinner for Reaper and Humbrol. I use Gunze Self Levelling Lacquer thinner for alcohol based paints like Tamiya acrylics, Gunze acrylics and Gunze lacquers. I use Testors enamel thinner for Testors enamels and Humbrol enamel thinner for Humbrol enamels.

You can get away with using Vallejo thinner for Reaper and Humbrol as well. So if all you have is Vallejo, GW, P3, Humbrol and Reaper acrylics, you can get away with just having Vallejo AB thinner.

Thanks alot for the information, I now need to decide whether I should attempt thinning my old paints or just find the cheapest range out of the ones you mentioned, skink. My old paints are acrylic though so it worries me to try and thin them, I imagine they're the worst for gunking up the brush.

Research time!

When using your old paints, the difficulty is thinning them identically, in terms of thinner/flow improver/retarder, and paint ratio. Often, the mediums have a different finish than your original paint, so fi you use a more thinner / less paint, you may end up with a shinier model, or less shiny model, for example. The consistency is more an issue than the result (you don't want half your rhinos being shiny!). It's less an issue if you varnish.

One way around it is to thin your whole bottle of old paint, but this offers less savings.

The GW paint is not a bad deal if you can get it at a good discount, but it's a web-only item, so the discount may be little-to-none at some independents. Personally, I really like the Citadel air paints for basecoats. I think they're perfect, because the finished paintjob is identical to the color and glossiness of the brush-on paint, though of course, the finish from a spray and a brush are not going to be the same.

Vallejo Game Air and Model Air are really nice paints, with the exception of a few weak colors like whites and yellows. The new Vallejo Metallic Air (or whatever they're called... they come in short fat pots and are pricey, but come with a lot of paint), are really nice paints, but many of the colors are indistinguishable from each other.

I have never tried the Badger Minitaire, but mostly because I can't get it here easily.

I use Badger Minitaire and Vallejo Game Air, love them both!

I'll second the Minitaire suggestion, stuff is great! If I were to start again I'd go straight to them. There's a pretty steep learning curve to airbrushing and getting paint to the right consistency is a big part of it.

I thin the entire bottle at once..
Saves me the hassle of thinning small batches of paint at a time.. And I also use different brands.. So I aim to thin everything to around the same consistency..
And I'm one of those oinks that use the same paints for both airbrushing and hairy brushing..
Having all paints prethinned saves me some time.. I just have to shake the bejeezus out of them every now and then.
Dropping some agitator balls in the droppper bottles also helps..

These guys covered most of it... I'd recommend staying away from lacquer or enamel paints at least to begin, there are too many good water based acrylic paints to use. I like the idea of thinning the entire bottle!

Most often I use regular Vallejo Game or Model Colour mixed with Liquitex Airbrush Medium.

When I use regular GW, P3 or Andrea paints I also use Liquitex Airbush Medium.

Vallejo Air, Vallejo Surface Primers and Miniatare don't necessarily need thinning but sometimes I'll still add a bit - of Liquitex Airbrush Medium.

The new GW AIR paints I've only recently started using - the Mephiston Red is gorgeous - however these are a nightmare to clean!! ...every other paint I've listed cleans off easily with a mixture of Alcohol and water - these do not!

For the GW AIR paints you need a special cleaner, which is enough to make me regret starting this project with them - but so far I've found the "GW Air Cleaner" works good enough but it's quite expensive. My friend said that Iwata-"medea" AB cleaner also works which you can find cheaper on Amazon.

In the beginning you'll spend more time cleaning than painting with your AB, I'd say skip the new GW AIR paints at least until you get the hang of things.

AncientSkarbrand wrote:
Thanks alot for the information, I now need to decide whether I should attempt thinning my old paints or just find the cheapest range out of the ones you mentioned, skink. My old paints are acrylic though so it worries me to try and thin them, I imagine they're the worst for gunking up the brush.

Research time!

Acrylics are fine. I mostly use the enamels and lacquers on military models, enamels and lacquers have their advantages but you probably won't see the benefit of them initially.

I would just buy the colours you need as you need them. That way you can work your way through a few different ranges and settle on the ones you like the best.

These days I probably like Tamiya alcohol based acrylics the best, thinned with Gunze self levelling thinner, but some others may not agree with me, and in a few months I may change my mind again