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Super quick question- Its my first time thinning paints and I am wondering if I am thinning too much or not enough. How many layers do you all normally have to apply to build up to the correct color (assuming lets say, gray primer). It is currently taking me 4 full coats, but the paint is acting a little closer to a wash so it has me worried that i am doing something wrong. Advice?

You might want to have it a little thicker as a starting point; to be honest paint thickness is as much about preference as it is about "getting it right".

For very detailed, multi-layered painting a very thin paint is fantastic. For knocking out a bunch of troops it will be a PITA.

My basic target is paint about as thick as milk - this typically requires 1.5 - 2 coats to get a "full" colour from a grey or white undercoat. However, this is because I like being lazy and use my undercoat to add to the highlighting effect by allowing some of it to show through (I undercoat white generally).

Mixing in additives such as flow aid or acrylic medium will also alter how the paint behaves but for basic painting, water is generally fine (IMO).

One coat of my preferred strength (TM) of orange paint over a white undercoat:

As for base coating, I advise on thinning just as much as needed for the paint to flow smoothly, without leaving brush strokes. An extremely rough ratio may be 2:1=paint:water, depending on starting thickness (vmc-xo, vmc, vgc, gw base, gw layer...). With such a "density", 2 to 3 layers may be enough.

Further thinning (1:1 up to 3:1 or even 5:1 water:paint - again, roughly) result in a glaze/watercolour/wash consistency, which may actually be employed for smooth transitions in the lighting/shadowing phases.

Awesome, thanks guys. Yeah this is all for run of the mill troops so i think i will tone it down on the thinning a little bit, im using a mixture of water/flow aid/drying retarder as my thinner and doing 2:1 paint to thinner, but i am using reaper master series which are a little bit thinner as it is. I'll mess with the formula. Thanks again guys!

For regular painting I usually use 3 drops of thinner for every drop of paint. I prefer this ratio since it won't clog up any detail but I can still get a solid colour over 2or 3 coats over primer. You should never use paint straight from the pot [even VMA], unless for drybrushing which for some strange reason works better with thicker paints.

 sing your life wrote:
. You should never use paint straight from the pot [even VMA], unless for drybrushing which for some strange reason works better with thicker paints.

Actually, VMA is fine from the pot in most cases when brushing it on. I'd hesitate to thin it further that its normal consistency save for really fine detail.

 Paradigm wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
. You should never use paint straight from the pot [even VMA], unless for drybrushing which for some strange reason works better with thicker paints.

Actually, VMA is fine from the pot in most cases when brushing it on. I'd hesitate to thin it further that its normal consistency save for really fine detail.

not really, the regular VMA consistency isn't too thick but the paint feels a little dry and not fluid without a little thinner.

 sing your life wrote:
For regular painting I usually use 3 drops of thinner for every drop of paint. I prefer this ratio since it won't clog up any detail but I can still get a solid colour over 2or 3 coats over primer. You should never use paint straight from the pot [even VMA], unless for drybrushing which for some strange reason works better with thicker paints.

wow.. that is way thinner than i was doing... how do you get that to cover adequately in so few coats? I was using 1 thinner to 2 paint and it took me 4 coats to build up the full color