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Hey gang,

I have recently started airbrushing (mainly just for a thinner base coat) and am wanting to get a little more versed in the entire style.

My question comes down to thinners. I have checked out a few forums and tutorials on airbrush techniques but it almost seams that everyone uses something different when it comes to thinning : from straight water to fancy off-the-shelf expensive thinners.

I want to avoid buying actual airbrush paint (Vellejo Air etc.) seeing as I have a good amount of GW paint as well as the entire Vellejo Model Color set.

So far I have had decent luck mixing my own (iso alcohol and water, 4 drops of thinner to 1 drop paint) but I am still timid...

Has anyone had any success with different types of thinners? Or is my ratio of paint/thinner shooting myself in the foot?
Any advise would be most appreciated, I am still very much a novice when it comes to airbrushing.

I have used 2 different ones:

Testors Aztek acrylic thinner
and
Winsor & Newton acrylic flow improver

I am finding that I prefer the Testors due to the bottle (its a built in dropper dispenser) and not needing to dilute it....not that I haven't used the W&N "straight"...I have and it works fine.

The Testors was about $7 and same for W&N...but I belive I got more Testors for the price.

Dude I use almost exclusively Vallejo Model Colors in my airbrush... it's certainly not necessary to buy 'air' paints.

It's significantly better to use a proper AB medium however. Alcohol works fine; and with some paints (GW but not vallejo) windex and other stuff might work... but a proper AB medium will work much better and will keep your tip wetter, longer.

I use Liquitex AB medium with everything... but I've used Vallejo and Golden and they are both fine. You can also thin the crap out of your paints with these mediums and make near transparents.

I make my own thinner from water, fluid matte medium and retarder. I find the retarder is the most important ingredient as it prevents the paint from drying on the tip and clogging.

I've always used water with Vallejo acrylics in an airbrush - no problems so far. My issue is that Vallejo acrylics don't seem to want to play nice with thinners other than Vallejo thinner, so occasionally I use Vallejo thinner - there's been no noticeable difference, as far as I can tell.

P3 paints take Vallejo thinner and water equally well, and I've also used the Tamiya Acrylic Thinner with these as well. Still, I just generally use water.

In terms of 'airbrush' paints, I've only got the Vallejo Air Metallic colours, and a smattering of the new Badger Miniataire Ghost Tints (just for testing).

It's simply because I think the VAM colours are ground more finely, and produce a better finished product than the non-VAM colours.

But P3, GW, Vallejo, and Reaper paints all spray fine through an airbrush. Except the GW drybrushing stuff, of course.

Awesome thanks for the response guys,

It makes sense now, the tip of my airbrush has been drying quickly and clogging... thus resulting is a 'spatter' rather than a smooth wet flow.

I will swing out to my local hobby shop and see what thinners they have out there in stock. I may also pick up a new compressor (since at the moment I'm using my Husky Air Scout I had sitting in my garage....) to get a more continuous airflow.

What ratio of paint to thinner is a good starting point? I suppose the more thinner would never hurt, just make the costs more translucent.

You're going to need an airbrush cleaner, so get some right quick.

The right consistency is supposed to be 2% milk for spraying paint through an airbrush. So, I suppose a stop at 7-11 is also in order.

For cleaner you can use your alcohol mix... or buy an airbrush cleaner; but I've always used alcohol and alcohol prep-pads are also a great (cheap) investment for AB cleaning.

As for consistency - you really have to figure out what is best for you and what is best for the current task; and what will work in your AB!

Also every paint pot will be different from the next so there really is no 'correct ratio' ...I would recommend ALWAYS mixing in a separate, clear cup. That way you can see what the consistency, that works for you best looks like consistently hah. Once you know what works for you your AB should never clog. And you really can never go too thin but that will obviously change how you use the AB and also the opacity of the result.

Vallejo AB thinners work equally well with VGC and Citadel paints.

I've been using it for 2-3 years and find it to be excellent.

I didn't even think about the cleaning solution I have been using... a guy at my local hobby shop said to use Simply Green (which i have been using) but I will switch to alcohol this next time.

Thank you all for your input and tips, it is very much appreciated!

I love actual airbrush medium, either liquitex or "golden" brand.

Worth every single penny (I had used alcohol, windex, etc.).

Get a coupon for a craft store, and try some.

Totally worth every penny in my opinion.
Also, if you are getting paint from GW pots, I would suggest some cheap droppers...I buy mine in bulk which makes them about 4 cents each.

One note: if you mix in the cup, put the medium in first, then the paint...

Best of luck!