What paint to use in airbrush?

[Rocket]

Hey guys im new here and i just finished my first model, the paint job sucks! so i watched a couple of youtube vids and found out they use airbrushes,anyways i bought one and i need paint.
What do you recommend.
Thanks Rocket

 

[MrNatural]

Throughout my experience I have always enjoyed Tamiya Acrylics thinned with the Tamiya x-20a thinner and
Model Master Acrylics thinned with 90% isopropyl alcohol, the Model Master Acrylic thinner works just as well. I just recently started getting into spraying the Model Master Enamels thinned with generic brand lacquer thinner with excellent results.

As far as thinning ratios go with your paint and thinner its up to you to experiment to find out what works best for you and your airbrush. What works well for me is....

Acrylics-40% paint 60% thinner

Enamels-20-30% paint 70-80% thinner

Isopropyl alcohol works great for cleaning acrylics out of your brush as well as windex. after spraying enamels I always disassemble my airbrush and clean thoroughly with the lacquer thinner

hope this helped ;D

 

[Grendels]

And make sure that if you spray with enamels, that you do NOT spray alcohol or water through your air brush until it is throughly cleaned out. If you do you end up with one major gummy mess.....

I am speaking from experience here.

 

[Rocket]

Thanks Guys,that helped a lot next time i go to my hobby shop ill check them out.

 

[JMac]

Big thing here, is to just try out your airbrush with some paints. Everyone here has thier personal technique to mixing and thinning paint. I've posted how I do it, and other members have said that in the past using the same method was a gong show for them. Take some of the advice, and some scrap cardboard with a few sheets of white paper taped to it and experiment.

 

[ScaleModelMadman]

Big thing here, is to just try out your airbrush with some paints. Everyone here has thier personal technique to mixing and thinning paint.

/Truth

8)

I airbrush Lifecolor mostly, Vallejo second and have tried my Badger ModelFelx paints that I won in the contest and they all require different mixing and application techniques in my experience. I also occasionally spray Floquil railroad enamels and they require their own techniques as well.

As JMac mentioned, the best thing you can do is take all the advice as just that... advice and not the written law of modeling and go out and experiment with your tools and your paints and your method.


More often than not, you will find things that some people claim 'you can't do' while others do it with ease and have great results.

 

[Steve_L]

Usually, I use Tamiya and Vallejo paints.

For Tamiya paints I use an IPA/water mixture as thinner. For Vallejo paints I use Tamiya thinners only. Once I have trided IPA and Vallejo paints- big mistake - I ended up with a gummy mess!

Took me almost one hour to clean my airbrush

 

[Rocket]

Thanks for all the help guys,as soon as my airbrush gets here all start testing!
Thanks Rocket

 

[Splashcoat]

Another thing to keep in mind is to lay down a decnt primer coat before you airbrush a finish (colour) coat. I prefer an enamel or laquer based primer coat as it has a bit more "bite" and bonds better with the surface of the model than some acrylics. A more aggressive primer also seals in and combines dissimilar materials (styrene/photo-etch/resin) and provides a more even surface finish. I prefer to airbrush with acrylics because the cleanup is easier so I use Rustoleum Painter's Touch Grey Primer from a spray can as a primer. I've tried different brands and this one is the best; the can provides a low-volume, easily controlled spray pattern and the paint goes on very thin and smooth and is easily sandable. I've applied many different brands of paint over this primer and have never experienced and adverse reactions. Good luck.

 

[MrNatural]

...I use Rustoleum Painter's Touch Grey Primer from a spray can as a primer. I've tried different brands and this one is the best; the can provides a low-volume, easily controlled spray pattern and the paint goes on very thin and smooth and is easily sandable. I've applied many different brands of paint over this primer and have never experienced and adverse reactions. Good luck.

I just recently switched to Rustoleum Automobile primer which works just as well and its only about $4 U.S. for a 16 ounce spray can! I used to buy the expensive Tamiya brand lacquer based primer in the spray can, its like $9 U.S. for a little 180 ml can. You can seriously only prime 3 or 4 models with it until it runs out.