Do you guys thin your enamels just like acrylic?
Cheers,
[:D]
Enamels will require thinning for airbrushing and can benefit from smaller additions of thinner for brush painting. I use mineral turpentine to thin Humbrol and Testors enamels though both companies market their own dedicated thinner. I thin a small quantity at a time in a clean pet food tray until a drop placed on the tray wall runs rapidly into the paint pool but leaves a bold colour streak. No hard or fast dilution rates as I find different colours behave differently. I then test spray and fine tune the dilution as necessary.
Thanks Simon. Agree that there’s no single dilution rate. Different colours have different ratios. Thanks once again.
Cheers
[:D]
Even if you brush paint, I’ve discovered that it goes better if you thin the paint. Nowadays when I open a new bottle of enamel, I add three or four drops of thinner and a dozen or so pellets of #12 birdshot (to help when mixing - shaken not stirred) without even thinking about it. I use DuPont 3812S enamel reducer as thinner - works just like OEM thinner for Model Master, Humbrol, Testors (small bottle) and even in the few bottles of Pactra I have remaining. Initial cost is somewhat higher - 21 to 25 bucks a gallon, but as a gallon will last me 2 to 2 1/2 years, (even with airbrushing), I figure that’s a lot cheaper than the equivalent amount of thinner purchased in the small bottles at the LHS.
I painted my 1/16 fig. with enamels (Tamiya - Flat Flesh) last night. They didn’t turn out as to what I’ve expected. It’s my first time using enamels though. I might have added too much tinner.
Maybe I’ll stick with Acrylics next time. It was a nice experience though. Trying something new.
Cheers,
[:D]
^ Tamiya enamels “glide” smoother than Tamiya acrylics. Maybe you were just not used to it.
They do “glide” a whole lot all right. Ya, I’m just not used to it. Will stick with acrylics in future. [:)]