Leftover paint in airbrush?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Sorry for this naive question [:$].

If one has lots of paint leftover in his/her airbrush after finishing a session, Does one empty it back into the original paint bottle?

I use acrylics exclusively and wonder if the “thinner” or other liquids I may have added to the paint (retardant, etc.) will ruin the paint in the bottle.

Mike

2

It’s not a good idea. The only time I do this is with alclad, because there is no external thinner. The thinner will upset the pigments in the paint bottle and you run the risk of getting contaminants back in there.

3

I do if I will be using that paint through out the build and will probably empty it any wats.

Bill

4

Tom and Bill,

Thanks for the quick responses.

I think both your answers are perfectly logical. I’ll just have to become a little more accurate in measuring how much paint to put in the cup/bottle of whichever A/B I’m using.

Thanks,

Mike

P.S. Bill, Do you have a WIP posted anywhere on your SMS Emden? It’s one of the early 20th century warships I have in my stash so I’m, of course, interested.

5

I throw it away. You don’t know how a paint exposed to air for some time would behave later. As far as I’m concerned, paints are very cheap compared to kits, so I don’t try to save $$ from saving paints.

6

Chrisk-k,

As penurious as I have to be (minimal fixed income in my retirement), I agree with you. I’ve spent way too much $ already on a ridiculous stash that I probably won’t live to build so I really shouldn’t be stingy with paint.

Mike

7

I use a bottom feed airbrush, so the paint is already in a bottle. I bought a bunch of bottles (I have six now), so I mix up all the colors I need for a project (never yet needed more than six), and store them in the bottles. I put them on the airbrush when I need that color, take it off when done. Amazon sells bottles for major airbrushes.

8

Great Ideal

Rick

9

Dump it and clean out your equipment