What’s your favorite paint-alcohol thinner ratio for airbrushing applications? 1:1?
I use 2 parts paint one part thinner.
Rarely if ever have I found a need to thin Tamiya Acrylics.
99% of the time straight from the bottle.
If you give me till tomorrow I will check what the japanese modelers recommend, but 1:1 seems to too high a ratio maybe 1 part thinner to 4 or 5 parts colour.
I have heard a ratio of 1:1 for Tamiya but no specifics if it was enamel or acrylics.
[#ditto][#ditto]
If I do thin it, it is usually 1 part thinner to 3 parts paint.
i mostly use tamiya acrylics.
i usually put at least 1 to 3 ratio. 1 thinner 3 paint.
but somtimes i feel like it doesn’t come out smoothly. so i put a little bit more each time i test shoot the airbrush. so it might be 1 to 2. or even 1 to 1.
whatever comes out smooth is good enough for me.
if it comes out too bumpy and a little bubblily, then i put more thinner and alcohol in.
and it also depends on the pressure of the airbrush i guess. the less pressure you have, then the slower the paint comes out. so if the paint has too much thinner, it still has a good chance of good use. if the pressure is low, and if u press the trigger down just a slight bit, then the paint will come out smooth.
alclad paints are pretty thin. and it still comes out pretty smooth. so i guess more thinner won’t be a bad thing.
Straight out the bottle and some drops of badger airbrush cleaner mixed. It works great for me. It does’nt clog up the airbrush as much as straight out the bottle does, but I guess adding a bit of thinner would work fine for me as well.
Does a Tamiya paint jar fit the screw cap of a airbrush paint jar on a Badger?
I’ve never paid attention to the ratio. I’ve always just used the “milk rule.”
That is, I just thin it a bit until it is about the consistancy of milk. Works great for me!
I heard of that milk rule, is it 2% milk, skim milk, or homogenized milk?
There was an article in FSM about one or two years ago where many modelers interview only used acrylics. Most of them using Tamiyas said it was a 1:1 mixture. I use that and get some pretty good results. Doing this helps me spray at about 8 psi.
Couple of questions. Do you want to spray at as low a PSI as possible? If so, what is the benefit? Also, for the inexperienced modeller, is there a difference between enamels and acrylics for airbrushing other than the health issues? I have heard that enamels go on better, but is that just something a really experienced modeler would notice?
Lower PSI allows for finer detail painting and less overspray, although paint atomization is better at higher pressures. Most use somewhere between 10-25 PSI depending on the paint medium.
Enamels have better adhesion than acrylics but they are more toxic than water based acrylics. Acrylics normally cure faster though.
Mike
I use the milk rule…but i try to use the thinner thats made for that paint !!! Superglue
For Tamiya I use a 2:1 ratio for general spraying and 1:1/2 for fine lines and detail. My thinner is 91% Isoprophol Alcohol. Some of my best freehand camo work was possible with these paint to thinner ratios. My modeling subjects are 1/72nd scale modern and some WWII warbirds with intricate camo.
That’s the same ratio! 67% + 33%. Did you mean to say something else?
Hungfarlow,
My (2:1) ratio is 2 full eyedroppers of paint to 1 eye-dropper of thinner where as the (1:1/2) is 1 eye dropper of paint to one half an eye dropper of thinner. Hope that helps you visualize the ratios, I don’t know if they are the same mathematicaly. But anyway what I typed is what I do when measuring my paint-to-thinner ratios, works for me great!
That is the same ratio, just a lesser amount of paint mix.
I thin mine 1:1 and sometimes with Mr. Color thinner to good effect.[;)]
This looks like the right place to get help…recently I have been experimenting with acrylic based paints over enamel. While it is true that acrylic paints are an easier clean up than oil based I am having a harder time getting (I am using Tamiya acrylic) acrylic paints to thin out evenly. I am using water at a 4:1 ratio and still the paint is coming out of my airbrush clumpy. What am I doing wrong? Is there an alternative thinner that I can buy for acrylic paint?
Your replys will be greatly appreciated!
You can get the Tamiya thinner or maybe you you have hard water at your location. Try using distilled water. The Tamiya thinner works very well but is expensive. I would try to thin it out a little more. Make sure you stir the paint up.