I read that on the net in a bunch of places but it didn't work.
As some of you may remember, the first time I used acrylics in my airbrush it produced a less than desirable effect.
I thinned it wrong then and I'm thinning it wrong now. The water didn't do any kind of dissolving at all. Actually I was able to pour the water out of this and leave the paint in. That's how separated it was.
I gave up and just used some thinners I had laying around. I think they were enamel. The paint dissolved, I loaded it up and sprayed. It seemed to work.
I will accept this result. I thinned it too much and the paint come out ultra thin and runny but it atomized well. If I spray at a distance I can get a decent coat but I need to do it two or three times to get it looking nice and dark enough. Gloss coat on the metallic black would make it really pop I think. I'm using Mr. Hobby #78 Metallic Black which I believe is an acrylic paint. Otherwise I've really been screwing up!
Upon comparing this with my Sinanju I realize now that this paint is practically identical to the Tamiya Metallic Black lacquer mini spray can I was using. Hindsight. Oh well.
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Just a quick note here about using the airbrush. I'm still a beginner but I have to say that I am LOVING this machine. It's a bit more of a pain to paint now (as in I have to prepare for a painting session before I actually do it) but it's actually more fun and the amount of the control I have now is amazing! And this is from a cheap beginners airbrush that has a pretty wide spray field in comparison to what most other modelers are using.
Still though... when I think that I spent 120 yen on the paint, 400 yen on a big bottle of thinner and I thinned like a cap full of paint and put it in a tiny paint jar, I didn't even go through a third of it and I could spray over a dozen pieces to satisfaction. Very impressed.
I still use spray cans though because sometimes I just want to spray something quick and be done with it but yeah... Very wasteful. Convenient but wasteful and not nearly as much control.
It's amazing to think that there were days when I hand painted! Can't imagine going back to that now.
Upon comparing this with my Sinanju I realize now that this paint is practically identical to the Tamiya Metallic Black lacquer mini spray can I was using. Hindsight. Oh well.
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Just a quick note here about using the airbrush. I'm still a beginner but I have to say that I am LOVING this machine. It's a bit more of a pain to paint now (as in I have to prepare for a painting session before I actually do it) but it's actually more fun and the amount of the control I have now is amazing! And this is from a cheap beginners airbrush that has a pretty wide spray field in comparison to what most other modelers are using.
Still though... when I think that I spent 120 yen on the paint, 400 yen on a big bottle of thinner and I thinned like a cap full of paint and put it in a tiny paint jar, I didn't even go through a third of it and I could spray over a dozen pieces to satisfaction. Very impressed.
I still use spray cans though because sometimes I just want to spray something quick and be done with it but yeah... Very wasteful. Convenient but wasteful and not nearly as much control.
It's amazing to think that there were days when I hand painted! Can't imagine going back to that now.
Been handbrushing stuff with Tamiya Acrylics for quite a while (okay, not for a real long time) and I've used 91% Isopropyl Alcohol to thin it (never tried water), and no problems so far.
ReplyDeleteisprpoyl alcohol, tamiya X-20 Thinner, dentaureted alcohol, or other acrylic thinner - I think that evry brand that produces acrylics produces their own thinner
ReplyDeleteI like using Laquer paint (Mr. Hobby) and using Mr. Color Thinner 110 to thin the paint. Very effective and the paint is much more durable than Acrylic, and better consistency then enamel.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see you enjoying the airbrush experience. Although I have to agree the time to prep a paint session is sometime tedious...
If you want to thin acrylic paint, i would suggest using the thinner made by the same people that make the paint (IE Tamiya X-20 acrylic thinner for their acrylic paints). On another note, you can make your own thinner for must less cost. Use equal parts water and 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol. I usually add in just a few drops of regular dish soap (like Dawn or Palmolive) as this helps to make sure that the paint doesn't dry up when flying out of the airbrush.
ReplyDeleteI myself copy G.G. and use lacquer paints. The only thing with lacquers is that you need to prime anything you're going to paint because lacquers have the nasty habit of eating through plastics. On a positive note, using lacquers makes it much easier to do washes with enamels and acrylics as lacquer isn't thinned with the same chemicals as either enamels or acrylics.
As a last type, the right consistency, at least I've found from personal experience, is about that of skim milk. An easy way to check this is to swirl the thinned paint mixture around in whatever you're mixing it in. If the paint just thinly coats the sides (I use clear shot glasses to mix paints) and then runs down without leaving a heavy coating, you've got a great consistency for air brushing.
Hope this helps with your airbrushing!
Also, just for reference, as I should've read your entire post before commenting.
ReplyDeleteMr. Hobby = Lacquer paints and must be thinned with lacquer thinner. (Note, Mr. Hobby also has an acrylic line under the Mr. Hobby Aqueos paints, or something like that name. I've never used them, personally)
Tamiya can spray = synthetic lacquer but can be thinned with regular lacquer thinner just like Mr. Hobby.
Both Tamiya and Testors make enamel and acrylic (Testors' acrylic paints are under the "Model Masters" line) paints. Each type of paint has its own associated thinner, but I've found that lacquer thinner will thin just about anything.
http://www.swannysmodels.com/Alclad.html
This is a really great article that talks about the properties of the 3 kinds of paints - lacquers, enamels, and acrylics. It explains how the pigment is suspended in different chemicals (lacquer, oil, and water) and how this effects painting your models.
Last note, I promise. Alclad makes amazing metallics. I use them for pretty much all my metallic airbrushing requirements. They also come pre-thinned! Less work! Woohoo!
Cheers
Schooled. Thanks for that Skip, good reading.
ReplyDeleteBuster is that a nub mark showing through the paint on the leg?
I think if you're going to the effort and expense of ABing, a bit of primer before painting to look for defects is probably not a bad idea.
Hemish from the forum does his test build, then blasts the assembled model with a quick coat of primer to look for defects and this also shows where paint is and is not required after you disassemble to paint. His models come up prfetty darn nicely too.
Go to the Gundam Australia Forum and search for WIP's by Hemish.
Hey, I just try to do my part in the Gunpla Community. Being in law school doesn't give me much time to work on models anymore let alone any time to run a blog like BB and various associated champs like GG, Gaijin, ASM, Lupes, or any of the folks over at GAF, but air brushing is still one of my passions.
ReplyDeletei see..that #78 is a lacquer type a.k.a solvent-based acrylic paint,..its diffrent from normal arcylic paint(water based),,.if u need put water to thin it ,,use water based type ^^...
ReplyDeletefor that #78 use mr leveling thinner or gaia lacquer thinner ^^
you guys ar the best! thanks for all this info! I'm going to go shopping today for some new chemicals. i had another massive failure last night trying to paint clear green and metallics. clogged up my airbrush some i'm gonna have to clean it up before i can start again.
ReplyDeletetonzo its not a nub mark. its just some paint that dried weird. and i always prime before i paint now thanks to the disaster that happened on my sinanju elbow joint.
great stuff guys, thanks again!
normal ratio for primary paint 1:3
ReplyDeletefor metaliic paint 1:1
skips link is great! awesome reading and easily understandable. whoever wrote that did a great job.
ReplyDeletei have this stuff laying around. maybe i'll try this first.
ReplyDeletegaia lacquer thinner t-01s
http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/s/?@0_mall/teduka/cabinet/02/0839801t-01hb.jpg
That would work to thin your Mr. Hobby paints. I'm glad you liked my link. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about this stuff. Like I said, I've made it a passion of mine. Plus researching about it gives me a nice break from reading absurd amounts of legal jargon all effing day.
ReplyDeleteYou can reach me at lord_caim2005@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
I'm hoping this summer to finally set up a Gunpla related blog and post some of my work. I'm 22 I've been building for almost half my life now. I'm surprised every day at the sheer number of the damn things that I have sitting around.
Good luck with your airbrushing!