How thick – an airbrush question

[Calimero]

Hello all,

I got an "inexpensive" airbrush and small compressor set as a gift last Christmas. I haven’t used it yet... I was wondering how thick the paint could be when using airbrush. I would like to use it to paint some homemade movement trays. I would like the color to match the color of my figures bases which I paint using rather thick craft paint.

IIRC the airbrush I have in the set could be use with a gravity fed or a small bottle under it... if that change anything...

Cheers!

[nic-e]

An airbrush lays down a thin even layer of colour. You'll need to thin your paint considerably to get it to actually flow through the brush.
In this case thin doesn't mean weak, And a couple of passes should give you a decent solid coverage of colour.

[Svennn]

I'll stick my two penneth in but I would never claim to be an expert by any means. The only real answer is practice but I always remember being told to go for the consistency of semi skimmed milk. It will probably seem watery and too thin but multiple thin coats will be better than one thick one.  Buy one useful colour of Vallejo Model Air and have a play, these are pre thinned and spray well straight from the dropper (I do sometimes thin these a bit further too).  I do regularly spray with craft paints. I thin them with water and a touch of airbrush thinner and I think the trick is stir, stir and stir again before putting it through the brush.

[Norm]

Keeping an airbrush clean is essential.

If this is your first go, first strip down the airbrush and understand the relationship between the needle and everything else. There are some great YouTube videos that cover the subject.

After use, you are going to have to clean everything, so this is when the above knowledge is essential.

You will want paint in a gravity feeder mixed with thinner to get a consistency of milk.

You will want the compressor set between 15 and 20 for starters, more towards 20 if you get your paint mix wrong.

Have a bucket of water next to you so you can swill out and spray out remainder paint between colours or refills etc.

[Calimero]

"milk consistency" is what I've eared too... that's why I was asking as it's hard to dilute the kind of craft paint I use for the figure’s bases... it tends to separate the pigments from the flowing agent 

Anyhow, I’ve copy and paste your replies on a word document and do some experiment as soon as I can 

Cheers!

[zemjw]

I haven't tried with craft paint, but you probably want to use proper acrylic thinners rather than just water. There's acrylic medium in the thinners, which should help keep the pigments together.

Whether you need to thin it with thinners and then thin that mix with airbrush thinners (depends on the airbrush thinner to some extent) is something you'll need to experiment with.

[Grimmnar]

As mentioned above yes milk consistency is what I have read and heard on airbrushing videos. And I will add as stated above that it is "skim milk" and not "whole milk" LOL consistency.
Best offer I can say is Google it. You will have more than enough sources to read or vid watch. Remember, each paint is different to thin down. Depending on the paint source will make the medium change as well.
Google and have at it.

Grimm

[Billchuck]

I have thinned craft paint with water and it has worked fine.

[Calimero]

Thanks all for the replies... testing postponed as I have a painting commission to finish first!