RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Having not really used acrylic paints in my air brush before thoughtid ask this community that may have, what dilution percentage paint to thinner is best in their opinion. I’ll be using Tamiya paints with the Tamiya acrylic thinner.
Thanks in advance!

Larry.

Hi Larry,

IMHO ....I have use Tamiya paints pretty much exclusively for 45 years through a number of airbrushes. First, I use Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) instead of the overpriced Tamiya thinner. Never had an issue with it. Just make sure you buy it over 95% pure. Here in the drug stores you can buy a litre for $4.00 so it is so much cheaper!

Start with a cut 50/50 and make sure you strain it into the airbrush paint bottle to remove any small little chunks which no matter how much you stir or shake can still be there! I use my wife's old nylons to strain. It should have the consistency of milk so sometimes I find I have to thin it a little more. I use about 14-18 pounds pressure. If you go to high the paint will hit the surface almost dry so you don't get good bonding or at worst case looks like chalk. Of course too low a pressure and you won't get proper draw of the paint and spray. for lighter colours, washes, streaks, etc.. of course the cut is less paint. Some of my wash over sprays are down to 95% thinner, 5% paint...

Hope this helps!

dgsselkirk wrote:Hi Larry,

IMHO ....I have use Tamiya paints pretty much exclusively for 45 years through a number of airbrushes. First, I use Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) instead of the overpriced Tamiya thinner. Never had an issue with it. Just make sure you buy it over 95% pure. Here in the drug stores you can buy a litre for $4.00 so it is so much cheaper!

Start with a cut 50/50 and make sure you strain it into the airbrush paint bottle to remove any small little chunks which no matter how much you stir or shake can still be there! I use my wife's old nylons to strain. It should have the consistency of milk so sometimes I find I have to thin it a little more. I use about 14-18 pounds pressure. If you go to high the paint will hit the surface almost dry so you don't get good bonding or at worst case looks like chalk. Of course too low a pressure and you won't get proper draw of the paint and spray. for lighter colours, washes, streaks, etc.. of course the cut is less paint. Some of my wash over sprays are down to 95% thinner, 5% paint.
Hope this helps!

Thanks so much for the sound advice and information.
This should be made a sticky for folks wishing to try their hands at air brushing.
It’s not really that difficult and the results can be very satisfying.

Tamiya paints, add a little water and spray away.

Tamis paints seem to be the easiest. Valley is a different story. These need thinners an flow improves and getting used to. Recently I started with MIG paints and Mr color leveling thinners. Still in the try out phase.

I have used Tamiya Acrylics, thinned with water and a drop of liquid dish soap. I have never had an issue running it through my Badger 350 Airbrush.

The use of the dish soap was to help break surface tension of the water. This is what I was told years ago. It has always worked just fine, with no problems or issues.

Just to chime in,

My thinner of choice for acrylics is 50% alcohol. I tried a higher percentage, but it was drying to quick to suit me. I had been using the Tamiya thinner, but I found that if I poured thinned paint back into the jar, the entire bottle of paint would clump up and be unusable. Haven't had that problem using the alcohol. This seems to work with just about any acrylic paint. I even thin and spray the craft acrylics. Just have to mix good to avoid clumps.

Bill