Daft question regarding thining paints

[RuneBrush]

Hi All,

This likely contains the daftest question you\'re going to see on here for a bit, but hey I also have a couple of slightly more sensible question as well.

I\'ve recently bought an airbrush, a number of empty containers and some new pots of paint (all GW). My intention is to decant my paints into the empty containers, mixing up my \'common colours\' as I go. This also means that I can airbrush and paint using the same paint.

After searching here, I have bought a pot of Tamiya Acrylic Thinners, as this is apparently the best thing to use.

1) Firstly, is it OK to use this thinned paint on my mini\'s with a brush? I know that as its alcohol based, it aids the drying time when spraying from an airbrush, but what about when its on a pallete?
2) Should I wait to thin the paint down in the container until I\'m ready to spray with it?
3) Is it OK to thin paint for airbrushing with thinners and later on, re-thin it with water for brush painting?
4) The daft question is I\'m guessing that I ought to avoid licking my brush if I\'ve thinned my paint with proper acrylic thinners instead of water :drunk:

thanks,

Pete

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by RuneBrush
After searching here, I have bought a pot of Tamiya Acrylic Thinners, as this is apparently the best thing to use.

Best is subjective. It depends on what brand you\'re spraying, the airbrush to a certain extent and personal preference on spraying distance & pressure. I use water (for artists\' acrylics). Lots of UK armour and aircraft modellers use screen wash (for hobby paints like Vallejo).

Originally posted by RuneBrush
1) Firstly, is it OK to use this thinned paint on my mini\'s with a brush? I know that as its alcohol based, it aids the drying time when spraying from an airbrush, but what about when its on a pallete?

If it works (and I doubt it will) it\'ll dry really fast. Plus the solvent action of the diluent will tend to dissolve and lift the paint beneath. Try it, see how it goes.

Originally posted by RuneBrush
2) Should I wait to thin the paint down in the container until I\'m ready to spray with it?

I think it\'s probably best to thin when needed.

Originally posted by RuneBrush
3) Is it OK to thin paint for airbrushing with thinners and later on, re-thin it with water for brush painting?

No. You can thin with both water and alcohol, but for brush-painting I think the alcohol won\'t do you any favours.

Originally posted by RuneBrush
4) The daft question is I\'m guessing that I ought to avoid licking my brush if I\'ve thinned my paint with proper acrylic thinners instead of water :drunk:

Definitely. Unless you\'re using Everclear or another source of ethyl alcohol getting drunk is the least of your worries... you don\'t want to go blind do you?

Einion

 

[sg2009]

is it safe to lick your brushes if you use tamiya paints
???

 

[Ritual]

You really shouldn\'t!

 

[War Griffon]

Firstly there is no such thing as a stupid question.
Well OK there is By deffinition a stupid question is the question that is never asked.

Tamiya paints although they are defined as acrylic are actually alcohol based, yes they do thin with water but thin much better using their own brand thinners. To that end don\'t use Tamiya thinners for any other paints other than Tamiya.

Sam @ I used to lick my brush when I used Tamiya paints did it do me any harm? Well I am still here :flip::bouncy::flip:

 

[sg2009]

Originally posted by War Griffon
Sam @ I used to lick my brush when I used Tamiya paints did it do me any harm? Well I am still here :flip::bouncy::flip:

you shouldnt scare people like that lol

 

[airhead]

Rune, go find some real artist\'s paints (Golden, Liquitex, Winsor & Newton, etc.)

Find a bottle of airbrush medium. Looks like skim milk. (A bottle of glaze medium will work)

Get a gallon of distilled water or deionized water.

Wear contacts or have a friend that does? Get a saline bottle from them. Pop the little dripper thingy out of the bottle - SAVE IT. Rinse everything well. You don\'t really need the salt.

Fill that about 1/4 full of airbrush media. Fill the remainder with the water. Put the dripper thingy back in the bottle. Now you have the best thing to dilute your paints with.

 

[RuneBrush]

Hi All,

Blimey some very good answers to my questions. I\'m going to be sticking to GW paints, as its what I\'m most familiar with and I\'ve got them already.

The tamiya thinners arrived today, crikey a nice smell of pure alcohol unfortionatly not the pleasant drinking kind! I forget where I read that they were really good for using with GW paints in an Airbrush (mines a badger 200 btw) - sounds like I may have been swayed a bit too quickly, although I\'m sure that I read it in more than one article.

I\'m going to try and get some airbrush medium and I can easily get my hands on some purified water and empty 100ml and 35ml dropper bottles. I\'ll then do a comparison between the two and see what suits me and the airbrush best.

I do like the idea of having a dropper bottle full of water for thining paint down though!

Thanks again, and feel free to make any more comments!

Pete

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by sg2009
is it safe to lick your brushes if you use tamiya paints
???

Really it\'s not safe to lick brushes using any paint, even watercolours which may be nothing more than pigment, the gum binder and honey. Any pigment is potentially \'toxic\' and there are a host of other things in acrylic and vinyl paints that you wouldn\'t want to ingest if you knew what they were.

In the developed world we already ingest and absorb a host of things that we shouldn\'t, no need to consciously add to the burden.

Einion

 

[airhead]

I\'ll lick my brush after I\'ve washed it out. Just to make sure it dries with a nice point.

Never with the paint loaded up.

 

[sg2009]

Originally posted by Einion

Originally posted by sg2009
is it safe to lick your brushes if you use tamiya paints
???

Really it\'s not safe to lick brushes using any paint, even watercolours which may be nothing more than pigment, the gum binder and honey. Any pigment is potentially \'toxic\' and there are a host of other things in acrylic and vinyl paints that you wouldn\'t want to ingest if you knew what they were.

In the developed world we already ingest and absorb a host of things that we shouldn\'t, no need to consciously add to the burden.

Einion

??? so short answer yes lol

 

[ErunnerXI]

Originally posted by sg2009

Originally posted by Einion

Originally posted by sg2009
is it safe to lick your brushes if you use tamiya paints
???

Really it\'s not safe to lick brushes using any paint, even watercolours which may be nothing more than pigment, the gum binder and honey. Any pigment is potentially \'toxic\' and there are a host of other things in acrylic and vinyl paints that you wouldn\'t want to ingest if you knew what they were.

In the developed world we already ingest and absorb a host of things that we shouldn\'t, no need to consciously add to the burden.

Einion

??? so short answer yes lol

Seriously, with all the paint and paste I\'ve eaten... I don\'t know man. Is this real?!

 

[False Keraptis]

I used to lick my brushes to form a nice point when I was a kid; now the nurses have to spoon feed me.

Seriously though, I did, and thinking back on it, those minis were made from deadly, deadly lead. It probably knocked off a couple IQ points... I just form the tip with my fingers now; I figure licking could be bad, but there\'s no way it\'s good, so I\'m done.