VMC with airbrush.

[dshavers]

Have any of you guys that use airbrushes had decent experiences pushing VMC through the airbrush? What do you guys use to thin down the paint with? I've read some use airbrush medium, some use just distilled water, and some use distilled water and Isopropyl alcohol. On another note, any experiences with other paints such as P3 or Reaper?

 

[ScottRadom]

I've used P3 and VMC with success. I use the Vallejo thinner for the VMC, seems to work fine. I just used water with the P3 and it was fine too.

 

[Tagamoga]

Thinner MAY have a little problem. If you use to much to thin you color down, spray it on a already painted part and IF the pressure is to high, it MAY disintegrate the layer, that is already dry, bevore the thinner can dry up itself. So you CAN get ugly streaks.

Greetings, Taggi

 

[fuzbuckle]

I use Reaper Master Series Paints with a mixture of water, reaper flow improver and reaper drying retarder.

50% water
25% flow improver
25% drying retarder

I start with a 3:2 ratio of paint to mixture and then add more mixture until I get a skim milk consistency. I haven't had any issues. The only downside is that the drying retarder can add some gloss to the paint so I'm going to try a different thinning mixture the next time I airbrush that replaces some of the drying retarder with either more flow improver or matte additive.

 

[freakinacage]

when i used vmc, i used water and a tiiiiny bit of flow improver

 

[dshavers]

Thanks everyone. Might be safe to just stick with water. I have a mixture of water and flow aid that I use for thinning when brush painting so I'll give that a go. I was watching the Weathering tutorial from Miniature Mentor and Mathieu Fontaine thins his P3 paint down with a Isopropyl alcohol/Water mix. What is the reason for the alcohol?

 

[Beamo]

From what I've seen, people use alcohol to aid in keeping the airbrush clog-free. Some paints people use don't dilute well with water, so they use alcohol, I believe.

you can also use windex.


I use a liquitex airbrush medium, myself. I run that with the VMC paint and a non-toxic airbrush cleaning solution, and it does pretty well. sometimes I have a bad clog night, but I've also gotta keep the toxic fumes to a minimum, as I airbrush in my living room.

I keep my ratio at roughly 2:1:1 (Airbrush medium:VMC:Cleaning solution) adjusting as I feel I should, depending on the paint

 

[Ghudra]

Similar to what Freakinacage said, I use mainly water & a wee bit of Future for VMC. No beading & everything smells better with Future.

 

[Tercha]

What is the reason for the alcohol?
I am pretty sure so it breaks the meniscus (surface tension) of the water to prevent "beading" of the paint