Airbrushing Metallic Paints

[netminder69]

I got the cheapo GW airbrush to do some bulk basing of my marines. Is there anythign special I should do or need to look out for when using metallic paints through the airbrush? Should it be thinned with something special? Do people thin using just water? Lahmian Medium? Some other product?

 

Thanks for any help/advice.

[yesilderya]

Yes you should definetely thin the paint when shooting it through an airbrush. The GW airbrush is an external mixing gun (paint and air mixes in front of the nozzle) so it is less sensitive to thick paint clogging up the gun compared to internal mixing brushes (such as the more expensive fine detail capable guns like badger, iwata etc). But you will still have a better paint job if you thin the paint, because when thin the paint atomizes better and covers the sprayed surface in a smoother way.

 

Lahmian medium and other type of thinners have alcohol-like chemicals in them, which lowers surface tension and also makes the paint dry faster compared to thinning with water only, also the chemicals dissolves the pigments better and more evenly. Thinning with water makes the paint dry slower. I would recommend you to use airbrush thinner, but I presume Lahmian medium works fine too, never tried it.

 

Metallics have larger pigment grain sizes in general compared to non-metallics, and also GW paints are much thicker than airbrush specific acrylic paints. So long story short, YES! thin you paint before loading it in the gun. I recommend the following:

 

 

1. Buy either Lahmian medium or airbrush thinner (airbrush thinner such as: http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/vallejo/thinner/vallejo-thinner-medium-60ml/prod_15639.html )

2. Undercoat the models

3. Mix the thinner in equal parts with your GW metallic paint in the airgun paint pot

3. Spray in even thin coats over the minatures, let the previous coat dry for some minutes before putting on another coat.

 

I haven't used Lahmian medium, if it is thicker than regular acrylic paint thinner, then it should the thinned down with water before mixing with paint and shot through a gun. Especially when mixing it with GW paints since they are relatively thick acrylic paints.

 

I recommend to watch some miniature airbrushing tutorials on youtube to get an idea of how to do it.