Are Citadel paints useless for airbrushing or am I a moron?

[Venerable Jazzman]

Seriously, if you're going out to buy screenwash go to Halfords and get their white primer at the same time

Halfords - £7.49 for 500ml

GW - £10.40 for 400ml

 

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/car-spray-paints/halfords-primer-white-500ml

[Evil Eye]

Well I return from Robert Dyas (wasn't able to get to Halfords today) with Windolene, which according to the sales assistant is more or less the same stuff as Windex (that is, screenwash/window cleaner). Is this correct, or have I made a mistake? If I have, oh well- we'll be having some cleaner windows.

[Mazer Rackham]

Should be fine.

 

Make sure you wear a mask whilst brushing and keep your shed door open.

 

The future of airbrush painted armies is now in your grasp!  Practice lots and enjoy - good luck brother!

 

MR.

[Seahawk]

I've used their air colors, completely unthinned, and it comes out perfectly flat and opaque. *shrug*

[Bloody Legionnaire]

All right OP, I'll sift through some of the advice you've been given as it's not all been very sound advice for someone that appears to be new to airbrushing.

 

Firstly, Prot's advice is probably the best and most accurate you've received so far. What you need to understand is compared to other types of paints acrylics dry very fast. So in using acrylics in an airbrush you are already fighting an uphill battle and tip dry is just part of the deal. What you're going to need to do if find the right balance of thinning ratio to specific paints. I airbrush Vallejo and GW paints through a HP-CS, same as yours, and have been able to have success with both after a long period of trial and error.

 

Thinner alone is not going to be enough for acrylics if you are doing batch airbrushing. You will get trip dry. I don't care how well you've thinned them, expect tip dry, and plan for it. Tip dry isn't so scary if you expect it and take preventative steps to insure it won't effect your product. I tend to check my needle after 5-10 minutes of work to see how well the tip is holding up. A simple visual check is all you need to do. If paint is building up on the need you can carefully apply some thinner or alcohol to a small cotton swab and gently twirl it around the nozzle cap between the needle until the tip is clean. Shooting a quick stream to clear it out and you're back in action. Pulling back on the chuck nut can also help for a quick fix but if you already have some tip dry going this can actually cause more tip dry than it will help clear.

 

For thinner I have use: water, Vallejo, tamiya acrylic thinner, alcohol, as well as perosnal mixes. Water is usually not enough but it can work. Vallejo, tamiya acrylic thinner, and a few other brands are mostly the same stuff. Do not use alcohol unless you want to gum up your airbrush and have a serious clog. Alcohol speeds up drying for paint that already dries too quick. I do not recommend windex either as it can damage the finish of the airbrush. As I said previously, thinner alone is not going to be enough if you're doing longer painting sessions, like painting a squad or unit or even a vehicle depending on size. You must use some kind of flow aid/improver and in some cases an extender as well. This will keep the paint flowing and slow down the dry time. Thus giving you a longer period of working time before needing to clean the needle/nozzle. Notice I said longer, eventually you will need to get into the habit of cleaning during painting sessions. It just keeps the airbrush running more smoothly. I recommend creating your own thinner as you can get all the ingredients in bulk and can tailor your thinner to your specific paints. There's plenty of information on the internet for good combinations of products for acrylic paint thinners. The majority of them will be a mix of distilled water, flow improver, glaze medium/thinner medium, and sometimes extender.

 

When thinning your paints for the airbrush always put the thinner in the cap first and then add paint. Vallejo makes it easy because of the dropper bottles. For GW paints I add the thinner first and then dip an old brush into the paint pot and mix that into the airbrush paint cup until I've achieved the right consistency. Normally I try to stick to a 3:1 or 4:1 paint to thinner ratio depending on how thick the pigments are and how well the paint flows. I can eyeball GW paints pretty well now but it usually works out to about 3:1 for a good reference.

 

I've seen some posts about using rattle cans for priming... but why do that when you have an airbrush! You would be much better off buying enamel paints and using them for priming than you would be using a rattle can of spray paint. Spray paint just goes on too thick. With the airbrush you get so much more control over what your are doing than a rattle can gives you. Thankfully enamels are much easier to shoot in an airbrush than acrylics are as you have a much longer working time and tip dry is almost nonexistent. Clean up is a bit more involved because you must use chemicals but ironically it is easier because enamels clean up right away when they come into contact with their thinners. They aren't stubborn like acrylics.

 

Good luck! Airbrushing has a bit of a learning curve but once you get it you won't go back!

[Razblood]

Thanks for all the advice.

 

Having checked on the models, I'm pleased to report they are not in fact ruined. They'll need another round of spraying for certain (hopefully with properly mixed paint this time) but that's about it.

 

Is Tamiya thinner any good for Citadel? I've had good results with it for hand brushing, and it works wonders when airbrushing actual Tamiya paint, but for airbrushing non-Tamiya stuff I'm not sure. Am I better off just buying some Vallejo thinner/Windex and keeping the Tamiya thinner for Tamiya paint?

 

Speaking of paint, what's the best place to get Vallejo in the UK? I don't think I'll replace my trusty Citadel stuff altogether but for airbrushing they seem ideal, especially with the dropper caps.

 

In any event I'd probably better get on Amazon and start buying stuff...

 

Best place I know of to get all Vallejo products in the UK is Dark Sphere - http://www.darksphere.co.uk/index.php

 

They are based in London and stock all varieties of Vallejo.