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View Full Version : Ratio's and Mediums


chadnezzar38
03-12-2010, 04:12 PM
Just got an airbrush and compressor and was wondering what the "proper" and most "effective" mix ratio was for citadel paints, AND what the best medium was (alcohol, h2o, thinner, blah, blah, blah, and so forth)?
fade_74
03-12-2010, 07:14 PM
I use plain ol' rubbing alcohol for thinner. As for ratios....throw em out the window. Every color needs to be thinned a little differently. I put some paint in my palette, the add drops of thinner until it becomes the consistency of milk. If you pull some up the side of the your container with your stirrer, it won't really coat the side. It just kind of runs back down. What you don't want is something that will still cover in one coat. You want thin enough coats that you can adjust the opacity with passes of you airbrush. If you go over a black primer once, it should just put on a haze of color. A second pass should give you a nice semi transparent looking color. Third pass should look opaque but not as bright as the color can be. The fourth should be your highlighting pass, where you just paint the center of panels and such, and those should be nice and bright.

Remember that practice makes perfect. Grab an old piece of model and just go to town for an hour or so.
therealjohnny5
03-12-2010, 11:07 PM
agreed it depends on the paint you're using,i tend to thin a bit, rather make one more pass than too thick. and i just use water.
chadnezzar38
03-13-2010, 07:52 PM
I use plain ol' rubbing alcohol for thinner. As for ratios....throw em out the window. Every color needs to be thinned a little differently. I put some paint in my palette, the add drops of thinner until it becomes the consistency of milk. If you pull some up the side of the your container with your stirrer, it won't really coat the side. It just kind of runs back down. What you don't want is something that will still cover in one coat. You want thin enough coats that you can adjust the opacity with passes of you airbrush. If you go over a black primer once, it should just put on a haze of color. A second pass should give you a nice semi transparent looking color. Third pass should look opaque but not as bright as the color can be. The fourth should be your highlighting pass, where you just paint the center of panels and such, and those should be nice and bright.

Remember that practice makes perfect. Grab an old piece of model and just go to town for an hour or so.

thx very much