New to Air Brushing

[mrazz]

Hi

Can anyone tell me the best way to measure accurate ratios of paint and thinner for use in an air brush? First time using one, not sure how to accurately measure paint. Any tool or technique suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Mark

 

[iis612]

The answer to that question is... It Depends.
It Depends on what paint you are using. Refer to the paint manufacturers instructions for the best results.

I measure mine by using pipettes. They are available at any LHS. Some are called mixing pipettes, others are called CA pipettes.
Using a pipette is as easy as squeeze and release. Mixing with them is fairly straight forward too. If the best ratio for your paint is 75% paint to 25% thinner than you would add 1 pipette of thinner for every 3 pipettes of paint. Good luck.

I suggest you look at the weathering forum for more information. There is a wealth of talent on that forum who can offer more tips.

Matt

 

[e-paw]

I have always just eyeballed it. That has worked fine for me.You can check my other posts to see the results. My base cotes are thicker and my washes and such are thinner.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

The medicine cups that come with bottles of cough medicine are made of a plastic that does not dissolve with solvents like lacquer and they are marked in cc's. I use those to measure and mix the paint and solvent, then transfer it to the air brush.

 

[Mountain Man]

I tend to oversimplify - I kept a couple of clean, empty bottles and marked them with a line indicating how much paint, and a second smaller line for the thinner level. I had a bottle for 50/50 and one for 60/40, and I just filled to the lines and that was that.

I tried the medicine cups but one of the dogs kept eating them.