Paints and Supplies
Over the years, I have used a variety of paints to airbrush models.
The first paints I used were recommended by the hobbyist that inspired me to try my hand at airbrushing (Cheri Elder - anyone remember her? I wonder where she is today....). She used Ceramcoat and similar bottled craft acrylics, so that is what I started with.
The first paints I used were recommended by the hobbyist that inspired me to try my hand at airbrushing (Cheri Elder - anyone remember her? I wonder where she is today....). She used Ceramcoat and similar bottled craft acrylics, so that is what I started with.
They come in all sorts of wonderful "horsey" colors so you don't really have to know how to mix colors. And they are inexpensive and easy to find locally, too. But they really aren't the best choice for airbrushing. While they are great for crafts, they really aren't suited for airbrush use. If all you want to do is use them to basecoat models with, they are fine, as long as you use an airbrush designed to handle heavy paints (and by heavy I mean larger pigment particles). Even thinned, I can guarantee that they will clog your airbrush, causing immense frustration (ask me how I know). The pigments aren't ground fine enough to easily pass through the tiny nozzle of a precision airbrush. So, save them for hand-painting manes/tails, hooves, eyes, etc. or for establishing a base color for pastels or oil paints. Be sure to have an airbrush with a large enough nozzle to handle the big pieces of pigment. Consider the Paasche VL airbrush line, which offers .55mm, .7mm and 1mm nozzles, for effective airbrushing of bottled craft paints.
I have also tried thinned artist's acrylics in my airbrushes, both tube and jar varieties. While better than bottled craft acrylics, I still had frustrating problems with clogging and instant tip dry, even when thinned with airbrush mediums.
Eventually I tried the paints specifically made for airbrushing. I had put off trying them for a long time because I just couldn't justify their price as compared to regular tube/jar acrylics. I mean, how different could they be from regular acrylics that I thin myself with airbrush medium? To me, it was like buying expensive ready-made lemonade in a bottle when I could save a lot of money by buying the concentrate and making it myself.
Airbrush paints are very different from regular acrylics thinned with airbrush medium, the biggest difference being that the pigments for airbrush paints are much finer, making it easier for them to go through the tiny nozzles, resulting in fewer clogs and problems. Yay! They also include retarders to ensure the paint stays viable long enough to get out of the airbrush and onto the surface you are painting.
There are all sorts of airbrush paints you can choose from. I have tried a lot of them and my favorites are:
I have also tried thinned artist's acrylics in my airbrushes, both tube and jar varieties. While better than bottled craft acrylics, I still had frustrating problems with clogging and instant tip dry, even when thinned with airbrush mediums.
Eventually I tried the paints specifically made for airbrushing. I had put off trying them for a long time because I just couldn't justify their price as compared to regular tube/jar acrylics. I mean, how different could they be from regular acrylics that I thin myself with airbrush medium? To me, it was like buying expensive ready-made lemonade in a bottle when I could save a lot of money by buying the concentrate and making it myself.
Airbrush paints are very different from regular acrylics thinned with airbrush medium, the biggest difference being that the pigments for airbrush paints are much finer, making it easier for them to go through the tiny nozzles, resulting in fewer clogs and problems. Yay! They also include retarders to ensure the paint stays viable long enough to get out of the airbrush and onto the surface you are painting.
There are all sorts of airbrush paints you can choose from. I have tried a lot of them and my favorites are:
- Chroma Polyurethane Airbrush Colors
- Com-Art Colours
- Badger Air-Opaque
- Golden Fluid Acrylics (for colors I need that are not in the High Flow line)
- Golden High Flow (these replaced Golden Airbrush Colors)
- Createx Wicked Colors (I use mostly the Detail colors)
- Createx Airbrush Colors (I use only one or two colors from this line)
Chroma Polyurethane Airbrush Colors are rather thick for airbrush paints and come from the same folks that give us Jo Sonja paints (which many airbrush artists use). They aren't very easy to find but I like them for basecoats as they dry very matte. I also use them for hand-painted details, such as manes/tails, eyes, hooves, etc. They are offered in regular colors along with some nice, horsey non-standard colors such as Nutmeg, Brown Earth, and Sable, to name a few.
Com-Art Colours are from Iwata/Medea and are popular among many model horse airbrush artists. They are thin enough to spray right from the bottle (although I still thin mine just a bit more - personal preference). They come in "normal" colors, like burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber, raw umber, etc. Another plus is that they are less expensive than most other brands of airbrush paint.
Badger Air-Opaque colors are also very thin and can be sprayed straight from the bottle. I have only a few colors from this line (I especially like Brown), but plan on adding more in the future.
Golden Fluid Acrylics are also very popular with model horse airbrush artists. They can be thinned for airbrush use by adding Golden Airbrush Medium (and I also use some water) or can be used for hand-painting details. They dry to varying levels of glossiness, which can feel sticky to the touch, but that can be mediated with a layer or two of your favorite brand of matte spray. Or, you can just buy their Matte Fluid Acrylics.
Golden High Flow acrylics replaced Golden Airbrush Colors. They come in many colors including iridescents. By adding Golden High Flow Medium, you can increase their transparency, but to make them thinner (as I like to do), simply add distilled water.
Createx Wicked Colors are fairly new and they come in regular and Detail colors. I mostly use the Detail colors and have a few regular Wicked colors. The Detail colors have exceptionally small pigment particles, which is great for those who use airbrushes with very small nozzles and want to do super fine details, and they dry matte. The regular Wicked line dries semi-glossy. The Detail colors are my favorite airbrush paints.
Createx Airbrush Colors are easily found and often included in starter kits, but I don't care for them as they dry glossy with a sticky feel. According to the Createx website: "Createx Airbrush Colors are designed for permanent results with a soft-hand feel on fabrics. Colors cure with the assistance of heat after drying. The use of heat to cure colors is one of the main differences between Createx Airbrush Colors and Wicked & Auto Air Colors which cure to a much stronger film with air drying alone (referred to as self-cross linking)." In other words, these paints are best used on FABRIC but can be used on other surfaces. These were the first airbrush-specific paints I purchased but discovered quickly I did not really care for them and sold them. I have only one color in this line - Transparent Dark Brown - which is a wonderful shading color.
I do not often use metallic or iridescent paints, mostly because I paint at lower pressures with small nozzled airbrushes. The larger pigments just can't make it out of the airbrush properly which means they clog, clog, clog, argh! I have tried several brands, even inks, but was never happy with using them in my mixes. They refuse to stay nicely mixed, settling quickly and happily to the bottom of the reservoir or jar, causing clogs. It has been suggested that adding a matte medium to the mix would possibly help the metallic paint particles to stay suspended in the mix, but I have yet to try that. I do sometimes use metallics as a base color or in mixes that are intended for larger models, where I use higher pressures with larger nozzled airbrushes. Even then, clogging can be an issue, so I have to stay vigilant and stop frequently to stir up the paint and to wipe the needle tip.
Airbrush paints with thin viscosities like Com-Art and Badger Air Opaque are often sprayed right out of the bottle. If you prefer a thinner mix of those or any airbrush paint, a little distilled water is all that is needed.
If you are using non-airbrush paints, such as Golden Fluid Acrylics, Liquitex tube or jar acrylics, or Jo Sonja tube or bottled acrylics, you will need to add something to get them ready for your airbrush.
I used to add Liquitex Airbrush Medium to non-airbrush acrylics, but while it does a nice job of thinning paint, it dries very sticky. Um, no.
Instead, try using Golden Airbrush Medium. While it is intended to be used with their Golden Fluid Acrylics, it works well with other brands of tube, bottle, or jar acrylics.
For instructions on using Golden Airbrush Medium, check out its page here.
DO NOT use Golden Airbrush Medium with Golden High Flow paints. If you want to increase the transparency of Golden High Flow paints, but not reduce the viscosity, use Golden Airbrush Transparent Extender. THIS WILL NOT THIN YOUR PAINTS - IT WILL ONLY INCREASE THE TRANSPARENCY. If you want to reduce the viscosity of Golden High Flow paints, add distilled water.
Even though Createx Wicked Colors are rather thin to begin with, I do like them thinner so I use W500 Wicked High Performance reducer (I initially used W100, but that was discontinued). I LOVE THIS STUFF. It looks just like water and I use it like water with my Wicked Colors. I even use it to thin my other brands of airbrush paints, even though I am not sure that is wise. But so far, I have not encountered any adhesion or mixture problems when reducing the viscosity of my other brands of airbrush paints when using the W500 reducer.
If you are using non-airbrush paints, such as Golden Fluid Acrylics, Liquitex tube or jar acrylics, or Jo Sonja tube or bottled acrylics, you will need to add something to get them ready for your airbrush.
I used to add Liquitex Airbrush Medium to non-airbrush acrylics, but while it does a nice job of thinning paint, it dries very sticky. Um, no.
Instead, try using Golden Airbrush Medium. While it is intended to be used with their Golden Fluid Acrylics, it works well with other brands of tube, bottle, or jar acrylics.
For instructions on using Golden Airbrush Medium, check out its page here.
DO NOT use Golden Airbrush Medium with Golden High Flow paints. If you want to increase the transparency of Golden High Flow paints, but not reduce the viscosity, use Golden Airbrush Transparent Extender. THIS WILL NOT THIN YOUR PAINTS - IT WILL ONLY INCREASE THE TRANSPARENCY. If you want to reduce the viscosity of Golden High Flow paints, add distilled water.
Even though Createx Wicked Colors are rather thin to begin with, I do like them thinner so I use W500 Wicked High Performance reducer (I initially used W100, but that was discontinued). I LOVE THIS STUFF. It looks just like water and I use it like water with my Wicked Colors. I even use it to thin my other brands of airbrush paints, even though I am not sure that is wise. But so far, I have not encountered any adhesion or mixture problems when reducing the viscosity of my other brands of airbrush paints when using the W500 reducer.
I am going to discuss Tamiya (pronounced TAM-eeya) paints separately since they are a whole different animal from the acrylic paints already discussed.
Tamiya paints are used by other miniature hobbieests such as military modelers. That is evident by the names of some of the colors - Hull Red, Desert Yellow, Nato Brown. These paints might be acrylic but they are resin acrylics, as opposed to polymer acrylics like Liquitex, Golden, etc., and require different thinners and cleaners than polymer acrylics. The Tamiya website might indicate they are made from water-soluble acrylic resins but I wouldn't use water in any way, shape, or form with these paints.
What I have discovered about Tamiya Acrylics:
An Iwata Eclipse HP-CS has worked best for me with these paints. I tried my Iwata HP-C but it clogged quickly so I went back to using the Eclipse. In other words, these paints work best with an airbrush with a larger needle/nozzle combination, even when thinned. You can try spraying them with an airbrush with a smaller nozzle than 0.35mm (which is what the HP-CS Eclipse has), but I cannot guarantee you will have overwhelmingly successful results.
As I continue to work with Tamiya paints, I will update the information here.
Tamiya paints are used by other miniature hobbieests such as military modelers. That is evident by the names of some of the colors - Hull Red, Desert Yellow, Nato Brown. These paints might be acrylic but they are resin acrylics, as opposed to polymer acrylics like Liquitex, Golden, etc., and require different thinners and cleaners than polymer acrylics. The Tamiya website might indicate they are made from water-soluble acrylic resins but I wouldn't use water in any way, shape, or form with these paints.
What I have discovered about Tamiya Acrylics:
- They go on a lot faster and a lot more opaque than regular polymer acrylics. While thinning them provides *some* transparency, they are in no way as transparent as regular acrylics and that must be kept in mind when creating color mixes.
- They cannot be thinned with water. Use either their own, specific thinner, X-20A, or 91% isopropyl alcohol.
- Clean your airbrush with their specific cleaner or 91% isopropyl alcohol.
- Mixing them can be a challenge since they don't come in "normal" colors like burnt sienna, raw sienna, etc.
An Iwata Eclipse HP-CS has worked best for me with these paints. I tried my Iwata HP-C but it clogged quickly so I went back to using the Eclipse. In other words, these paints work best with an airbrush with a larger needle/nozzle combination, even when thinned. You can try spraying them with an airbrush with a smaller nozzle than 0.35mm (which is what the HP-CS Eclipse has), but I cannot guarantee you will have overwhelmingly successful results.
As I continue to work with Tamiya paints, I will update the information here.
To mix and store my paints, I use old film canisters, glass airbrush paint jars and small, clear containers I bought with a coupon at Hobby Lobby. I even found some like the two in the front at my local Dollar Tree - I bought a bunch!! I stick a piece of tape on the lids and write what mix is in the container. Even though they are clear, the pigments will settle and you won't know what color you have unless you have labeled it or mix it up again. So be sure to LABEL YOUR PAINTS.
When I need a small amount of a color mixed up or I need to thin a small amount of a color, instead of making a container dirty, I like to use foam egg cartons, ceramic palettes, and silicone mini cube trays. The egg cartons can be tossed and the other two are easy to clean.
You might be wondering how the heck I get the paint from the container to the airbrush (since I use gravity-fed models and not the siphon-fed airbrushes which uses jars as the source of their paint). Some airbrush artists simply pour the paint from their mixing containers (I'm not that coordinated; I would spill more than what actually makes it into the airbrush). I don't use a lot of paint in one "session" so I use plastic pipettes, which I purchased in bulk on eBay.
You might be wondering how the heck I get the paint from the container to the airbrush (since I use gravity-fed models and not the siphon-fed airbrushes which uses jars as the source of their paint). Some airbrush artists simply pour the paint from their mixing containers (I'm not that coordinated; I would spill more than what actually makes it into the airbrush). I don't use a lot of paint in one "session" so I use plastic pipettes, which I purchased in bulk on eBay.