As I have recently mentioned soon I will be starting to use an airbrush so I wanted to make sure I read up about ways to use and clean my airbrush and came across what seems like a common mistake among new people to the hobby like myself.
I'm from the UK so when I was watching tutorials there seems to be allot of mention of reducer, which in some videos and tutorials is a method to both thin paint and clean your airbrush between colours.At first I thought this was more of a colloquial term for what here in the UK we call paint thinner, so just to make sure I checked around to see if that was the case and i'm glad that I did.
A quick eHow search lead me to this."The main difference between thinners and reducers is in the paint type that is being applied.Thinners are for lacquer-based paints. Reducers are used for urethane-based paints. "
These products are important if you was going to be spray painting cars and I think the majority of people buy this kind of thing because the video tell's them too.in my opinion, be it right or wrong these products have no place in my hobby kit when it comes to actually thinning my acrylic paints.
The most common paint to be using for painting miniatures is Acrylic
"Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymeremulsion"
As acrylic paint is a water based paint then for the purpose of thinning paint enough to use in an airbrush is actually in my opinion the best and cheapest solution.The disadvantage of using water to thin your paints is actually a positive for airbrush painting.
"Adding water to your paints will both thin down your paint and reduces the intensity of pigment"
From this "disadvantage" of this thinning method I find the positive would obviously be that the thinner your paint is, while yes it would take a couple more coats of any given paint you will have allot more control over the paint out of the airbrush.Obviously there would be an acceptable limit to how thin you would paint but if that's the only disadvantage I see no reason to buy any other medium for thinning my paint.
So why do they even have thinners/ medium ?Simple answer to this is that they are used for tube paints, Most likely if you are buying your first hobby paint set you will be buying a variety of colours at a cheaper prices that come in squeeze bottles aka fluid acrylics, The amount you are going to be thinning these paints will not really be enough to necessitate the use of paint mediums unless you are wanting to change your current paint into a matt, satin or gloss based paint but for that you would be buying it as a medium not as a thinner.
What would you use to clean the airbrush ?Personally I will be using a substance called turpentine substitute or as people in the UK may also know it, white spirit/ mineral spirits,
This can be picked up from your supermarketat a fraction of the price fora much bigger bottle than any named alternative from the top brand paint brand companies.
I have also been reading into it and there are people that say it will also work to thin my paint so I may consider adding a drop or 2 to water while thinning it. This is a mild irritant so I would suggest using gloves if you have sensative skin.
The thing I think people forget is that for model painting we will be using acrylic paints and dont need a heavy industrial cleaner when warm water can remove a water based paint from any surface, the white spirit just makes it a little easier.
http://www.ehow.com/info_8760806_differences-thinner-reducer-automotive-paint.htmlhttp://acrylicpaintreview.com/technique/thin-acrylic-paint-with-water/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylic_painthttp://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=297917
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