Changing to acrylics

[Ian M]

If you are having problems with acrylics being fragile I might like to bet that you are thinning either with water, or just over thinning the paint.

You can use water for acrylics but by doing so you are diluting the paint. Thinning/diluting, are they not the same? My take on that is NO. Adding water dilutes the paint, but using a thinner you are thinning the paint, but without diluting the polymeres in the paint. Thinners have the same acrylic binders in that the paint does so you are not weakening the paint as you are with water.

Using airbrush cleaner is not a good idea either as yes it makes it thinner, but you are actually breaking the paint down, dissolving it in fact. So the immediate effect may be the one you want, it makes it thin enough to spray, but I doubt that the end result will be as tough or last as long.

Ian M

 

[Franck]

As far as acrylics go, could one use standard off-the-shelf acrylic paint like the stuff you get in the department store? (I've got plenty of it laying around...)

 

[Stevekir]

As far as acrylics go, could one use standard off-the-shelf acrylic paint like the stuff you get in the department store? (I've got plenty of it laying around...)

You could try brush painting it to get the same result as if on a room wall, but I would be surprised if its particle size had been ground fine enough for an airbrush.

 

[BarryW]

Also it is a matter of colour. There are people skilled in mixing to get the right shades but it is a lot of work and you need to know reliably exactly what the shade is. I would not have the slightest clue how to mix RLM02 or Dark Earth for instance.