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Best paints to start airbrushing practice


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Hi ,

I've just receive my first double action AB (Badger 100LG) and wanted to know what are the better paints to practice.

I'll use it mainly for modeling pourposes but I want to practice first.

The problem is that here , in Israel, is very hard to find paints ready for use with the AB.

What about food coloring, could be used? and if yes, what could be used to clean the AB after used?

Thanks in advance

Jose

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Hi ,

I've just receive my first double action AB (Badger 100LG) and wanted to know what are the better paints to practice.

I'll use it mainly for modeling pourposes but I want to practice first.

The problem is that here , in Israel, is very hard to find paints ready for use with the AB.

What about food coloring, could be used? and if yes, what could be used to clean the AB after used?

Thanks in advance

Jose

Well, my only observation would be that the learning value of food colouring is going to be relatively minimal when you switch back to your normal paints. Half the battle is getting used to the thinning requirements and best pressure for any given paint in any given situation.

If you can, get a bottle of your normal paint (whatever that may be) and your normal thinner and try making lines. If paint availability is really bad (I'm assuming you mean paints in general, as opposed to pre-thinned, when you say it's hard to find them) you are best choosing a colour you hardly use e.g. flesh as at least then it will bear a high degree of similarity to your main paints.

Anyway, good luck and enjoy :coolio:

Jamie

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If you just want to get used to the way double action works, you can even practice just spraying water.

However, the 'best' paint with which to practice would be whatever type of paint you plan to use when you are painting a model. As for which paint is best, you will get as many opinions as you get responses. There probably is no actual best, but rather what paints will you be able to get? Are you resrticted to whatever is available locally or can use the internet to shop for paint? If you have choices, do you want to use enamels or acrylics? Clean-up varies with the type of paint as does the thinner you would use. How much thinner you use depends upon the paint, spray pressure being used, what you trying paint (fine detail or general coverage), and even local weather conditions such as humidity.

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Hi ,

I've just receive my first double action AB (Badger 100LG) and wanted to know what are the better paints to practice.

I'll use it mainly for modeling pourposes but I want to practice first.

The problem is that here , in Israel, is very hard to find paints ready for use with the AB.

What about food coloring, could be used? and if yes, what could be used to clean the AB after used?

Thanks in advance

Jose

Hi Jose,

My son and I used ordinary fountain pen ink to become accustomed to our first airbrush. We actually went through all the exerises in some books on the subject we borrowed from the library. I had some white gouache which was thinned for highlights over the blue ink. It was the first thick media tried.

Once we had a small level of competence we started on model paints. Quickly discovering that correct thinning was paramount to a good paint job.

Perhaps your craft shop has some Jo-Sonjas watercolour paints, as they were the gouache we tried.

G

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What about food coloring, could be used?

Yes you can use food coloring diluted with water. I did this with my double action AB to get use to the trigger action. It doesn't give you practice diluting paints but gets you started on the feel of the trigger. I also use food coloring/water to let my kids spray/play with the AB.

... what could be used to clean the AB after used?

I cleaned mine with soap/water afterwards.

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Water is what I started with just to get the hang of the brush. Then I bought a couple of sheets of scrap styrene and practiced with acrylics. The reason being is that acrylics are very easy to clean up.

Edited by gambit3131
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