Airbrushable Acrylic Paints

Any brand will do. For larger quantities, go to a good artists supply shop. They will also give you reliable advice. BTW, acrylics differ from enamels in that brush painting will produce a nice, level finish much more easily, making airbrushing unnecessary in many situations. They are also naturally matte, so that you may have to add a glossing agent to get a satin or semi-gloss finish.

Resin castings must however be carefully and thoroughly cleaned first. The best cleaner is an organic (citrus) based cleaner, followed by washing up detergent, clean water rinse, and air drying.

The thinner used to make the paint airbrushable is a mix of alcohol and distilled water, but proprietary thinners will have other additives. If there is a thinner for the brand you choose, use only that thinner. Others may work, but you can't be sure.

You can mix the paints to get the colour you want if it's not available in the bottle. Not that an exact match matters all that much -- the lighting used in your layout room will affect the colour anyhow, and in real life colours soon fade and weather to shades different from the paint chips.

IMO, consistency is more important than an exact match for rolling stock. That means standardising on one brand of paint, and keeping careful records of mixes. Use an undercoat to even out the colour variations of the materials used.

For buildings etc, I find that brush-painting with colours mixed on a palette is more than adequate, especially since it introduces those subtle variations that make the building look more real.

Finally, an all-over spray of clear satin or matte after painting will often give a better finish IMO.

HTH

I don't know if they are available in the UK, but I've used thinned CeramCoat paints with success.

They come in crafty kinds of colors, but there is usually something very close to mowt any color that you would need. They are pretty inexpensive and some main colors come in even larger quantities. The only drawback is that they dry absolutely flat; you would need to overspray the finished product with something with some gloss in it to get the desired finish.

Hope this helps...

dlm

Dan Merkel spake thus:

What he said.

I've sprayed Ceramcoat acrylics with no problems. You can use any kind of acrylic paint in an airbrush (including latex house paint). One thing that helps is to mix the paint with what's called "airbrush medium" (made here in the US by Golden; suitable equivalent no doubt available in the UK) to make it more spray-able.

And the other important thing: *Clean the airbrush IMMEDIATELY after spraying.* Otherwise, you'll have one clogged brush and a mess on your hands. (I keep a container full of soapy water on hand to attach to the brush immediately after spraying to flush the brush before the paint gets a chance to start drying.)

I use one from Gumbacher(?). It is a bit expensive, but a pint-sized bottle does seem to go a long way. Usually, I use about five parts paint, four parts of the air brush thinner and one part water. A paint store friend of mine tells me that if you use too much water to thin water based paint, it does negatively affect its adhesion qualities. I've also found several different spary products that will give various types of finish on the completed project.

dlm