Hi Mark

There is really no magic ratio, but I'll tell you the best advice I received when starting to learn to airbrush.. and that is as a starting point thin you paint to the consistency of whole milk to start.. then add more thinner if needed until you get a good mix that sprays correctly.

as for where to mix If I'm using a gravity feed I mix in the paint cup.. siphon feed I mix in the jar I'm going to use. I never mix in the paint jar itself.

And Mainly observe and learn about your paint of choice, different paints have different thinning properties.

Just for the record, how good are Humbrol paints? I've considered using them, but hated to leave the safety of Tamiya and MM.

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Just for the record, how good are Humbrol paints? I've considered using them, but hated to leave the safety of Tamiya and MM.

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In my humble opinion, they are very very good, and very underated these days.

It has to be said that the popularity of all these "new" paints on the market is down to aggressive marketing in magazines and on websites, but that is not to say that they are inferior to Humbrol enamels, just they are marketed better.

Humbrol need to up there image, re-design their paint containers, ie move with the times and make them look more "trendy"

And lets not forget the advantages of Enamels -

1. They are without doubt much better suited for beginers with Airbrushes, due to their slower drying time.

2. Enamels will never dry in mid air like Acrylics, this is a major problem for alot of people just starting with airbrushes, and leads to that horrible sandy finish seen on many models, this is the result of the acrylic paint drying before it hits the model.

3. Enamels are easy to clean up, because they dry slower, with acrylics cleaning your AB is always a bit of a pannick because of the fast dry time, with enamels you can get away with murder tbh, and your AB will live to fight another day.

4. In my opinion Enamels are better suited to oil washes, from my experiance oil washes seem to just flow better on enamels, not sure why, but all my washes on acrylics have never gone very well.

I spose at the end of the day it comes down to what your happy painting with, some people swear by acrylics, others swear by enamels, try both, see what you like best.

But Humbrol really do need to move with the times, get trendy, and get marketing

Interesting topic, when I started back in the seventies Humbrol enamels were the only paint for models, since I got back into it last year there now seems to be a plethora of types, manufacturers, thinners, retarders etc and I was beginning to feel that I was still in the dark ages and recently tried Tamiya acrylic through my brand new first ever AB because I felt that I should be "moving with the times". The results were Ok but I did seem to suffer from the "sandy" finnish mentioned above.
I did try hand brushing with acrylic but it didn't work for me, the paint didn't want to adhere the way trusty old Humbrol does. So as mentioned above perhaps Humbrol do have first class product but a second class image and should maybe shout a bit louder out there in marketland.