I have always used enalmel paints on my projects. However while I was at a flea market I purchased a huge shoe box full of unopened tubes of acrylic paint. I Can I use these paints on my model projects? Do I thin the paint with other than water (i.e. alcohol, or.....) to use in my airbrush? Thanks Alan

Errrr.
Acrylic tube paint needs to be handled differently.
It is designed for brush painting, fine art style. & isn't usually in military colours.

It can be thinned for a/b but the pigment is rather coarse, except for acrylic guache which I have sprayed, on to card, not plastic.

Check what brands you have & read up their websites to see what they recommend for thinning, etc. & even with brands that use the same thinner, water, IPA, propriatry, etc, they tend not to be intermixable,

You could always use them for figures and/or groundwork/scenery, main thing, have fun & experiment.!

Alan,

I only ever use those for ground work on bases. A dallop of burnt or raw umber does well to mix with Celluclay to pre-color it.

You can spray the tube acrylics, but you have to strain the paint after it's been reduced. I've done this, but only ever used ordinary water (with a dash of flow-enhancer and retarder) as a reducer. Using cheap craft paints that come in the squeeze bottles is much more convient for spraying colors on bases.

One advantage of using the tube acrylics for the base and terrain is that you can match colors with artist tube oil paints (if you use those for washes, rain streaks, color modulation, etc). Also, regular artist dry pigments all have basic color matches for the tube acrylics. Of course, if you use proprietary oil paint mixes, like the Abt 502, or weathering pigments, like Mig, then this advantage is pretty much out the window.

Still, mixing custom colors isn't too hard for any of these. The artist tube acrylics and oils and dry pigments just all have the same, standard (more or less) starting points (ochre is ochre is ocher pretty much) and color mixes generally work the same with each medium producing the same end results.

At any rate, I've never used tube acrylics for actually painting models.

Maybe someone else can offer up some ideas or suggestions about using the tube acrylics on plastic.

I have recently begun using tube acrylics to paint figures. I find they brush well and have a slower drying time. This allows some blending of colors not usually accomplished with acrylic. I add some retarder to the mix as well.

They are a bit translucent and require some form of primer as they will NOT adhere well on bare plastic/resin. I have never tried to airbrush them, but have had good luck airbrushing craft paint.

G

Thanks all. Alan