Hi everyone. It's been several years since I've made any scale models and therefore I'm a bit rusty in many respects. I'm currently working on Western Europe WW2 diorama that consists of mostly transport vehicles and a few small structures. I'm probably in over my head as the the diorama base I've made is 50cm x 80cm. I'm already invested, so looks like there's no turning back.

I'm having difficulty finding the best oil paint to thinner ratio when using an airbrush and can't seem to find a unanimous agreement on this in any threads I've been reading through. The paints I'm using are Mr. Hobby as there are the most readily available to me where I live.

I'm sure this won't be my first post asking for help or advice and I certainly appreciate any help you have to offer.

Dan

I dont use this brand but i think you made a mistake, Mr Hobby dont have a Oil colors line,but or water based Acrilycs or Solvent based like Tamiya

Oils is the classic Artist paint (have also a model range like Abteilung) like thease...

http://www.dickblick.com/products/rembrandt-artists-oil-sets/

Moreover, I have never heard of anyone airbrushing oils... As far as I know, Mr. Color is acrylic. But I have no experience with them so I cannot help either.

Just the general advice of "experiment yourself". There are several variants that affect, like humidity, pressure, nozzle size... so any indication should be only indicative.

So it appears that they are actually lacquer paints, not oil as I was initially told by the shopkeeper. I've also recently come to realise how much they stink!

Stills begs the question though, what's the best ratio for lacquer paint to thinner. Anyone use this combination frequently enough to have worked out the kinks?

The best thinner for your paint is Gunze Mr Levelling thinner.

There's isn't an exact thinning ratio - every jar of paint is different.

The rule of thumb is to thin to the consistency of milk, in practice you want to thin the minimum amount necessary to spray properly. There's no need to go overboard thinning it down excessively. A good starting point is 30 thinners to 70 paint, I wouldn't suggest thinning any more than 50/50. As I said every jar of paint is different, and different airbrushes need different thinning depending on needle size and the pressure you want to use to spray it.

They are excellent paints and worth persevering with, but get yourself a quality mask with organic vapour cartridges and particulate filters.