Few questions about paint. I have some kits, Soviet and German WWII armor. (Tiger 1, Stug IV, PZII, T-34) Planning to start on one in the next week or so. I don't really have much paint. A few acrylics I've used for model cars, model trains, and some pewter miniatures. Few Vallejo colors, some Model Master, etc. I've been looking around trying to figure out a base assortment of colors I'll need. Any recommendations? I have some Vallejo sets I've looked at online I plan to order. AFV Russian Green 6 bottle set, 17ML 8 Bottle Panzer Model Color set, and a Rust and weathering set. These Vallejo bottles are pretty small also, 8ML and 17ML in the sets I've looked at. How long do they last approx when used via airbrush? Guess I'm curious as to how many 1/35 scale models I may be able to do out of a bottle for something like camo that would require maybe 15-20% hull coverage in a given color.

New to airbrushing as well. I have a Pasche airbrush I bought a while back. Only experimented with it a little. So not familiar with how far I can go with a given amount of paint. Plan to do some practicing on scrap plastic before attempting to work on a kit. I plan to use mainly acrylics as info.

My experience has been this, I have only had very good luck with Tamiya acrylics while using an AB. I've tried other brands with so-so results. So my recommendation is to buy a handful of Tamiya 23ml bottles. They will last you quite a few kits. Also buy Tamiya x20a thinner.

This is how I've learn to thin Tamiya paints for my AB. I'll ipen a new bottle of paint, inside the bottle you'll notice I little lip towards the top of the bottle. Fill it up to that lip with x20a thinner. Then shake really well. Now that entire bottle will always be ready to AB. Works perfectly time and time again.

Colors I recommend for your German armor are;
Dark green
Red brown
Dark yellow
Field gray
German gray
NATO black
Buff

These are all Tamiya colors

Hope this helps.

Dustin, Tamiya stopped producing the 23ml bottles years ago. You can only get them in 10ml bottles now.

Colours for German armour? That depends on which period you plan to model really. Early war you'll be fine with XF60 German Grey which may look very dark but I've read that it is in fact the correct shade. I always keep a few bottles of XF60 Dark Yellow in as I tend to model mid to late war. The order was given to use dunkel gelb from 1943 onwards.

The colours you use for the camouflage are a bit subjective. Paint was issued to panzer crews to apply camouflage as they saw fit. It was a thick paste which was supposed to have been thinned down with petrol. The green looks black in the can as it is that concentrated. Now this is where it becomes subjective. Crews would thin it down with whatever was available, water, oil, contaminated fuel so they ended up with a lot of variation in colour shades. Colours I've used in the past for the green have been XF62 Olive Drab, XF74 OD (JGSDF) which is a bit lighter than XF62 and XF5 Flat Green. With the rot braun I have used XF79 Linoleum Deck Brown, XF10 Flat Brown and XF64 Red Brown. All three are a red brown colour just different shades. For the road wheel tyres I use XF85 Rubber Black these days as it's not as stark as normal black. It has a greyish tinge to it making it look more like rubber. Internally panzers were painted white so XF2 although later in the war they were left in primer red oxide. I've not worked out a definite colour for that yet in Tamiya unfortunately. I hope that's of some help to you.

Thinning your paints is going to be trial and error as different airbrushes all perform differently and with air pressure factored in as well it's a suck it and see.
If you can get hold of some the syringes they use for administering liquid medicine, they are invaluable for mixing paints and adding thinner or water and also for adding paint to your airbrush reservoir if you're using one of that type. (I always use normal tap water to thin Tamiya paints and it works fine). These syringes are ideal as they are really smooth to use so you can easily add one drop at a time so don't add too much. Whenever I've been in hospital I've saved them so consequently have loads lol. You should be able to buy them from any pharmacy.

I always use Tamiya paints to airbrush with as not only do they do the job well they're cheap. I don't know if you already do it but when a jar is empty I wash it out with hot water (no washing up liquid just water) and save it for future use.(Don't forget to wash inside the lid as well as you get paint stuck under the plastic insert there. It just pops out to clean under it) That way I can mix my own colours and have a bottle full. At the same time they are ideal for mixing your paints to the right viscosity for airbrushing. The problem with mixing your paint in the jar is if you add too much thinner/water then that jar is FUBAR as once it's mixed you can't unmix it. If you've mixed some in a seperate jar and it's too thin you can add some more paint from your original jar to get the right consistency. Everybody has their own opinions or techniques, this is just how I do it but it works for me. I hope that's of some use to you

You'll have no problems with the Vallejo Model Air straight through the airbrush, if using standard Vallejo you will need to thin it. Do not use Tamiya thinner as Vallejo is water based while Tamiya is Alcohol based, the Tamiya thinner mixed with Vallejo will just result in a big globby mess.
Use either Vallejo or Lifecolor thinners or just plain tap water, if using the standard Vallejo you may want to also add a drop of retarder to slow the drying time of the paint, however you don't need this if using the model air.
Make sure your paint is mixed really well, you can either buy the little stainless BB's from the likes of AK or search for marine grade stainless BB's online (make sure they are marine grade otherwise they will rust). Remove the dropper on the bottle, drop one BB in and replace the dropper, now when you shake the bottle you have a little agitator working for you.

Set your air pressure slightly higher than you would for enamels when using acrylics (note Tamiya is not a true acrylic). The beauty of Vallejo or Ammo is they also brush paint while Tamiya just ends in a mess.

Oh Ammo works just like Vallejo model air, the Russian sets by either both work well, the main colour you will need is 4BO which is the Russian green but don't forget some Russian vehicles did have camouflage.
For the Germans it all depends on early or late war and also to some extent which theatre you want to depict.

Tamiya still produces the 23ml bottles. That is the only size you can buy in my part of the world. The 10ml are not available. I grab a handfull of the 23ml bottles everytime I pass through Singapore. Maybe they just stopped shipping to certain regions of the world.

Karl - That's odd. All I ever buy are the 23ml bottles.

Scalehobbyist.com carry all of the Tamiya acryls, at a very good price. They also carry all of the MM and Vallejo paint lines. I recommend Vallejo. As far as Vallejo goes, they last quite a while. I use a combination of the three. However, I am losing my devotion to Tamiya over Vallejo. I prefer the Model Color line(thinning them with Medium Thinner and Airbrush Thinner). Prefered mix is 4:6:1; paint:Medium thinner:Airbrush Thinner.

A little paint goes along way if thinned properly. I usually only buy the particular paint I need for my current project, that works out ok if you buy it at a local shop, not so if you order online as shipping cost would be a problem . I have worked with Tamiya paint for quite sometime now. Through trial and error I find that Tamiya works best with their thinners. I also use Tamiya acrylic paint retarder, this stuff is awesome. The paint does not clog up the airbrush with this stuff, flows much better. I use it at a 1:10 ratio as recommended. The Tamiya website has info on using their paint. I moved away from using their acrylic paint thinner to their lacquer thinner for a more durable finish. Acrylic paint is so easily marred even when used properly. The downside is the fumes however I do have a paint booth to avoid poisoning myself Each paint is unique in regards to thinning to the proper consistency. There are suggested paint to thinner ratios but that is only a general starting point. A good compressor is pretty much mandatory, this is not an inexpensive hobby.....sorry

Dustin, it must be a regional thing then. I was told years ago by a couple of shops that Tamiya had stopped the big bottles and were now only going to do the 10ml bottles yet it seems half of the world can still get them. Must just be Europe that can only get 10ml. Most odd.

I appreciate the replies and have ordered some paints. The bulk is Tamiya paints with a bottle of Tamiya thinner. I also picked up a couple Vallejo sets with some Vallejo thinner as well. As for my era, I plan to do mid-late war primarily. For my Soviet armor, I wanna to a couple T-34's, a couple KVs, and a couple TDs.

While it had never occurred to me (painting is one of those activities applicable to completed builds), it was suggested to me recently that nuts might be a better solution than ball bearings as agitation aids because when the dropper bottle is inverted to dispense paint, the ball can block the nozzle. A nut, however, has a hole in it and from the side will not block a circular hole. Obviously you'd want a non-rusting one but there are more choices than steel for nuts...

the nuts/bearing ball have to be "Marine Grade" a normal stainless steel would start to rust in few months

Or nuts made of a non-ferrous metal.

Yep...or not metal at all like thease...

http://www.warcolours.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69&product_id=86

one ploblem i see when i tried the nuts is on is shape,have to be heavier then balls becose got easier stuck in the "mud" you find in the bottom of the pait bottle compare to the smooth balls

Never had a problem with the BB blocking the hole so far, also put them in jars of paint, Gunze, W&N pearl etc, works well.

[quote]Dustin, Tamiya stopped producing the 23ml bottles years ago. You can only get them in 10ml bottles now.

Colours for German armour? That depends on which period you plan to model really. Early war you'll be fine with XF60 German Grey which may look very dark but I've read that it is in fact the correct shade. I always keep a few bottles of XF60 Dark Yellow in as I tend to model mid to late war. The order was given to use dunkel gelb from 1943 onwards.

The colours you use for the camouflage are a bit subjective. Paint was issued to panzer crews to apply camouflage as they saw fit. It was a thick paste which was supposed to have been thinned down with petrol. The green looks black in the can as it is that concentrated. Now this is where it becomes subjective. Crews would thin it down with whatever was available, water, oil, contaminated fuel so they ended up with a lot of variation in colour shades. Colours I've used in the past for the green have been XF62 Olive Drab, XF74 OD (JGSDF) which is a bit lighter than XF62 and XF5 Flat Green. With the rot braun I have used XF79 Linoleum Deck Brown, XF10 Flat Brown and XF64 Red Brown. All three are a red brown colour just different shades. For the road wheel tyres I use XF85 Rubber Black these days as it's not as stark as normal black. It has a greyish tinge to it making it look more like rubber. Internally panzers were painted white so XF2 although later in the war they were left in primer red oxide. I've not worked out a definite colour for that yet in Tamiya unfortunately. I hope that's of some help to you.

Thinning your paints is going to be trial and error as different airbrushes all perform differently and with air pressure factored in as well it's a suck it and see.
If you can get hold of some the syringes they use for administering liquid medicine, they are invaluable for mixing paints and adding thinner or water and also for adding paint to your airbrush reservoir if you're using one of that type. (I always use normal tap water to thin Tamiya paints and it works fine). These syringes are ideal as they are really smooth to use so you can easily add one drop at a time so don't add too much. Whenever I've been in hospital I've saved them so consequently have loads lol. You should be able to buy them from any pharmacy.

I always use Tamiya paints to airbrush with as not only do they do the job well they're cheap. I don't know if you already do it but when a jar is empty I wash it out with hot water (no washing up liquid just water) and save it for future use.(Don't forget to wash inside the lid as well as you get paint stuck under the plastic insert there. It just pops out to clean under it) That way I can mix my own colours and have a bottle full. At the same time they are ideal for mixing your paints to the right viscosity for airbrushing. The problem with mixing your paint in the jar is if you add too much thinner/water then that jar is FUBAR as once it's mixed you can't unmix it. If you've mixed some in a seperate jar and it's too thin you can add some more paint from your original jar to get the right consistency. Everybody has their own opinions or techniques, this is just how I do it but it works for me. I hope that's of some use to you [/quote
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Karl , i just ,Today, received 8 23 ml tamiya paints I ordered they still make them !

they still make them Thats all i get ! as a matter of fact i ordered some a few days ago and received them a few hours ago !

The 10ml are called minis