I'm returning to the hobby after a solid 6-7 years off. I fired up my badger renegade krome earlier at 15, 25 and 30 psi to airbrush AK acrylics. I thinned the paints between a 2:1 and 1:1 paint/thinner ratio. (used tamiya thinner)

The paint was not coming evenly, or smoothly. It dripped and pooled on the model even though I was spraying thin, even coats. I looked at the airbrush parts and am currently soaking them in nail polish remover.

Is there anything here that seems way off?

You can use Tamiya’s thinner with AK’s real colors but not with their acrylics paints. For the acrylics better use their own thinner or water.

Do you mean Real Color paints or their standard line? Their standard line should be thinned with their own thinner.

If you should happen to try Vallejo Acrylics, do not use Tamiya Thinner with them. Use Vallejo Airbrush (73.524, 60 ml or 71.161, 200 ml) with Vallejo Acrylics. HTH.🎨

Don't thin AK acrylic as much as other acrylics like Tamiya. My best ratio is right around 60/40 paint to thinner. Use a bigger nozzle than the .2 on the Krome. HTH

G

DON'T use Tamiya thinner with AK acrylics. Use distilled water or AK
acrylic thinner.

Thanks for the help! Bought some vallejo thinner and ran that with the AK/Vj paints I was using. I'll have a WIP posted sometime in the next few days.