i'm new to the airbrushing phenom and a little confused...i understand that regular paints must be thinned with the thinner that made the paint... no problem there...my question is i read in FSM not to thin more paint than you can use in a single airbrush session and do not store thinned paint...is this true? to me, as long as the thinned paint is stored air tight, i do not see what the problem is....any answers from the experts on this site would be greatly appreciated...

thank you in advance...
Bob McFarlane.

Since I "batch paint", basically doing my airbrushing all at one time, usually during the weekend., I make enough to last the weekend, but do not try to store the stuff for longer than that. I also hate to run out so a little more is better than too little.

I've always heard to thin the paint to the consistancy of milk. I have a few bottles of thinned paint, and I have had no problem with them. Just be sure and stir the thinned paint before you start spraying.

I tend to thin and mix my paint in the airbrush cup. I can usually estimate to within a few drops of what I'll use. Although I have mixed up a batch of a custom color, but the shade was concocted using the same manufacturers paint using the recommended thinner. I have run ito problems using two different mfgrs. acrylic paints with 91% isopropyl alcohol as thinner. After a couple of days, the mix got stringy......I would say, experiment. Thin a bit of paint, put it in an airtight container and see what happens.

I custom mix and thin colors for my models. I've stored them for up to a year without a problem by keeping them out of the sunlight and in a cool place.

Gunnie