Let us presume for a moment that I am mathematically challenged. I need to know the easiest way to mix/thin paint for airbrush use. i.e. the 80/20 mix with thinner, etc. Please help me out with examples. I have been using Pipettes per Keith Magee's suggestion but I feel it is imprecise.

[I presume I'm not mathematically challenged too, correct me if I'm wrong! ]
The mixing of 80/20 means the paint should have 80 percent paint and 20 percent thinner (or is it the other way around? Doesn't matter, just an example here).

I presume you have been using pipettes and the drop method, "8 drops of paint, 2 drops of thinner/paint". Absolute precision of course isn't needed when thinning but for mixing paints, I would try a syringe as they usually have scale printed on the side. Here's what I would do next.
Estimate the total amount of mixed paint needed. (3ml for example) Then calculate the amounts of paints needed for the mixture. (I'll use the ratio 80/20 again here) Like this:
3ml x 0.80 = 2.4ml
3ml x 0.20 = 0.6ml

This means that for 3ml of paint mixed in a ratio of 80/20 from paints A and B, you need 2.4ml of paint A and 0.6ml of paint B.

I hope this is of any help.

:-) :-) Glass eye droppers still work for me...... :-) :-)
all that requires is the ability to count.....
:-) :-)

guess-timation is still working pretty well for me. If i needed precision however, i'd definitely go with the syringe.

One way is if you know anybody in the medical profession or you can often buy them in small quantities..........ooops syringes of course, as they are marked, can be cleaned and reused and I find are very useful things to have for modelling. Of course being diabetic I find them easy to get.

Regards,

John

How precise does it need to be? If given a precise colour mix, how close will you be able to simulate it?
Have you the same primer colour, if one is used? Do you paint with the same thinning consistency?
With highlights, shadows, washes and weathering, will the slight difference be noticed?
My advice is to not get caught up on stressing over an exact measurement, but close will do ... will be faster, more fun and concentrate on what is more important .... actual painting skills. The nuance of difference, you will aquire with experience, and will know instinctively what you want.

Hi,
As already suggested you can be very precise with medical plastic syrenges as they range from 0,1 ml to 10 ml in size.
0,1 ml of paint is quite small amount If you need only few drops, you can use toth picks to drop paint to be mixed. I've noticed that when mixing very small amounts of paint, using a bit smaller amount of basic colors can be good practice. For example, a drop of bright red or black is very strong color.

HTH,

Niko

Plan B would be to reduce it to a simpler ratio. 80% paint to 20% thinner equals 4:1 (80 divided by 20) so for every one lot (ml/oz/drop/bucket) of thinner you will need four lots of paint.