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I was *just( about to ask that myself. I am within a few days of starting the weathering on my Dragon M1A1 in NATO 3-tone camo, and have procured some MIG pigments to use - never tried them before.

Does "a little go a long way" when using MIG pigments? Since I am using:

1)Tamiya acrylics for the camo;

2) Future for the glosscoating for decals as well as sealer for the oil wash;

3) Acrylic flat for sealing everything up.

What thinner is recommended? Mineral spirits? Water? Isopropyl alcohol? Turpentine?

I've got plenty of scrap parts to practice on before starting on my tank.

These articles by Mig might help
http://missing-lynx.com/rareworld.htm

My rule of thumb on doing washes and using pigments is this........

1) if the model is painted with acrylic, I do the wash with mideral spirits, acetone, lighter fluid, or turpentine. None of these seem to attack the acrylic paints or clear coats. They all have differant characteristics also. The acetone dries very fast, the lighter fluid is like turpentine but a bit thinner, and turpentine is an all around good choice. If your using acetone, make sure your work area is well ventilated. Its not good to breathe that stuff.

2) if the model is painted in ENAMEL, I generally mix my washes or pigments with alcohol as the alcohol doesnt attack the enamel paint. It also dries to a very matt dusty almost chalky appearance. Now, if your doing an oil wash with enamels, it is really a good idea to give them a heavy enamel gloss coat so the turpentine doesnt attack the paint. if it attacks the clear, its not a big deal because your going to hit it with a final shot of dullcoat when your finished anyway.

3) If you want to use pigments with no medium, and you want to "dust" them on, consider buying a can of artists fixative from AC Moore or Michaels to seal your pigments when your finished. Same rule goes for weathering / dustin with pastel chalk.

Gary

i use 2 main methods for streaking,
1, oil paints, put a small dab of white (i use a toothpick to apply this) then with a brush damp with thinner brush downwards till it appears all the paint is gone when this dries the residue will appear like streaking.

2, when applying my washes i do a heavy one them with a dry brush i use down strokes to remove the access wash thus creating the same streak effect,

practice on a scrap piece and go lightly it will dry a lot heavier than you think.

Any particular brand of "artist's fixative" would be recommended for sealing in MiG pigments (I assume it'd be a spray-bomb)? I'd hate to be that close to finishing after puytting ~ 3 months' work into the kit to screw it up at the last minute.

(I did that with a 1/72 Hasegawa AV-8B Harrier II 5 years ago - the Dullcote orange-peeled and wrecked the finish. I had to strip everything and reapply all the plaint, weathering, etc from scratch.)

I was actually thinking of doing a diluted mist of Tamiya Buff on my NATO 3-tone Abrams over the pigments, but I am thinking that dilution of paint would be the same as spraying any sort of clear flat (lacquer/acrylic/enamel) over the pigments - it'd cancel them out altogether.