Are my airbrush paints working? Am I using them right, or have I been shafted?

[Aneirin]

Hello there. Got an airbrush a few weeks ago and have been having a blast with it.

Before it took me weeks to paint a single model, I can now get two large ones done in a day and at a better quality and can do a load of little ones (managed to paint around 23 models the other days, a mixture of zombies, tentacles and monsters)

However, one thing I have noticed, most of the paints I have go on fine, but some seem to be a bit weird (and the above results have been got by largely ignoring the paints that act weirdly).

The paints are vallejo model air, I got a set of over 100 from ebay (from another country, many of them are in a different language though the english name is also next to them, the numbers don't seem to correspond to some color names I find on the internet, so they may be older)

The issue is, some of the paints (yellow ochre, some of the darker greys I have noticed) are coming out exceptionally thin.

They come out like water, you can notice the colour in some of the recesses of the models but it just pools and won't stay on any raised bits and due to it being so thin the color is barely noticeable.

Also, due to the watery consistency it blows around due to the airbrush quite a lot making it difficult to keep where you want. Going on and then immediately being blasted away (using PSI's of between 10-20)

This is only happening with a few paints and most others go on fine

Is this the way some paints work, am I doing something wrong with preparing them (I have not added any thinnner to the paints), or have I just been shafted with some of the paints (maybe they weren't stored correctly, or have been pre thinned so they can sell more paint for less money? None of them were 'sealed' when I received them)

 

[haasje dutchairbrush]

-Might be old paint with the pigment dried
-Might be old paint with pigment sunk but not yet dried (shake long n hard)
-Could be they are transparant paints which just are not meant to get 100% opacity

-Reduce airpressure when the paint is thin and/or add transparant base

 

[Mr.Micron]

Hmm second problem and yet still no introduction made ?
Seems haasje covered some of the issues you could be having . But I have found buying off Ebay is like playing Russian Roulette , Sometimes you get a dishonest seller. But being we still do not know you location , Set up IE airbrush , compressor or even how long you been airbrushing.
So I strongly suggest you pop over to the introduction section and make one.....now here it is for the second time in one of your thread a link to the introduction section
http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/

 

[Madbrush]

Hmm second problem and yet still no introduction made ?
Seems haasje covered some of the issues you could be having . But I have found buying off Ebay is like playing Russian Roulette , Sometimes you get a dishonest seller. But being we still do not know you location , Set up IE airbrush , compressor or even how long you been airbrushing.
So I strongly suggest you pop over to the introduction section and make one.....now here it is for the second time in one of your thread a link to the introduction section
http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/

If your prone to playing Russian roulette, perhaps buying your gun from Ebay is a wise move.

And I can't read the link, could you please speak up

 

[Mr.Micron]

If your prone to playing Russian roulette, perhaps buying your gun from Ebay is a wise move.

And I can't read the link, could you please speak up

http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/
that is as big as it can get

 

[Madbrush]

http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/
that is as big as it can get

Yep I can see it now mate thank you very much, strangely enough I don't remember ever visiting that part of the forum and when I click on the link I get and error message saying " YEAH RIGHT!!!" followed by " "Move along folks, nothing to see here"

 

[Mr.Micron]

Yep I can see it now mate thank you very much, strangely enough I don't remember ever visiting that part of the forum and when I click on the link I get and error message saying " YEAH RIGHT!!!" followed by " "Move along folks, nothing to see here"

That is because it has been set to Malky proof cause that is where all the sheep hide

 

[Madbrush]

That is because it has been set to Malky proof cause that is where all the sheep hide

That's just discrimination that is, I think Ill just go get me a blow up sheep off ebay, of course with my luck it will likely have a hole in it

 

[Aneirin]

Sorry bout that, introduction has been done.

 

[Mr.Micron]

Sorry bout that, introduction has been done.

See that was not so hard.
Now by any chance you can post a picture of what you are referring too ?
It may help us help you more .

 

[The dude]

That's just discrimination that is, I think Ill just go get me a blow up sheep off ebay, of course with my luck it will likely have a hole in it

I thought that was the idea....blow up sheep and so on

 

[Aneirin]

Thanks haasje dutchairbrush. I had shook them before, apparently not hard enough. Went back and gave the paints as bloody hard shake as I could and it seems to be getting them less watery now.

 

[AndreZA]

You must not shake hard, you must shake continuesly. See if you can get a mixer or mixing stones to insert. I use glass beads in my paint bottles.

 

[basepaint]

That's just discrimination that is, I think Ill just go get me a blow up sheep off ebay, of course with my luck it will likely have a hole in it

Isn't that what you want MB?

 

[Squishy]

I was going to say the same as Haasje, that it might be that the ones you are having trouble with might be transparent paints. And also they may be old. I have not used this brand, but I know that the trans yellow I use is very thin, and needs no reduction at all. Different colours, even within the same brand can behave differently, due to how heavy the pigment is I guess. Try drawing a quick doodle on some paper, then trying the paint on it. If it covers up the doodle after a few passes it's opaque, if you can still see the doodle underneath, no matter how many layers you add, but the colour becomes more intense, then it's transparent.

 

[Amra]

Being as they are model paints, is it possible they are washes? Washes are suppose to be pretty thin in order to get down into cracks and recesses and not stay on peaks or raised areas, they do this to create shading.

If not, the suggestions other people provided above should solve the problem.

 

[Mr.Micron]

Being as they are model paints, is it possible they are washes? Washes are suppose to be pretty thin in order to get down into cracks and recesses and not stay on peaks or raised areas, they do this to create shading.

If not, the suggestions other people provided above should solve the problem.

I may have missed what brand of model paint they are , Figure paints do come in a washes form and designed more for a paint brush than an airbrush , This does not mean you can not use them in an airbrush but it is best to filter them through something like a piece of stocking to get the bigger pigments that causes clogs out.
Before the D&D craze of figures you pretty much had to make your own washes .