Breaking Citadel/GW Paint (Airbrushing)

After a lot of frustration and research I'm glad to say I've found a reliable and easy way to use GW paints for airbrushing.

Left thinned Citadel paints.  Right pulled from pot.

To be fair the title is a bit misleading.  The paints weren't broken perse just figured out how to use them with an airbrush.


As always giving credit where it is due.  Les from AwesomePaintJob.com has it worked out.

I've mentioned in several posts that I want to use GW/Citadel paints when airbrushing.  I don't want to switch out paints just to use one painting tool.  Especially since I won't be getting rid of my brushes anytime soon.

When it comes to airbrushing with GW paints my question was "How do I use paint from a pot in an airbrush?"

Apparently there are several experienced airbrush artists that are also confused about making sure  paint is the consistancy of milk.  Being a smart ass, I've never painted with milk nor do I intend too.  So I'm not sure exactly what to look for.

If you're like me who wants specifics instead of Chef Emeril who says "Bam!" when adding an unspecified amount of ingredients.  Paints need a certain mixture to work.  Finding that mixture is key.  Les is onto something with 1:1 paint to windex.

Would like to expand on that further.  What I thought was going to be useless when first thinning paints for airbrushing actually turned out to be the very thing to make it work.  Boy was I relieved.

When making "how to's" I want to keep with the main theme of this blog.  One of the themes is KISS.  Keep it Simple Stupid.  Not using high language or confusing terms.  The clarity of the message lays firmly on the messenger.  Unless there's a genuine language barrier if a message is not understood the fault is the speaker.  Hopefully the "How to's" are explained as clearly and simply as possible to avoid any confusion.  Pictures with clear references are ideal.  In many ways I would like this blog to be a launching platform for new painters who pick up some skills here.  As their skill improves they branch out and move to other blogs that speak to their paint style.  This blog shouldn't be-all and end-all for any painter.  Nor would I want it to.

Something I've said in several comments lately, as mentioned to ieuan recently, this blog belongs to everyone.  Google lets me play in their sandbox.  It would be extremely arrogant of me to say this part of their sandbox is mine and no one else's.  I encourage armchair warriors/monday night quarterbacks.  Anons have schooled me recently regarding Eldar posts.  Which humbles me, this I deeply appreciate.

Last two nights I've been working on "how to" posts for the blog not my models.  Feels very strange.  Hopefully these are helpful for someone.  Onto breaking Citadel/GW paints.

Stealing something from Les.  This isn't The way to make GW paints work with airbrushes.  This is just a way to do so.  I'm sure Golden's Medium for airbrushes will work.  So will water.  Or as cpyke said isopropyl alcohol/water mix.

Citadel paint costs 45 cents more for 5 ml less paint than Vallejo Model Air.

Purchased these 1 oz cups from Blick.

This is yet another description of how to tell paint is thinned correctly.  The paint sticks to the edge streaking towards the pool.  Much like 2% milk or oil and water reaction on surfaces.  Do not dwell heavily on the "milk test" though.

Abaddon Black is surprisingly thick.  Pudding thick.

1:1 Citadel paint and Windex.

Mixed and they look great.  Had to do a lot of mixing to get the paint from the bottom to blend with Windex.  Notice the side of the black where it clings instead of dripping down.  That's ideal

Moved the thinned paint from the cups to the bottles so it doesn't dry as quickly.  Also easier to shack the bottles instead of stirring the paint from the bottom.

I can only hope this video doesn't look nearly as bad as it does now.  This is my attempt to show what the purple thinned paint looks like when shaken in the bottle.  I just have a feeling this video is going to look extremely bad.

Here's an example of what the paints look like painted.

Right are pulled from pot.  Left from thinned bottles.  Can see the left swatch is very thin in fact still wet after drying for sometime.  That is ideal for airbrushing.

To answer the question I've been asking for sometime now.  How do I use Citadel paint efficiently without buying two sets of paint.  One for brush other for airbrush.  Which is just a waste of money in my opinion.

"Tada!  A magazine made by and for gay magicians"  The observant will notice the markings on the outside of the eye dropper.  Cut into the plastic with a modelling knife then with pen put ink into those marks.  The forward thinking of you will be curious how do you measure the amount of paint being pulled into the eye dropper when its submerged.  This is is the careful part.  Place just the nozzle of the eye dropper in the paint then release the squeeze cap.  You can see how much paint you are pulling into the eye dropper.  Then rinse or use different eye dropper, marked same way, and pull same amount of Windex.  You're not going to be putting this little eye dropper into the huge bottle of Windex.  You can however fill up an empty Citadel paint pot with Windex for easier access.

It was at this point thinning the paints Sat night it dawned on me.  What I considered useless for thinning paints was exactly what I needed.

Bringing this all together.

My list of recommended items to thin your Citadel/GW paints for airbrushing.  You'll need:

Citadel paint you want to use with an airbrush
Windex
Small Empty i.e. empty paint pot container for Windex.
Eye drop purchased rom Blick or Amazon, even ebay
Olde brush or stirring stick
Little container to mix paint and Windex in, shot glass, olde Nyquil cup, etc.
Using your marked eye dropper pull same amount of paint and Windex then mix in cup til your have an even consistancy.  Pour 1:1 mix into airbrush cup and you're ready to paint with Citadel paints.  Or if you have a lot of empty pots like I do you can mix a medium size batch then shake pot to mix contents before airbrushing.

As you fill your airbrush paint cup and paint with it you'll quickly learn you don't need nearly as much paint as you think.  This will help you to avoid making more thinned paint than you'll need.

One question that may come up is what to do with the extra paint in the airbrush paint cup?  Choice is yours.  Some airbrushers pour the remaining paint into the pot it was pulled from.  Others, /waves hand, practice with the left over paint.  Others still just spray it out and clean the gun.  Should you decided to keep the paint you will need a container to put the paint into.  Empty paint pots anyone?  You could pour into the pot the non-thinned paint was pulled from.  That paint will get thinner each time the airbrush cup is emptied into it.  Good news won't need to thin the paint anymore.  Bad news won't have the same consistancy each time you use it.  I would suggest to spray out excess.

Thin your paints.  Yes it is a pain.  It's completely worth it.  Example super smooth finish.

There's an unexpected upside to learning how to thin your paints for airbrushing.  Vallejo Model Air is cheaper and doesn't need to be thinned.  Yet after thinning you're getting double your paint with GW.  What is the better deal?


slainte mhath