Italeri Acrylics and what I have learnt

[Rangi01]

Hi All,

I am very much a novice at airbrushing and learning has been a very steep curve for me. I am very pleased that I started on Tamiya Acrylics as they were/are very forgiving and meant that, for me, very little frustration with clogging and tip drying etc so that I could concentrate on technique.

However, moving on, I find Tamiya's range of colours limiting, particularly when it comes to the RLM colours, so finding the Italeri Acrylic Luftwaffe set I was over the moon. After purchasing them my joy soon turned to frustration. I could not get them to airbrush nicely, constantly clogging and spitting, a real disaster!

So I researched on the net and low and behold, from the little I found, I was really messing up using alcohol as a thinner (assuming it was the same as the Tamiya paint). So here is what I have learnt over what has been a number of months of pure frustration.

1. Never use alcohol to thin or clean your airbrush (if you clean it with alcohol make sure it is perfectly clean of any alcohol residue, even the smallest trace will cause your tip to block)

2. Some people say that they use windex or other window cleaner to thin the paint. I cannot say that I have had any luck with it and the tip either clogs or the paint dries on it.

3. Use distilled water to thin and clean your airbrush. As I mentioned the slightest contaminant will cause issues. (but you can use them without thinning. It looks really thick but seems to airbrush fine)

4. While not as forgiving as the alcohol based acrylics (and I would recommend absolute beginners to start with the likes of the Tamiya offerings because of this) once mastered they airbrush very nicely with next to no odour and very little aerosoling making them ideal for the home hobbyist.

5. They are not as robust as enamel or alcohol based paints so a good coat of varnish is a must before too much handling.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and, of course, this is what worked for me. I hope that this can help others out there that may be struggling with these paints and cannot figure out why.

Although I have never used Vallejo paints, I understand they are the same as the Italeri so the above should work equally well with them.

Once again thanks for looking and any comments or tips are greatly appreciated.

Shane

[Giorgio N]

Shane, thanks for posting your experience !

Yes, the Italeri paints are made for them by Vallejo, so both brands behave the same way. I may add that as all water thinned acrylics they really benefit from a good coat of primer. Using a drop or two of acrylics retardant/flow improver also helps spraying them better and prevents the paint from drying on the airbrush tip.