Thread: Can I thin acrylic paint?

It'll be very interesting to see what the final results look like. I don't think I've ever seen painted scales. It will be especially interesting to find out how they hold up.

Yeah, I've never seen it either, I want the paint to be thick enough so they look smooth and no grain from the wood is visible. I'm using basswood since it's light and is easy enough to work with and paint. It'll take some experimenting since I never usd an airbrush before, but I think it'll be easier to get good layers than a brush. If it doesn't look good I'll have wasted very little money and ended up with a new tool!

You can thin acrylics a little bit with water,a LITTLE bit. Depending on why you want to thin the paint there are different approaches. If you are thinning to make it more fluid I would mix the paint with airbrush medium (a thin acrylic with no pigment). If you are thinning to make the paint translucent I would thin with acrylic medium (which is basically paint without pigment) Golden paint makes both of these products.

Edit:
I just reread your post. I would use an acrylic gesso as a primer and get that perfectly smooth. Put on thin layer of gesso then let dry and sand, repeat till you get a smooth finish. Then I would spray my acrylic mixed with airbrush medium with the air brush for the color coat.



Charlie