Mixing acrylic paints

[Tworrs]

Sorry can I ask wether your mixing a specific colour(very rare that its not available off the shelf) or just thinning a quantity of paint. Weighing the paint out please come on guys ,if your paints in jars I measure straight in to the airbrush cup using a mr hobby paint spoon adding thinner from a pippet ie six spoons paint six drops thinner=50/50 same drops from mig/Vallejo bottles if you run short no probs you replicate ratio you just swish it about with a clean brush job done no decanting cross contamination simples anyway thats how a full time modeling slob does it.

Fair comment David.

[David Lovell]

Fair comment David.

Thanks Gary ,why complicate things all the time if there's a easy way out im first through the door ,same with airbrushes everybody's got this strange obsession with stripping /taking apart after every use ,I take care to flush through with a decent cleaner(mr hobby tool cleaner) I'll pull the needle out the back and wipe but thats it how many times have you read on here the woe's of wishing they'd never taken the thing apart if it ain't broke dont fix it,I'll leave it there I could rant on but best not upset the natives :tongue-out3:

[pedb1969]

Probably a better way to do it would be to buy paints in the correct colours, instead of trying to mix them. Exactly because there’s such a bewildering variety of options these days, you can find decent matches for most real-life colours from ranges you like. Oh, and of course, you don’t have to stick to any one range — you could use Revell black for the underside of the Lancaster, for example, but Italeri for the dark green and Vallejo for the dark earth (or whatever

Thanks that's the best advice! I want the colours to be as near to the real thing as possible, but the reality is the real thing was undoubtedly a mishmash anyway so is it really that important.

[Tim Marlow]

Thanks that's the best advice! I want the colours to be as near to the real thing as possible, but the reality is the real thing was undoubtedly a mishmash anyway so is it really that important.

The short answer is no it isn’t…….paint colours up until computers started to be used in the mid 1980s, were matched by eye so could easily show variation. Add in atmospheric conditions, wear, fading, dust, and the strength and colour of reflected daylight (which differs according to the time of year and time of day) and near enough should be good enough. Basically, if it looks right to you it is right, and nobody can say otherwise. Something I’ve posted before, but you wouldn’t have seen…

All supposedly the same colour…..except possibly the Sandy coloured one bottom left.

[pedb1969]

The short answer is no it isn’t…….paint colours up until computers started to be used in the mid 1980s, were matched by eye so could easily show variation. Add in atmospheric conditions, wear, fading, dust, and the strength and colour of reflected daylight (which differs according to the time of year and time of day) and near enough should be good enough. Basically, if it looks right to you it is right, and nobody can say otherwise. Something I’ve posted before, but you wouldn’t have seen…
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All supposedly the same colour…..except possibly the Sandy coloured one bottom left.

That is fascinating thank you! I now feel much more confident about the whole process. Thanks everyone who has posted for your advice

[Jim R]

Tim is so right. Of course you have to get close to the correct colour but as he pointed out there are many, many factors to consider.

Basically, if it looks right to you it is right, and nobody can say otherwise.

And if anyone tries then ignore them :smiling: