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i used the good old fashion tamiyas but prob with that stuff it scratches easily so you have to pledge it and wait a while but spraying with laquers dont forget to wear a gas mask that stuff is toxic but have fun with it keep a good distance away from the parts not too close or ull overspray n not too far so u cant do any good precise painting

Was that Tamiya Acrylic? My local hobby shop has a decent selection of them but I don’t know if you need to thin acrylic like you would for lacquer paints.

Thanks for the tips for spraying, I’ll be sure to keep them in mind when I’m setting up.

Finally, Nick has joined the party!!! 😛 Congratulations on your purchase!
The Tamiya acrylic paints need to be thinned. You can use X-20A or Isopropanol Alcohol. If you choose to use the latter one, make sure it’s at least 90%.
All paints scratch, so it is advisable to clear all paints….
There is no problem in using enamels in the airbrush, just thin them accordingly.
I would stay away from Mr. Hobby Lacquers. I used them on my MG Strike. Had a primer by Alclad on there (a really good primer IMO) and when I did some panel lines with that fine tipped Gundam Marker it chipped the paint off of corners. Just a light touch with the metal part of the tip, I kid you not, no a hard reckless motion, heck, even doubt if the metal made contact at all 🙁
Mostly I decant spray cans by Motip. Just search for the colors that match, or that I like.
These are lacquer based and that’s how I found out you can spray lacquers on top of enamels. Used enamel black to do pre-shading and sprayed a white lacquer on top of it, no problem (fine layers of white, this because a too thick layer will cover the pre-shading, making it not visible).
Used Mr Hobby Aqueous a lot. Needs to be thinned the same way as Tamiya. Not a problem with scratching easily after a clear coat, same as Tamiya, but then again, I do a few poses for pictures and then they stay in the best pose….
For practicing straight lines for pre-shading and such, a piece of paper is perfect, but keep in mind, paper absorbs. Meaning you won’t get the hang of flooding a piece. I suggest getting a cheap plastic kit or some pla-plate.
I don’t see a air pressure regulator on the picture so I’m guessing the pressure is fixed.
I suggest getting an air pressure regulator, most come with a moisture/water trap so that’s two birds with one stone. This will help you get more controle with various paints. There are a lot of tutorials out on YouTube about this. The Wargamers Consortium has some good vids which will get you in the right ball park when it comes to PSI settings with different types of paint. This is just an estimate, ones getting more experience you’ll hear on how the paint comes out the brush if the pressure is right or there is something going on and such.
Alan at the Mokanaman has some great “Honing Your Airbrush Skills” on there. He also did a great breakdown on types of paint and how they are “build”.
Justin at Justinius Builds has some great tutorials about pre- and post shading.
Should you need any advise, please let us/me know.
Hope you have lots of fun with your airbrush!!!!!

Thinners…. As I read it. I got alot of problems during my past projects. Using Vallejo acryliccolors, i thought using thinner and cleaner from Vallejo should be an emprovement to just using water. But i figured, that thinner and cleaner kinda reacts with water, causing a total block of the colorflow inside the pistol. Just using water, I have no such thing. Suggestions?

I’m pretty rough when it comes to airbrushing. $30NZD airbrush sets and a nice medium sized cheap chinese compressor. I decant tamiya spray cans into the hopper and it stretches out the cost of the cans as they can be expensive. The outcome isn’t bad and it’s great for experimenting. I use a strong Resene paint stripper for cleaner for all types of paints. Best cleaner!

For what it’s worth – I use a wide range of paint types in a lot of different applications which includes fine scale modeling/gunpla. I almost always use the thinner and paint from the same brand. I find that works the best for me. I use enamel a lot for base coats – needs a good long time to dry and needs a sealing top coat if you are going to do lot of other stuff on top.
Here’s a challenge for you – this is how you will know you have your cleaning routine correct.
Spray the brightest red you have – then change to white,…any pink at all?. If not then you are good, if so you’ll need to learn more how to clean. Top coating or priming is an easy paint session. It’s get’s interesting when in one session you need to spray 10 different colors – and realize that you missed some parts and have to go back. If you go from lighter to darker colors it can hide some of the residual paint but just be aware that along the way you’ll have to play with thinning them differently, different PSI and different distance from the model. Dagger strokes!