Small mixing containers?

[Beach Bum]

What do you all use when mixing paint for just a few parts for your airbrush? I started using my airbrush on an actual model today for the first time. Painting just small parts, I'm leaving the body for last. I'm in the learning stage of mixing paint with varied results. Before I turn this into a how to mix paint post...I tend to get side tracked. What I'm trying to say is, I can't mix paint directly in the airbrush paint cup yet because I really need to be able to see what I'm doing when I'm adding thinner a little at a time to try to get the right consistency. I don't want to mix a whole bunch up at once, when I'm only painting 7 or 8 parts. Plus I want to learn what I'm doing so I figure the more times I have to mix paint the better I'll get. Or should I just mix a bunch up? I seem to be mixing and spraying pretty well with Testors Enamel mixed with cheap lacquer thinner but having a few issues with Tamiya acrylics and water. I'll get it sorted out though. Thanks

[Skip]

Medicine cups or glass beaker for larger mixes.

[southpier]

mixing ahead isn't recommended. neither is mixing lacquer thinner in plastic containers. Tamiya paint thins most predictably with their bespoke thinner. sounds like you've got a good system in place.

[ScaleDale]

I had varied results mixing paints for airbrushing so I sucked it up and tried what seemed to me to be the suicide of modeling - decanting spray paint. Once it is out of the can it stores well in glass paint jars from the craft store and the color is very consistent. It's all i do for airbrushing now.

Dale

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yogurt, hummus and other food containers labeled 5 (polypropylene) in the recycling window on the bottom work well for mixing everything, including the hottest thinners. I use yogurt containers from the Publix store-brand, and have scribed several mixing sticks so as to be able to measure and duplicate successful mixes over and over.

And they're free if you like yogurt.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[Cato]

The best way to mix in a controlled manner is to get several eye droppers-the glass kind. Ten drops of paint, another dropper, ten drops of thinner. Or any ratio you want. Mix 2 or 3 paints together? Same thing, varying the amounts of the colors. Clean the droppers in a small jar of thinner or enamel reducer.

Store your mixes in vials or glass jars and label them as to color and mixture.

[Miatatom]

I do what Dale does. I'm starting to use decanted paint exclusively. Here's how I store the stuff:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=76428

As for mixing paint, when I have to, I always use these. They're called plastic pipettes and you can buy a hundred of them, shipping included for around $5 on eBay.

[Beach Bum]

Thanks everybody for the replies! We go through quite a bit of yogurt here so I will give those a try. My wife works at a hospital and keeps bringing me home these plastic test tube with screw on lids which seem to work well with acrylics but enamel and lacquer thinner destroy them if left over night. Kinda weird that something that holds bio hazardous material will degrade like that, go figure. It's seems like the hospital throws away a lot of never used stuff, good for me...I think. I will check out walmart for the glass containers if I can buck up and go inside, I dread it every time! I'm thinking about raiding my wifes nail polish bottles that seem to never get used also and trying those for storing a little extra paint, well see how much trouble I get into for that. I have bought a couple cans of Testors spray paint that I'm planning on decanting for the body. It will be my first time doing that, hopefully it will be a good learning experience and I don't end up looking like a smurf for a week. I did by 500 of those plastic pipettes for 8 bucks on Amazon awhile back and have been using those with good results. Just use one and toss it, kinda seems a little wasteful but it's all good. Oh, and I'm gonna make the long journey to the closest Hobby shop for some bespoke thinner for the Tamiya paint, hopefully I can get outta their without killing one of those rude bastards! Anyways, THANKS again for all the help and useful information. Really appreciate it! Kevin