Air brush question

[Mike12]

I have been building model cars for over 60 years. When I began I used my Mother's finger nail polish as paint.  I am hoping to advance a little beyond that medium.  Have just purchased my first air brush and have been viewing YouTube videos and now am totally confused.  Thinning acrylic paint: some call the liquid: reducer, some thinner and Music City Model Works refers to 'future'.  First question if it is infact acrylic, why not plain water. Second question what the heck is future?  Thank you for any information which you share with me.

[John Pol]

Future is like a floor wax it is now Pledge floor wax.. The reducer what that does it prevents the tips for cloging up. I use windshield fluid also for folk art paint and for enamel and laquer paint I use cheap laquer thinner. Most of the time its 50% paint and 50% thinner I hope this helps you. If my son can do it you can my son is 10

[Xingu]

You can also get "Ready To Airbrush" paint. That takes the mixing out of the equation, but you may not be able to get the exact color you are looking for.

[TarheelRick]

For thinning acrylic paints I have used distilled water, Windex window cleaner, or rubbing alcohol.  All have worked quite well.  I have found a good primer base is a prerequisite to give the acrylic something to hold on to rather than smooth plastic.

[Psychographic]

One of the reasons you see people using things other than water, is to help it the solvent (in this case water) evaporate faster once applied to the surface.The other main reason is to avoid "Tip dry" which usually happens when using a very small spray pattern for detail work. Water base paints are notorious for drying on the tip of the needle to the point that it will build up enough that eventually if comes off and leaves you with a blob of paint on what you are spraying.

 

As far as advancing past Using naill polish, you might want to reconsider this. Thinned properly with lacquer thinner, it works great for spraying. The other advantage is it's readily available and many brands sell for  as little as a $1 a bottle. Nail polish is mt go to for painting bodies, although I wouldn't use it for brush painting.

[Mike12]

Thank you for your replies!  Mike