Humbrol dropper bottles

[Dominic Thomas]

I generally use dropper bottles now for two reasons. 1. minimum waste and 2. I can mix the contents with vigorous shaking and see the results. 
That said, I still have a large stock of bottles and plastic tins to work through. 

[modeling maniac]

I dry brush and use humbrol and revell 14ml tins.

[Nerazzurri]

I really don't like dropper bottles of any description, with Humbrol being the worst 🙈

 

Curiously, I tried (for brush painting) Humbrol's own thinner with their acrylic and Revell's appropriate thinner with Aqua ........and in both cases I found water did a nicer job! Everybody's mileage may differ of course 👍

[modeling maniac]

I haven't done airbrushing so I can't say what is better and what is worse.

[Valhalla]

So, finally managed to successfully spray Humbrol Gen2.

This was Humbrol 78 Cockpit green and although just tested it for interior work it seemed to go down very well and no tip dry.
I did use a mix of Vallejo Flow Improver, Thinners and retarder though as I do with my Vallejo paints.

I think my previous experience was with a Humbrol Gen2 Gloss which may account for the issues I was having with it

Ian

[Dominic Thomas]

3 hours ago, Valhalla said:

So, finally managed to successfully spray Humbrol Gen2.

This was Humbrol 78 Cockpit green and although just tested it for interior work it seemed to go down very well and no tip dry.
I did use a mix of Vallejo Flow Improver, Thinners and retarder though as I do with my Vallejo paints.

I think my previous experience was with a Humbrol Gen2 Gloss which may account for the issues I was having with it

Ian

I use a brush exclusively. The mix of extra additives seems excessive to me, but I’ve never used an airbrush. 
About the colour though, I was under the impression the Humbrol 78 was for British aircraft and Humbrol 226 was for US ones. I may be wrong, I was once …. 😆

[Valhalla]

I just followed the callout in the Airfix instructions which says 78. I would normally have used Green Zinc Chromate for USAF cockpit but US Navy? ... couldn't be bothered to argue 🙂

Ian

[Ratch]

I sprayed the dropper bottles without anything added and, like Vallejo Model Air, they worked fine through the airbrush. I don't understand the obsession of thinning everything just because that's how it was always done. VMA is formulated to spray direct from the bottle and I've rarely had a problem with any of the colours I've used.

[Valhalla]

Might be my airbrush then, it's a 0.3 needle. I find humbrol quite thick and thinning it down has helped me considerably.

[Tour de Airfix]

5 hours ago, Ratch said:

I sprayed the dropper bottles without anything added and, like Vallejo Model Air, they worked fine through the airbrush. I don't understand the obsession of thinning everything just because that's how it was always done. VMA is formulated to spray direct from the bottle and I've rarely had a problem with any of the colours I've used.

I recently used, for the first time, 4 brand new dropped bottles straight from the shelves of Airfix. I would say that the Humbrol paint poured and settled in the airbrush cup more like cream to Vallejo Model Air’s milk consistency BUT amazingly and totally unexpectedly, I did manage to spray it! That’s not to say, however, that I would probably have got a better coverage had thinned it, based on past experience, but I really wanted to just go with folks’ recommendations. 

I’m back happily and more comfortably using Vallejo now though 😉

[Sailorman]

On 23/08/2024 at 17:50, Valhalla said:

Might be my airbrush then, it's a 0.3 needle. I find humbrol quite thick and thinning it down has helped me considerably.

I too have a 0.3mm airbrush and I find that Humbrol / Revell paint has to be thinned quite a bit for the airbrush to work properly.  In fact I only use it for small areas. I use my 0.35mm airbrush for larger areas as I find the paint needs to be thinned that much less and coverage per coat is therefore better.

[Valhalla]

I'm quite happy now using Humbrol matt colours although I do need to thin them. Once again I've tried a Humbrol gloss, out of the bottle and thinned, and have had no success whatsoever. Just can't put my finger on what the issue is. Haven't tried lacquer thinners with it yet though.

Ian

[Valhalla]

On 23/08/2024 at 18:53, Tour de Airfix said:

I’m back happily and more comfortably using Vallejo now though

Vallejo Model Air is my comfort blanket as well. I have now bought some Hataka Acrylics which I'm looking forward to try. The Main reason being is they do a Light Admiralty Grey which is something I need.

Ian 

[Tour de Airfix]

8 hours ago, Valhalla said:

now bought some Hataka Acrylics which I'm looking forward to try

I’ve found the few boxes of Hataka themed paints I’ve used to be fantastic, even better than Vallejo, just less available.

It was their RAF WW2 set that for me were so good. I found the Vallejo dark green, somehow, too light in pigment, while Hataka sprayed a good even colour first time from the bottle.

AK paints have also been good while I’ve found Ammo MIG’s tones to be off, especially their RAF dark green. It’s obviously a tricky colour to mix that one! 

Looking forward to seeing how you like them.

Jonathan. 

[Ratch]

I bought one set of Hataka paints and they spray well. The only thing I don't like is that they only seem to come in sets, and I don't like buying other paints (in the sets) that I don't need.