Medium?

[ManicMan]

I picked up some paints the other day to make up a batch of Aly's Brown Liquid (A brown wash that Aly Morrison uses which is made from some different citadel colours) and I think my batch is pretty right (Check Aly's Toy Soldiers for the Formula but the bit I'm not 100% sure on if I got right is the 'few drops' of Drakenhof Nighthshade.. what I think is a few drops might not be what someone else calls a few drops.. since it was a bunch of shades and washes, it was easy to measure out anyway using an old syringe (did you know Dental supplies like Syringes, and plaster have a best before date, yet nothing really changes with them? so if you happen to be related to someone who is a dental nurse, and they have to throw out old stuff like that and know you could use them.. its useful ^_^)

one of the ingredients was ' Lahmian Medium' which.. well, is a colourless Medium so it ... just waters down the paint a bit.. making thiner I guess... fair enough.. But I was think thinking.. a Medium like that is a thinner.. does that mean the same that can be used as an Airbrush thinner? so adding a percentage to a normal bottle acrylic to make it fine for a airbrush? I know you can buy Airbrush thinner.. but If I got this pot where I haven't used a huge amount of it.. seeing what else I can do with it makes sense..

 

[Eric]

I'd have thought it would work to an extent, I've a bottle somewhere and it's thin enough that it'd run happily through the airbrush. So mixed with some pigment - why not!? I suppose "air brush" thinners probably have other additives in to optimise their role, but I don't know. https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/712421.page seems to think it'd not make a great thinner however.

The expiry dates are I think are generally do with ensuring the items are sterile - so the packaging nominally guarantees sterility for a number of years, obviously in the case of a plastic syringe it'll be decades probably before the materials break down enough to make it useless for our needs. That said I suppose maybe in the case of plaster if it's in a non air tight container maybe the date is based off ambient water adsorption from the environment? Anyhow derrière covering as ever on the part of the manufacturer. Still a good tip!

 

[ManicMan]

interesting... "thought the whole point of Lahmian Medium was that it *didn't* thin the paint - it dilutes the colour but keeps the consistency the same" that quote seamed.. odd to me.. as diluting is thinning.. you weaken it..