Paint Drying On Needle During Spraying

[hendie]

I am brand new in the world of airbrushing. I recently purchased a Paasche Millennium double action airbrush and a Paasche D3000R compressor with air tank. So far I have used the set up for about 20 minutes in total.

Today I was spraying Testors Acrylic Gloss Black. My compressor was set at 20 psi

When I had finished and was cleaning the airbrush, I noticed that a lot of paint had dried on the needle.

I was spraying the gloss black as it comes from the bottle. Should I have thinned the paint? If so, by how much, and what with?

Is my pressure set too high? or too low?

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks

[Rick Brown]

Sounds like you need to thin the paint, preferably with a retardant.

Winsor and Newton do a couple of types, have a search around on BM for the two suggested ones.

You can get them from Hobbit Craft.

Hope that helps.

Rick.

[hendie]

thanks for the quick reply Rick - I'll look into that.

[Rick Brown]

I must admit I've never used Testors paints though, some one else on here may have a better suggestion for what to thin it with.

The W&N works well with Tamiya, Xtracrylix and Vallejo acrylics in my own experience.

Good luck and welcome to airbrushing, you'll be amazed how much it helps your builds!

Rick.

[pacificmustang]

Hendie, with acrylics you will always get some paint drying on the needle. As Rick says, if you use a couple of drops of retarder mixed in with the paint in the airbrush paint cup, it will slow the drying down.

I have never used Testors but a good start, as with all paints, is to thin it with the manufacturers own thinner, in this case testors own acrylic thinner. Start with a 50:50 mix and then add either paint or thinner to get a nice thin mix, the same consistency as milk, is the usual cliche

You do not want to go higher than 20 psi

Bruce

[hendie]

thanks guys - all very useful information for a beginner

[Nigel Heath]

You can get them from Hobbit Craft.

For all your fantasy, dwarf and elf modelling requiements. I strongly recommend them.

[Rick Brown]

For all your fantasy, dwarf and elf modelling requiements. I strongly recommend them.

Lol. It was intentional and not the iPad going Tolkein on me.