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Which paint???


colsom

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Hi all,

 

I've just purchased my first airbrush. Whilst I appreciate that paint choice is, to some extent is based on personal experience, I have never used an airbrush before so would very much appreciate any advice please.

Having read quite a lot of posts on painting I get the impression that Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics seem to be the most popular with fewer people favouring enamels. I have read that acrylics can clog airbrushes up quickly. I can live constant cleaning with that if it's the norm. 

What is the difference between Vallejo Model Air paint and ordinary Vallejo paint?

Do I use matt Acryllics and then follow up with a clear varnish or do I use a mixture of gloss and matt as I did in my teens?

One thing I have noticed in all the posts I've read is that nobody has mentioned Humbrol Acryllics.

I haven't touched a kit for the last 40 years so, apart from the glue and Humbrol enamels, everything else is new to me. For the time being I will be working on aircraft, I might venture into other types of kits at a later date. 

 

Thanks for looking, and for your replies which, as always, well be gratefully received.

 

Colin.

Edited by colsom
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Can of worms time, be prepared for a lot of conflicting answers but I shall kick off.

I only use acrylics because I am not going to risk ruining my airbrush because I missed a molecule of enamel which jams it up ( did it once ). So, first up to answer your question about Vallejo, the difference is that Model air is pre-thinned, so after mixing goes straight into your airbrush, the standard paint needs thinning first. When it comes to brands, I prefer Mr Hobby Aqueous as a first choice, very easy to use, good colour matching and a nice satin finish for decals. Second is Model Air, again, good coverage and a nice wide range, third is Tamiya.

Least favourite are Mig Ammo and Akan.

 

if you can, pre dilute paints by getting hold of dropper bottles. To make life easier, pop a couple of small ball bearings in each one to help mixing. As paint pots get smaller just shaking becomes less effective.

 

That's just my opinion, others will follow.

 

enjoy modelling 😃

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I don't really airbrush much these days, preferring to continue my quest for perfecting brush painting. When I did (and still do every now and again) I usually spray enamels with my full darth vader getup and extractor fan. I find enamels are incredibly easy to mix and spray, giving a brilliant coverage that is tough as nails. I have never had any problems with clogging, tip drying, or cleaning out an airbrush. Even when I have had dried enamel the mineral spirits have done the job with an overnight soaking. My go to brand for enamel these days, with airbrush or hairy stick are the brilliant Sovereign Colourcoats enamels, with the odd Tamiya and Humbrol enamel.

 

In contrast, the acrylics usually have required all sorts of additives included in the mix to keep things moving along, and cleaning needs to be done straight away. That being said, the Tamiya acrylic does spray very nicely, and is easily cleaned with the IPA mix, which also resoftens the paint no matter how dry it is (which is also why this paint isn't so hot for brush painting). It does require mixing for correct colours though.

 

Mr Hobby Aqueous has some great colours, and sprays along similar lines to tamiya...unfortunately, I have a problem where unless I use their own brands of varnish, the colours change quite a bit, so I had to stop using them for that reason.

 

Revell Aqua so far has been excellent for both brush and spray for me, though again, mixing is a requirement for exact colours if you care for that sort of thing. Aqua can be a dog to clean off should it dry on something where you don't want it, as it adheres incredibly well (almost on par with enamel when it is fully dry).

 

Humbrol Acrylic, for me, has been too full of grit most of the time to allow it to spray. Unless they have changed the formula, I wouldn't waste my time.

 

Vallejo has a great range, and is also quite easy for brush and spray, but it seems to have very poor adherence and I have more than one bottle go 'off'. A lot of people praise the dropper bottles, but I cannot stand them. Give me something I can mix easily any day. In contrast to many, I never shake paint, only stir it thoroughly.

 

The best thing to do is "suck it and see" and don't buy in to one brand of paint until you have tried them all. Get a couple of each brand that takes your fancy (or is easily obtainable) and study up on their use, then give it a go. There is nothing worse than buying a tonne of some paint that is recommended to you, and finding it doesn't really work for you.

Edited by sapperastro
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1 hour ago, sapperastro said:

The best thing to do is "suck it and see"

Yep, that's my advice too.

 

The problem with a question like that is that is that you will always, as previously mentioned, get a myriad of answers based on personal preference.

 

If you’re getting back into modelling, and thinking of staying with it long term, you’d be better off buying a few pots of paint from each manufacturer. Try them out and decide for yourself what’s best for you.

 

Looking across to my workbench I can see Tamiya, Vallejo Air, Xtracrylix and a few (sadly no longer made) Aeromaster. I will chop and change between them, and each has their pros and cons. In boxes/drawers, and not used that often are some Humbrol, Gunze and Revell acrylics.

 

Tamiya – Thinned with their X-20A, sprays like a dream, fairly bullet proof, decent but not extensive range of colours, slightly odorous, but a pain/near impossible to brush properly with.

Vallejo Air – Convenient ‘airbrush ready’ and easy to use with their dropper bottles, can be thinned down even more if you need to, good range of colours, can also be brushed if you need to, virtually no odour, but  not as hard wearing and prone to tip-dry.

Xtracrylix – Thinned with their own brand thinner or Winsor & Newton 'Artisan water mixable oil thinner' I find them excellent to use, good range of colours, dries with a slight gloss/sheen to aid in decal placement, but very fragile.

Humbrol Acrylic – Doesn’t seem that bad thinned with their own thinner, but I’ve not yet come across the ‘grainy paint’ problems others have had. I’ve not really used it much in an airbrush to properly give an opinion. Brushes well.

Gunze – Tried them to see what all the fuss was about as they get rave reviews, too smelly for my liking, but from memory does airbrush particularly well.

Revell Aqua – Thick and gloopy, but thins down nicely for airbrushing, used some of their RAL colours on a Luftwaffe F-4 and F-104 and was pleasantly surprised how good they were.

Aeromaster – To me, the Mary Poppins of acrylics. Practically perfect in every way.

 

Try out the different brands, and don’t feel constrained to stick to just one.

 

As for the choice of gloss or matte, that’s entirely down to you. Matte paints IMO tend to behave slightly better when airbrushing, but will need a gloss coat over the top of them to aid in decal placement and prevention of decal silvering.

 

Mart

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Some good advice above. 

 

I'm using Tamiya, Hataka, Vallejo, and Model Master acrylics predominantly. I do have some Humbrol but am slowly dumping them as they are difficult to work with anymore as they age. 

 

For acrylics success with an airbrush seems to center around quality. Quality of paint, quality of thinners, and quality of airbrush. Trade any of those off an your experience suffers. Both Tamiya and Vallejo are quality paints. 

 

I find that acrylics airbrush better when they are thinned with a thinner designed for them. So start with the manufacturers' thinners. Acrylics also work better in an airbrush if the drying time is retarded a bit, and the flow is improved. You buy third party retarders and flow improvers from your local art supply store. Tamiya and Vallejo also sell retarders and flow improvers specific to their paints. Try them. 

 

I prefer Mr Color Leveling Thinner as it is a high quality Thinner with retarder and flow improver pre mixed in the Thinner. It does not work with Humbrol at all, but works very well with Tamiya, Gunze, or Model Master acrylics. I haven't tried it with Vallejo as I haven't needed to...

 

Keep the airbrush cleaned. I clean mine weekly as I use it often (not quite daily, but nearly so). Obviously you should clean after every use, but I'm talking about a deep clean. I have a sonic jewelry cleaner I picked up for $25 off Amazon that is perfect. I put a few drops of washing up liquid in tap water, drop the disassembled airbrush in and set the timer to 6 minutes. When done remove and place everything on a paper towel and leave it to dry overnight. I rarely have clogging issues. 

 

Lastly, if you are starting with a cheap and/or very inexpensive airbrush, it may be the source of some issues. There are many out there that are low quality, but many that are high quality and not too expensive. You don't mention the airbrush you have, but if you start with quality paints and thinners yet still can't seem to make the airbrush work, even after a deep clean, it could be the airbrush. Be sure to ask for help here. 

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Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

17 hours ago, Greenshirt said:

 

Lastly, if you are starting with a cheap and/or very inexpensive airbrush, it may be the source of some issues

 

I purchased a Sparmax GP-35side feed airbrush with a Sparmax TC-501g compressor. I got it from a show so did get the opportunity to have go first as I'd never used one before. The seller was recommended by local club so hopefully my choice was good.  It has 2 different size side pots and a pistol type trigger rather than the more usual trigger on top. I found it much more comfortable to use. The paint flow is controlled fully by the trigger. If you think I've made a bad choice please be honest. If I have then it's too late and I'll have to live with it! Cost me £90 + £130 for the compressor.

Edited by colsom
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TBH I've only focused my attention on traditional dual action units with the trigger on top. If you had a friend vouche for the brand and dealer, that's better than my opinion!

 

Tell us how it works for you after the first or tenth model...

 

 

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To be honest, after you've been using either trigger method for some time you'll end up perfectly happy, so I wouldn't worry about that aspect.  I must admit to wondering how they manage the dual action with a pistol trigger so can you say a bit about that?

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The air valve is binary (open / closed) and opens with the first bit of movement of the trigger, thereafter it's the paint needle valve that opens.

 

They work fine :)

 

I went back to a traditional dual action but only because part of my developed technique / habit when building up thinned coats of enamel is to blow air to help it flash off a little before the next wet coat. It's a bit dangerous doing that with a trigger action but we use the trigger airbrush for spraying all our lids.

 

The comment above about thinning with the right thinner is sage advice and applies to any paints. A manufacturer can't anticipate and test every combination of their paint and whatever random liquids some end user might dump in to it. If the modeller finds something which happens to thin well then happy days, but I'd hate to see any type of paint criticised for not performing when mal-used - it's like filling your diesel car with petrol then complaining that it doesn't run on petrol like your last car did. :)

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