CFster

I hate when they do this. Not just changing colors, but sometimes outright reformulations without telling anyone, and it seems most paint companies do it.

Casey, are these measurements taken using the 23ml or 10ml bottles? I’m hearing a nasty rumour about Tamiya changing the colors in the smaller bottles.

Thank you

Thanks. Underside is the same way? Underside color?

I know this is the color for the wheel wells but how about if I’m building a flaps down version? Is the exposed area inside the wings painted or is bare metal? How about the area of the flap that is normally folded into the wing? Is that painted? Thanks.

I’d say the fastest growing segment of modelers are buying Chinese brushes like Gaahleris or Masters or NEOECOs for next to nothing, and even the cheapest ones have PTFE needle seals. I used to mod on r/airbrush. It was rare that some kid spraying miniatures or Warhammer would come in with a 30 year old HP-C somebody gave him. The most popular paint in the average hobby shop these days? I’d say Tamiya or Vallejo. At least here in the states. On that Tamiya rack is Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner, which is 50% acetone and 50% butyl acetate. Same with Mr. Tool Cleaner. I agree the old style Microns had unsurpassed trigger feel with Buna-n packing seals. As a matter of fact DaveG just got a shipment in of solvent resistant o-rings for people who want to retrofit their brushes to the old style.

Chances are if someone is using a 20 year old brush they know what they’ve got.

Well, I’ll qualify my statement. Not utterly ineffective, but in practice you can’t know if it’s actually doing anything, and as such the risk isn’t worth it. An activated carbon filter has a very short lifespan. I’m basing this on 3M’s recommendations that a new organic gas filter cartridge must be discarded after six months once unsealed whether you actually use it or not, and they also recommend sealing it in an airtight container when not in use since it will continue to become saturated with VOCs from normal air pollution when not actively in use, reducing its effectiveness. A filter in a spraybooth can’t be sealed from ambient air, so that automatically reduces its lifespan dramatically. It doesn’t matter if a carbon filter is in a mask or a spraybooth, it will degrade regardless. And since we ARE actually using it…does that halve that six month life? Or maybe 25% as long? We don’t know, and there’s no way to know if it’s actually removing any VOCs at all. Furthermore, it used to be the recommended time to change a respirator filter was when the user started smelling or tasting things. Then OSHA conducted research demonstrating one person’s sense of smell can be much less sensitive than another’s so that’s hardly a reliable indicator - so they came up with a standard for use in the workplace which is based on a number of environmental factors, chemicals involved, PPM concentrations etc. There’s actually software used to come up with appropriate change intervals. There’s more to it, but in some situations and when used with certain chemicals 3M recommends replacing filters after every shift change. We can’t know in a home environment, and we can’t go by smell or taste since we aren’t breathing THROUGH the filter in a spraybooth. And we can’t go by the smell of the air in the room because sense of smell isn’t reliable and not all VOCs present a smell anyway. Actually 3M sells exposure badges for measuring organic gasses you can’t smell. So, the reasonable take away is you just shouldn’t try it because you have no way of knowing if it’s doing anything and the fact that activated carbon filters get saturated, quickly. Bottom line is VOCs need to be removed from the space. Exhausted outside. Particulate matter can be filtered, but VOCs can’t, not reliably. Recirculating spraybooths are a gimmick, and an irresponsible one at that.

I agree whole heartedly, but often the people pushing old wives tails about solvents and Windex damaging airbrushes are the same ones using Future.

Which is why I said it’s perfectly fine to flush an airbrush with lacquer thinner or acetone, and keep those chemical away from black seals when disassembled. Every seal in the head assembly of an airbrush is an air seal, not a fluid seal. The only fluid seals are the needle packing seal (which is why every airbrush made in the last 20 years has the PTFE version) and the occasional cup seal and drop in nozzle seal in a Harder & Steenbeck or Gaahleri airbrushes (which have other issues). By the way, with regards to Windex with ammonium hydroxide, the concentrations would have to be very high and over a long period of time to start breaking down the brass in an airbrush. Most people don’t realize this, but Future has ammonium hydroxide in it as well.

People still use enamels? Wow. Thought they went the way of the Dodo. I spray lacquers, and can spray a hairline with a .5 brush. Lots of people out there thinking buying a Micron will make them an artist. If only it were so. Certain paints take better to thinning than others.

Any recirculating spraybooth is utterly ineffective at removing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) produced by lacquer, alcohol or enamel based paints and thinners from your space.

No problem at all flushing your brush with lacquer thinner or acetone. You can clean disassembled parts with it too as long as you keep it away from black Buna-N (nitrile) or Viton seals. The white PTFE seals (like your needle packing seal) are impervious. Lacquer, acetone, MEK, toluene, xylene etc are incapable of harming the chrome or nickel plating in or on an airbrush. Neither is Windex with ammonia.

Airbrushes of that type were originally developed for illustrators using inks. Certainly a complete waste of time for anything other than lacquers as far as scale modeling is concerned. And even then…

Just informed.

I haven’t run into that problem. Mr. Color, Tamiya LP and AK Real Colors are all lacquers.

Cool! I didn’t see it. What’s your username over there? I look forward to reading your content.

Setter is noticeably better for softening decals.

It’s entirely possible, as UMP doesn’t make a lot of their products. For instance their primers are rebadged Badger Stynylrez. I think they nerfed the mix in Walthers Solvaset. It doesn’t appear to be as strong as it used to be. Micro-Sol —> Mark Fit Strong or Solvaset —> Mr. Mark Setter in order of strength for me. Interestingly Mark Setter works much better than Mark Softer. It seems they’ve named them incorrectly. Softer works more like a pre-decal setting solution like Micro-Set.

Tamiya LP-11 is a dead ringer for painted aluminum like P-51 wings.

Acetone or lacquer thinner (acetone is stronger). Won’t hurt your drop in nozzle in the slightest. Tamiya Aurbrush Cleaner is actually 50% acetone so should serve your purpose.

I haven’t tried them. I use Stynylrez here in the States. I just saw a post somewhere and someone offered this information. Just thought I’d mention it…

I hear it was the older yellow cap Ammo One Shot bottles that were Stynylrez but they changed to something since with the black capped bottles. I can’t verify this.

Pink Ferrari something something…

Generally if you’ve got small scratches you can’t get out then you need to go to a lower grit.