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Airbrush nozzle size


Bortig

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Question, what size nozzle are people using, have used 0.4 and 0.2 and now struggle to know which is best for me, I don't really want to take it apart each time instead sticking to the one size.

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I use a 0.2mm if that helps? I've got larger needle assemblies for my Infinities, but I always gravitate to .2 because I seldom spray paint in large areas. I prefer to noodle it on in layers to get a bit of variation in tone across panels & areas :)

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Hi Guys,

Heavens, 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm, and 0.4 mm! Too complex for me as I am a simple soul. Badger's medium and fine are all I use. Mind you, I would like to know what size they are, just out of interest you know.

Best Wishes,

Will.

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There is no perfect size for everything, depends what you want to spray and also what paint your using and how you thin it.

I would think the two sizes you have will cover just about all your needs in modeling therms

.4 is good for priming etc as you want a good wet but not flooded coverage to avoid rough/gritty primer, although you can buff up certain primers to smooth them out after, but why bother if you can get a nice smooth coat first time.

.2 as Mike says will do you for most things if you build up the coverage thinly with good quality paints

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The spray patterns do vary a bit between manufacturers for the same size nozzles.

On Harder & Steenbeck, these are roughly the finest and area coverage sizes I find.

0.15mm nozzle; 0.5mm up to 10mm - very fine detail

0.2mm nozzle; 1mm up to 14mm - standard nozzle

0.4mm nozzle; 3mm up to 25mm - high flow area nozzle

0.6 to - 1.2mm I haven't had any reason to test.

Paul

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Thanks Paul, as people have said on many occasions you are the fountain of all knowledge, so a quick question how to tell the difference between the 0.2 needle and the 0.4 needle ?

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Thanks Paul, as people have said on many occasions you are the fountain of all knowledge, so a quick question how to tell the difference between the 0.2 needle and the 0.4 needle ?

0.4mm H&S needle has a small notch at the back. 0.4mm nozzle has a deep line engraved on the outer shaft part, 0.2mm has none.

0.15mm nozzle has a fine line engraved around the outer shaft, 0.15mm needle tapers more than the 0.2mm.

Air caps, put them up to the light & the one with the biggest hole is the 0.4mm one!

Paul

Paul

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Hi Guys,

Heavens, 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm, and 0.4 mm! Too complex for me as I am a simple soul. Badger's medium and fine are all I use. Mind you, I would like to know what size they are, just out of interest you know.

Best Wishes,

Will.

Will,

I'm reliably informed that the Badger sizes equate to the following:

Fine = 0.25mm

Medium = 0.50mm

Regards

Greg

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Can I get away with using 0.2 on a 1/12 scale model and parts, such as engine, or will I be better with the 0.4 or even a combination, like the idea of the pinch cap, easier to keep clean during spray sessions I believe and wondered if I can get away with one or will I indeed need the two, cost factor coming into play.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Bortig

I use a 0.2 set up on 1/72 and 1/48 WWII aircraft and it works just fine for fine lines and detail work and it will happily cover large surfaces like wings with no difficulty. Each to their own obviously but having thought about it for some time I just don't see the need to get a bigger needle/nozzle set up.

Cheers

DC

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Can I get away with using 0.2 on a 1/12 scale model and parts, such as engine, or will I be better with the 0.4 or even a combination, like the idea of the pinch cap, easier to keep clean during spray sessions I believe and wondered if I can get away with one or will I indeed need the two, cost factor coming into play.

You can get away with a small nozzle, it just means you will only be painting a small area, rather than a large one. For large areas, especially cars a larger nozzle ( and large cup) allows you to cover large single colour wet coats.

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I can't get my head around this.

I have an H&S ultra 2 in 1, with a 0.2mm needle/nozzle, and a 0.4mm needle/nozzle.

It seems to spray wonderfully, at 10 - 15 psi, with tamiya acrylics thinned 4 parts x20a to 1 part paint, with the 0.2mm needle.

Yet if I try the same thinned paint, the 0.4mm needle/nozzle sprays a horribly gritty mess! I've even tried cranking the air pressure up to 35psi. Slightly better spray pattern, but still very grainy.

I'd have thought the 0.4mm needleset would have given a smoother spray pattern than the 0.2mm needleset.

I've had a look at both needles and nozzle under a 10x hand lens, they are both OK, no burrs on the end of the needles, and the nozzles are clean and clear!

Suggestions? Or is it a case that the 0.2mm needleset is just the best match for the H&S ultra?

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Have you checked that you have the right needle/ nozzle/ air cap combinations?

0.4mm needle has a notch on the back, 0.4mm nozzle has a large groove around the outside of the nozzle and the hole in the air cap is larger than the 0.2mm ones.

Have you chcked the inside of the nozzle & aircap for any buildup?

Have you tried thicker paint, ( 1 to 1 ) at about 20 psi? 4 to 1 one does sound a little high.

Paul

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Well, that's interesting.

I sprayed some alclad grey microfiller primer out of the H&S Ultra with 0.4mm needleset @ 25psi on the airbrush regulator.

Perfect spray pattern, and no grittyness / grain.

So perhaps my issue has been too thin paint with not enough air pressure?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Here's another nozzle size question. First, some background:

To start this off, I'm going to omit brand names of brushes, because I don't want to get into a debate on which brand is better. I'm looking for insight on needle size.

I'm in the market for a dedicated detail brush. So this week I tried several high end brushes, one with a .2 mm needle and two with a .3 mm needle. The .2 seemed to be more susceptible to clogging with acrylic paint, where the .3 was not as finicky. The paint was well thinned in all tests. I was able to get super fine lines with both needle sizes.

So, my question is: Is an airbrush with a .3 nozzle sufficient for fine detail work on 1/48 scale aircraft (mottling, post- shading, etc)? In my test it seems so. I like the fact that it is more forgiving with the paint, and how small I can get the lines. Also, the needle doesn't look quite as fragile as the .2. I was just hoping for some opinions here before buying, as I don't want to find out later that maybe I should have got the .2.

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Texan,

nozzle size depends on the medium you want to spray through it. 0.3 is fine for all model paints. The spray quality (atomisation) depends more on the needle/nozzle taper and design than the nozzle size.

This link never gets old. Some great advice starts at the 55th minute.

Vedran

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