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airbrush paints


XH668

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Hi

Just recently brought an airbrush to break my airbrush virginity and was wondering what paints to use and what ratio to mix them up as?

Hopefully the compressor and brush i brought is good enough

cheers

668

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The consistency of semi-skimmed milk is a good yardstick... if you sloosh the paint up the sides of the cup, it drains back down quickly, leaving a thin residue. Then it's practice, practice practice!

Some people get a lot more precise about their mixes, but that's up to them. One thing to watch out for is sediment clogging your brush. Usually, decanting the paint into a mixing jar & then into your brush is enough to leave the sediment behind, but it can be advisable to strain the paint thru some mesh or gauze if you're concerned, or know the paint is a bit old or gungy. :)

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That depends entirely on you, as you'll get as many opinions as there are paints out there. Acrylics dry fast, smell less, but have less sticking power, and can clog up in your airbrush if you don't use a flow aid. Enamels stink the place out, stick to your model well & were generally accepted as THE model paint 20+ years ago.

Acrylics are coming along, and now probably rival or outstrip enamels in use, despite their few shortcomings, which once you've got used to them aren't that tricky to deal with. :)

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Even at this early stage of your airbrushing career it could be a bunged up needle/tubing. It never ceases to amaze me how little is required to stop paint getting through my airbrush. Check any seals aswell.

Without knowing what type of airbrush or paints difficult to know what else to say, but those are my usual problems.

cheers

Grant

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What am i doing wrong?

cheers

668

You need to tell us more about your setup for us to answer that!

For starters, what make & model of airbrush are you using? What pressure are you trying to spray at?

Have you managed to get the airbrush to spray anything? I would suggest testing a new airbrush setup with nothing more than water in the paint cup.

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I would suggest testing a new airbrush setup with nothing more than water in the paint cup.

That's what I did to test my new Iwata out, I played around for ages trying dots and dagger-strokes, etc with just some kitchen roll to spray on.

It also showed that I hadn't pushed the needle all the way into the nozzle from it's 'travelling' position.

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okiee its a BD-130 model and im using accrylic paints, and the compressor im using is the as18(2) from airbrush pro.

i managed to cut a tiny tiny bit out for a preshade but not alot :|

whats going wrong?

cheers

668

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For starters I'd check to make sure the needle is properly seated. Then check to see that air is coming out when you press, and then water comes out when you pull the lever backwards.

If either of those last two are not happening (and your compressor is putting out enough air), strip the airbrush for cleaning.

Looking at a pic on google of the BD-130 it's a Iwata HP-C type clone.

To pull it apart unscrew the handle and loosed the needle chuck (the little knurled nut the needle passes through) and CAREFULLY withdraw the needle. At all costs be careful of the tip of the needle.

Then loosen and remove the head.

Then using the special spanner you hopefully got with the airbrush, unscrew the tip. This has a VERY fine thread and you need to be careful (I'm assuming here that this is the same as the Iwata).

Now clean the needle, the channel that the paint flows through and the tip.

Put it all back together.

When re-fitting the needle be very careful to slide it all the way forward, but not to force it, you don't want to split the tip.

If it was the airbrush, hopefully now it will be fine, just make sure you thin the paint enough, and that you clean it really thoroughly after each use.

Edited by Phil
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Good description Phil :)

One other thing - if the needle nut isn't done up to a firm finger pressure, it's conceivable that the needle may just slip back forward when you pull back on the trigger... worth checking that the needle is moving when you pull back. If not, tighten the nut a bit until it moves in syncronisation :)

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Hi all,

just sent the afternoon cleaning and testing it. Stripped it and cleaned it 3 times and still i only get air comming out and no fluid.

I tested it with water and got nothing.

Im working between 30 and 60 psi

whats more can i do :(

cheers

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Well something certainly isn't right, at this point I'd be tempted to send it back.

At 60 psi you should be able to spray treacle through it! With just water, even 30 psi should be far more pressure than you need. I can get water to atomise through my Iwata at very low pressures.

Mike makes a very good point in his post above, make sure the needle nut is done up! If you don't, the needle wont move when you pull back the trigger, but after stripping and reassembling three times I'm figuring you'll have got to grips with that by now.

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Well i seriously cleaned it out and has some sucess. I managed to spray on the grey for the camoflage scheme and was really happy with it.

But ive got to the green and it doesnt want to spray anything anymore. Im going to strip it and clean it out and then when my new order comes try the green again

I was just wondering what paints other people use?

Im sticking with humbrol at the moment but what otheres can i venture into?

cheers

668

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We all use different paints and different thinners with our own personal favourites.

Me its Tamiya thinned with Celulose thinners, followed by Gunze again thinned with Celulose thinners, and then either xtracrylix or Vallejo.

If you have your heart set on enamels then you could do a lot worse than look at what White Ensign have to offer

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I was just wondering what paints other people use?

I have been using an Iwata Rev BR at 15 psi and its sprays very well with tamiya paints and they dry very quickly. The only problem i have is having to mix paints to get the desired colours sometimes.

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