airbrushes

[stona]

I think the camo on my messerscmitt might be a bit more challenging. plenty of practice before that one..

Good to see you are enjoying your new "toy". You can never practice too much. I still do little exercises with paint left in the cup at the end of a job, just simple things like repeating a figure with an even line or even signing my signature. Sometimes just a succession of figures with varying thickness of lines which I can then fill in. Anything really just to practice control, it's better than just tipping the paint away, and this on airbrushes I've had for years

Do you know which Messerschmitt you are going to do yet? It's one of my favourite aeroplanes.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I brought the trumpeter 32 scale bf 109 g 2 trop. I thought it was a brilliant model for the airbrush but I will deffo have to practice for the camo.

as it is im hoping for a spare hour on my spitfire practice model later. ive been watching some inspirational vids and have learned to do some black line preshade weathering before spraying. I should be ok with that.

steve

[Guest]

hi peeps.

Its been a while since I have been on here as I am a very busy man.

although I love this hobby I always leave it till I have nothing else to do ( I feel guilty enjoying myself when there is work to do).

however I did get a few hours in my greenhouse/cave yesterday.

It was raining hard all day and I could not clean windows in it.

I am on top of every job in the house and had time to have my airbrush out.

I was very scared of a twitchy hand and giving my shading a big finger full of spray and wish I had gone straight for the infinity h+s.

for the limiter dial on the rear of the brush.

however It is probably better to learn with feel,and I didn't mess with the tensioner adjustment.

sitting in my space fine spray painting certainly floated my boat.

I did a fantastic job of the underside of my Messerschmitt 109e. the top sandy colour was quite good too.

then I had a bash at the camo.

after a quick look at the diagrams I went straight for black camo.

I didn't realise it was olive green(muppet)

it was going great till then.

it still looks ok and I will finish it. but the camo contrast is too harsh.

but all in all,I love airbrushing a lot,my modelling has improved tenfold.

I did my first canopy that was masked and sprayed not free hand with a brush.

I had some problems with the brush blocking but I think that was tissue from cleaning.

but I have le

[Guest]

……….

I had some problems with the brush blocking but I think that was tissue from cleaning.

but I have le

I can now airbrush reliably, but two days ago I was spraying some Vallejo Model Air (a very dark grey-green) and despite vigorously shaking the bottle I got an immediate block. The paint was very thick in the nozzle when I cleaned the AB. I have since put a stainless steel nut (M5 size I think, as recommended by Phil Flory) in that (and in other bottles) to increase the effectiveness of shaking. Perhaps the pigments chosen for some colours tend to clump.

Another thought: most people store their bottles upright. That seems import because if on their side (perhaps as a result of falling over) clumping could stay in the (Vallejo) spout and escape being shaken.

[Vaughan]

Steve I tend to find that different colours from the Modelair range don't all spray straight from the bottle and need to have a few drops of their own brand of thinners it's a matter of experimenting. Certain colours spray for fun others as I've found splutter despite shaking them vigorously.

[Guest]

Steve I tend to find that different colours from the Modelair range don't all spray straight from the bottle and need to have a few drops of their own brand of thinners it's a matter of experimenting. Certain colours spray for fun others as I've found splutter despite shaking them vigorously.

That's encouraging. Its not just me then!

[Vaughan]

Steve is all part of the trials and tribulations of airbrushing.

[Guest]

Yes agree with Vaughan Steve. Model Air which is specially prepared for Airbrushing I came to realise that it is not necessarily the consistency for every airbrush & for the use it is used for. I find about 20% thinner works well with a .4 or here abouts needle/nozzle. Interesting as well that Steve (Stona) uses a very hign pressure & others have joined that voice. Iwata for a .35 brush needle suggest 20 to 35 PSI. The 20 for very light paint 35 for heavier & they suggest acrylics as being a heavier paint 20 being for ink type consistency.

Laurie

[Vaughan]

Laurie the only problem with a higher pressure is that the paint tends to dry on the needle tip very quickly.

[Guest]

Interesting, please go on...

Still learning and using Gunze thinned 70% IPA with an HP-CS at 10psi, tried Citadel and had to go up 5-10psi

[stona]

Interesting, please go on...Still learning and using Gunze thinned 70% IPA with an HP-CS at 10psi, tried Citadel and had to go up 5-10psi

Those pressures are very low. I don't know the Gunze paints but any medium needs to be properly "atomised" to spray properly through an airbrush. I spray at around 35 psi but use enamels so drying in the airbrush isn't an issue.

If the paint isn't atomising properly you won't be able to spray clean lines or demarcations. The edges will be messy or blobby if that makes sense. You won't get this sort of clean line.



Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Steve I tend to find that different colours from the Modelair range don't all spray straight from the bottle and need to have a few drops of their own brand of thinners it's a matter of experimenting. Certain colours spray for fun others as I've found splutter despite shaking them vigorously.

I've had a thought: I read some time ago that it is best to put the thinner in the AB cup first, before the paint, and being an obedient boy I always do that. Now I can see that would help if some paint was clumping. It would have to fall into the thinner, and then the usual mixing in the cup with a brush, only done when a thinner is used, would also help to thin the clump. There is usually a reason why people advise certain ways of doing things.

[Guest]

Yes that is what I do Steve (kir). Thinners first as it keeps the needle.nozzle clean. I give the mix a good going over with a brush, a decent one as the last thing you wqant is a hair in the paint.I always spray a few seconds on a trial piece to make sure there is no residue of thinners which has failed to mix with the paint.

Laurie

[Guest]

Hi Steve,

I meant up of 5-10, that means 20-30. I know you're using much higher pressure and I'll give it a try.

The line I should look is the cannon or what? If so, how big are they?

Thanks,

Francesco

[stona]

Others would advise you not to mix in the airbrush cup at all (I'm assuming a fixed cup/gravity feed)

I do mix in the airbrush sometimes, usually when I'm spraying a relatively small area. First a very small amount of thinners, then the paint, then more thinners to suit. If I'm going to use a good cup full, as in a major camouflage colour, I mix externally.

I've also seen advice to strain paint before spraying. I can't comment on that as I've never bothered doing it in my life!

Incidentally, for other enamel users, I recently did an experiment with my White Ensign Colourcoats. I thinned and sprayed one camouflage colour with white spirits and the other with cellulose thinners. I can report that it didn't make any discernible difference at all to the spraying. Maybe the cellulose thinners thinned paint dried quicker but since I always leave them at least overnight it made no difference

Francesco, look at the demarcation between the two colours which runs across the machine guns on the cowling of the Fw 190. It is a clean line without any spattering or unevenness which can be caused if the pressure is too low or the paint is too thick. Both colours were sprayed without masking which gives a more realistic demarcation typical of Focke-Wulf.

Cheers

Steve