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(Potentially) amusing newbie air brushing questions.


Guest PetrolGator

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Guest PetrolGator

So, I've been playing with my dual action. Playing. I've pretty much gotten down how to get a good, clean, non spotty coat, but I'm still having issues getting a good NARROW one. I keep defaulting to my single action badger out of frustration.

 

Here's what I'm trying to accomplish:

 

1) Weathering. I see a LOT of 1/350 ships that have their paint dulled/striped/rusted to show aging and use. I'm mastered using oils for particularly nasty stains, but think that my air brush would accomplish a more convincing, less severe This seems like something accomplished with VERY thin paint, slowly. Right?

 

Like this:

80913086-260x260-0-0_Trumpeter+Models+Tr

 

2) Remedial work. I love complex cammo schemes. Repair with with a brush comes off as spotty. This can be a GOOD thing if I'm roughing up a model, but I'd also like to try a build in a museum quality (read: clean and shiny) style.

 

If anyone has tips on this, please share. If you need more clarification, let me know.

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On occasion I have, somehow, managed to lay down a fairly decent bit of weathering via my Iwata Eclipse and more recently my Grex dbl action.

What I've found is that some key factors (for me) are

1. getting the paint to the proper viscosity. I tend to mix the paint insufficiently.

2. Crank the air pressure down....my gauge goes from 0 to well over 200 psi....and I find that between 7 and 10 psi works well.

3. crank down the "set screw" on the airbrush so that the trigger pull is very limited (My Grex and Iwata have this wonderful feature....my trusty Paasche does not)

4. get the tip of the airbrush up close and personal with the area to be painted. How close? Just barely short of "in contact".

5. Use a CLEAN airbrush. Any small amount of crud anywhere in the moving parts and air/paint flow of the brush will hinder success.

 

Having said all that I am still, even when I tend to these items, not in the same ballpark with the guys that really, Really know what they are doing. But I'll keep trying and celebrate success on those occasions when the Paint Gods smile upon me.

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Guest PetrolGator

Thanks, Dick. The wife is heading to see her parents this weekend, so I'll have plenty of time to build and experiment. I'm gonna play with a little Midship Models destroyer, so we'll see how it all turns out.

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Oh...I forgot about humidity. You and I tend to live with it as part of the everyday background of life in La and Central/South Tx. I've found that a moisture trap in the airline between the brush and the air source is a "must".

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Humidity is truly a curse. I would be merrily spraying away when my airbrush would cough up a big drop of water all over my paint job. I got one of those in-line moister traps but it did little. It would trap moister, but it filled quickly and "spat" out the overage. Then I got a real moisture trap and, following the instructions, attached it to my compressor. Did absolutely nothing, There was never a drop in it. Then I heard that you should put some distance between it and your compressor for it to work right. I added a length of air hose between the compressor and the trap and what you know, it worked like a charm. Mr. Science tells me that when air is compressed, it heats up and warm air holds humidity in vapor form. When it goes through a trap right by the compressor, the trap can't filter out vapor, so the H2O goes right by, condenses in your airline and then spits out when a drop forms. However, if that warm air is allowed to cool a bit, which it does in that length of air hose, the moisture becomes liquid and the trap can filter out the liquid water.

Edited by Ron Bell
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I have a solution to the "water drop" problem. I used to use compressed CO2 to power my brush but when I moved, I can't find an easy source. So, I have the tank and all of the gauges etc. When I bought a small compressor to use, I attached it to feed into my CO2 tank. That is large enough for all moisture to drain out. Also, it makes the workshop quieter. The compressor runs till the tank is full. I use air out of the tank at a lower pressure so it takes a while before the compressor kicks on again.

 

Kind of complicated and I didn't do this to avoid moisture but it works well and modelers always seem to have lots of interesting items about the workshop. :-)

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Guest PetrolGator

I'm hoping to have a more "professional" setup once we move to New Orleans. Hopefully, climate control will help minimize the humidity. I'll also look into a moisture trap, plus the additional hose.

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