Tips for Airbrush users-Setting up

[wonwinglo]

Airbrushes carry more mysteries for model builders than any other tool,despite dozens of books that have been published on the subject of airbrushing there is just no substitute for hands on experience with these precision tools,unless you are prepared to work in a clean methodical fashion then the airbrush is not for you,these tools require constant attention in order to get the very best from them and do require a certain knack that is only acquired with practise,however if you are patient and prepared at first to tread slowly then the rewards for superfine finishes are great,the ability to apply superfine layers of colour in a very subtle fashion to reproduce intricate camouflage schemes are all possible with these tools.

If you are thinking of investing in one then gather together as much information as possible of the different models available today,you will need to pay about £100 for a decent one,forget the cheap spray guns that masquerade as airbrushes,these are fine for spraying large areas of colour but useless for any fine detail work,the airbrushes vary from manufacturer but most work on the principles of adjustable air or paint,a dual trigger can activate both air and paint in varying degress,difficult to explain here but you will soon grasp the idea the first time that you pull the trigger.

Alongside the airbrush you will need a constant supply of clean water free air,to this end there are the spray cannister cans that screw onto the airline of the gun,these are far from the best source of air as the cans freeze up quickly and also water quickly gets into the airline and ruins the finish,then there is the adaptor that screws onto a large tyre inner tube that sits outside your workshop ! not really satisfactory as the air supply can fluctuate,the best way is a small compressor that is fitted with a water/moisture trap,small diaphragm compressors are available for a few hundred pounds,they are certainly not cheap but will give years of service,mine is now 20 years old and has saved pounds in spray cannisters and sprayed literally hundreds of models in the process.So you can see the initial investment is fairly high but the end results are in my mind well worth the expenditure,time and effort involved with air brushing.

A word about safety,unless you have a proper paint extractor then forget airbrushing in a domestic environment,set aside a small cubicle in the corner of your garden,mine is a sort of lean too affair adjoining a shed,all of my work is undertaken in this way in the fresh air so that the volatile droplets of diffused spray exit to the atmosphere,never ever work near a naked flame or ignition source,what I usually do is preapare a few pieces of work ready for spraying and all suitably pre-masked,then I wait for suitable warm dry weather and batch spray,it only takes a few minutes to spray and do the essential clean up of the gun.

Collect those small sample jars that jam comes in and prepare a selection of the basic colours suitably thinned to the consistency of milk,before you attempt any spraying make sure that you have a plentiful supply of thinners,what I do is have a good quality one for the actual paint mix and ordinary white spirit for cleaning the gun,have a bristle hair paintbrush handy to clean the paint cup after use and finally place a tiny bit of cycle oil into the cup and give a quick blast,this ensures that the delicate paint nozzle will not seize up if the smallest amount of colour is left in the cup itself.Obviously this oil must be dispersed next time that you do any spraying with more thinners.

Beware of using cellusose thinners in airbrushes unless you have special nylon washers as opposed to the rubber ones which will quickly swell up,some people mix cellulose thinners with enamel to get the paint to dry but this is a specialised application that requires care and knowledge to perform.

Always have a plentiful supply of kitchen tissue to hand and a piece of lint free cloth as well,so to re-cap for the initial set up we need the following items ready to hand-

1/ Good quality airbrush.

2/ Compressor with airline & water trap in the circuit.

3/ Suitable place to spray.

4/ Colours pre-mixed to avoid delays in small marked jars.

5/ A supply of pipettes for dispensing the paint into the cup of the airbrush ( chemists or Proops at the shows)

6/ Plenty of proper paint thinners to match your paint.

7/ Bottle of white spirit.

8/ Tissue paper.

9/ Lint free cloth.

10/ Model pre-masked.

Next time I will deal with actually using the airbrush in order to get the very best from it.

 

[adzam]

ahh excellent barry , your timing is impeccable,

could you give someone such as myself some hints on picking an airbrush , and maybe a compressor also ?

TIA

Adz..

 

[Greyhead]

ahh excellent barry , your timing is impeccable, could you give someone such as myself some hints on picking an airbrush , and maybe a compressor also ?

TIA

Adz..

The high initial cost has always put me off airbrushes but following a recent demonstration at our model club I thought I’d give it a go.

The deciding factor was the supply of propellant, as you say the air canisters are a waste of time and money and compressors are expensive. What I hadn’t considered was using a gas other than air. I have a Mig welder that uses bottled CO2 , the sort used by pubs to pressurise the beer, a refill costs £12.00 and I’ve sprayed an AcroWot and the is no change in the bottle pressure so it will spray a awful lot of models.

I bought a cheap Badger as I wasn’t going to try anything clever and once again it kept the price down.

As a first attempt I’m quite pleased with the result; I tried a couple of “effects”, blending from colour to colour as per camouflage, and masking using Frisk film for the lettering. I used cellulose grey primer and Solalac, thinned with cellulose thinners, for the topcoats.

I’ll need a lot more practice before I spray a scale model but I’m definitely a convert and without the cost of a compressor I can afford a better airbrush!

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[adzam]

thanx for your input greyhead, i had purchased one of the badger £20 airbrushes, only to find that it`s idela for painting the exterior of houses ! not the delicate work i was looking for, i think a compressor kit set up is more what i require, but thats a cracking idea you`ve had with the co2. there are various makes and types continually coming up on ebay. any points on what make, type is the one to go for ?

 

[Greyhead]

Adzam

The thing to check before you buy is what makes your local supplier will refill, mine will only replace Messer or Calor bottles.

Grahame

 

[new to trains]

i have both a small airbrush, ( an old rotring unit ) and a larger spray gun ( a detail gun - for touch up spraying and spraying car panels), the detail gun can do fine work and is ideal for spraying medium or larger items such as my model boat hulls and similar, anything bigger than a match box i would use my detail gun rather than the airbrush, the finish is better the application smoother and the gun is easier to set up and clean, dont be put off buying a small panel or detail gun - the type used on cars, with practice you can use these to spray very small items and with fine control you can create the blended colours required for camouflage paint effects, also the detail guns are great for recreating effects such as a spark erroded finish or non slip deck finish...

the cost of these detail guns vary from £40 to £200- again buy the best you can afford... but if you are building anything slighlty larger then these guns need to be considered...

 

[Nigel.D]

Airbrushes come in different types. single action, and double action the double action gives you control of both paint flow and airflow and is ideal for fine detail or freehand camoflage ie luftwaffe types they also produce a nice feathered edge which is ideal for a lot of paint schemes

 

[Quintin]

Hey all,

Also remember that when you purchase an airbrush (regardless of the make and model), you invariably require spares. So make sure about spares availability and whether your local suppliers can get hold of them.

As Nigel mentioned, double-action airbrushes are ideal for our kind of hobby as it provides a lot more control over air- and paint flow. Another thing to consider is gravity feed vs. syphon feed (does the colour cup sit on top of the airbrush or at the bottom). I haven't had that much experience with syphon feed, but logic would tell me that syphon feed just adds another variable into the mix to watch - remember the syphon tube does go all the way down into the cup, so you'll always be left with a little paint in the cup that cannot be sucked into the A/B.

Regarding cleaning - Generally you can also get away with superficial cleaning of your airbrush in between jobs. When changing colours I wipe the cup clean (gravity feed), then run some dirty airbrush cleaner through it until the spray becomes clear. Then while spraying, carefully block the nozzle so as to force the airflow back into the colour cup - this causes paint residue in the nozzle mechanism to be forced back into the cup. Then empty the colur cup, wipe clean and then run a few drops of clean airbrush cleaner through, just to ensure the nozzle mechanism is clean in preparation for the next colour. Although this is a nice quick way to clean the brush, it's still recommended to strip and clean the airbrush thoroughly every once in a while.

Quintin

 

[Laurie]

Nice bit Barry. These are my additional thoughts. My opinion is to buy the best brush possible. Although you may after buying a cheap brush think the results are out of this world. Put off until you have the money. Worth the wait. It is the thing that produces the finish you look at.

But having been through this syndrome and progressing to a top airbrush the difference is chalk and cheese. I have H & S which is good but then bought an Iwata Ecipse HP-BS. This is a superb brush. Remarkable as it allows blanket airbrushing plus close to controlled work. FInally the quality of the finish is superb. I put this at the top of the list. It is the finish you are after. Buy cheap sausages they seem OK until you buy good ones. Forget about single action (waste of time) go for dual action for the best and more controllable airbrushing system.

But I use this Airbrush for acrylics. I suspect for enamels it is possible other brushes may have an edge. So if it is enamels then get advice from those in that medium.

For me for air I would only go for an oil less piston compressor which is manufactured solely for airbrushing. But most important go for one with an airtank as the airflow is more constant. The air tank ones are hardly much more. You can also buy a tankless one and add a tank. Next time I will be doing this as you can buy large tanks which fit in line. Unless you have lots of dosh i would go for the the Chinese ones which are now every where. Beware as some more expensive types are just the cheaper Chinese badged to look superior. If noise is a problem there are more expensive ones which use a refrigerator compressor which is ultra quiet.

You take you luck here. Some have had their Chinese ones for a long time no problems. Others, as me, have been unlucky and gone through 3. But guarantee on two. One thing I am sure they all come form the same manufacturer. Look at the piston heads and the detailing.

Agree with Barry in a domestic environment go for a spray booth. About £75 an Expo re-circulating type ie a filter type. Optional extra about £15 for a ducted out the window conversion and much much better. Also keeps all the paint in the booth. Also get a good nose filter with filters which are compatible and replaceable with the medium you use. Cellulose is a mile different to for instance Vallejo Acrylics which in 98% of their paints are non toxic. Even then wear the filter as the stuff will get into your lungs. Even with Vallejo non toxic if I forget to put on the nose filter I can feel the stuff in the nose.

Cleaning. My advice. I use Vallejo Acrylic. Cleaning I use mostly water to get rid of 95% of the left over paint. Then at the end of the washing cycle I send through 2 cups of Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner. Enamel and other Acrylics use different thinners so cleaning methods and cleaners are different. Get advice.

Paints. For me Vallejo mostly Model Air. About 140 colours which are added to constantly. Model air is manufactured specifically for airbrushing. The ingredients are more finely ground than their Model Paints. Great pots as you can mix accurately with the dropper top straight into the cup. Mix in the cup with a small brush. For some one just starting with Acrylics they are so easy to use.

Last get a quick release adapter for hose to airbrush. This enables removing the airbrush quickly and taking to the sink for washing.

Really last. Before buying an airbrush get advice on this forum from those who with luck have that airbrush you have thought of. That advice can safe a lot of tears.

Laurie