Need help with Airbrush

[matty1001]

Well...I went into hobby zone today and Laura bought me a Badger 350 Airbrush. I know Badger have pretty good feedback (from people on here) and the man in the shop also said they have a great reputation in the field.
The bloke did give me a few tips on using it and paints and such, and stated that Vallejo\'s would be fine. But he didn\'t say anything about the thinning medium, only that it should be about 50/50 for acrylic paints. So..will water be fine for thinning, or should i buy a proper acrylic thinner to use?
Now onto cleaning, i bought a can of cleaner to spray through the nozzle, but the bloke said just to use this at the end to fully clean the nozzle. So will water be able to do the bulk of the cleaning, or should i clean it with a thinner. (Im pretty sure iv got a jar of Tamiya thinner somewhere)

I know a few people on here are pretty up on Airbrush (Airhead IIRC) so any help would be great, as iv got two weeks off, and a few big pieces to get painted!

 

[Larre]

I\'d like to add a few questions...

wich site is the best one for buying an airbrush online...

and what does it cost (in general)

// Larre

 

[Dragonsreach]

Matty one of the things I have been told by an Airbrush user is that Halfords screeen wash is one of the best thinners around for acrylics.
Plus used Neat is a good cleaner for your brush.

 

[airhead]

second silk screen wash. Createx is my brand of choice - but just because of availability.

@matty,
the 350 is a nice external mix, single action gun. Good for base coats and clear coats (I use a similar one for automotive clear coats for helmates.)

You are not going to get a very fine line from it but that is not the use for the gun. Thinning can be done with good clean water. You may want to add some magic wash to it or some airbrush media or glaze media. Additives will add back binder lost from the dilution. A good start is 1/3 paint, 1/3 airbrush media and 1/3 water. You can always add another layer of paint to get coverage.

Save some old panty hose. Screen everything through it before you run it through your gun. A small bit of dried paint is more than a pain in an airbrush.

Clean up is important. Flush a full bottle of clean water through it when you are done - add a couple of drops of dish soap or even better use the screen cleaner (about 1/4 cleaner to 3/4 water for the createx brand).

Take the paint channels apart and invest in some AirBrushes (I think that is the brand) - a set of small brushes for scrubbing the internals and the paint pots and other things.

Brushes

from Bearair, but you may have other suppliers across the pond.

@Larre
I\'m not sure of your location, but in the US:
My favorites are:
www.bearair.com
www.dixieart.com
www.pearlpaint.com

Pearls has a local store so that is convienient, but full retail.

As to cost, your compressor will probably be the most expensive thing. ($25-$100)
Guns (airbrushes) are about the same.

Use will determine the gun you need (production basecoating? fine detail? type of paint, etc.)
My favorite brands:
Iwata (no longer carried by Bear Air :evil: )
Vega (now owned by Badger)
Paasche (an old reliable)
Badger

Other things you need:
Moisture trap & regulator for your compressor (if it does not come with one.)
Hoses (tend to be brand specific to the gun and standard 1/4\" on the other end.)

Things to avoid:
No name brands found on ebay and discount parts stores.

 

[matty1001]

Well iv had a shot, its quite intimidating TBH, wierd to set up, and it took a while to get used to all the little fiddly bits, and how to screw on the air can etc...

But, it seems alright, the basecoat went on nice and fine in about 3 coats, then i changed the colour and tried to do highlights, but it hasn\'t turned out to well lol Im going to have a huge mess on with this over the next two weeks and hopefully improve my accuracy and learn how to use it a bit better lol

Cleaning wasn\'t hard, but tedious. I really didn\'t want any paint to clog it up or anything, so i spent about 30mins just flushing stuff out and then using Airbrush cleaner.

Cheers for all the tips Kev.

 

[airhead]

matty, if you intend to make use of this for more than a few minutes a month, you will want to get rid of the air cans and invest in a small compressor. Much cheaper in the long run.

Truely quiet compressors are expensive (they use the same rotary compressors that the refridgerator uses).

Diaphragm compressors range from cheap to expensive and from deafening to not too bad. They can be found at home centers and at air supply stores as well. Ebay is still my favorite place, but I got a cheap diaphragm that lasted about a month.

Piston compressors are generally for industrial use only. You find them in old gas stations and auto shops.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by matty1001
But he didn\'t say anything about the thinning medium, only that it should be about 50/50 for acrylic paints. So..will water be fine for thinning, or should i buy a proper acrylic thinner to use?

Water is fine, it\'s just different than airbrush thinners or whatever other medium you might use. It depends on the paints, some thinned heavily with water won\'t bond well, some do.

Originally posted by matty1001
Now onto cleaning, i bought a can of cleaner to spray through the nozzle, but the bloke said just to use this at the end to fully clean the nozzle. So will water be able to do the bulk of the cleaning, or should i clean it with a thinner. (Im pretty sure iv got a jar of Tamiya thinner somewhere)

Get some isopropyl alcohol, maybe screen cleaner (containing methanol). Cheap-as-chips solvents for dried acrylic and vinyl paints.

Originally posted by matty1001
Well iv had a shot, its quite intimidating TBH, wierd to set up, and it took a while to get used to all the little fiddly bits, and how to screw on the air can etc...

Definitely give serious thought to a compressor; the canned air is just going to eat into your budget, bigtime.

As I like to mention: cleaning the airbrush can require more air (double, triple) than the spraying job needed! No better definition of waste that I can think of

Originally posted by matty1001
But, it seems alright, the basecoat went on nice and fine in about 3 coats, then i changed the colour and tried to do highlights, but it hasn\'t turned out to well lol Im going to have a huge mess on with this over the next two weeks and hopefully improve my accuracy and learn how to use it a bit better lol

IMO with any normal airbrush (something without major-league fine control) you should just use the airbrush for directional spraying - zenithal lighting. Don\'t aim to be able to spray a highlight onto a ridge on a sleeve.

Originally posted by matty1001
Cleaning wasn\'t hard, but tedious.

Yeah, that\'s the real thing about airbrushing - spray for two minutes, clean up for ten... spray for 30 seconds, still clean up for ten minutes lol

Originally posted by Larre
I\'d like to add a few questions...

wich site is the best one for buying an airbrush online...

Where are you? In the US Bearair often has the best prices.

Originally posted by Larre
and what does it cost (in general)

Factor in a decent compressor costs at least as much as the airbrush before you begin. Particularly true today, where a decent brush can be only $$, while any quality compressor is going to be $$$.

Einion

 

[matty1001]

Cheers for all the replys.

I got a big tub of screenwash today for about £1 so iv been using that for thinning and cleaning tonight.
Iv had about 30mins tonight just messing on again basecoating a Dwarf bust models and just continuing getting to grips with the airbrush. I am seriously considering a compressor now as the can of air i got in the set is almost empty, after about 30mins use.
I also fancy getting a slightly finer tip (the set came with a medium, and the box states there is finer versions available) to get a little bit more control. As the medium has about an inch spray diameter from about 5-6 inch away, and i fancy using the airbrush for all my basecoating from now on. (its alot faster, even with the cleaning time added in)

One thing though, im assuming that I cannot shoot metallics through it due to the little metallic flakes, or are they fine enough to pass through the tip?

 

[airhead]

Matty, with an external mix gun, you will probably never get a fine line. Pencil width lines require a fairly nice internal mix (double action) gun.

Don\'t use the screen wash for diluting paint. Save it for clean up. It is detergent and solvents for eating the latex.

Metalics can be shot (depending on the brand). Most of the stuff we paint can be shot in all but the finest of needles. Testor\'s Model Master paints used to have some of the nicest metalics for airbrushing I have used. The Vellajo alcohol based metalics are sweet too. Just be sure to take a bit of extra care in clean up after shooting metals.

 

[War Griffon]

Matty, take a look at the Vallejo Air paints as well they are specially formulated for teh Airbrush and I have heard a lot of good things about them although I have not got around to using them myself yet.

I use an Aztec airbrush or should I say I would if I had the time to get it out and be brave enough to try using it

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by War Griffon
I use an Aztec airbrush or should I say I would if I had the time to get it out and be brave enough to try using it

DITTO.

Matty One thing you may want to consider is the use of Masking Fluid.
You can paint that on using a brush and, When It\'s dry, Paint the areas surrounding it and allow for overlap with out worrying. As it\'s a rubber solution you can rub it off very easily when the sprayed paint is dry and the undercoat you\'ve covered is untouched.

 

[matty1001]

Theres a fluid? Cool, any links for where to buy it? Or does B&Q etc sell it?
Iv been using Duck specially formulated masking tape (basically masking tape with about as much stick as a friggin post it note) its pretty crappy, but it manages a botch job!

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by matty1001
Theres a fluid? Cool, any links for where to buy it? Or does B&Q etc sell it?

Art stores. The W&N Art Masking Fluid is probably the one you\'ll find most commonly. It\'s a sickly yellowish colour. I think Daler-Rowney offer an equivalent and there\'s another good one made by Talens (?) that\'s grey.

About masking: depending on how you spray this can actually become most of the actual work involved in using an airbrush. For me, it can take more effort to mask (and unmask, which can be a right pain lemme tell you!) than to do the airbrushing, although a lot depends on the complexity of the edges.

Oh yeah, and unless you have some means to dissolve dried latex don\'t apply this stuff with a brush! It\'s practically impossible to remove, no matter what the blurb on the back of the label might say about washing it out lol I float it on with the tips of sculpting tools.

If you go over an edge into an area you want paint to go wait for it to set (speed up with hairdryer if you want) then tease it back to where the line should be, it\'ll peel back nicely and you can often still get a clean edge. Expect to have to do touchups between areas of spraying though, no matter how careful you try to be.

Einion

 

[War Griffon]

Matty, I use Net Merchants. I have found them very helpful and they don\'t mind if you phone them with questions or queries about the products.

They were also very helpful when I bought my compressor and needed a new hose for the airbrush on just a can of air. Anybody using an Aztec brush will know how difficult it is to obtain new or longer air hoses for it here in the UK.

Here is the LINK
It will open up on the Vallejo Model Air Colours but I am sure you can navigate your way from there

You might be able to pick up the masking fluid in a decent model shop as Humbrol do it in 28ml bottles and it is a light purple in colour.

 

[War Griffon]

You might also want to check this out HOW TO AIRBRUSH It is American but there is a lot of useful information amongst it all including the lessons

 

[Modderrhu]

@Larre: http://stores.ebay.com/Ophelia-airbrush-and-spray-gun-tool

Maybe eBay, and maybe Thailand, but the article is the genuine Iwata and the prices speak for themselves. For me to buy the identical airbrush in ZA, I\'d pay 2.5 - 3 times the price, postage included. Yep, I tried \'em.