Great to hear back about how you've gotten on and even better to see pics of the results! Working very nicely :good:
I still get one problem, and that is that on some passes the paint 'pools' in hundreds of little puddles creating an unwanted blotchy effect. I'll try to get pics if it happens again but off the top of your heads what's the cause? I'm using paint direct from a vallejo airbrush dropped, so presume consistency ISNT the issue. Perhaps pressure then? I tried all sorts of pressures and got similar effects. The only thing that seemed to make a difference was the distance from gun to target. What is my optimal distance for miniature work?
Assuming it's not orange peel caused by the two things airhead mentions, that would be my first thought on the easiest in-progress fix.
Acrylic paints are a complex mix of ingredients and sometimes the retarder or flow-aid will rise to the surface and create kinda 'greasy' finish that new paint doesn't sit on properly. It might be due to small variations in the paint mix - some settling and other kinds of separation
will occur with fluid paints, which can happen more quickly one time than another. Also, see >> below. Generally IME since the problem can occur without warning it's just best to deal with it when it happens and the simplest method - if it's doable for the effect one is going for - is to spray from a little further out (or just very lightly, but generally backing off has worked best for me).
I'm assuming you're not spraying directly onto still-wet paint here, if that's a possible cause then don't be afraid to break out the hairdryer and give the model a quick burst to dry it off so you can continue to airbrush.
So its better to spray for shorter blasts, the theory being that fresh paint then sits and lubricates the nozzle? Right?
Don't know about the why but FWIW I've had the same experience up to a point and I try to break up spraying, even if just for a second or two every now and then.
Besides, some compressors won't let you spray continuously (I mean literally - trigger fully pressed) for three minutes :cute:
Not sure that too thin is the prob, as its direct from vallejo airbrush dropper.
As has been mentioned it's best to learn to recognize the right consistency by eye. Paints
do vary, despite the best intentions of the manufacturer and with good QC there might not be exactly the same viscosity from bottle to bottle.
>> In addition to that there's something that's not widely appreciated and that is that different colours are made from pigments of very different kinds. Some are mineral pigments which are weighty, with (relatively) large particles; others are made from much lighter pigments which have minuscule particles. Made up into paints of
exactly the same viscosity they still might not spray through the nozzle in precisely the same way because of this.
All the above advice is correct, except a little too complex for a new user.
Don't agree. While that's definitely something to watch out for with this kind of thing - information overload is very easy for the initiate - sometimes the cause is what the cause is, if you get what I mean. So if a problem is possibly down to one of a number of things then they really do all have to be mentioned, even if they're not all easy to recognise or fix.
Einion
