CB36

I've tried numerous times to use an airbrush, all with very poor results. I bought a Badger set from Tower, (don't remember the model), and a couple of cans of propellant. I get splattering or no coverage at all.
Is my problem paint viscosity and type or do I need to pony up the bucks for a compressor? I have a big compressor in the garage for my nail guns, I take it I can't regulate that down to work?
The airbrush is for occasional scale model work, not a life passion.
Thanks!

TomCrump

I use my shop's 60 gal/5hp compressor with my airbrush. I regulate the pressure down to 25#.

bhole74

A compressor would help, sound like you need to thin the paint down a little more as well.

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

You can get one of these detail spray guns at Harbor Freight for around $15.00.
Add to it a small air trap and a regulator, another $15.00. You can do some nice
work with this gun, better than with the tiny air brush. Use your existing air
compressor.

I painted these blue parts on my car with the $15.00 detail gun. Trust me, you
can't get this type of a paint job with an air brush.

FBD.

Birdflew

I am a semi-pro airbrush artist (custom motorcycle murals, etc) and here are some tips:

I almost exclusively use automotive urethanes so my knowledge and advice is based on them but apply in general.

Most paint mfgrs. recommend a 2:1 reduction - this is WAY too thick for an airbrush. I usually end up reducing 1:1 or more depending on the color. Another factor is speed of reducer, I like using a slow reducer and often add a retarder if I'm doing super fine detail work.
Speed of reduction is mainly a factor of temperature, the hotter your ambient air the slower a reducer you need.

I use a large compressor run through a moisture trap. My experience is that the canned air is a waste of time and money. I set my regulator to the airbrush anywhere from 25 to 50 psi. A setting of 25 to 30 works well for most applications but I sometimes crank it up to 50 for large sparay patterns.

Keep the tip and needle clean. I like to keep an old paint brush sitting in laquer thinner the clean the tip and needle. I do this constantly, especially with real heavy opaque pigments as they tend to dry on the tip quickly. I also like to polish the needle with 2000 grit paper to remove any roughness that can promote tip build up. Be careful - the needle is fragile and you don't want to bend it.

Good luck,

c.

omcusnr

Flyboy & creature have given you the best advice so far. Size the airbrush for the size of your work, and YOU MUST HAVE A MOISTURE TRAP in line, especially in high humidity areas. The kind of "detail brush" flyboy pictured is great for large areas & base coats. If you want/need to get into finer detail use the smaller badger or better yet get a Paasche VL type double action (push down you get air, pull back you get pigment). This will allow you much more control than a typical single action hobby brush and will allow you more types of media by having different tips. The compressor should have a tank on it. The tank acts like a buffer so you don't get small bursts or pulses of air out the tip. You need a steady stream of air, so a good size tank is important (20g or more).

With an air brush, slow is better, and cleanliness is next to the perfect paint job (no matter what media you use). Creature's pressure settings & dilutions are bang on. You need to be about the consistancy of milk or just a hair thicker, shoot it in thin even coats & KEEP MOVING. Like building, you get better with practice, but make sure you move your arm & wrist together to make sure the tip is perpendicular to the work surface, move your arm before the trigger & let the trigger off before stopping your sweep. If the tip isn't perp. you'll get an oval shaped spray pattern, with different drying rates. The badger is a good brush to learn on. I used one when I was 13 for my plastic models (got me my 1st job, building display models for a local toy/hobby shop.)

Also, experiment with mask & masking techniques. Get some frisket paper, and some different type of straight edges, circle templates & such. See what happens when you hold the mask off or away from what your spraying, see how to use the frisket for shapes & camoflage patterens.

Good Luck & happy painting.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

I've been thinking about using KlassKote for a project. They recommend a HVLP gun. Is that detail gun that you got from Harbor Freight considered HVLP? I've got a compressor at work that puts out 110 PSI. Not sure if it might overwhelm that little regulator that you show.

I'm mainly interested in trying to find out the proper kind of gun for shooting KlassKote... BTW, the mixing ratio is recommended to be 1 part paint, one part hardener, one part reducer. An article that I read said that the paint would have the consistancey of milk, and that the user should wait about 40 minutes after mixing before spraying...

If I can barge in here, any comments in my direction would also be appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

BWooster

Bob,

I have had good results with my Badger external mix cheapy spray gun, but only if I use retarder or thinner as the other guys have suggested, and also at around 30 psi. I have sprayed dopes and even household eggshell paints!

Badger makes a fitting to reduce from a standard compressor thread to their super fine airline thread. It costs less than $5.

L

iaclmac

N1EDM ... It is not the PSI of the compressor that dictates the success of an airbrush or a HVLP gun. What you need to know is the desired CFM (cubic feet per minute) that the spray gun or airbrush works at. Then you need a compressor that can deliver that volume of air at the desired psi. If you haven't bought a HVLP gun, you would be surprised at the variety of air consumptions while using 30 - 50 psi. A lot of numbers to wade thru .. I know. To make it more simple ... if you are planning on using the office compressor, look on the side and find out the CFM. Then you will know what gun it can handle

iaclmac

CB36 .. .there has been a lot of good info on airbrushes here. However one point I did not see listed was the tip in your Badger. When I first started using an airbrush to paint my planes, I got a similar result. I found that the tip supplied with the badger is a medium tip. To get proper coverage I bought a heavy tip. This gave me a wider pattern and better coverage. For the most part I spray all my finishes to include artwork, numbers and lettering. The key to prevent splatter is thinning. I have found a 50-50 mix works well in my pasche airbrush, Should work fine for you. here are a couple of pics for your review. Everything in them is airbrushed.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks, iaclmac. I had that one sorta figured out. I'm looking for a source for more in-depth information.... and please don't forget that this is CB36's thread. I don't want to hijack it.

The "office" compressor that I have available to me has a tank about 6 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. It needs 480V 3-Phase to run the compressor. The baby compressor has just a 5-gallon tank. That only needs 240V 1-Ph. I guess I can use that one for touch-up.

So, I need a regulator that can turn 120 PSI down to 30-50 PSI, and the tank already has a water separator on it. I'll just sit back in the weeds and monitor the rest of this thread.

Thanks, and nice airplane(s) you have there. Would like to see more of "Gilmore" when you have more of the details on it....

Thanks again,

Bob

iaclmac

Want to see more of the Gilmore?? OK

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Now that I'm getting a little more 'refined' in my questions, I'm curious about such things as tip diameters, etc.

I've seen 1mm, 1.5mm, etc. What are people using? I don't want to get a tip too small (won't get good spray) or too large (too much paint).

What specifics are folks using for equipment?

I've seen equipment such as Central Pneumatic and Campbell Hausfield on the web. Are these any good, or should I just stick to DeVilbiss???

Thanks,

Bob

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

Bob....take a peek [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3557418/tm.htm]here[/link] at this:

FBD.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

I lurked on some of the forums used by auto body people. After studying up I asked for a recommendation for what to use to paint a couple boats I will be finishing this winter. One of the guys suggested I give this one a try: http://stores.channeladvisor.com/the...KU=RP8116/R-31

Note that this place sells them on eBay also (for even less). I've got the gun, but haven't used it yet. The quality looks ok, but the proof will be in how it sprays. I'm still working on paint selection.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks! That looks like the type/size gun that I want to use, but no one seems to hvae any specifics.

I'd never heard of Central Pneumatic, so I didn't know if they were a quality outfit or not.

I noticed in one ad on eBay, they were pushing a DeVilbiss gun. When I read the fine print, it said that a rebuild kit was not available for that gun.

I'm looking for something that has repair parts available, all standard fittings, etc. I don't want to have to buy something that requires some odd metric pipe thread. Also, the finish in the spray nozzle will be a factor - if it's ragged, the paint isn't going to spray right.

let me know what you two find out when you get those guns.. I don't mind spending the $$, but I want to get my $$ worth out of it and not have to toss it out the first time that I have a nozzle clog... Also, can you easily find extra cups for the guy so that you don't have to keep switching and cleaning?

I'm getting a better idea of what kinds of questions to ask now.

Thanks for that info. As I said before, I don't want to hijack this thread from CB36. It's his thread, after all. I just poked in here with a couple of nosey questions.

Thanks guys,

Bob

the-plumber

Central Pneumatic is Harbor Freight's 'house brand'. IMHO Harbor Freight is a crap shoot vis a vis quality.

There are some tech tips about air brushing at http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/helpdesk.asp#tech_tips

e-sailpilot86

I just got an airbrush, very excited to try it out. I'm hoping to use mine to detail pretty much everything, I've got lots of things I like to paint, static model, R/C, etc. I got tired of rattle cans, and I wanted something nice. I got the Iwata HP-SBP and a ligtweight air compressor to go with it, silver something. Quality of the components are exceptional. [8D] I should be set for life. My dad also has a large 30 gallon air compressor with regulator I can borrow if I need it. I don't think I will just yet. Going to try it out and learn how to use it. I look forward to reading more about airbrushing on here! [&:]

BTW, Gilmore is my great grandfather. Not by blood though, my grandmother was adopted, she was their only child. (Thread Hijack over)

omcusnr

The DeVilbliss should be a pretty good gun. The thing on tip size is related to media you're going to shoot. The thicker / stiffer the media the larger the tip. Water colors are the thinnest, and use the smallest tips - these are used primarily by fine artists. As you progress through things like quache, enamals, laquers, latex & oils, the tips get bigger.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Does anyone have any preference/experience on which tip size to shoot KlassKote? Which pressure???

Bob

bipeaddict

I have been shooting KlassKote 1:1:1 at 38psi through a Paasche VL airbrush. I am using the #5 tip.

I also use a SATA mini-Jet 3 HLVP with the #2 tip.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks, Bipeaddict.

I picked up a gravity-feed gun from Lowes for about $50 (Ingersol-Rand). I think it has a 1.3 mil tip. I still need a regulator (they were out of them) and I put my KlassKote on order two days ago. Starting up can be kinda costly :-D

Bob

krazycdn

thin the paint out and ensure the tip is clean. Thick paint will cause spattering and it will be cheaper to regulate your compressor in the long run