Large Scale Central

The Magical experience of using an Airbrush

Tools and Tips
#1

I finally had a project that I figured I couldn’t do without and airbrush. I have 5 hoppers that need touching up after removing the lettering. So this last weekend I went out and bought a Paasche internal mix double action airbrush. I tried this once when I was 13 with one of those cheap Testors kits. I remember turning a lot of HO cars grey but not feeling in control or liking the finish I got. So this experience would be all new for me almost 30 years later.

Wow, with a bit of reading the instructions and one practice dis-assembly before starting, I grabbed a pizza box and did the first test the manual suggested with the dots. What a blast! Buy the end of that exorcise and drawing a few lines I felt good enough to go grab a hopper and try it out! I was very pleased with the results and am really looking for ward to doing the other 4 this weekend.

I read some advice telling people that the double action could be scary and really wasn’t that much better than single. I’m really glad I didn’t let those worries intimidate me out of going for the double. It didn’t take long to catch on at all, and I love the extra control on the paint flow.

Air brush practice

#2

Cool. My daughter spent most of her time at the Garden Railway Convention at the booth with the airbrushes, spending much of it trying to convince me that we need to buy one. I divorced my airbrush a few years ago, but I’m thinking it may be time to start a new relationship with a proper double-action one like she was playing with. This is definitely one time I’m going to spend the money for a good set-up. My old one wasn’t a bottom-feeder, but there are definitely better quality units out there today.

Later,

K

#3

I have a similar airbrush, but it’s an external mix. I’ve played around with it a few times, but not enough to get really good. Buy quality once and you’ll be happy!

#4

I think you both hit the nail on the head when you reference buying a good quality unit with the correct features. I thought that I would end up spending close to $200 to get a good airbrush like the one I purchased but it was only $99 of the shelf. I do feel fortunate that my local Hobby Town had so many to look at and choose from. I tried Hobby lobby but they had a lot of names I wasn’t familiar with and little info on the packaging about them, especially at the higher prices they were asking.

Kevin, I really hope you try to rekindle your relationship with this tool. You already produce works of art with your current methods. I’d love to see what you could do with and airbrush.

This is the exact model I bought: Paasche Airbrush

#5

I have also just rediscovered my airbrush, although I didn’t wait 30 years, just two. I don’t know which brand it is, but it has the hopper above rather than below. I had one with the paint hopper on the underside and had some difficulties with it sucking the paint up. I use ready mixed Vallejo paint and it is easy to use.

#6

I have the cheapest airbrush that Testor’s ever made. Single action, external mix, and I cant see me doing certain projects without one.

#7

Go to the nearest artist supply store, if your LHS can’t help you out. My local Hobby Lobby is clueless about the airbrush. I guess you can’t know everything in the store.

#8

Randy Lehrian Jr. said:

I think you both hit the nail on the head when you reference buying a good quality unit with the correct features. I thought that I would end up spending close to $200 to get a good airbrush like the one I purchased but it was only $99 of the shelf. I do feel fortunate that my local Hobby Town had so many to look at and choose from. I tried Hobby lobby but they had a lot of names I wasn’t familiar with and little info on the packaging about them, especially at the higher prices they were asking.

Kevin, I really hope you try to rekindle your relationship with this tool. You already produce works of art with your current methods. I’d love to see what you could do with and airbrush.

This is the exact model I bought: Paasche Airbrush

That should serve you well. I used one like it in 1974 painting T-shirts and art projects… fond memories those… thanks.

John

#9

I would never even think about modeling without my internal mix double action airbrush. I have a Paasche and it works fine, there are better. One thing to look into is the availability of different tips and needles. If you do have the ability to change, I am sure your do, I recommend picking up all three. They are marked by hash marks in one, two , and three I believe. These give you even more control. I forget which way the numbers go but each progressively allows more paint. So for fine detail I believe you use the three and for mass application the one, might be the other way around. Also I prefer the little cup to the bottles for the paint. Not as heavy in the hand.

Learn to use stencils for varying affect. By placing a stencil close to the model you get a hard line farther away gives you a soft line. Paint thickness is a bit tough to master. I find thinner is better than thicker but there is a narrow window. In my opinion enamel sprays nicer than acrylic but acrylic cleans up nicer and doesn’t clog the brush.

Have fun with t.

I looked at your model and then looked at Paasche’s site and here are the caps, needles and tip sets you need.

http://www.paascheairbrush.com/products/airbrushes-airbrush-parts-and-accessories/airbrush-parts/tip-needle-aircap-combos/VL-227-1

You need the tip/needle/cap combo a they are matched sets.

#10

Nice tips Devon. ( pun intended ) (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)Thanks for the info. Actually mine did come with all three needles and their corresponding tips. I just used the one that was already in the “brush” for this first bit of work. So far I’ve only used the bottles too. I don’t think the cup would have held all the paint I needed for the 5 hoppers. So that’s another fun accessory I’ll get to play with. I’m really looking forward to trying it out on some other projects. I just picked up an Iron Horse Engraving EBT caboose at the FEBT auction that will put it to good use. Definitely money well spent.

#11

Just don’t get too aggressive with your arm movements when using the colour cup. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

#12

David Maynard said:

Just don’t get too aggressive with your arm movements when using the colour cup. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

Yes it took me a bit to get my technique down to where I wouldn’t tip the cup and spill the paint. I was so bad at t that I exclusively used the bottles so I would spill everywhere. But the more I got used to it the more I loved the cups for their weight. Large area painting where detail isn’t critical the bottles would be best.

Another tip, if you do start to clog up put your finger over the tip of the brush and depress and pull back on the trigger fully. It will back flush the brush into the bottle. Get used to cleaning the thing also. They aren’t complicated to dissemble and the cleaner you keep it the better it will work.

A note on air. I don’t now what your using but air is in my opinion everything. Make sure what ever your using produces more than enough so that you can regulate it to what you want. Air regulation is a fine tuned procedure, different paints require different pressures as well as efffects and the needles your using. I prefer a tank/compressor combo so I don’t have to listen it run but I am also cheap and have never tried and actual airbrush compressor. I would recommend what ever your using that your create a manifold at your workstation that includes a dryer and a regulator. This way you can adjust on the fly within arms reach. I no longer have mine but am considering building another.

Boy I sound like a know it all. But I was very into high quality finishes on model cars. I lost all my car pictures to a computer crash but I honestly can say my model cars had paint jobs that would rival the real deal. I was never artistic enough to do cool graphics beyond a classic flame job, but I had dep rich finishes and I would never be able to achieve it if I hadn’t learned how to use an airbrush.

Sorry for being long winded but I think they are an excellent tool and like any tool there are tips and tricks that give you the most out of it.

#13

Oh heck I have another. I was just thinking on painting my future STMA geep and remembered a trick for painting multiple colors next to each other like stripes. After you lay down your first color and mask it off and get ready to paint your next color, before you shoot your next color take the color that is masked off and spray a small line on the edge of the tape. This seals the masking tape keeping the new color from running up into small voids in the tape. After you shoot the next color and remove the tape you should have a sharp line.

#14

Great stuff Devon, I use a 5hp 30 gallon compressor. I do have a local manifold with moisture trap and regulator. This was all ready to go from some automotive painting I’ve done. I did know about covering the tip and blowing the paint back in. The directions with the airbrush suggested that for cleaning up, but I didn’t know you could clear a clog that way , cool! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)I think I had a few and just gave it full throttle off of the workpiece to clear it. I actually disassembled the brush before I even used it so I would know how to do it while cleaning up afterward. Nothing makes a shop more excellent than cleanliness. Good tip on the stripe painting too. I’d already heard and forgotten about that. I may need to keep it handy now. Good Stuff!

#15

Yea, I have a regulator, air dryer unit at my paint booth, or what was supposed to be my paint booth. Its real nice to be able to adjust on the fly. My compressor lives in the garage, and it is over-sized for an airbrush. I got it on sale when Builder’s Square was going out of business. Having full tanks on that monster makes darn sure that I don’t get the air pulses that I would get from a small, tank-less compressor.

I cant try the finger trick to clear the clogs on mine, since mine is an El-Cheepo, external mix jobbie. But I haven’t had clogs since I learned to strain and properly thin my paint. For those of you with wives or girlfriends, a piece of old pantie hose, stretched over a frame or the mouth of the paint bottle, makes a good strainer.