The Perfect Beginner Toolkit for airbrushing
- Thread starter julienjj
- Start date
lmackattack
old school
if you use waterbased paints buy a bottle of windex glass cleaner. use it to clean your gun after each use and color change. cheeper than the air brush cleaner that is sold at the store. it also lasts 50x as long! I also like to keep the diffrent tips submerged in a class of cleaner just to keep it as clean as possible and reduce any internal build up. I test spray and clean into a garbage can. it is a easy way to get alot of cleaner thru the gun and not worry about the excess paint or cleaner over spray.
NWCanuck
Tip&Ring
I agree with Trent on this one. Just make sure you leave the tips only in Windex. I left my Badger single action 200NH submerged and disassembled in Windex for a week and ended up needing to replace the valve assembly because is ruined the seals. I guess this was a good thing because I ended up buying an Iwata Revolution dual action while I waited for my parts. So tips only! The Windex works great on Acrylic cleanup that is for sure.
NWCanuck
Tip&Ring
I intend to use acrylic only, since all other type of solvent based paint are banned from importation in Canada ( i cant see why)
Is this just at your LHS, because mine stocks all kinds of solvent based stuff (although they admit that Enamels are being taken over by Acrylic in both demand and sales)? I think the only recent issue was that some of the US suppliers were required to change their labeling to include a bilingual label to keep the French happy. This caused a bit of a supply delay at my LHS but that was only for a couple of weeks.
Canada imports things that are a lot worse than solvent based hobby paints. I can't imagine them being banned. Acrylics have come along way and I prefer to use them over enamel because they dry faster and are easier to clean up and have a low odor, all pluses in my mind. The only problem I have seen is that the finish is delicate (can be scratched off with a fingernail) until your get the Gloss or Dull coat on which is enamel based.
The main thing to keep your airbrushing session pain free and enjoyable is to make sure your clean your airbrush well after each use.
Windex for Acrylics
Solvent for Enamels
Make sure you also pull the needle out and wipe it down too. There will usually always be some buildup on the tip or and inch or so down the needle from the tip where the air mixes with the paint. This goes for top or bottom feed and the accumulation usually increases with the length of your paint session. It usually occurs more with Acrylic than it does with Enamel. Be careful with the tip as you do not want to bend it, which will cause an erratic paint spray.
Rinse and dry, then store it. Next session blast a little rinse water through it and you are good to go.
NWCanuck
Tip&Ring
Do you mean a moisture trap? I think most guys do if they spray enamel based paints to keep the moisture out because it will react with the enamel and could leave a mark on the model. For the longest time I never had one. Then again I spray in an area that is about 35% humidity and I am using acrylic paints which are water friendly. I would say definitely if you want a nice looking project and are using enamels. You don't need anything special. Checkout Canadian Tire for an inline model they are not that expensive.
What kind of airbrush did you get?
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Couple things for ya
: Agree on the windex, disagree on leaving the gun tip soak in it when not in use, unless it's an external mix gun like a Paasche H or a Badger 350. Not even then really. Windex has ammonia in it and is caustic. This can be hard on plated parts and really hard if any gets into seals or O rings. Clean the gun and then shoot plain water through it when you're done. If you're using water based paints, the first and last thing through the gun should be water. Test spray first, then a final rinse when done. Protect your investment.
Definitely use a moisture trap if your compressor doesn't have one, no matter what kind of paint you're using. Some of us in humid areas use the trap on the compressor and add a second one just before the airbrush. You don't want a drop of water blowing through the gun when you're spraying anything. It will be noticeable on your work.
Also, not all water based paints are that delicate. Some dry hard as a rock, so clean up right away after a session. I even clean up if I only intend to be gone a few minutes. You never know. Once I got called away & didn't get back to the workbench til the next day. What a mess that was.
I'm going to get the moisture trap, since my compressor gets moved all around and fill up with moist air from time to time (I have to drain it quite often)
Is thinner a need when using acrylic ? to dilute a bit the paint color ? or white is enought ?
Is thinner a need when using acrylic ? to dilute a bit the paint color ? or white is enought ?
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OK, thinner thins the paint, or reduces it for effective spraying. With acrylics, or anything else, see the directions on the bottle. Some brands such as Badger Modelflex, or Iwata Medea weathering colors are airbrush ready. Others such as Pollyscale or Tamiya need thinning to spray properly. Your paint should be the consistency of milk to spray well.
If you want to change the tint of a color, like lightening a black to a very dark gray or a "warmer" black, then you could add a little white or some brown, depending on what you are trying to duplicate (weathering or a specific shade of a color).
It works for me. You should use something low tack, like blue painters tape, 3M drafting tape, or, Tamiya makes a great modelers masking tape, though its is a little on the expensive side, but well worth it IMHO.
