Pinstripe Airbrush Help
 

Hi Guys,

Finally made an account on here after months of browsing! My dad bless his heart got me an airbrush and compressor for Christmas, very chuffed, now as you will see from attached photos, The buggy shell was painted with the siphon feed brush (that me dad got for me) and i found i didnt have alot of control with it.. (see the drop shadows), but after alot of reading and pulling me hair out trying to change colours constantly, I decided to try out a gravity feed gun with a knob to adjust air flow at the nozzle (which i painted the wing with) MUCH happier with the gravity feed gun, feel i have much more control...and loving it...

But here is me problem, i work at a large format print company and work with illustrator daily so making my own stencils is no problem at all.. BUT i have tried a couple of different ways of applying the masks.

1. Liquid mask the whole thing, then cut out the design
2. apply the vinyl cut stencil, THEN cover with liquid mask and cut out..

however i do it, paint always seems to creep under and just straight up ruin my pinstripes. do you guys paint your pin stripes first?

Oh yeh, 1 more thing, when pulling up my vinyl mask for the pin stripes i keep lifting the paint around it.. do you have to cut AGAIN to ensure you dont lift the paint?

sorry this is me first airbrush job and just want to nail this pin stripe business!

any help appreciated..

cheers

Adrian


**EDIT** lmao i have No idea why my photos have gone upside down! sorry about that!

To try and help you, but not used vinyl myself as a mask. When applying the mask, you must ensure it is burnished down so there are no gaps. Also, when applying the paint, you need to do light coats initially. With Pinstripes, I do try to do them first if possible to.

So, check airbrush pressure isn't to high, check suitability of thevinyl (RCS Graphics can help you there) and look at the way you are laying up the paint.

I use vinyl a lot, what DCM above is spot on, about making sure it's burnished down REAL well, everything else I would completely agree with, pressure and all that.

Also try and spray directly at the mask / area to be painted. Not from an angle, that way you're less likely to make it creep under the mask.

I use the Grey Aslan ( I think that's who make it ) paint mask, has worked for me for years, seems to be the best having tested many many different ones. Or Andy S on here ( Shillys Shells ) has some from ebay, green stuff, it's a bit sticker than the one I use, that might be better for you ?

Normally I try and do pinstripes first, however that last one I posted with all the Fluoro colours on it I did the white last, mainly because all the flo colours got backed with it. I did have to very carefully cut around the mask though as it was caked with paint.

Thanks for the tips guys, did my other wing tonight and a MASSIVE difference, layed on 3 layers of liquid mask (fasmask) this time instead of 2, made my pinstripe slightly thicker, and painted the pinstripes first!

Also didn't use too much pressure on my knife as to not get "square" curves!

Thanks again for the tips!

photo of the new wing, just did a quick simplified design on it... doing the pinstripes first makes a massive difference