ADVICE NEEDED FOR AIRBRUSH NEWBIE
 

Can anyone help me as I am just about to airbrush my first bodyshell.
I have a few questions that I need answering.
I have bought some opaques from Jon at RCS and they seem very thick do they need thinning :confused:and if so what do you use tried water and all it did was bead on the plastic was this because of ambient temp as I sprayed in cold garage or paint was to thin or is water not the right stuff:(
What needle should I use (I have bought the metal bodied Aztek ) so I have a vast array .
What Psi should I spray at and should you spray in the warm rather than a cold garage.
Any answers would be really appreciated.

thin with auto air 4011 reducer Jon sells this its great stuff,and always warm the shell up before painting start of very light even coats just a misting,

+1 on what Carl has mentioned.

Thinning is personal preference really, personally I go 5-1. if you're painting in a cold garage, I usually stand the paints I'm going to use inside the house & in the garage keep at a slight distance in front of a heater to keep the temp something like (WB paints thinken if left in the cold)

Needles & caps - 0.35 or 0.50 if spraying larger areas, don't reckon you need anything finer than a 0.35.

PSI - 20 to 40. 20 for the finer shading work to 40 for applying the misting coats.

cheers guys really appreciate the advice.
One more peice of advice is it advisable to key in the shell and if so will the paint mask still peel of easily.

I normally just lightly key it when i clean it.

I tend to work at 30-40psi, I just adjust the airflow on my brush.
I find the Createx paints work pretty well from the bottle. I thin them down a tiny bit when painting big areas, normally just a drip of water.

Always lay down a fin mist first, then set it with an air dryer. Once you have 2 or 3 mist coats down, you can go heavier with it. Paint sticks to paint well.

Same for shading, don't try to get the final colour in one pass. It may take 4-5 coats just the same as block colours.

And keep setting the colours with a hairdryer/heat gun

Thats about all i do!

Cheers matey:thumbsup:
Ill have a go this week and post my efforts for you all to have a good laugh at:lol:

Hey bud, no laughing here, just encouragement as I've found.

Cheers

Ju

I have just started as well and all the advice is really good, just to add if possible and not to hijack the OP's thread..

I seem to constantly get spider webs when I am trying to air brush, it is so annoying as you then have to clean this all off before the next layer of paint.. am I trying to put too much paint down? or is it too fine therefore drying too quickly,

Thanks..

have to say i have never keyed a body shell, if you clean it and apply the paint right there should be no need,

im noob but i found i get webs if i spray to close to the shell,
i didnt know you had to mist to help the paint laydown.. thanks

Could be a combination of things mate, the main culprit is -

Buildup of paint between the needle & needle cap, just mop up the needle cap with a cotton bud & pass some air through before you start spraying onto the lexan.

Also spraying too close to the lexan using too much pressure can cause this, best to do is drop the pressure on the regulator, drop a light mist coat on the area you're painting then build up from there.

Hope this makes sense :)

MikeP

MikeP,

Excellent, thanks for the advice.. to be honest I am doing all of the above, spraying far too close, not adjusting the pressure and not mopping the needle cap so I will try to avoid these in the future,

Thanks again,

Scott..

Paint too thick can cause that too. It's a bit risky but I often work without the aircap on, it leaves the needle exposed and prone to getting knocked and bent if you catch the airbrush on anything or worse drop it...

I'd say to pull the needle back into the body before removing the aircap, otherwise you'll mess it up. Very delicate things !