Water based vs. ... The older one??..Acrylic??

[Legacy555]

Hi all,

Just a few quick questions for those who know abit about painting with airbrushes. Up to now I've been using the older type (nasty, toxic, etc) acrylic paint. So now I've got some Faskolor water-based paint and the following questions have popped up....

1. I have a clarke 2.8 bar compressor - do I need a 3.5bar+ compressor for the thicker water based paint?

2. Can you use water based and non-water based paint on the same shell (without mixing them obviously) or will they foul each other?

3. Whats the coverage like when compared?

4. Anything I should know before starting to paint?

[jonmiller]

1 - whats the working pressure? around 40psi? most waterbased paints recommend 40-70psi but obviously that depends on the paint,color, thinning etc etc. best thing is to try and see...
depends on your preference too. alot of people use these little hobby compressors and get on fine with them. i tried one and personally didn't like it, didn't have enough pressure for me as i like to spray at quite high pressure.

2 - yes. make sure the waterbased is thoroughly dry before. likewise make sure the solvent paint flashes off.

[DCM]

1 bar=14.7psi I believe.

If you can, paint the solvent based paint first if you can.

[eyeayen]

You can pick larger airbrushes up, they help the waterbased. everythingairbrush does some iwata copies that are cheap and will get the paint through at a lower pressure. You'll need to thin it slightly or use your better airbrush for fades or shadows / artwork though.

You should be fine with that compressor though. Don't over work it, the waterbased takes longer to dry out so if you alternate heat gun to airbrush you should be giving the compressor plenty of breaks so it should be mine.

I killed one of my 25litre ones painting a scale heli model it was massive though and I was using a full size gun...

An airbrush on that should be fine, what size receiver tank does it have, that's a lot of the issue with this sort of stuff.