My Christmas gift was an airbrush, any tips?

[Lufbery]

All,

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a Testor's single action, external mix airbrush kit with canned propellant.

Disclaimer: I know that this is a very inexpensive tool, and I know that I'd get better results with something more expensive, but I'm saving for flight lessons and a down payment on a mortgage, so I don't anticipate spending a lot of money on much of anything right now.

I've also done some net searches and found some people saying that the brush I have is a bit better than a spray can and good for large coverage. I'm thinking that with some careful masking and a lot of practice, I should be able to make good camo patterns on my planes.

I may save up and get a compressor at some point in the coming year. Oh, and I plan on using the water-soluble Polly Scale and Model Master paints.

Having said all of that, does anybody have any tips for me that would make my learning curve a bit shorter?

Regards,

Hi Lufbery,The big thing I"ve noticed about airbrushing,is...A..CLEANINESS,...and B...PATIENCE,I"m currently spraying a 1/6 scale Spitfire for a clubmate with the same tool.What you really need is an internal mix airbrush,but as you said these can be expensive.Good results can,however,be obtained with what you have,if your going to use water based acrylics,a brilliant tip is to dilute with Screen Wash!!![as used in cars e.t.c.] it will/should stop the small water dropplets from forming on the work surface,don"t worry about the colour of the screen wash,it has absoulutly no effect on the shade of paint,even white.
Regards,Clifford

One hint I've read somewhere is to start learning by painting with . . . water! You can get a feel for the brush without anywhere near the mess (or expense) of wasting paint. And if you can't see what is wet, add a bit of food coloring. Practice on cardboard, newspapers, etc.

Hi Lufbery,
try to get your paint the thickness of milk if you see any small "lumps",they can be filterd out with pieces of old stockings.If you dip the handel of a paintbrush into your mix,lift it out,and get a plop..plop..plop...of paint.that should be around the correct thickness for spraying,let me know how you get on.
Regards,Clifford.

[Lufbery]

Thanks for the tips, guys, that was exactly what I was looking for. It's comforting to know that good results can be gotten from the kind of airbrush that I have.

Regards,

-Drew

P.S. Does the canned air need any special care?

[StephenLawson]

P.S. *Does the canned air need any special care?

Here's some heplful hints that I have acquired.

1. Store at room temperature.

2. When using frost may form on the can. Just set the bottom of the can in warm water.

3. When almost empty and not supplying more than a needed requirement of airflow to pick up paint, take it outside open the airbrush valve up to release any pressurized air. DON"T DO THIS INSIDE A HOUSE. The fumes from the left over propellant are noxious. Then throw it away with confidence. These are supposed to be ozone safe, but the chemical propellant put into the can has an added odor that tends to make you cough and your eyes water. Simply leaving it by a window will allow some of the odor to stay in the house. I don't like to leave them presurrized in the trash cans around the house. Small children get curious sometimes.

Spare tires (tyres?) are not very satisfactory if memory serves. *One quiet substitute is to get a refillable CO[sub]2[/sub] tank. *The soft drink industry uses these for bubbles so it's not like you're poisoning the atmosphere. *The initial cost is not insignificant (add in a regulator, etc.) but moisture traps are not needed and the refills might be few and far between.

Mind you, I've only read of this. *I have a cheap (sort of) and very noisy compressor that I have not played with much.

[stephenl]

Luf, I bought the same airbrush not long ago. I too am not loaded with the monies. All that said, I did find that using air cans can be quite expensive. Depending on your scale of models that is.
I chose for my first airbrush experience a 1/32 scale Hurricane. I used three cans of propellant! At about 9.00 a can I blew 18.00 bucks plus the can that came w/the airbrush. So that is about 27.00 total. I just purchased a Testors Mini Blue compressor for a good price, about 2/3 more than what I spent on the three cans of propellant! (if you want I can email you the site I bought it from, just let me know) I also learned my lesson of keeping things clean and using the correct dilution of paint and or water/thinner. Speaking of which the airbrush model in question is much better than using a can of spray paint.

All I can say is good luck it takes practice! I made some mistakes but I make them brushing too! you will find what works best
Stephen

[Lufbery]

Stephen,

Thanks for the tips. I'd love to find out more about your compressor. Also, do you have any tips for finding or making a cheap spray booth?

Regards,

[Michael]

I no longer have the magazine, and don't even remember whethe it was from my car model days in the 1960s, but I remember Pactra (I think had something like this.

It's basically a box with a vent at the back and a turntable inside. My drawing is lousy, but the back of the box is on an angle to allow for the vent. If you backed this up to a window, and if you put a fan on top of the box blowing across the vent, in theory you should suck the paint fumes out of the box and out the window.

Materials would be 3 ply, or pressboard, glue and nails. The turntable could be a lazy susan or even an old record turntable (if you can find one!)