A few Christmas’s back, my parents got me a beginner Badger airbrush with minimal difficulty with darker colors with no fancy striping but now i’m sure i screwed it up. My plan is/ was to paint my bachmann 70 tonner CN orange with a dark green stripe. I a few days ago I painted the whole body in green Tamiya paint. On one side the paint seemed to crack but I rubbed it off with isopropyle alcohol and started again with little problems. Today I masked off the walkways and pilots and the stripe on the body and put several coats of the CN orange Badger paint over. It has been at least 6 coats and the green is still showing through and where it isn’t it has thickened over the details to the point I’ll think I’ll strip it off and start over. I know I mixed up the rule about painting a darker color over a lighter color. I guess that $15 for a lesson isn’t bad in this hobby but can anyone also point out what I did wrong and give any pointers and tips before I screw it up again?
One the side I’ve noticed that the Badger paint says it is thinned for airbrushing but it seems too runny. Am I doing something wrong in that area as well?
You are spraying paint on your model without knowing it’s going to work. You should be doing it on scrap until you can predict that it’ll come out the way you expect.
Really.
That said, I can’t help you on your particular question 'cause all I’ve ever sprayed is Floquil. Which is quite different paint. I think you said you sprayed darker colors up to now OK. But now the green is having problems with that pattern. It surely sounds familiar–that pattern. I think you’re putting on paint too fast too thick.
And you say the coverage of the light color sucks. That’s traditional, but perhaps it’s happening to you worse. One thing that can help is to spray white first. It usually covers better than yellows (especially) and maybe orange.
Maybe someone who has used your particular brand has some better pointers.
I came up with at least half a dozen books on Amazon on the subject of air brushing scale models. I strongly recommend you pick one up.
Badger Modelflex is pre thinned for airbrushing at a set PSI. (20~ish)
If paint is running on the model, you are spraying too thick of a coat.
I use either Modelflex or thinned craft acrylic’s. Exclusively.
Other than light colors first, followed by dark colors, and thin coats, I can’t think of any other issues.
EDIT: Make sure that the paint is thoroughly mixed, as, sometimes, Modelflex will seperate and “settle” a bit, making the top half colored thinner only, Like a wash would be, with all of the “solids” on the bottom of the jar.
I haven’t used Tamiya paints so I can’t help you with that. I have used Tamiya Acrylic thinner with crafters paints and that works very good. I used Floquil until they gave it up then I switched to True Color Paint, neither are what I would call too runny. I haven’t experienced any problems with light colors not covering dark colors. I would give the Floquil over night to dry before covering it with another color. The True Color Paint dries super fast and I can use a second color in two hours without any problems.
There are quite a few Airbrush videos on YouTube that might help you.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I’m not a “seasoned” painter, and far from an expert, but in my opinion and experience, you should have painted the loco with the CN color, thin light coats, drying thoroughly in between, then masked of for the strips, and painted the green.
Plus, I think you are putting on way too much, too soon.
I am actually using the Badger Modelflex paint for the first time (Morency Orange on a CNR caboose) and the result is far from satisfactory. I am used to thinned Tamiya paint and found the Badger Modelflex paint too runny. It didn’t cover well and after many thin coats I had spots. Then I read on a MR Forum post that this paint should be used at ~20 PSI. I immediately got better result. I should have followed the rule that says you should always test a new paint on something else than your actual project. Today I will proceed with the Boxcar Red color, also Modelflex, and see if the lower pressure leads to better covering from the start.
Always test on scrap plastic (I shoulda thought of this myself [banghead])
Paint light colors first, then Dark.
Badger modelflex is meant for no more than 20 PSI.
The last one explains a lot! Im using an Aztec compressor that doesn’t have a pressure regulator, The Tamiya went of fine, but that explains the problem with the Badger stuff. As for coating I will admit I was adding too much to fast and coupled with the pressure problem, is probably what did me in. I ended up taking off the masking and tape did wonders but there is a height difference between the green and the orange.
Another Idea I have is to paint the unit green all over again after stripping then mask off the stripe, Then spray primer over the unwanted green area and then do the orange. Would that work or would it be better to prime first, then orange, then mask off most of the orange except for the stripe. Does anyone have any tricks for ensuring the stripe’s width doesn’t change when masking?
Thank you very much for your time and advice I’m learned some useful info that will make my future airbrushing experience much better! [:D]
You should get a pressure regulator, I think mine was about $25 ? And, like I said before if was mine, and it looks bad now, strip all over again, after stripping, scrub it good with a tooth brush and soapy water, after completely dry, I’d prime it, paint it all orange, let it dry for at least a couple days, than mask off for the green. You also could see if you could find decal stripping, and do it that way.