When it comes to airbrushing I’m a novice. I’ve had a badger 155 for about a year now and am only just starting to experiment. I’ve been a bit afraid of messing something up. Well I am using poll scale acrylic thinned as specified on the bottle but when I’m attempting a fine line it will work for a second or two and then stop. Air is still flowing but the pait stops. Pull back on the trigger a bit more and it flows again but of course in a wider pattern. I had this same problem with some floquil. I’m currently using 30 psi properly filtered of water and other contaminants. Any thoughts would be great, I have a lot of things I want to try with it but if I can’t get it to spray a reasonably fine line I can’t do any of them.
Thanks,
Jesse
Don’t just stick to the “specified” thinnese. Try thinning it a little more until you get it to work right. Practice on a sheet of styreen or card board. You have to work with it until you get a feel for it. I’m just learning with mine as well and sometimes have the same problem. Good luck.
Floquil Polly S paint is very fast drying. Plan you work ahead and spray with out stopping more than 30 sec at any one time. The finer the nozzle the faster the paint stops up the hole.
You are using a “fast dry” paint. When the strip starts petering out, immediatly take off the cup or bottle and have another bottle setting by with windex in it and give it a shot throu the airbrush. Then put the paint container back on and shoot the first blast at a scrap peice and then start painting again. If you converted over to the old Floquil it is easier to use because it has a longer “use” time because it has to wait for the solvent to evaporate from the solution instead of being dependent on air for the drying.
I hope I haven’t confussed the sitution more.
Thats your problem right there. I do alot of airbrushing and have always have had problems with acrylics. I disovered that acrylics spray best around 15 psi. Given acrylics fast drying nature, I am guessing that shooting at higher PSI’s introduces to much “Air” into the system and causes it to start drying before It can leave the airbrush.
I perstonally abhore acrylics, as while they are easy to clean up, They are much harder to work with while airbrushing. Also adding a little more thinner wiould probably be good. This may seem like an extra bother. but the brand of paint I have had the best sucess with is Testors. Yes I have to mix my own colors that way. But their paints are easy to work with. Widely Available. and quite durable. And shoots fine at 30 psi,
If you want to keep working with acrylics, hook up a regulator to your compressor so you can get it down to 15 PSI.
Just some of my thoughts
James
Thank you all. I will try all of your suggestions. Hopefully in a week or two I will have my first completed structure kit to show for it. Thanks again.
Jesse
Jesse:
All very good points…already addressed…And a few additional thoughts and comments.
The comment regarding keeping a “thinner” handy to run through to keep everything clean is a great one! I do this myself especially when using Modelflex. I also use their “extender” which slows down the dry time.
Also a good suggestion, use as little air pressure as you can get away with (normally between 10 and 20 lbs.). Keep in mind that the air going through the airbrush dries the paint in the airbrush, both drying paint on the needle and in the spray orifice.
You say you use “poll scale”…
When using either Polly S or Polly scale, be sure to use their thinner for best results: Paint to thinner ratios are, Polly S 60/40 and Polly Scale 75/25.
Remember, practice makes perfect…The more you use the airbrush, the better you will get at it.