Newbie airbrush question

The Paasche D500 may be adequate for single action brushes but will probably induce a pulsation in single action brush. Still you should have gotten something out of the brush.

A mix of 1:1 thinner to paint or 2:1 thinner to paint ratio is appropriate. About 12PSI should start the paint spraying, although it might splatter. Closer to 15PSI to 20PSI is probably what most of us use with paint thinned that much.

Sorry I'm not familiar with the GD102; what company makes that?

--- T> My first attempts at airbrushing are proving difficult. I just got a

It's from Airbrush City. I found them online; apparently airbrushes and related supplies are all they do. The airbrush performed well with two other colors: Testors silver, on an Aurora Blue Knight of Milan, and Testors flat olive green on an Aurora Fokker D-VII. But, as you suggested, it was necessary to dilute more than my manuals led me to believe, at least with the flat olive. The silver coat was especially good: brilliant and flawless. So I guess the brush is OK; I just need to learn what paints work well with it.

Is it the one at the bottom of this page?

The Airbrush City spec says that this brush comes with a fine needle and head. For the metalflake paint you will probably need something coarser, just to get the metal particles to come through.

As for the red, don't expect opaque coverage from one pass of the brush. Put down a mist coat first, then go back and layer some more paint on.

I suspect that the fine needle may be too fine for what you are trying to do. It doesn't look as though Airbrush City does any other needle/head sets for this brush, though.

Also, some metallic paints seem to settle quite rapidly and can cause problems with gravity feed. As suggested you might try a larger size needle and nozzle.

Jim Bright

I think that's it.

Sounds logical. Fortunately, I found that the Model Master plum-colored metalflake paint went on very smoothly with a brush, almost as good as one would expect with an airbrush, so it turned out to be a non-issue.

Hah! Maybe that's why I got it cheap. Thanks to you and Mr. Bright for your advice. I will look into other coarser needleheads and/or brushes, but keep my current one for finer work, like camouflage patterns.

Metallized paints do not spray well through nozzles smaller than 0.4 mm. That's probably where your problem comes from.

Using an airbrush takes a LOT of practice. Do not go at a good model until you get a couple of hours of practice. 50:50 mixture for enamels is common. Yes, it is very thin, so you have to build up in thin layers to prevent runs and get good coverage.

I spray a thin coating just to sort of "prime" the surface. That thin dry coat will not be glossy- it will be pretty flat. If there are a number of pieces I put a similar layer on each. If not- painting a single part, I wait a minute or two, return and put on a somewhat thicker coat, still not a wet coat. I allow that to set a minute or two or three. Then a final wet coat- how wet depends on whether I am trying for a flat or gloss surface. I can do a flat in one session like this. I almost always do a gloss finish in two seperate sessions.

Also, I find it very important to prime the surface with a good primer before airbrushing, especially for a gloss finish. I use Krylon sandable primer, which takes airbrush painting very nicely.

I just found the pics over on abms and I concur with Wildcat. That's one lame looking conversion job on that plane.

Bill Banaszak, MFE