Polished Needles

Most airbrush needles will be polished when new, but will rapidly dull down with use. After cleaning with cellulose ( aka lacquer) thinner you can use ordinary metal polish (the type that comes soaked in cotton wadding - 'Duraglit' is a UK brand).

Hold the wadding round the needle and rotate the needle while moving the wad from the blunt end to near, but not right onto the needle point. Then polish the same way, but using a piece of dry cotton cloth.

The smoother the needle, the more predictable the airflow. However, there's no substitute for a narrow aperture nozzle for close work, and no matter how smooth the needle a wide angle spray nozzle won't give enough control for close-up work.

I saw an article in Finescale Modeller a few years ago where a modeller used grinding paste (as used for bedding in engine inlet/exhaust valves) to tailor the needle to the nozzle, by putting paste in the nozzle then rotating the needle within it to exactly match the tapers of each. I've never felt the need to go that far personally.

A crown aircap helps to diffuse airflow blowback from the surface when doing close work, and reduces weird things happening to the paintflow and where it goes. You can also usually just remove the tubular type aircap if that's what you have, but be careful as the needle tip is exposed and easily damaged in that state.

Hope this helps, Chek

Change' boos' to 'bos' in address to email directly

Supposedly one of the reasons Iwata airbrushes are "so fine" - it's a standard feature for them, from what I've heard.

FineScale ran an article on tuning up your airbrush by laping the needle to the nozzle amonst other things - "Airbrush Aerodynamics", by Robert Oehler; March 2001 issue, pages 38-43.

Will answer all your questions if you can get hold of it, and tell you how to do it yourself for any airbrush.

"Chek" wrote in news:cv5ckl$a04$1 @hercules.btinternet.com:

thanks for the info :), i went to FSM website to find the article that you spoke of, i found the correct year and issue, but i could not read the article, it just listed it as being in that issue :(, anyway thanks again for the info

My SO, who's been earning her living with airbrushes for longer than I care to remember (she's a professional illustrator), says: totally useless and a good way to destroy a needle...