Anyone know about air brushes?

**John** · 11-10-2004

I've just ordered an air brush (see attached pic) but need a bit of advice about them.

1. I know I need to use thinners/terps with the paint, what's the best mixture?

2. Air canaster or compressor, which should I use?, in the long run a compressor would pay for it's self, but I think canasters would be better, but how long do they last?

3. Any general advice for getting good results?

adzam · 11-10-2004

thats exactly the same one i have m8, erm it takes abit of practise to get a decent finnish . paints need thinned etc.

i`m sure some one can give some good tips

**wonwinglo** · 11-10-2004

John,thin your paint the aprox thickness of milk,be careful of cellulose thinners on some air brushes as it could have rubber seals that can swell,you can get replacement nylon seals from graphic art suppliers.
Humbrol or other enamels are fine.
The thing to watch out for with any spray cannister or mini compressor is water in the line,best to buy a water trap which prevents the moisture ruining the finish.
Apply thin dust coat first,allow to go tacky on the model and apply another coat,build up gradually.
Dont overlook the health hazards of air brushes,use outside if possible,the thin diffused dust is very unhealthy to breath in,if you can stand them then get a mask from your chemist,a simple gauze/alloy wrap around affair is fine.
Invest in a compressor if you can,those cannisters get mighty expensive,another dodge is to get a car inner tube pump it up and fit an adaptor to the airbrush from the valve,silly as it seems it works very well and costs nothing.
I used this set up for years with no bother.
Best of luck,the trick is plenty of practise like everything else in model building.

**John** · 25-10-2004

I've finally got a gas canister for my air brush and gave it ago

What a

I made of it I think I thinned it down a little too much

So my next question is, how do I get acrylic paint of plastic with out melting it

I suppose I have to look on the bright side, I can only do better next time

Phoenix · 25-10-2004

i would go for a compresser john it is worth it i have alittle one for a airbrush it has more than one use lol we use it for blowing up air beds an everything hehe

adzam · 25-10-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

I've finally got a gas canister for my air brush and gave it ago

What a

I made of it I think I thinned it down a little too much

So my next question is, how do I get acrylic paint of plastic with out melting it

now correct me if i`m wrong here guys, but i do know alot of the rc car collectors , if restoring plastic bodies ( not lexan type) that they use oven cleaner ??

unfortunately i know not which brand .

**Bluewavestudios** · 25-10-2004

I have heard B&Q have some of these on offer at the moment, don't know what make but I think I will go & check them out tomorrow.

Regards...........Mark.

Kiwi · 29-10-2004

Don't know about your part of the world but down here the local polytech runs night school classes on airbrushing. I went on one after owning an air brush for many,many years and learnt more in the first night than I had in all my mucking about. I also got a lot of the web from the fine scale model web site (don't know if that still exists, try a google for it and airbrush skills). Ian Peacock wrote many articles on the subject some years ago in Aeromodeller, RCM&E and other such mags. He also did a book on airbrushing models (which I have somewhere).

**John** · 29-10-2004

Thanks Kiwi I will do a google, should have done that at first, I've also managed to sort my car out, I tried putting another couple of coats of metallic blue on, but it just looked patchy, so I painted it matt black then metallic silver and it looks much better now

I will do some more reading before I have another go

**John** · 29-10-2004

I've just found www.howtoairbrush.com & www.airbrush.com looks like good places to start