Just have to share Airbrush News!

[Robert Porter]

So I have had every issue you can have with an airbrush. Tip Dry, spitting, orange peel, overloading etc. I started right off using a double action brush which admittedly takes some getting used to.

That said, after 100's of hours painting paper towels, paper, models, junk plastic, for sale signs, basically anything that would stay still long enough (the cat kept moving) I am finally at the point where "It Just Works"!

What I am trying to convey is that all the folks that said keep practicing were absolutely correct. I noticed today when I was working on my P-38J that I was able to make color changes, and cleanups almost by second nature instead of the labor intensive process it had felt like at the beginning.

This does not by any stretch of the imagination mean I am an expert or even a mid level user. It does mean that now the feel is more natural. I can now tell the difference between my airbrushes and the needle nozzle sizes by feel and how the paint goes down! I have worked out the appropriate mixes of thinner and paint for each of the brands I use and the best cleaner to use for each. So the color change process that used to take such a long time is now a minute or two.

I have also learned what pressures work best for me, my brush, and my paints. And like some have said, there is no magic number it is just something that works for you and your location. Your milage WILL vary compared to mine.

So to all of you that like me were brush painters and looked askance at the new fangled airbrush thingy, take hope! If I can get comfortable with it anyone can!

It did take over 100 hours for things like the proper way to use the trigger combining press down for air and pull back for paint to become second nature but it DOES come! Figuring out pressures and thinner paint ratios took several days of painting paper and scrap plastic. And for the feel exercises I used water with food coloring in it to practice on paper towels. MUCH cheaper than practicing with paint.

Just put the first coat of aluminum metallic Vallejo on the model and aside from the fact that it points out EVERY single flaw on the surface it went down well and easily compared to my earlier efforts!

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Robert.

 

[Robert Porter]

I will caution those of you that are married or have a significant other, in the process of sharing my happiness of getting the airbrush to work for me I mentioned something about the car, and painted flames, and the wife threatened to hide my airbrushes or lock them up.

 

[Wurger]

Here in Poland it is said : if your wife is in the kitchen it means the chain is OK. If she is in the hallway it means that the chain is too long. But if she is in a the garage it means she broke the chain. Well.. does your wife loiter around your workshop? Sorry I had to ask...

 

[Robert Porter]

She somehow seems to be able to slip the chain at will

 

[Builder 2010]

What I need now is a new compressor which has a reservoir so I can get even pressure, a pressure adjustment valve and most importantly, a outside-ventilated spray booth. I'm lobbying heavily to get one. I can't spray solvent-based paints in the house since the HVAC carries the smell into the living areas. That means I can't use any of the metalizer paints, or model master solvent paints, or any of the new solvent systems. I've had my Badger diaphragm compressor since 1977 and my XL 150 brush from the same time. Badger guarantees them for life and they rebuilt the airbrush several years ago. I went from the fine line nozzle to a medium one since it was more useful for doing larger subjects.

 

[Robert Porter]

What I need now is a new compressor which has a reservoir so I can get even pressure, a pressure adjustment valve and most importantly, a outside-ventilated spray booth. I'm lobbying heavily to get one. I can't spray solvent-based paints in the house since the HVAC carries the smell into the living areas. That means I can't use any of the metalizer paints, or model master solvent paints, or any of the new solvent systems. I've had my Badger diaphragm compressor since 1977 and my XL 150 brush from the same time. Badger guarantees them for life and they rebuilt the airbrush several years ago. I went from the fine line nozzle to a medium one since it was more useful for doing larger subjects.

I bought this one at Harbor Freight for $33.00 when I used a coupon they sent me. It's a small pancake compressor with a regulator. It is not loud and no complaints from the wife!

 

[Crimea_River]

Not sure why you think you need a tank Robert. I have the Badger brute as well and it works fine.

 

[Robert Porter]

Not sure why you think you need a tank Robert. I have the Badger brute as well and it works fine.

It was actually Builder that said he wanted one.

The compressor only runs once in 10 - 15 minutes of airbrushing with the tank. So much less noise. Second the tankless compressors tend to tear up the membranes, especially in the smaller hobby compressors. So having the tank means I am mostly spraying from the tank and the compressor itself only runs to recharge the tank.

I don't buy the surge issues reported by some as a reason for buying a tanked compressor. I never noticed surging in the one I had before. But I did end up having to replace the membranes twice in 5 years because the constant back pressure from running when not actually spraying chewed them up pretty fast.

Edit: I was not spraying for hobby painting then, I was using it to drive a larger airbrush for painting walls.

 

[Crimea_River]

Sorry Robert, my bad. I've had my tankless compressor for 10 years now and have had no issues.

 

[Robert Porter]

I think it is like anything else, you buy quality it will last and sounds like you bought a good one! I really only had experience with one tankless compressor before my tanked one, and it worked fine, until it did not. Then a minor repair and away it would go again. I really do like the fact that my tanked one only runs once in a while and for a very short while, but honestly the other one was even quieter so I probably would not have minded either. But the price on this one I have now was so attractive considering I knew folks that had one and loved it I could not pass it up.

I recently watched a video of the owner of Badger airbrushes factory tour. They sell a lot of compressors and all (I think) of theirs are tankless. And heck they make some of the best selling airbrushes on the planet so if there truly was an issue with tankless compressors and airbrushes, surging etc, I would imagine they would not do so.

 

[Airframes]

In general, and I stress "general", there is no real need for a compressor with a tank for the average modelling application.
Compressors with tanks are designed for longer running times, for example in a graphics studio (before the age of photo editing and CGI), where the compressor, and the airbrush(es) might be working eight hours per day, five days per week, virtually continuously, and therefore might, and probably will require the 'back up' of the tank reservoir.
The average spraying duration for a stage in painting a model of the type we are familiar with, is probably somewhere in the region of two to ten minutes at a time, when the compressor can be turned off between stages, with no loss of 'compression', especially with a tankless compressor.
Given that a tankless compressor is turned off between spraying sessions, then there shouldn't be any surging or pulsing.
Also, having used tankless compressors for many years until fairly recently, I never experienced moisture problems, something I have come across at least three times since buying a compressor with an integral tank, although fortunately the in-line moisture trap / filter mainly did its job, with minimal moisture reaching the 'brush itself.

 

[Crimea_River]

I messed up again. My compressor is an old Paasche job, not a Badger.

 

[Robert Porter]

In general, and I stress "general", there is no real need for a compressor with a tank for the average modelling application.
Compressors with tanks are designed for longer running times, for example in a graphics studio (before the age of photo editing and CGI), where the compressor, and the airbrush(es) might be working eight hours per day, five days per week, virtually continuously, and therefore might, and probably will require the 'back up' of the tank reservoir.
The average spraying duration for a stage in painting a model of the type we are familiar with, is probably somewhere in the region of two to ten minutes at a time, when the compressor can be turned off between stages, with no loss of 'compression', especially with a tankless compressor.
Given that a tankless compressor is turned off between spraying sessions, then there shouldn't be any surging or pulsing.
Also, having used tankless compressors for many years until fairly recently, I never experienced moisture problems, something I have come across at least three times since buying a compressor with an integral tank, although fortunately the in-line moisture trap / filter mainly did its job, with minimal moisture reaching the 'brush itself.

I agree, but would add that I also use mine for non modeling tasks such as driving a small nail gun, and on the occasion inflating a bike tire or two and at least once a car tire that had gone flat. In those cases having the tank was essential as I could take the compressor fully charged to the car.

I live in North Carolina, and in the summer months, both my older tankless and my tanked compressors show moisture, enough to drain, in the moisture traps. It's not a function of the compressor but rather the relative humidity in the air. That said, tanked compressors always generate more moisture than tankless compressors because as the air pressure in the tank drops for instance when draining the tank, moisture will appear most of the time.

As far as moisture traps, I have two inline, a large one right where the line exits the compressor and a smaller one at the airbrush end of the line. I have never had moisture in the paint as a result.

 

[Robert Porter]

I think the myth of the surging issue was probably true at one point in the past for some compressors, but I personally have never experienced it in any of the modern tanked or tankless compressors.

 

[stona]

Years ago I had a reservoir-less diaphragm style compressor. If I disconnected the airbrush and held my hand in front of the hose I could clearly feel the pulsing of the air on my hand. It was never really an issue for me when spraying, but it was certainly there. I can't remember what make the compressor was now, it was a long time ago! I do remember that it eventually developed a severe over heating problem and ended up at the tip.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Zippythehog]

I built a spray booth out of plywood a while back. I used a squirrel cage fan, duct tape, and dryer hose. It worked well. Dad's got it now. He uses it for his trains. I've gone to all acrylics. It simplified things for me.

You could probably cobble one together cheaper than buying one if you've got some scrap plywood.

 

[Zippythehog]

Oh and I installed a moisture trap on the feed line. It radically improved the consistency of paint delivery.

 

[Robert Porter]

The moisture trap helps, depending on your local conditions and temperature etc. I have a trap at the compressor and another at the airbrush end of the hose. Never seen moisture in the second one, but in the summer months the first one has moisture almost every use. They really do help!

 

[T Bolt]

I've got a big 20 gallon tank compressor in the basement with piping going up two stories to where I work on my models, there I have another regulator valve and a moisture trap.I like the big compressor because I also have it hooked to an air hose outside for inflating car and bike tires and a line running into my workshop downstairs for pneumatic tools. I've never had trouble with moisture at the airbrush I've never even seen moisture in the moisture trapped there. Maybe this has to do with the airline comeing straight up two stories before it gets to the airbrush.