Hey all…

I am all new in the airbrushing business and I am running into what I hope is some beginners problems.

Equipment: Revell Airbrush Spray Gun Professional Master Class.
Sparmax compressor 26 Psi (it is a small and inextensible compressor, it was about 45£)
Lifecolor paints.

The problem is that I do not get the nice smooth paint effect that I was hoping for.
A friend of mine mentioned that the problem may be that my compressor is not capably of sorting water from the air.
Or do I not clean the airbrush in the right way? Because the first results I made with it was nice!
Or is the paint not good enough quality? It seems a little thick!


I hope you can help me…


Steffen

Hi Steffen

Decided to hijack your old thread a bit so everything is together...

I have the same AB (have had for many years) and a Rrevell compressor (for about 8 months). Now lately (that's in the last 2 months) I noticed, that the paint gets a misty white touch when it dries (this happened both with black and dark green (Tamiya). I noticed that there is water coming out on the AB (not only the nozzle) and I suppose it's something to do with that. The compressor has a water divider on it as well so theoretically no water should get to the AB.

Did you have this problem as well? Did you solve it? Did anyone else have such problems? I'm thinking it would be a good excuse to replace the AB but I want to make sure it's not a problem with the compressor... Any help woul be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!
Stef

PS: I'll take a picture of the paint job tomorrow if necessary...

Steffen (Haahr), the effect you are achieving is called orange peel. tHE PAINT YOU SPRAY DRIES IN MID AIR. (oops - caps lock!) To solve this, thin your paint to a milky consistency, and hold the airbrush closer to the model.

Stefan (Halter) - as far as your problem goes, I have never heard of that happening.

SCOTT

If your airbrush line doest have a water trap , get one . If you live in really humid climate you might have to have two to trap the water . the orange peel effect is from not thinning the paint right and to high of airpressure . Thin the paint as mention above and turn down the pressure so you are spraying at 10 - 15 psi Hold the airbrush about 6 inches from the surface . closer for fine details .

OK, so here's a photo so you can see what the problem is (note the color used was thinned Tamya XF-1, pitch black...):



And this pic points out where water is leaking out:



Any help greatly appreciated!
Cheers!
Stef

Hi Stephan,

It sounds like water in the air hose to me. Try disconnecting the airbrush and turn on the compressor to blow any water out of the hose. It would probably help to have the hose flat on the ground. Even with a moisture trap condensation can form, especially if you have the compressor going for a long time and the air gets hot. I hope this helps.

Cheers, Jim.

I agree with Jim. Installing another moisture trap would be the way to get rid of this problem if after clearing the hose, it is still happening.

Allright, I'll try that this evening. Thanks for the tips. It was kind of humid in my cave lately.

Cheers and thanks again to you all!
Steffen, hope you didn't mind me hijacking your thread...

Stef

Lifecolor paint is of the highest quality. I consider it better than Tamiya. It sprays beautifully and lays down a micro-thin skin of paint, in accurate colors. You need to thin it with Lifecolor thinner or distilled water, 50/50.