My 1st Airbrushing Report Card

[GU-11]

...sort of.

I know this probably doesn't deserve its own thread, but I don't know where else to post this. Sorry, mods.

Anyways, I started up the compressor and tested some Tamiya gun metal acrylic paint on a plastic spoon. Looks really nice, surprisingly.

TBH, I basically winged it all the way. I didn't really measure the paint to thinner ratio, but just did a rough 2 parts paint to 1 part thinner ratio, visually judging the texture to achieve a consistency of skim milk.

I sprayed at a varying 2cm to 10cm distance, and simply did quick passes, helped the paint dry by blowing air from the AB. Repeated until I got a smooth, even and glossy finish. The first few coats were rather uneven, but as I added more and more coats to it, I achieved a very smooth and even finish.

All in all, I basically broke most of the AB'ing rules, but still got some pretty good results. That said, it's generally believed that some colors are impossible to screw up, chief among them being gray and black. I guess I can add gun metal to the list. Tomorrow I'll try some gloss red on a spoon and see how it goes. If all goes well, I'll finally paint up that missing paint on MP-10's alt mode.

I'll also test the gun metal's compatibility with an industrial clear coat spray as well as Tamiya's own semi-gloss. I'll also try hand brushing some Future Floor Polish.

It was also raining when I was AB'ing just now, which is a miracle how well the finish turned out. I had already mixed a batch of paint when I started to hear thunder, but I went ahead anyway, since I was just testing the paint and AB.

Edited March 8, 2013 by GU-11

[derex3592]

Congrats! I find that "winging it" is pretty much what airbrushing is ALL about! You can watch videos and try it the "experts" way, but in the end it's what works for YOU that matters! Sometimes it turns out great, sometimes not. The mixture is the key..no matter what the bottles say, I always start at 50/50. whether it be enamel or acrylic. Usually get pretty good results with that as a starting point! I find that acrylics lay down nice but require LOTS more coats and time, but are easy to clean up after. Enamels cover quick, but are more of a mess to clean up. Good Luck and have fun!

p.s.---ALWAYS spray for a few seconds on a scrap piece of plastic before you hit your model! (even after you think the mix is perfect!)

Edited March 8, 2013 by derex3592

[Berttt]

Yeah I have an olr tank hulk I use to make sure I have everything set up right.

[GU-11]

Congrats! I find that "winging it" is pretty much what airbrushing is ALL about! You can watch videos and try it the "experts" way, but in the end it's what works for YOU that matters! Sometimes it turns out great, sometimes not. The mixture is the key..no matter what the bottles say, I always start at 50/50. whether it be enamel or acrylic. Usually get pretty good results with that as a starting point! I find that acrylics lay down nice but require LOTS more coats and time, but are easy to clean up after. Enamels cover quick, but are more of a mess to clean up. Good Luck and have fun!

p.s.---ALWAYS spray for a few seconds on a scrap piece of plastic before you hit your model! (even after you think the mix is perfect!)

Good advice, Derex! When I first pulled the trigger, water from the last time I used the AB spurted onto the spoon. Had to spray a while before the gun metal started to spray out.

I found that Fichtenfoo's method works best for me, especially for my compressor setup, which doesn't allow me to spray for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Basically, I did a few of passes, dried it with some air from the AB, and repeated. Saves time, and makes it easier to gauge the paint finish. Like you said, acrylics take a lot of coats to do, but since the waiting time between coats is just a few seconds (you can actually see the paint dry as you spray air on it), it's actually faster than spraying a heavy coat and waiting minutes between coats. I also found that a 5cm distance works best for getting decent coverage.

BTW, are there any colors that don't respond well to thinning? I heard red and white are pretty finicky.

Yeah I have an olr tank hulk I use to make sure I have everything set up right.

Good advice! I don't have any scrapped model kits lying around, and the cheapskate in me refuses to buy a even a discounted kit for this purpose, so I use plastic spoons. I've got tons of them from ordering takeout meals.

[GU-11]

UPDATE: Just tested the X-7 Gloss Red, and it turned out grainy. I used the same 2 parts paint to 1 part thinner as the user manual recommended.

I remember reading something that says a grainy surface if due to the paint being either too thin or too thick. Problem is, I don't remember which it is.

Any advice?

[GU-11]

UPDATE 2: Thinned the paint a little more, and the finish is much glossier without "orange peel." Now I'm having problems with "runny" paint, and the streams of dried paint shows underneath the older coat. The paint also lifts if I put on a second heavy coat too early; have to wait at least a minute before applying a second coat.

Will try to adjust the distance a little and see if I get better results later or tomorrow.

[derex3592]

I just had my first experience with Model Master Acrylic Clear Red and Blue last week. Very hard to do as I'm impatient! You have to spray coat after coat after coat and eventually it will build up and give you a kind of tinted "candy coated" look. Be careful not to get impatient with it or it WILL run on you. light coats over like a 30 minute period.

Grainy "splatter" is TOO THICK! (this is my problem 90% of the time!) Runny is tooo THIN! You will come to learn when you hit that "magic mixture" ratio..the paint goes on perfectly, no splatter, no runs, dries the instant it hits the plastic, and it takes forever to use all the paint in your paint cup/bottle. The wrong thicker mixes run out quick!

Edited March 11, 2013 by derex3592

[MechTech]

I feel your pain guys! That's why you don't see a lot of painted models I do here!

Traditionally, the flat coats are harder to "screw up." Glossy - that's another story. The yellow fanliner and a scrap piece I painted (to test for "dryenss") years ago with Testor's gloss yellow took a WEEK to cure! Everyday it was tacky until a week was up! But it came out smooth. Gloss is usually tougher to smooth out and reacts to humidity more - especially oil based.

The rule of thumb is that the thinned paint should be the same consitency as milk. Don't ask if that's whole or skim milk

Show us what you've been up to. - MT

[GU-11]

Guys, how long do you usually wait between coats of paint? The Fichtenfoo "spray-and-blow-dry" method worked well for gun metal and probably flat coats, but the gloss red doesn't react well to that. I'm thinking a couple of heavy coats and waiting up to a minute or two between coats might work.

Any advice?

@ Derex: I think I might have accidentally hit that magic ratio with the gun metal, because it was just the way you described. Lasts forever, dries the instant it lands on the plastic, no splatter or runs. I mixed it roughly 2:1 paint to thinner.

I tried the same ratio for Tamiya X-7 Red, and it was all grainy. Thinned it a lot, and it became runny. Today I'll try a 50-50 ratio and see if it'll be better.

@MT: The red's a nightmare to paint. Either too thick or too thin, or sprayed too far or too close. Made some progress with the second try. Hopefully I'll finally nail the perfect paint ratio (testing out 50-50 ratio today) and distance today.

In the future, I think I'll buy spray cans for all gloss paints, and save the AB'ing for flat colors. Problem is, I stocked up on quite a few bottle of gloss paints before realizing how hard they were to paint!

As for what I've been up to; still practicing with plastic spoons.

[derex3592]

The best stuff I've used is the Model Master "premixed for airbrush only" metallic colors. If you wanna see how paint should airbrush...try some of that. They have some sweet metal colors too. I just wish they made ALL colors available like that. Hell, I would pay more! But you are correct, flat colors are easier than gloss. I've learned to stick with cheap gloss or flat white spray paint for white. The hell with airbrushing white. Lol.

[GU-11]

Sadly, the only brand of paints that are readily available to me right now is Tamiya.

TBH, Tamiya flats and metallics AB very nicely; it's just the bright gloss colors that I have trouble with. Are other brands easier to AB when it comes to red, white and yellow?

[GU-11]

Finally got the right ratio! 1:1 paint to thinner at 7-8 cm distance gave a sufficiently glossy finish. There were some dust-like particles on the surface (VERY little), but that's probably due to a rather dusty room. Each coat was medium-heavy, and I waited about a minute between each coat, no blow-drying.

The surface wasn't as smooth or as glossy I'd hoped, but then the surface of the spoon itself wasn't exactly a mirror finish. I'll give the test spoons a day or two before hand brushing future floor polish to see if I can get a glossier finish.

Edited March 12, 2013 by GU-11

[MechTech]

Congrats! If it doesn't have to totally glossy, sometimes clear gloss (can) over the flat helps; especially to make decals lay down better. Then another coat on top "seals the deal." I hate glosses - good thing I mostly do military stuff! - MT

[GU-11]

Thanks, MT! I was worried about the glossiness, since many of the pics on Google showed really glossy surfaces. Seems that these modelers actually polish and wax their paint jobs until they squeak!

Since I don't build cars, I won't need to get that mirror finish. But for the occasional Transformer repaint, I'll still need a nice shiny finish. As you said, a coat or two of clear spray or FFP should be good enough.

Most of the stuff I build are Gundam and the occasional Borderbreak and Armored Core kits. Fortunately, the first two look best in flat colors, and I don't buy a lot of AC kits. Well, even the AC kits don't need the kind of sheen found on model cars.

I've always wanted to build some fighter jets and attack helicopters, but the builds look very complex, especially when painting cammo patterns. Not sure if I'm up to the task just yet.

[Jefuemon]

I've always wanted to build some fighter jets and attack helicopters, but the builds look very complex, especially when painting cammo patterns. Not sure if I'm up to the task just yet.

Cammo patterns aren't all that tricky, as long as you're not trying to do digital cammo. They're kind of fun to do, too! Start with your lightest color, then lay down the darker colors on top of that.

examples done with my Tamiya set-up.

[GU-11]

Those look awesome! Did you do any masking? I've seen some people use blu-tack to mask the parts, creating more "faded" edges.

[derex3592]

I haven't ever been brave enough to try to airbrush a camouflage paint scheme, but now that I have a double action airbrush, maybe I'll try sometime.

[GU-11]

Speaking of double action AB's, I'm still wondering if this Tamiya basic airbrush I've got can be considered single or double action. The compressed air flows at a constant rate, which you can't control, but you CAN control the paint flow via the trigger, depending on how far you squeeze.

What does that make it? 1 1/2 action?

Also, the box say I can spray lines as thin as 2mm, but even on the smallest setting, the the lines were a lot thicker than that. That said, I was using thinned food coloring, so that might have something to do with it.

Edited March 13, 2013 by GU-11

[Jefuemon]

Those look awesome! Did you do any masking? I've seen some people use blu-tack to mask the parts, creating more "faded" edges.

Nope, I did no masking on the cammo work. Actually, masking gives you a clearly defined edge, which is what you really don't want (in my opinion) for a cammo pattern.

[GU-11]

Nope, I did no masking on the cammo work. Actually, masking gives you a clearly defined edge, which is what you really don't want (in my opinion) for a cammo pattern.

Very true. The only cammo patterns I've ever seen with distinct lines are the blue cammo patterns on the Sukhoi SU-35 Flankers.

I should try testing out cammo patterns using my basic AB next. Not sure it it's precise enough for that, but there's only one way to find out, I guess.