Airbrush help?

[smoked]

I have had a Paasche Millenium edition airbrush for a while now. After trying to use it and it never really working the way I thought it should I put it up. After some time and getting into sculpting I have came to realize that brush painting isn't going to get to the quality that I am wanting. So I have a few questions that I wondering if any of you Airbrush masters would like to help me with.

1. What pressure settings should I be spraying at? Is it one setting or multiple? I have hear 15psi, but is that 15psi before pressure is realeased or is it during the flow that I need to set this?

2. I noticed that I have bubbles coming out around tip when spraying really thin liquids like water, or cleaner through the brush. Should I just use thread wrap on the threads, buy a new head for the brush, or is the brush trashed?

3. During the test today I noticed that when using a paint like Faskolor from parma that is made for airbrushes it sprayed really well and cleaned up easily. In the past I have tried paints like Delta, Folkart, AppleBarrel thinned with water to spray, but have always had issues. Should I just stick with airbrush paints, or am i not thinning the other paints properly or with the wrong mix?

4. Is there any special brands of paints people like to stick to paint with?

Any help would be appreciated, I have tried to find some good airbrush videos to watch, but so far the only things usually are car painting videos and that is a totally different technique all around. I am going to pick up the modelmania vids so hopefully they will help out with some of the issues I am having.

[Danno]

Originally Posted by smoked

1. What pressure settings should I be spraying at? Is it one setting or multiple? I have hear 15psi, but is that 15psi before pressure is realeased or is it during the flow that I need to set this?

http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=73640
This is typically the pressure prior to spraying
(depending on your compressor and gauge)
that should be a fairly accurate pressure.

Originally Posted by smoked

2. I noticed that I have bubbles coming out around tip when spraying really thin liquids like water, or cleaner through the brush. Should I just use thread wrap on the threads, buy a new head for the brush, or is the brush trashed?

This is nothing to worry about at all.
If you are bothered by it, you can use a little
plumbing sealant on the threads

Originally Posted by smoked

3. During the test today I noticed that when using a paint like Faskolor from parma that is made for airbrushes it sprayed really well and cleaned up easily. In the past I have tried paints like Delta, Folkart, AppleBarrel thinned with water to spray, but have always had issues. Should I just stick with airbrush paints, or am i not thinning the other paints properly or with the wrong mix?

Cheap craft paints are very coarse in pigment.
They can be airbrushes, but I do recommend using
an airbrush thinner/medium to thin, not water.

Originally Posted by smoked

4. Is there any special brands of paints people like to stick to paint with?

I use several paints, but I recommend getting and
using some of the better quality airbrush paints
to get used to their consistency and how they
spray.

for brands, see thread:
http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=66971

[Jesse321]

Originally Posted by Danno

I use several paints, but I recommend getting and
using some of the better quality airbrush paints
to get used to their consistency and how they
spray.

for brands, see thread:
http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=66971

Since I've started painting, I've been using more and more brands of paints, and the more paints I use, the more I notice that absolutely none of them work in an airbrush right out of the bottle, except FREESTYLE colors from Kit Builders.

While once you get used to the consistency that the paint is supposed to be, you can use just about any brand, take it from someone that's just learning the ropes, Danno's right, it's worth the investment to get some of the better AB paints.

Learning to mix your own colors is something everyone using an AB should know how to do also.

[smoked]

Danno/Jesse, thanks for the advice. I appreciate it since like I said when I first got the brush I had so many issues that I gave it up for a while, but now I am determined to get it going so thanks for the help!

Danno, let make sure I am clear. If you set the psi to 15 and begin to spray the psi drops to below 15. I know that when I set my compressor at 15psi prior, then begin to spray it may drop as much as 4-5 psi. If it should stay at 15psi while spraying I will have to adjust my compressor up while depressing my brush until it stays a constant 15psi.

[Danno]

It is really going to depend on your airbrush, paint and how good your compressor is. If you set your pressure to say, 15 psi and when you spray, you are getting inconsistent spray patterns and heavy speckling, then you will need to turn the pressure up a few psi.

Things like this can be hard as airbrushing may have subtle variances depending on climate, humidity, altitude, etc... but if you hover in that range, you should be ok.

[smoked]

Thanks Danno, I feel I am improving my sculpting as I do more, but the painting I feel I still am at a hanging point. I am finishing up a Captain America that I have been working on and it was all brush, but as good as I may get sculpting regardless unless I improve painting then it doesn't matter. I am checking youtube, ordering videos, etc to get as much info as possible. I really wish I had gotten a chance to get out to the wonderfest sesssions, but I was busy.