Airbrushing help?

Hey guys,
Ok so I took airbrushing classes some 15 years ago in college. I don't remember much of any of it because I haven't really used mine much at all. Since I'm getting into the custom scene a little more I broke it back out and am having a hellish nightmare with the whole experience.

I have a paasche dual action internal mix. The issue is that even with the whole thing cleaned paint either:
- bubbles in the glass jar and nothing comes out
- comes out in spurts, very splattered, stops spraying and splatters some more
Or
- no bubbling and no paint comes out

So I have tried to find some guides or videos but the core of the problem is the airbrush has 3 needle types, 3 different tip types and 3 different air caps. I have no clue which does what so I'm trying them all, same results. The other issue is I'm using some if the inexpensive apple barrel paints from hobby lobby, and no matter how much I leave the paint thick or how much I water it down, the results are basically the same, no paint and when it does it splatters and stops again.

Lastly I have a plug in compressor that is a 40psi, is that just not enough air, too much?

Also I notice when my air cap is screwed all the way down, zero air comes out of the tip, if I loosen it up annice flow if air comes out. Seems like itnshould be airtight to work, but that's not the case.

What I was wondering is how much of my issues are user error and how much are the airbrushes fault. Seems like anytime I read about airbrush artists they are using an itawa or something else, I never read about someone using a badger or paasche.

Am I using crap equipment or am I just missing a piece of the puzzle?

Again all I'm finding online are tutorials explaining technique, not the parts, their roles and troubleshooting.

Outside of trying to track down a weekend class I'm at a loss.
I remember doing this back in the day and the whole thing was super easy.

Any tips whatsoever would be appreciated.

Thanks


Edit: I found a forum talking about how to thin this cheap acrylics using windex. I thought maybe my paint was just too thick, that's why nothing was coming out. I thinned it with windex to a watery thin ness, and all that happened was the little hole they punch into the cap of those screw on glass bottles, well paint started spewing out of that hole.

So the core the issue is it seems like for whatever reason air is getting blown into the paint cup instead of oaintnbeing sucked out of the paint cup.

I'm thinking of getting a compressor and any help or tips on airbrushing would be great.

Start here by getting the manual for your model: paascheairbrush manual downloads. It should tell you the recommended psi for your model and explain the differences between the tips. David Fisher's advice on paint for the airbrush is that it should have the consistency of milk. You might also visit The Clubhouse; you'll find loads of good advice there, whether you're painting a resin custom or a vinyl factory head, since garage kits, which are the focus at The Clubhouse, come in both materials. You'll also find a lot of comments about airbrush "spitting" -- you're not alone.

Gday Corrose,

I've had an Airbrush for a while, and know how it is to have frustrations such as your having. I spent a lot of time playing around with mine to work out how it generally works, and I have still only recently learned things that are invaluable to its use.
With the Needles, caps and tips, the main differences between all the different ones, is size. They all are suited for different use, mostly in terms of how big the surface area your working on is. Bigger tips allow you to cover more surface area, and you would use these in combination with the bigger Needle. As for the air cap, my airbrush has a different build at the tip, and either doesn't have an air cap or its referred to as the Nozzle on the lil booklet, but I presume its a similar situation as the Needle and tip. I mostly use a 0.3mm tip as I normally work on 28mm scaled War gaming models, thou adjusting the airflow and such does allow for greater coverage of larger areas. At the very back end of the Airbrush there should be an adjusting screw. I initially thought this was just a screw at the back to stop the needle from coming loose, but soon discovered it was a vital adjuster for airflow. The tighter it is less airflow, the looser, more air flow is allowed to pass through (in my case at least). Also being a dual action, using the main lever is an art in itself. the way mine works is I press the lever down like a button to siphon in air, and then pull it back to allow the air to spray out of the brush, and mastering this can be quite tricky at first.

On to psi, I generally use around 20-40, depending on the desired affect and the surface area. Its best to just play around on some paper and see how your airbrush works on different psi levels to really get a feel on what you should set it to.

As for paint. This is something I had much trouble with, with its flow out of the Airbrush and with it maintaining its adhesiveness on the models. I personally use Vallejo and Citadel Paints in my airbrush, and I would Highly recommended them for working with models and figures. I haven't ever heard of apple barrel paints, but they could be the problem if there not designed for this type of work. Model paints may be expensive, but they are generally worth the money in quality. I also water down my paint using Windex. It makes a great thinner, and believe it or not it doesn't turn the paint blue, unless your adding paint to your Windex, and not the other way around I use a eye dropper to add the Windex to the paint, and stir it with a tooth pick. I have a Gravity fed Airbrush so I don't have a bottle to pre mix paint in and connect up to the brush. If you dilute your paint too much, what will happen is it will initially stick to the surface and dry, but as soon as you begin handling it or adding more paint, it will basically flake off because you have removed most of the adhesive properties of the paint.

And after typing all this I noticed your edit on the post hopefully you still find this information usefull.

thanks,
Sam

Gruff Old Bear said:

Start here by getting the manual for your model: paascheairbrush manual downloads. It should tell you the recommended psi for your model and explain the differences between the tips. David Fisher's advice on paint for the airbrush is that it should have the consistency of milk. You might also visit The Clubhouse; you'll find loads of good advice there, whether you're painting a resin custom or a vinyl factory head, since garage kits, which are the focus at The Clubhouse, come in both materials. You'll also find a lot of comments about airbrush "spitting" -- you're not alone.

Click to expand...

TheClubHouse looks good but I have to register to read? Hope its free, LOL.

Corrose said:

the issue is it seems like for whatever reason air is getting blown into the paint cup instead of oaintnbeing sucked out of the paint cup.

Click to expand...

There's dried paint or whatever dirt in the tip of your nozzle, then the air goes into your paint cup.....An ultrasonic cleaner will help you cleaning your airbrush perfect!