Disappointed with my H&S Ultra

[Guest]

In the short time I've been using this forum I have made 1 definate decision....... John is my all time hero. :P


Shame you don't live closer to me John I'd be round regularly for model building lessons!

[stona]

I'm not sure what 'technically speaking not much necessary' means. The brakes on my car are technically speaking not much necessary as long as I don't drive it. I think the good folks at H+S might want to re-think this


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

In the short time I've been using this forum I have made 1 definate decision....... John is my all time hero. :P
Shame you don't live closer to me John I'd be round regularly for model building lessons!

I wouldn't do that Stuart, he would have you locked in the packing department wrapping orders for 12 hours a day all for half a bowl of gruel a week and only an hours holiday per year for Christmas lunch.........

[Guest]

I'm not sure what 'technically speaking not much necessary' means. The brakes on my car are technically speaking not much necessary as long as I don't drive it. I think the good folks at H+S might want to re-think this
Cheers


Steve

Well, technically speaking you don't need brakes to drive it, you only need brakes to stop it


Can I just say before anyone thinks I am anti H&S, I am not. I know that their top end airbrushes are amongst, if not, the best you can buy and are beautifully made. If I had £150 to splash out on an airbrush, it would be H&S without a doubt. In fact I hope one day I can because I would.


I just wonder if the budget end of the big guys brushes are really worth it. If I was advising a beginner to buy a brush I would not advise they spent £60+ pounds on something that they could so easily damage. I would advise a beginner to do what I, and a lot of others have done, and go the £15-20 route and if they trash it, no big loss. Bend a needle tip on a H&S and it will cost you more than a decent cheap airbrush from John to replace it. Bend a needle tip on one of the cheap airbrushes and it will cost you a couple of quid.


By all means move up the ladder when you are ready but don't waste money before you know how to deal with the problems.

[Gern]

Ooops! I didn't mean so start all this off!


The bubbles I'm getting are coming from the join between the air cap and the main body of the brush. That join should have a seal and it surprises me to see that H&S believe it doesn't need one!


Talk about going the extra mile for customer service? John - you're a star!


I'll hang on to it and give it another try when I get a seal and see how I get on - but I still have niggling doubts about the removable cup. Meanwhile, thanks to John's usual impeccable service, I've got a Fenghua A/B to play with!


Incidentally, the instructions on the Fenghua brush explicitly recommend that you cover the end of the brush and 'blow back' to help clean it. I've seen several comments saying you shouldn't do that as it might damage seals or blow liquids back into parts of the brush where they don't belong. Now I'm confused - again - as usual!

[Guest]

I blow back but only briefly, couple of quick bursts after doing a good flush through. Don't use the Celulose or lacquer thinners for this and any seals should be ok.


After blowing back, dump what is in the colour cup in case some bits have come out the nozzle, no point spraying them back into the nozzle.


Quick tip is to have a blob of blue tack to cover the end of the cap to help getting a blow back on petal shapes as in the Fenghua and especially on the Ultra cap which is hard to block off. Just don't force the blue tack into where the needle tip is, just do a wraparound and it works fine.

[stona]

Incidentally, the instructions on the Fenghua brush explicitly recommend that you cover the end of the brush and 'blow back' to help clean it. I've seen several comments saying you shouldn't do that as it might damage seals or blow liquids back into parts of the brush where they don't belong. Now I'm confused - again - as usual!

I've been back flushing all my airbrushes for years. It's never been a problem for the airbrushes...can't say the same for my shirt fronts


Cheers


Steve

[Gern]

I wouldn't do that Stuart, he would have you locked in the packing department wrapping orders for 12 hours a day all for half a bowl of gruel a week and only an hours holiday per year for Christmas lunch.........

Oh come on Graham! John's not a mean guy. He'd allow at least an hour and a half for Xmas dindins!

[Gern]

I've been back flushing all my airbrushes for years. It's never been a problem for the airbrushes...can't say the same for my shirt fronts
Cheers


Steve

.... and I thought I was a klutz!


I used to back flush on my old A/B. Not only for cleaning, although I did get rid of most of the paint first, but also to help mix the paint and thinners before spraying. I saw a lot of the Japanese builders on the old Plamo site doing that and it struck me as more efficient than stirring it with a brush.


Even with a full breakdown, my old cleaning routine only took about 5 minutes and I used much less cleaners and fewer tissues and cotton buds too. I'm not saying I never had problems due to inefficient cleaning, but they were quite rare. The biggest problems I had were the same ones as everyone else gets with acrylics - wrong mix/paint thickness or paint drying on the tip.

[Guest]

Incidentally, the instructions on the Fenghua brush explicitly recommend that you cover the end of the brush and 'blow back' to help clean it. I've seen several comments saying you shouldn't do that as it might damage seals or blow liquids back into parts of the brush where they don't belong. Now I'm confused - again - as usual!

I have often wondered about this as well. I have a Badger Patriot 105 and use the blow-back method every time I clean it, to no ill effects. As a matter of fact, the owner of Badger demonstrates how to do it on a video about Badger airbrushes and how to use them.


Maybe it depends on the type of airbrush.

[Gern]

Quick tip is to have a blob of blue tack to cover the end of the cap to help getting a blow back on petal shapes as in the Fenghua and especially on the Ultra cap which is hard to block off.

I tried my new Fenghua A/B tonight with some primer. Seems to work OK and cleans a little easier than the Ultra. I back flushed using an ordinary washing up sponge rather than faffing around with blue tack. It doesn't make a perfect seal, but it's good enough for what we want to do.

[Guest]

Talk about going the extra mile for customer service? John - you're a star!

Going through the shop to work out an order (for when I do my next model not puchaced yet)


Might have to send in the cash so my wife doesn't see what I'm planning to spend on the bank statement!!! Lol.





Maybe you could make it come up as something else on my statement..... Something I'm less likely to get told off for..... Like babestation or playboy.TV. hahaha :P

[John]

I've got the replacement o rings and will send them out today.

[Gern]

I've got the replacement o rings and will send them out today.

Thanks John. I'll give the brush another go when they arrive.

[Gern]

OK. Ring seals arrived today. Thanks John - that's service way above and beyond the norm!


With the seal in place and feeling OK to back flush as part of my cleaning process, I used it to spray my X-Wing. It's done a beautiful job (at least it's beautiful by my standards!). There were no bubbles from the air cap or in the paint cup and clean-up was quite fast. After cleaning and back flushing I dismantled it and found everything clean with no obvious signs of paint left anywhere.


I'm still just a little hesitant about handling it with the removable cup. As a fully paid-up member of the Clumsy Oaf Club, I can see me knocking the thing off one day when it's full of paint. That apart, it's a nice brush so I'll stick with it.