Me again with some airbrushing problems...

[Guest]

I am having headaches airbrushing car model's body. It has been two times already that I have repainted it and now I am stripping it again since I do not like the result.

First of all when they saying put light coats does that mean spraying small amount of paint? But then the surface will have sandpaper effect. How could you put a light coat but do not have the paint wet? Or is it desirable to have sandpaper effect for the first coats?

I am using revell enamel thinned with turpentine ratio 3:2 and I tried 15-20psi. If I am going light then I am getting satin finish at best if I try to spry until paint is wet then I get orange peel effect.

I am also having a lot of problems when I need to handle part painted in flat colour. Any touch leaves marks. Does that mean that the paint is weak?

[BarryW]

The sandpaper effect is because the paint is dry before it hits the surface.

It is right to spray in light coats, but you could try closer in and, I would suggest, you may not be thinning the paint enough. I do not use enamels so I cannot be sure of the ratio you should be using.

Try experimenting using a plastic bottle. It takes a lot of practise getting used to airbrushing.

As for handling I suspect that you are only waiting until it is touch dry. It takes a lot longer to cure and harden. Leave it alone for at least 24 hours.

[Guest]

But if I am spraying light coats I get this sandpaper effect since I do not release much paint.

Part was sitting for couple of days and it still can not be handeled eithout marks

[stillp]

Are the marks just sweaty fingerprints on the surface, or are they actually in the thickness of the paint? Are you really using turpentine as a thinner, or the "turps substitute", also known as white spirit, or in the US as mineral spirit?
Genuine turpentine often contains oils and won't dry properly for days or even weeks. Try some of your thinners in a saucer, see if it dries without leaving a sticky residue.

Pete

[Guest]

For e.g. today I needed to paint other side of the part therefore I attached part to the coat hanger with tamiya masking tape and after I have finished painting and removed part from the hanger there were prints from hanger on the surface. The side to with hanger was attached was totally dry since it was painted two weeks ago or so. I am not sure if it is visible in the photo but here it is https://www.dropbox.com/s/47pzcftskw..._0194.JPG?dl=0

I am using mineral turpentine from hardware store and it looks like this https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ckhwop695..._0196.JPG?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/rz5rnct16r..._0197.JPG?dl=0

I guess I just need to bin those revell paints or buy designed thinner for it and see if it improves...

By the way I damaged one of the decals for hasegawa kit. Is it possible to order it separately? The kit is quite new https://www.dropbox.com/s/4w4jbrcmom..._0193.JPG?dl=0

[stillp]

Karolis, I can't see any marks on the item in your first photo.
From the Eg number in your 3rd photo, that certainly seems to be what we would describe as white spirit, but it seems to have some extra ingredients. If you leave some in a shallow dish does it evaporate completely? It might be worth trying the proper Revell thinner, just in case there's something in the turpentine that's causing the problem.

Can't help you with the decals I'm afraid.
Which country are you in?

Pete

[Guest]

I just ordered the thinner intended to use with revell paints and will see how it goes. Really hated to thin it with this turpentine. The smell is awful and I thing it is also the reason for all those airbrushing problems.
Since I am waiting for my H&S Evo airbrush I tried to airbrush vallejo surface primer with my Chinese side feed airbrush. It does not spray properly. First of all when I tried unthinned primer it just blocked the passage from the cup to the airbrush body (I think it is one of the disatvabtages of the side feed airbrush when paint is sitting in this passage and drying). After that it took long time to clean it and I decided to wait for new airbrush and test then.
But do you thin vallejo primer as well? I know that for model air you should add drops of thinner but for primer they say you should use it straight from the bottle otherwise it is weak when thinned.

[Guest]

It seems that most of my painting problems were due to using hardware store turpentine as a thinner. Using intended thinner eliminated most of the problems. Lesson learnt here. As for the Vallejo Air Primer I put 0.4 needle on my Evo AB set pressure to 1.8 bar and it goes beautifully. Thread could be deleted or left as a reference.