Tamiya spraywork

Hi! I'm new with building car models and I was hoping to get a few tips.
What do you paint your car bodies with? Spray or airbrush?
I was thinking about buying a Tamiya spraywork airbrush bacause I'm not that good at painting with ordinary sprays. I tend to spray to much and ruin the "look".

But is it worth to buy an aircompressor and an airbrush?

Has anyone got any comments on Tamiyas airbrushes?

I would appreciate some advice=)

I have the tamiya spraywork and it works well. good for general spraying but not for really fine detail painting.:2cents:

chris

Hi! I'm new with building car models and I was hoping to get a few tips.
What do you paint your car bodies with? Spray or airbrush?
I was thinking about buying a Tamiya spraywork airbrush bacause I'm not that good at painting with ordinary sprays. I tend to spray to much and ruin the "look".

But is it worth to buy an aircompressor and an airbrush?

Has anyone got any comments on Tamiyas airbrushes?

I would appreciate some advice=)


P-man has provided quite a few how to's on body prep , priming and painting. Its all summed up in one post for you in the how to section.
Ana irbrush and compressor won't solve your habit of spraying too much paint. Begin with thinner coats letting them dry slightly (flash) in between coats, build up enough coats to achieve the color and gloss you are going for. Good luck

Thanks!

Which model is that you have? I know there is one single action and a few double action airbrushes. Do you use an aircompressor or some kind of pressure bottle? how much did you pay for it/them?

More comments anyone?

I have a revell single action airbrush and air-compressor. I bought that +/- 300 euros and it works great, as well for car bodies as small details. And with that you use only a few paint ! if you see the price of a spray can :2cents:

my spraywork is the one that came with the compressor. i think its single action cant remember.it cost me R900 work it out in dollars giv or take a few.R-$=6.50+- to 1$

Does anyone else have any comments on tamiyas airbrushes?

I used the Spray Work for more than 10 years, until I sold it to replace with the Spray Work Revo. The fast that it was sold proves that it was in perfect working condition. It's simply built, and easy to disassemble and maintain. Single action is adequate for car modeling, which usually doesn't require hair line and spotty effect. I'm currently using Tamiya's trigger type metal airbrush and Revo compressor, and quality is just as good as Iwata.
The Revo doesn't have the strong blast of a spray can, but it's strong enough for car modeling.

I haven't heard of Iwata before. How are they compared to Tamiya?
Price etc.

anyone?

You're on a forum, people aren't sitting here waiting for you to ask a question so they can answer it, they will answer you when there is a chance, people aren't going to post for no reason(if they don't have an answer) :disappoin

Iwata is better than Tamiya in my opinion, you get what you pay for most of the time.

I doubt you'll find anyone who will really say one make of airbrush is better for automotive modeling than another. Badger, Pasche, Iwata, Tamiya, Aztec all make decent airbrushes. It's absoultely the skill of the operator that determines the quality of the paint job. I have a Badger 150 that I've had for 15 years, and a Badger 350 that I've had for 20. I've also used Pasche and Tamiya. I'd be happy with any of them. Truths I've learned about airbrushing:

Keep it clean! Probably 90% of all problems encountered with airbrushes are because the airbrush needs a good cleaning. If you use acrylics, cleanup is very easy- just use windex glass cleaner.

I would never go back to brushpainting. Ever. I use prushpainting ONLY for small detail work. Everything (engine, suspension, interiors, wheels, underbody, AND OF COURSE BODYWORK!) else is airbrushed.

Cans of propellant are a poor way to spray. By definition, they will always die at an inconvienient time. Besides, a compressor will give you better control. Expensive, yes, but buy one. You won't regret it.

An airbrush beats the hell out of spray cans, any day. It's great to be able to put paint where you want it, and only where you want it. I could never do that with a can. Besides, I hate throwing cans away.

I use a double action, and it would probably drive me crazy to go back to a single action. Why? Among other things, a double action can be used as an airgun, which can be very usefull for drying just sprayed paint. Especially flat acrylic. Dries completely in seconds with a bit of air blown on it. Would I insist on double action if I had to start over and was on a budget? Probably not. You can do some terrific things with just a single action.

Learn to use it, and make friends with your airbrush. Takes a bit of investment in time and effort, but its completely worth it.

If you really enjoy modeling, it's the way to go! Hope this helps! :2cents:

Thanks!!! There are though a few things I'm wondering about airbrushes.

If I wan't to change the color in a brush, do I have to clean it?

Can anyone tell me about Tamiyas airbrush with compressor?

www.best1hobby.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=168&Product_Code=TA74520

Is it any good, at least it's in a nice price range? I really don't know what's good or bad, so I was hoping to get some more advice. Does anyone know if the airbrush is single or double action?

Do I need anything else than paint if I use an airbrush?

I'm going to start building my Tamiya Ferrari Enzo in a few weeks and I'm trying to decide how to paint the body, with spraycan or airbrush. There are a few compressors and airbrushes to choose from and I'm having a hard time deciding which of them to buy. The Tamiya set that i found is in a nice price range but I don't know if it's any good.

(Has anyone built the Tamiya Ferrari Enzo?)

The Tamiya Spray Work is great, despite its cheap look. I have used the previous generation one for my professional work many times, and also won many contests as well. It's more than adequate, if it's for car modeling. It's a bit noisy, but the trigger type airbrush is easy to hold, and it's easy to disassemble and clean. It doesn't come with the AC adapter, but you can buy one of those general purpose adapter with varialbe voltage and multiple plugs at BestBuy and the like.

Thanks!!! Previous generation? So there's a new one? Haven't seen it anywhere...

Is the airbrush single or double action?(the previous generation) Can it be used for small detail painting?

Do I need anything else than paint to use an airbrush? Any chemicals etc.?

Building an Enzo? Yeah, get the airbrush. I think this one is a single action. It will be entirely adequate for building the Enzo, or just about any other car you'll want to build. Fantastic contest quality results are definately possible with its use (It by no means guarantees it- it's the skill of the operator, like I sed before!). It would be an excellent way to paint the body- but probably more importaint, it is the ONLY good way to paint the rest of the car. You will unlikely outgrow this airbrush in building cars. What you will not be able to do with it is paint your Enzo with freehand zebra stripes, or the like. You will have to do masking if you want zebra stripes- which is a much better option until you have lots of airbrush experience anyways.

What else will you need?
-Paint. For starting airbrushing, I'd recommend Tamiya's acrylic. This is an excellent product for use with an airbrush.
-Something to thin the paint with. For Tamiya, and all other acrylics, I use a mixture of isopropyl alcohol (25ish%) and distilled water (75ish%). More alcohol will make the paint dry faster, more water, dry slower. I like to put this into a small plastic dropper bottle.
-Something to clean the airbrush with. When using acrylics, I always use Windex glass cleaner. Don't use the cheap stuff- not enough ammonia. Careful, because Windex makes a very effective paint stripper for Tamiya acrylics. But of course, if you mess up, strip off the paint with windex, and start over! What better way to learn? I keep windex in another small plastic dropper bottle.
-Something to test spray on. I like old 3x5" index cards that my wife used for class notes in grad school. An endless supply for me!
-A respirator. Don't skimp, your health is worth it. Go to the paint section of your hardware store, get one of those rubber gas mask looking ones with replacible cartridges, labeled to remove organic vapors. About $20US, shouldn't be hard to find. Must have!
-Something to spray cleaner into. The Testors Aztec airbrush cleaning station is awesome. I wouldn't spray without one. $15ish US. I used to use a plastic cup filled with cat litter (unused!), with a piece of cheesecloth over the top held on with a rubber band. OK for acrylics, doesn't capture fumes sufficiently for enamels or laquers.
-Somewhere to paint. I use a large clear plastic storage bin turned on its side as a spray booth. Clear cuz it doesn't block light- spraying in a black hole is no fun. I added two clip-on lamps with 60 watt bulbs, clipped to the top of the booth. My booth sits on a folding card table, next to an open window with a box type window fan blowing outwards for ventilation. I used to spray on my workbench, but it's kind of a pain to clear off everything, set up the booth, paint, wait for stuff to dry, clear off booth and airbrush, and redistribute my modeling tools/clutter, repeat as necissary whenever I want to paint. Solution? Another workbench!

Directions for use. Set up painting area, prepare parts to be painted. Stir jar of paint to be used. Pour a small amount of paint into the paint cup of the airbrush. Add a couple of drops of thinning solution. How much you determine by test spraying, because it varies by ambient temperature, pressure, type of paint, phase of moon, etc. 20% to 25% thinner may be a good place to start. Gently swirl paint mixture in paint cup to mix. (Backflushing the airbrush- covering the spray nozzle with a wad of paper towels and pressing the trigger- will force air into the paint cup, which can be another good way to mix the paint/thinner). Test airbrush on test surface (index card, etc). Too thick/thin? Adjust as necessary, test again. When happy with the mix, paint! Spray till your hearts content. When finished (hopefully you will have used most/all of the paint in the cup- you'll learn quickly to judge how much you'll need for a job), fill paint cup halfway or so with windex (if using acrylic. If using enamel/lacquer, use appropriate thinner). Spray a bit of windex. Backflush until air bubbles into paint cup. Spray out the remaining windex into your catch device. Repeat once or twice as necissary until backflushing the airbrush leaves the windex/thinner clean. Spray remaining windex/cleaner out. Your now ready for a new color, or to stop. After every couple of days of use, it's a good idea to disassemble and clean the parts individually. Again, windex is good for this, if you've been using Tamiya acrylics. Other dried paint may require something more aggressive. Laquer thinner is very good for this, but use only with good ventilation! Clean the individual parts of the paint train gently with qtips and pipe cleaners. Always do this procedure before painting a car body, or anywhere else where contamination of the paint job will be obvious. Be very carefull if using laquer thinner as a cleaner on plastic airbrush parts.

whew- long winded or what? Hope this helps. Get the airbrush, the Tamiya one is fine, you won't regret it. :thumbsup:

P-man has provided quite a few how to's on body prep , priming and painting. Its all summed up in one post for you in the how to section.
Ana irbrush and compressor won't solve your habit of spraying too much paint. Begin with thinner coats letting them dry slightly (flash) in between coats, build up enough coats to achieve the color and gloss you are going for. Good luck

I have buyed some weeks ago also some Tamiya Spray and i must tell it is more easy with my Aztek Airbrush to paint some kits like with TS i just find the TS Flat Paint is working very well but i painted the body of a R33 and i did all the things like in P-Mans HDT but it was not working so good like with my airbrush don't know why but i would always buy a airbrush again Just can say Aztek A470 and a good compressor is the best to paint for me :disappoin

thanks alot!!! now I got answers to most of my questions at once. Nice :smile:

I haven't gotten my Enzo yet and I would like to get a comlete list of Tamiya colours to buy, hopefully as soon as possible, so that I can order them at the same time as the airbrush and compressor.

Could someone help me out? I would really appreciate it :smile:

http://www.1999hobbysearch.com/dbimages/user/hobby/itbig/10027913t.jpg

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/index.html
has pics of instruction sheets

Thanks!!

does anyone know what kind of power connection the Tamiya basic compressor has? I don't wan't to use a battery and I'm thinking about buying an AC adaptor.

www.tamiya.com/english/products/74520basic_comp/basic_comp1.htm

(I mean the small connection that you see in picture, the round little hole=)

I used the Spray Work for more than 10 years, until I sold it to replace with the Spray Work Revo. The fast that it was sold proves that it was in perfect working condition. It's simply built, and easy to disassemble and maintain. Single action is adequate for car modeling, which usually doesn't require hair line and spotty effect. I'm currently using Tamiya's trigger type metal airbrush and Revo compressor, and quality is just as good as Iwata.
The Revo doesn't have the strong blast of a spray can, but it's strong enough for car modeling.

Actually, Tamiya airbrushes are made by Iwata!