couple paint and airbrush q's

first off, what do you guys like better spraying from the can that come out with the least amount of orange peel? tamiya or duplicolor? i have used duplicolor but not tamiya and i was thinking of buying some, and is tamiya primer any good?

second, when you guys do all your painting with airbrushes, doesnt it get tiring to keep cleaning out bottle after bottle switching colors? or do you just have a ton of jars for mixing airbrush paint?

thanks

I like the Tamiya, and their primer is great. Yes, it can be a drag to have to clean the airbrush, but quality takes a little effort. The results are worth it... - Mark

I never had problem with Tamiya paint. It's a bit the "paint for dummies". Unless you really want to screw up, you will end with a good result no mater what you do.

and yes, I use many jar for my airbrush, preparing my mix before painting. As for cleaning, if it's the same type of paint (enamel, lacquer, acrylic) I always start with the lightest color and end with the darkest. After each change, I spray a bit of thinner to clean it fast and it do the job. Once finished, I clean the airbrush completely.

I have at least 8 jars for my airbrushes.....makes it easier to do quick color changes.

Tamiya primer is too expensive. I use duplicolor primer with the fan spray. Way better and you get more for the money.

Depends if you have a siphon feed or a gravity feed airbrush. Siphon feed, get the little cups, when your done using one color, take it off, spray till nothing comes out except air...no color, put the next cup on with the new color...repeat..its what I do. If you have a gravity feed, you need to spray thinner between every color. Hope this helps!

-Chris

Got a few questions myself.

When spraying your supposed to 'thin' paint down... what do you use as thinner? Sounds silly, but can you use turps/white spirit?

I'm really not sure and don't want to attempt anything till I know what I am doing...

Yes Tamiya primer is the best, though a bit expensive.
And yes, cleaning the airbruh can be a bitch sometimes, specially if it´s a bottom feed/suction type airbrush. I use my gravity feed AB most of the time, it´s a lot easier to clean IMO. I use a scrap, large size brush and a dropper to clean the AB between colors.
1. Empty the cup the best you can and spray out all the remaining paint inside the AB.
2. Fill the dropper with thinner and fill up the cup with thinner
3. Use the brush to clean inside the cup until all paint has released from the cup, while doing this, pull the trigger back and spray out all of the thinner.
Works great for me, but if you´re going from e.g black to white you might want to repeat the procedure, just to be sure.
skoda_norman, it depends on which type of paint you´re using. You could thin acrylics with regular Ajax, Windex or whatever the name if the window cleaner.
I thin laquers with regular thinner, the one found in your average hardware store.
I would´nt recommend you to use enamels, but if you do you could thin them with white spirit or turpentine.

Good luck!

Depends if you have a siphon feed or a gravity feed airbrush. Siphon feed, get the little cups, when your done using one color, take it off, spray till nothing comes out except air...no color, put the next cup on with the new color...repeat..its what I do. If you have a gravity feed, you need to spray thinner between every color. Hope this helps!

-Chris

You have to flush with thinner between colors regardless of whether you have gravity or siphon feed. All it means when paint stops coming out is that there is no more excess paint in the airbrush, there will still be a residual lining of paint in the chamber though which is why you flush with thinner before the next color. If you haven't ended up with two colors on the model yet through what you're doing, you've just been lucky.

Got a few questions myself.

When spraying your supposed to 'thin' paint down... what do you use as thinner? Sounds silly, but can you use turps/white spirit?

I'm really not sure and don't want to attempt anything till I know what I am doing...

I certainly don't advice thinning paint with turpentine, use the correct thinner for the paint type, that's why it's important to know what paint you're using, and when possible, get the matching brand of thinners.

You could thin acrylics with regular Ajax, Windex or whatever the name if the window cleaner.
I thin laquers with regular thinner, the one found in your average hardware store.
I would´nt recommend you to use enamels, but if you do you could thin them with white spirit or turpentine.

Good luck!

I've had mixed results using household detergents to thin paints, I just find it a less than certain method when it comes to getting a good paint finish as each brand of paint reacts differently.
I have found ModelMasters and Testors acrylic thin fine with 70% alcohol, while Tamiya paint prefers Tamiya thinner for predictable results.
I agree with you on the lacquer paints.
I don't agree with you using turpentine, while it's great for cleaning paints, it's not a great paint thinner and it makes the paint unpredictable in my opinion.

Probably should of said...

was to be used with humberol enamle paint.

a gloss in this case too.