Airbrushing

Hello all, Just purchased a new airbrush, dual action, and it came without one BIT of instructional verbiage. I hooked the braided airline to the airbrush and then to the compressor which came with an air tank. The darn thing does not work and it is not rocket science, it cannot be that difficult to operate! I have my sons' pinewood derby car he'd like to paint before the race next week. Anyone have ANY idea how to hook up the airbrush to the compressor!? My gawd there are only TWO friggen connections and why the thing will now expell/spray the coating is beyond me! I called the manufacturer and they said just increase the pressure to 40 PSI, well, did that and still it sprays nothing. In fact, I have to build the pressure on the gauge to 60 PSI just to get air to come out of the gun! YES, I am frustrated beyond belief, that one, I can't find one site on the net that shows how to operate an airbrsuh and 2. no pictures of the connections either! GEEESH! :banghead:

Details?
Type of airbrush?
Compressor?

Do you have a pressure regulator on the line? Is there any sort of air shut off in the line which could be closed?

Yeah, there is an answer and it can be made to work. But you're really going to have to provide details and ask specific questions to get much help here.

To start off with, 40 psi is way too high....

http://www.tcpglobal.com/images/airblogotiny.gifABD KIT-128P Beginner Dual Action Airbrush Kit

http://www.tcpglobal.com/images/ABDKIT-128Psm.jpgNozzle Size 0.35MM
Bottom Feed
22cc Paint Cup
15-50 PSI Pressure
Double Action

Kit includes:
TC -20 Air Compressor
TH -021 Air Hose
TA -128P Beginner Dual Action Airbrush
Applications: Great for any job requiring a simple, (right!!!) yet effective spray. This is the beast! In reading the replies, yes, it HAS to be something ungodly simple! As for the PSI, this was recommended by the company that sells this airbrsuh and because I am using a chameleon color however, I can't even get the black sealer to spray. Or if it by frak chance does spray it lasts for 2-3 seconds and covers about 3 square milimeters! Crazy!

What consistency is the paint?

Did you thin the paint before spraying?

Have you tried just spraying water?

What kind of paint are you using (type/brand). What are you thinning with?

Hello, thanks for your replies! Yes, the paint is not water thin but more the consistancy or thickness of egg nog. After no luck with spraying the paint, a black sealer, water based, I decided to spray water and again, it sprayed for for about 2-3 seconds then as the pressure diminished, nothing. Let me give you some details, there is a black knob near the compressor and my equipment not only has a compressor but also an air tank. This black knob states push to lock, pull to unlock. Well, I pulled it up thinking that was the holy grail but no... meant nothing. The company that sells the airbrsuh and the paint told me to use them as is and not to thin them. Well, I have 2 exhausted boys here and 1 frustrated dad, so, we're heading home. Funny, I am helping them with their pinewood derby cars and decided to try a new paint on my older sons, the chameleon or a color shifting paint. I should have stuck with the Krylon, my younger sons car looks like freakin Chip Foose(sp?) did the job! ROFL! Laughing but TRUE! And others have said my goodness when you paint with an airbrsuh you will NEVER use can spray paint again! :disappoin

OK, the 'knob' with the push/pull on it is a pressure regulator, you unlock it to allow you to turn it and adjust pressure, you lock it once you have the pressure you want.

If your paint is the consistency of eggnog, it's too thick IMO. Also, have you cleaned the airbrush after trying to spray, it may now be clogged inside if you have paint in it in which case it won't spray water.

I'm still unclear about the compressor - the one you posted a picture of is evidently not the one you're actually using, you have a tank compressor you're using?

+1 what Ray sed.

It soulds like you're spraying the paint much too thick, and it may badly need to be cleaned out now from your earlier attempts.

An airbrush is not as simple as a spraycan- it takes some learning to use it. It is definately worth the effort to learn it- as you have heard, airbrushes are far superior to spraycans. But it's also true that if you start from a base of nearly no experience, you're more likely to get better results from a spraycan.

My advise is first of all to stuff the chamelion paint- at least until you know how to use the airbrush. Get to a hobby shop and get some Tamiya acrylic paint and a bottle of Tamiya acrylic thinner (Tamiya acrylics are very easy to airbrush- flat colors are best). Also get a spray bottle of Windex to use as cleaner. Give yourself an hour or two to play with it and to learn to use it. Having a couple of young boys looking over your shoulder as you do is likely not going to help you.

Use the metal color cup for the paint- not the glass bottle attachment. Pour a little well mixed paint into the paintcup. With an eyedropper, add some thinner, and mix them together. To start, use maybe half the amount of thinner as paint (2 to 1)- the consistency you want is somewhere between whole milk and water. Test spray on a piece of cardboard, and get a feel for the airbrush. You should be spraying at about 20 psi. If the paint is too wet (pools and runs), use less thinner. Not wet enough, add more thinner. Also change the pressure settings and see what that does. Generally less pressure is better, but you need enough to feed and spray the paint.

Give it some time and play with it, and your efforts will be rewarded. If you throw it all together and hope for the best, you will likely be disappointed and frustrated.

Start at the beginning and work your way through the system.

1. will air come out of the airbrush when there is no paint in it? If yes then yhe problem is your paint. if no, then there is a blockage.

2 connect everything up and then unscrew the akirbrush from the airhose. does air come whooshing out? if yes, the problem is in the airbrush, if no, the air hose is blocked or the regulator valve is blocked/closed.

3. strip your airbrush right down and clean it thoroughly, there maybe a little bit of metal from the production process somewhere blocking airflow (I had that once)

4 Take the whole setup to your LHS and let someone have a look at it

Good luck and dont give up!

If the part with the black knob on it is the same as the one on my compressor (also has the glass moisture trap same as in your picture) then make sure the whole thing is on the right way round.I recently had to change my regulator because it got a crack in it and was leaking air out.When I fitted the new one I didn't notice an arrow on the side indicating the way it fitted and put it on the wrong way.The result was hardly any air from the airhose/airbrush.I turned it round the right way and the airflow was restored.The little arrow is in the plastic just under the black knob and it indicates the airflow direction from the compressor so it should point out away from the compressor towards the airhose and airbrush.

Hello all, thank you ALL very much for the adivise, I am new to using an airbrush but not new to painting. I used to paint motorcycles with flamboyant after market paint jobs, of course, a regular devilbiss airgun. Okay, called the company, explained in detail my dilemma and found they had sent a compressor with an incorrect connect for my airbrush! Was losing air from that connect and why I could only obtain a few seconds of spray and pressure! I don't know if the connect is metric or SAE however, the one from my compressor is 3 mm larger than the hose connect! Funny, I can start the hose on but I can only give it one 1/2 twist to tighten which is not a good seal and is losing air big. So, they are FedXing 2 new hoses, and the correct coupler from the compressor! I had to ask... and how long have you been selling these? Apparently they sell a myriad of airbrushes and the multitude of people that use them have a multitude of connects for different compressors. So my bad, when I get the connector and hoses tomorrow, maybe I'll be smiling! Thanks again, great site.

FYI, the paint should be the consistency of milk. Your psi should be around 18-20psi, regardless of what the company told you, this is common for model kits. Now if you were doing tee-shirts or something, it might be different.. but yeah.. 18-20psi

Here's a flash airbrushing tutorial by a friend of mine that might be useful for you:

http://www.fichtenfoo.com/02GiantRobots/02c-abflash.html

Yes, I am truly wondering as I told this guy, Jessy, that people on this forum stated 30-40 PSI was way too high and he said but your using a paint that is not to be thinned, it is used as is. I asked if I could thin it and he said yes, with water but I wouldn't do it, and I asked why and he said, you'll be painting ALL night to get coverage! Well, that I've already done that, so no biggie but the paint I am using is Auto Air Colors, Series 4400. Definitely not milk and maybe not quite egg nog but closer to nog than milk. I'll play with it before attacking the car for sure as the shifting color was $22 for 4 ounces, more expensive than Jagermeister!

Yes, I am truly wondering as I told this guy, Jessy, that people on this forum stated 30-40 PSI was way too high and he said but your using a paint that is not to be thinned, it is used as is. I asked if I could thin it and he said yes, with water but I wouldn't do it, and I asked why and he said, you'll be painting ALL night to get coverage! Well, that I've already done that, so no biggie but the paint I am using is Auto Air Colors, Series 4400. Definitely not milk and maybe not quite egg nog but closer to nog than milk. I'll play with it before attacking the car for sure as the shifting color was $22 for 4 ounces, more expensive than Jagermeister!

Hah.. I would definitely not listen to that guy. If that paint was 22 bucks for 4 ounces, i'm guessing it's lacquer, which will need to be thinned with lacquer thinner. I guess that guy doesn't know that there's more than one type of paint out there. When you get your new stuff in, just ask around the forums and i'm sure you'll find the help you need from experienced modelers.

edit: Ok, I just looked up auto air colors, and I guess it is water based, but they recommend a special thinner on their site for airbrushing.

"Colors may be thinned with Auto Air Reducer to achieve a lower viscosity when spraying with an airbrush."

I'm guessing they mean the "4003 Reducer - Binder"
http://www.autoaircolors.com/product_overview.htm

yes, water based, dude told me to thin with water which would probably screw the paint! but, i am going out to get the windex which is exactly what they told me to cut 50;50 with water and use as a cleaner for the brush! excellent tutorial though! now ask your bro to put one on about the compressor! and hook-ups and settings! lol! no serious!

When you get the right hoses, setting up the compressor should be easy and straightforward. Connect the compressor to the regulator to the airhose to the airbrush.

Don't try to thin the Auto Air stuff with anything other than the recommended reducer.

And again, I would definately recommend you learn to use the airbrush on a different paint before messing with the chamelion.

Here's the deal. You're using AutoAir colors brand paint (a water based automotive basecoat paint system). The seller is correct in that it is generally NOT thinned and is used directly out of the bottle. Most replies to this thread had assumed that you were using a "normal" type of paint, i.e. acrylic, lacquer or enamel...you're not. The reason the air pressure is higher is to atomize the thicker paint. "We" thin hobby (or reduce "normal" automotive type paints) to help atomize the paint, the AutoAir Colors use air pressure to do it. AutoAir recommends their reducer to thin it with and I'd use that. Paint isn't rocket science, but it is chemical engineering...also Windex has a blue dye that may change the color of the paint.

I'd recommend you follow the manufactuer's directions on how to apply the AutoAir Colors product.

hth,
Bill

Thank you Bill and yes, I know quite a bit about paint, I used to be a coatings chemist for Pratt&Lambert however, with the airbrsuh, I couldn't immagine it being that much more difficult to apply than a typical sprayer, like my Devilbiss other than pressure and quantity of paint coming from one trigger or button. It all came down to a connection, they sent a compressor with the wrong connector to my airbrush. I'll be painting today as soon as it arrive and give a heads up. Thank you everyone, great responses!

I for one am very interested to hear your point of view on the paint itself and your experiences in working with it.

Professional feedback in a modeling context is always vwry valuable IMO.

I'm waiting... ;)

Thank you Bill and yes, I know quite a bit about paint, I used to be a coatings chemist for Pratt&Lambert however, with the airbrsuh, I couldn't immagine it being that much more difficult to apply than a typical sprayer, like my Devilbiss other than pressure and quantity of paint coming from one trigger or button. It all came down to a connection, they sent a compressor with the wrong connector to my airbrush. I'll be painting today as soon as it arrive and give a heads up. Thank you everyone, great responses!
More than welcome. I've used AutoColor before on a model (white and the undercolor "primer")and had no problems. But you do have to make multiple thin coats (15+) to slowly, slowly build up the color coat and you have to clear coat it before applying any decals.
As to your airbrush, you are correct in that it is nothing more complicated a miniature scale Devilbiss in operation.
Glad to hear you were able to get it all figured out...

Bill

in short, okay long! when the equipment works the rest is technique. received the proper coupling, bolted it up (another story!) the hoses fit this time and i was stoked to try this airbrush out. the black sealer didn't spray well and kept drying on the needle tip, so, without too much thought, i thinned it with water, 3:1 paint to water. sprayed again, absolutely gorgeous! smooth, flawless! when i finished that 1/2 ounce of paint, i decided to try it again, just paint, increasing the pressure to 45 PSI, worked much better but still kept clogging the needle. had to remove the needle cover and pull this small black wad of dried paint off. so, dropped the pressure, added 1/4 water and went at it. applied 26 coats but honestly and having never used an airbrush before, it went on beautifully, smooth, no orange peal AND dried in a snap! next was the shift color, red to bronze to green. was a little concerned based on a comment here not to mess with it until i gained more experience... well, already spent the money so, tossed that idea and thinned it with water, AGAIN, 1:5 paint. went on like butter! took me 15 coats to cover perfectly but i plopped 13 more coats on for good measure! my gawd! it is wickedly sick! the color was hopping all over the place even though it was flat as a primer. did the same thing on the bottom of the car and it is truly amazing! the airbrsuh, although requiring multiple coats was superb! smooth! and just plain art! since it was water based, i placed the car into a 120 degree F oven to try to drive off any residual water before clearing it. although clearing was not necessary, as the shift color was on like glue, if you really want super affects with this type of paint, DO clearcoat! the colors were dancing and a true testiment to eye candy! there was another member here who recommended, no actually stated you need a clear coat and i had intended to do that anyway but there is a huge visual difference to the better! i cannot attest as to how this will do on plastic models however, with the auto air color primer, it may work well, infact, someone already attested to that. thanks to everyone, true it may have been beginners luck but this was a snap! no problems other than needing to be thinned. and i used water but it seemed to work well. i'll see at the races, the paint may come off in a sheet! naaa! i clear coated it with a solvent! ;) ciao and all the best!