Paint 'look' question

[IrishGreek]

Here are a few pictures and hopefully they can show what I mean. I had attempted the 'silly putty' masking technique but it seemed to be leaving residue and was hard to get to the 'right' shapes, so I resorted to Tamiya tape. But notice on the grey how uneven it looks 'colour-wise'.

BTW, this is the first model I have painted with my new (had it for 6 months) Aztek 4709 airbrush. The grey in question is Polly Scale British Ocean Grey (F505256) over Tamiya fine surface primer. I did use other brand paints too. Order of painting was as follows: Tamiya primer, Tamiya Sky ID band, Gunze under grey, PS (acrylic) grey (left it for a couple days - came back and saw the result you see in the pictures) then the gunze green.

Any ideas? Sorry if it's too many pictures.

Edited February 13, 2011 by IrishGreek

[arnobiz]

Hi,

This looks like a dilution problem: I think your paint is slightly too thin, and you did not apply enough coats. Would you have more details about how you applied it (pressure, dilution...)?

Arnaud

[IrishGreek]

Arnaud,

I think the paint was thinned about 60/40 to 50/50 paint to isopropyl, with just a little flow aid added. Sprayed about 20psi.

Thanks for the info.

John

[balls47]

Do you have a cat? Seriously, it kinda looks like someone drug their fingernails across the surface of the model. The marks are in a very haphazard pattern. It doesn't look like a painting pattern to me.

[IrishGreek]

No cat. I was wondering if the tape adhesive might affect, but it was covered with Tamiya tape.

[Miccara]

Arnaud,

I think the paint was thinned about 60/40 to 50/50 paint to isopropyl, with just a little flow aid added. Sprayed about 20psi.

Thanks for the info.

John

The paint is definitely too thin, no question. Also, I would suggest you turn the air pressure down to about 12psi. It's not the tape or a cat.

[IrishGreek]

Thanks. Will look to repaint. I appreciate the help.

[scotthldr]

I wouldn't put Blu tack or Tamiya tape(or anything else with an adhesive) directly onto a Matt surface as the adhesive will leave the marks that you have found. In future seal each colour with Klear and allow to cure before applying any form of masking. I've just used the Blu tack method for the first time on my AV8 build, but since I spray using Gloss enamels I just applied the Blu tack directly onto the cured paint surface with no problems.

Alternatively try spraying free hand

[IrishGreek]

Thanks again gents. Just wanted to update you and show you what is going now. I repainted. It proves a couple things. One a lot of you are artists! Two, I have a ways to go to master a double action airbrush! I attempted the 'free hand' repaint and have quite a bit of overspray, but the color is definitely more 'solid'. I sprayed at 10-11psi with the Aztek tan tip. Seemed to be getting quite a bit of splatter(?) against the white paper I had next to the kit when I was trying to get a thin line. Suggestions to try next? Thanks again!

[Netz]

You need to adjust your air pressure to your paint mix, don't look at the gauge, your pressure was too low for the mix, too low and you get a ton of over spray, to run low pressure you need thin paint.

I also use a test piece of paper, but remember paper is porous and takes paint differently, what your looking for is the spray coming out of the brush, and then any over spray on the paper.

What to do next, go back over the green and don't screw up the grey..... :}

Mix up a thin mix of your green and get that fine line, then cut in your edges and then erase the grey over-spray, shouldn't take much.

Curt

[IrishGreek]

Curt, thanks for the comments. Working on it, makes me appreciate the artwork here more and more!

So here is what I did. So you can see how novice I am on the dual action airbrush (used to use a Badger200, but since I have been back in the hobby, decided to try the more advanced ones). After the last pictures, I decided to try out a Badger Spirit AB that I picked up last year at a show (really good deal) and it is supposed to be able to do really fine lines (but can I???). So hooked it up, thinned some green paint and then painted away (again according to the compressor about 10-12psi). Then since I messed up some there, I had to come back with grey again! I am really starting to get all you guys point, practice, practice, practice. Especially with the duals!

I am really impressed with the brush, even I was able to improve the job I did with the aztek fine tip. I know the Aztek is a good brush, many of you have proven that! But my skills with either it or thinning the paint make a mockery of its capabilities! So here are the newest pictures...

My personal comments would be the over spray is much less, but I have to be better (and slower) controlling my angle of spraying onto the model. Any comments on what to try to get even better (less overspray) would be appreciated. Thanks again.

[Rhino53]

I'll tell you what I do with camo schemes.

First, I set the airbrush needle so that it sprays a fine line (a little finer than needed), with the regulator thingy in the neutral position, and do the outline, spraying into the area being painted, which ensures any overspray is going where the paint is needed in any case. Go over this 2 or 3 times, and on the rest of the model, so the outline is as you want, then you can fill the rest in by bringing the regulator thingy back to SLIGHTLY increase the paint delivered, working towards the centre. Keep going over this until you're happy with the results. I use this method with 1/72nd scale aircraft which has a 3 colour scheme using acrylic paints. Took a while to get it right, but I find it's working good for me.

Hope this gives you some ideas, and good luck.

Ted

[Isaac]

Are you sure the paint was completely dried before you masked?

[Chuck1945]

Somewhere near the top someone said a 60/40 or 50/50 paint to thinner ratio was to thin and to use around 12 psi. In my experience, 12 psi would work if the paint were thinned even more.

I have been using PollyScale for about 12 years (prefer Tamiya or Gunze though), spray at around 10-12 psi for general coverage and my starting ratio is about 50:50 going to 20:80 (paint to thinner), although at around 20:80 I am down to around 6-8 psi and doing stuff like freehand mottles.

To reduce overspray, reduce pressure, thin more and spray with the brush closer to the model. If you get little runners, the pressure is too high and/or the paint is thinned too much.

For camouflage such as on your Meteor, some sort of masking will probably work best. I usually cut extremely narrow strips of Tamiya tape, approx 1mm wide, and lay out the pattern with those, cut some more slightly wider and add those, repeat once more with tape now up to 2.5-3mm wide and you have a mask wide enough that you should be able to keep you spray where you want it. Also spray away from the masked edge as much as possible, not towards it. This reduces the chances of overspray and also reduces building up a ridge of paint along the masked edge of the color.

Use a wing or fuselage from a scrapped model as a test surface to see if you have the mix/pressure right for whatever you are trying to accomplish, the plastic part will behave just like your model, unlike paper or cardboard that will absorb some of the paint and give a misleading impression regarding your mixture.

(edit add: The only Aztek I ever used was also the only airbrush I trashed. It was not an airbrush I liked, so my pressure/thinner ratios are for what I used to use with Iwata, and now use with H&S brushes)

Edited February 18, 2011 by Chuck1945

[Rick in Maine]

This has been a neat thread. I'm not having this kind of problem. However, it is wonderful to see the problem/feedback/result string of posts. ARC folks are great.

Bravo!

Rick in Maine

[scotthldr]

I would hazard a guess that all mixing ratios will differ from paint to paint and thinners to thinners therefore different paint and thinner combinations will also be affected, it really is trial and error. I use Xtracolor Enamels and only ever use Revell Colormix thinners as I read years back that this was the best combination, something I still agree with 14 years later.

I don't mix using ratios, but instead using the MK I eyeball I thin my paint until(you've heard it before) the consistency of half fat milk. and spray at 8psi from a distance of between 1 to 2 inches( 22- 50 mm) depending on how fine a line I require.

Another thing to take into consideration is is your pressure gauge reading correctly???? Although it may say 8 psi on it how do you know it isn't more or less?

The best thing to do is to thin your paint until the consistency of milk and using a scrap piece of styrene to spray onto, play around with your air regulator and air brush. Starting with both fully closed slowly open up the regulator then the airbrush needle in small steps until you can spray a fine line no more than 2mm wide(depending on your AB) you may have to backtrack on your steps to achieve this. Once you reach this point don't touch the regulator but open up the AB needle ONLY and see if the spray width widens, you should be able to control the paint flow by using the AB only. If not slightly adjust the regulator. Once you have the desired paint flow and can adjust it using only the AB needle take note of the pressure gauge and remember it for the future. You shouldn't have to adjust the compressor again as it is easier to thin or thicken your paint to suit. Just remember to test each colour/time you go to spray.

[IrishGreek]

Gents,

Thanks! I have just gotten back into town, took my family on a short out of town trip. I am looking forward to trying your various suggestions!

Hopefully I will have some pictures next weekend!

John

[IrishGreek]

Okay. So I am beginning to think that this will just be a test model! So I went and resprayed the whole jet gray. Then noticed when it was drying that where the 'green' color had been, that I am getting 'cracking' paint. Lovely.