crowe-t Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 5 hours ago, spaceman said: Thanks Mike for your nice compliments and the tip with the cotton swab dipped in thinner for cleaning. How often do you do this, every time you refill paint into the mug? BTW, my airbrush expert who sold me the Triplex said that the Vallejo Model Air paints are sprayable. The used colors are one year old. But maybe one has to test their sprayability again beforehand and dilute the paint if necessary. How, or how often do you check if your colors are sprayable? I've only recently switched to Vallejo colors and used Revell Aqua Color before. I actually like the Vallejos and they dry relatively quickly. Manfred, I use the cotton swab as soon as the airbrush clogs. Depending on the weather it can be every time I start to spray. I find that acrylics clog the tip easily. Your Vallejo paints might need to be thinned a bit. I haven't used Vallejo paints yet but it seems like they might need a couple of drops of thinner. I have Testors and Tamiya acrylics that are several years old and are still good. Testors Acryl acrylics claim to be airbrush ready but I always add a couple of drops of thinner which helps. Tamiya acrylics need to be thinned for airbrushing. The older acrylics tend to dry out a bit and do require some thinner. Acrylics do tend to dry very quickly which does cause them to clog the tip of the airbrush. Lacquer is a bit easier to work with due to the lacquer thinner so they don't clog so much. Mike. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
as205 Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 I've used both the Vallejo Model Air and the Model Color paints. The Model Air paints are made to be airbrushed. They are thinner than the Model Color paints. When I was spraying the Model Air on my Millennium Falcon model recently, I noticed that the airbrush clogged frequently. I ended up thinning the Model Air and also adding a drop or two of Flow Improver to the paint and I had fewer problems with clogging. On the 2001 Discovery XD-1 model that I did earlier this year I used the Model Color paints. I created a thinner that worked well with them so that I could airbrush them. The thinner mixture I made was about 33% isopropyl alcohol and 66% distilled water with just a few drops of Vallejo Flow Improver. I hardly had any problems with clogging. But note this was the Model Color paints. Even though the Model Air paint is supposed to be ready to airbrush from the bottle, I got better results if I thinned it anyway. I used the Vallejo thinner for the Model Air paints. The Model Air paint seems to be very picky about what you thin it with. Distilled water may work but I haven't tried that yet. I do add a drop of flow improver to the Model Air paint. I use about one drop of flow improver to 20 drops of paint. I still like the Tamiya acrylics better. I get more consistent results. One other note, don't paint Tamiya over Vallejo. The results will be bad. Just my 2 cents. Randy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Underdog Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) Manfred, You might want to consider using Tamiya or MRP paints. Other modelers have had the same results as you, the Vallejo paints drying too quickly and clogging the Air-brush. https://www.airbrushmodeler.com/paint-not-coming-out-of-airbrush/ Edited June 14, 2020 by The Underdog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie-Pete Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Windex is a good thinner for acrylics. The original blue windex Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikephilippens Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 On 6/13/2020 at 1:40 AM, spaceman said: Up to now, regarding the orbiter tiles I had intended to use a nearly perfect Decal set, as created by Hotdog. But I don't know if he also developed one for the early Challenger missions meanwhile, which I could use. A scratch-building of individual HRSI Tiles (6 by 6 inches), which in 1:144 would mean 1 by 1 mm, is pure utopia with tiny tapes. I have the Hotdog tile set too. But there's AFRSI blankets on the APS pods, so there'd some fidgeting with surgical tape. But way less than with individual tiles. That would be torture... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 On 6/13/2020 at 6:08 AM, crowe-t said: Manfred, I use the cotton swab as soon as the airbrush clogs. Depending on the weather it can be every time I start to spray. I find that acrylics clog the tip easily. Your Vallejo paints might need to be thinned a bit. I haven't used Vallejo paints yet but it seems like they might need a couple of drops of thinner. I have Testors and Tamiya acrylics that are several years old and are still good. Testors Acryl acrylics claim to be airbrush ready but I always add a couple of drops of thinner which helps. Tamiya acrylics need to be thinned for airbrushing. The older acrylics tend to dry out a bit and do require some thinner. Acrylics do tend to dry very quickly which does cause them to clog the tip of the airbrush. Lacquer is a bit easier to work with due to the lacquer thinner so they don't clog so much. Mike. Thanks Mike for your remarks about the acrylics you have used so far. Because this matter seems to be a tricky chapter in itself, I have to deal with the sprayability of my Vallejo paints even more closely and test some options with Vallejo Thinner und Drying Retarder, because with a failed paint job one can ruin everything. And this risk I definitely want to avoid, because the previous effort was simply too great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) 21 hours ago, as205 said: I've used both the Vallejo Model Air and the Model Color paints. The Model Air paints are made to be airbrushed. They are thinner than the Model Color paints. When I was spraying the Model Air on my Millennium Falcon model recently, I noticed that the airbrush clogged frequently. I ended up thinning the Model Air and also adding a drop or two of Flow Improver to the paint and I had fewer problems with clogging. On the 2001 Discovery XD-1 model that I did earlier this year I used the Model Color paints. I created a thinner that worked well with them so that I could airbrush them. The thinner mixture I made was about 33% isopropyl alcohol and 66% distilled water with just a few drops of Vallejo Flow Improver. I hardly had any problems with clogging. But note this was the Model Color paints. Even though the Model Air paint is supposed to be ready to airbrush from the bottle, I got better results if I thinned it anyway. I used the Vallejo thinner for the Model Air paints. The Model Air paint seems to be very picky about what you thin it with. Distilled water may work but I haven't tried that yet. I do add a drop of flow improver to the Model Air paint. I use about one drop of flow improver to 20 drops of paint. I still like the Tamiya acrylics better. I get more consistent results. One other note, don't paint Tamiya over Vallejo. The results will be bad. Just my 2 cents. Randy Thanks Randy for your very helpful remarks regarding the different sprayability of Vallejo's Model Air and Model Color. You ended up thinning the Model Air and also adding a drop or two of Flow Improver to the paint and I had fewer problems with clogging. What kind of Flow Improver did you use, and a drop or two into the Airbrush cup or into the dropping bottle? Vallejo offers on their website a special Thinner Medium for Model Color, Panzer Aces and Game Color. Thinner used to extend the colors, to increase fluidity and delay the drying time. But unfortunately it is not clear whether they really mean their Model Color or any Model Paints. Edited June 14, 2020 by spaceman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 19 hours ago, The Underdog said: Manfred, You might want to consider using Tamiya or MRP paints. Other modelers have had the same results as you, the Vallejo paints drying too quickly and clogging the Air-brush. https://www.airbrushmodeler.com/paint-not-coming-out-of-airbrush/ Thanks Underdog for this really helpful link, which shows very impressively step by step possibilities for solving this pesky clogging problem. I have to deal with this problem more closely. Meanwhile I've found this great video Thinning and spraying Vallejo Model Color and Model Air which I have to study, that gives me hope to understand everything a little bit better. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 18 hours ago, Aussie-Pete said: Windex is a good thinner for acrylics. The original blue windex Thenks Pete for your proposal. Whoever has the choice has the torment. That's why I prefer to stay with Vallejo compatible products. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 Hello everybody, after the more or less successful test airbrushing of the IT Dummy I have now removed an old burden. And that was the broken tip of the LO2 Tank that fell off the table a long time ago, that's the Lightning rod at the top of the Nose cone cap. The tip on the Revell-ET of my friend Thomas Emberger, who died in 2017, is approx. 3,5 mm long. But since I remembered a drawing from the George Gassaway collection, I was able to get the exact dimensions from it. Source: georgesrockets.com (George Gassaway) Thereafter the Length is 14,01'', i.e. 2,5 mm (1:144), and the Diameter is 6,89'', and accordingly Ø 1,2 mm (1:144). As one can see, this tip has a cone at the front, whose dimensions L=0, 4 mm, Ø 0,5 mm can be forgotten for a total length of 2,5 mm because it should very hard to get it done. First I've removed the stub on the cap and gradually drilled it out to Ø 1,2 mm. And coincidentally there is a round rod from Evergreen with exactly this diameter that I used. Then I've sanded off a 2,5 mm long tip at a slightly longer piece, and glued it into the cap. And this is what the tentatively attached cap with tip looks like on the LO2 Tank, which is now complete again. But I can't glue the tip in yet because I still need the opening for the priming and painting of the tank, for which it is impaled again on the bamboo stick. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
as205 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Spaceman, Sorry for the late reply, I used Vallejo Flow Improver with the Model Color paints. Your project is looking fantastic! Randy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 Thanks Randy, I understood you so, that the first paragraph of your answer with the Flow Improver related to Model Air, and the second paragraph with your special dilution to Model Color, right or wrong? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
as205 Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 Sorry for the confusion. I use a drop of Vallejo Flow Improver with both Model Air and Model Color. It seems to work with both. I used the custom thinner for the Model color. When I used the Model Air I used Vallejo thinner. Randy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 20, 2020 Author Share Posted June 20, 2020 Sorry, one question still remains, do you fill a drop of Flow Improver into the Airbrush cup at each filling or a drop per Dropping bottle? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
as205 Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 No problem. When I'm airbrushing, I used about 1 drop per 15 to 20 drops of paint. I did mix it in the airbrush cup. Hope that helps. By the way you build is looking fantastic! Randy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 21, 2020 Author Share Posted June 21, 2020 Thanks Randy, I'm going to deal with this matter. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted June 23, 2020 Author Share Posted June 23, 2020 Hello everybody, and with that I am back again to the paintwork, which seems to be a tricky chapter, which is why I have to deal a bit closer once again with the Spray(un)ability of my Vallejo paints. That's why I've turned back one year in my construction report once again, s. Posted April 19, 2019, what I should have done better immediately, especially since I had experimented that time already with the thinning of the colors by adding Vallejo Thinner (71.061). Already that time I had noticed that the Vallejo Model Air paints were not sprayable, contrary to the opinion of my Airbrush Guru Heinz Wagner, what I had tested with his Drop method. According to this, a paint should be sprayable if the diameter of the color point of a drop from a drop height of 30 cm is between 11 mm and 14 mm, but what throughout was not the case. However, due to considerable health problems, he did not respond to my request that time, which is why I had left out the paint job at first. In the meantime I have studied a few articles and videos and come to the conclusion that the opinions regarding the sprayability are multifaceted, sometimes contradicting and quite confusing. In the process I have found among other things also this already mentioned video Thinning and spraying Vallejo Model Color and Model Air, from which I had hoped for some clarification regarding the theme Airbrush from Vallejo Model Air & Model Color. Therein one is also of the opinion that no dilution would be required for Model Air, at best 1-2 drops per cup. In contrast, for the generally thicker Model Color a dilution (1:1) with Vallejo Thinner is recommended, i.e. 10 drops Thinner to 10 drops of paint, which can be mixed inside the cup. In addition, one should occasionally clean the nozzle cap during the airbrush painting with a Q-Tip with Vallejo Cleaner to prevent clogging. In order to reduce the risk of clogging during longer airbrushing, one could also add a drop of Vallejo Drying Retarder, which will delay the drying of the paint a little. For this reason, Retarder is more likely to be used for wet-on-wet techniques with Vallejo Model Color with a normal brush on the pallet, which should also reduce the skin formation on the pallet. Then Vallejo also still offers the medium Flow Improver, by which the flow properties of their paints Model Air and Game Air is improved with just a few drops. This medium also ensures that the paint adheres less to the needle when spraying or that the drying of the paint on the needle is delayed, which is particularly recommended for airbrush guns with a nozzle size < 0,3 mm. So far so good. In order to find out why the Vallejo paints in my test airbrushing of the IT-dummy led to the gun being clogged, it was necessary to test the sprayability of the paints again with the Drop method. And as one can easily see in the following image, the diameter of the color dots were both in the used Model Air (71.077), on the right in the picture, and especially in the Model Color (70.981), on the left in the pic, below the minimum diameter of 11 mm required for sprayability, which is why I need not be surprised about the clogging of the gun. Then I also tested my other Vallejo paints, which has led to similar negative results. Therefore I have to dilute my colors before the next airbrush by adding Vallejo Thinner and a few drops Flow Improver so that the diameter of the color dots is in the range of 11 - 14 mm, which hopefully will make them better sprayable than before. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 Hello everybody, shoot happens! Unfortunately at the beginning of the week I had a stupid accident in our garden, from which I still have to recover ... At our house, in front of a window in a basement room, there is an approx. 1,5 m deep circular light shaft with boulders lying on top of each other, in which I was fumbling about the roses there. When climbing out, I had apparently not got enough swing with my left leg at the last step from the narrow rock edge upwards and therefore did not get past my body's center of gravity, but fell backwards into the shaft, especially since I could not hold on nowhere ... At that moment only a flash of thought shot through my head ... Now it's going downwards ... Holy shoot!!! Doing so I must have somehow fallen onto the left upper arm/chest/wrist, but luckily I did not ram my head against something ... After I had arduously bobbed myself up, I felt pain on my wrist, which was rather scratched by the steel bracelet of the watch, and in the upper left chest area, as I had got to know it painfully years ago when I had a bruised rib ... After recovering from the first horrors, I've got more momentum on the second try and was happy when I was atop again. Only then I've noticed that I had lost my glasses when falling, but luckily they were lying on the floor undamaged (red circle), thank goodness! This will be a lesson to me, because next time I'm going to put a ladder. The bad thing about a bruised rib is just that there is nothing one can do about it other than to be careful and preferably not cough, sneeze or laugh out loud ... But the pain during deep breathing, bending down and lifting, and especially when sleeping, is very uncomfortable because one can hardly turn, which is why I had lost interest in building for now ... So please be patient, I will get back as soon as possible and then it will continue. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikephilippens Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 Ohmyyyy! Sounds like you busted a rib or two. That can be quite painfull. Let's hope you have a speedy recovery. I won't give any advice, since your body will tell you what you do and most certainly what you cannot... Take care! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 (edited) Mike for your sympathy and the good wishes. However I will consult the doctor tomorrow , especially since the complaints have become stronger. This is how the scene of event looks from above. The last rock was just too high for a normal step ... The more I think about what could have happened, the more I have to be amazed at my risky recklessness, but that doesn't help anymore ... But life goes on ... Edited July 5, 2020 by spaceman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crowe-t Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 Manfred, Just take care of yourself and take the time to heal. The model can wait. Mike. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie-Pete Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 We need to be more careful in and around our homes. Take care and get well soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CaptKirk Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 Ouch! You should always get suspected broken ribs checked out as it can lead to a collapsed lung and then you're really in trouble. Get well soon and don't cough/sneeze/laugh!! 🙂 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted July 6, 2020 Share Posted July 6, 2020 Oh my, that must hurt. Sorry to hear about the fall. Those steps don't look like they have much depth in them for a good foothold so a ladder would be great. It's a good thing you didn't hit your head. Just relax for now and try not to breathe too much : ) Just kidding. We need to be extra careful around steps especially at our age when the body doesn't heal as quickly anymore. Take care and send us some good news from the doctor. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spaceman Posted July 6, 2020 Author Share Posted July 6, 2020 my dear friends for your compassion and good wishes. The last rock was just too high for a normal step ... Since I didn't want to take it lightly, I was at the doctor who checked me out today. But it is "only" a bruised rib, so no X-ray etc. is necessary. He prescribed a pain reliever, with which I should then be able to breathe deeply, which would obviously be important, as he means, what I'm going to comply then dutifully too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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