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Do I need another airbrush for fine work?


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Hey All,

 

Not that anyone is interested in my experiences, but thought I'd mention a few things.  First off, I tried a few new things (to me) today.  I am working on my Eduard 1/48 FW190 A-4 airplane, which I am doing in desert (Tunisia) colors, light blue underside and tan on top.  I'd used Mr. Color lacquers for those colors, which I have come to love.  

 

But I was at the point of needing to paint the solid white stripe around the fuselage, near the tail.  To mask that stripe, I used, for the first time, Tamiya masking tape for Curves, after trying, and failing, to be able to use regular Tamiya masking tape to address the 'angled curve' mask that was needed.  The 'Curve' tape works very well.  And, I wanted to try to use, for the first time, MRP (Mr. Paint) Insignia White, in my brand new Badger Sotar airbrush.  Honestly, I can't see much difference between White and Insignia White, but I think Insignia White is just the tiniest bit 'off white', and I wanted to avoid the stark white of 'pure white' in this stripe.  After masking all the areas not covered by the Curve tape, I sprayed the MRP straight out of the bottle at about 12psi, with the .2mm needle, and was pleasantly pleased with the results.  The tape did the masking job perfectly, and the airbrush did a nice job spraying the MRP, though I must say that I felt I wasn't able to control the flow of the paint quite as accurately as I had been hoping, even after spending some practice time using water with food dye through the Sotar.  Still, I did manage to avoid flooding the stripe area with MRP (and I'm sure the Curve tape would have been unable to prevent seepage in that event).  I was thrilled to see how the MRP layer down, a thin layer of quite dense white pigment, which dried fast enough that by the time I finished cleaning the airbrush with a few color cupfuls of lacquer thinner, I was able to pull the masking off to reveal a really nicely painted white stripe.  I'd read that MRP White (again, in this case, Insignia White) was capable of covering medium colors (in this case, tan, RLM79 [Mr. Color C119] and light blue,  RLM76 [Mr. Color C117]) basically in two thin coats, which, in my experience with white, is impressive.

Edited by Curt B
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If you are looking for a white that is just a little bit "dirtier", Mr. Color has a paint in their line called "off white." I use it for painting intakes and in my opinion, is more accurate than just pure white. As for airbrushes, the ps770 is just as good as a custom micron at half the price. I was blown away with the really fine lines I was able to achieve. I was even able to spray individual dials on an instrument panel. Which makes it really useful to do touch ups when you accidentally slip with the brush. If you properly thin the paint, you can do wonders with this brush. It really is that good in my opinion. If the price of this airbrush scares you, I can also recommend the ps274. Just a solid, all around airbrush. I replaced my evolution 2n1 with this airbrush. I have found that it can also draw really fine lines with almost no effort. And for only $90, you really can't beat it. I bought both of my airbrushes at Spraygunner.com. There is a video on YouTube from doogs models that goes into detail about his experience with the ps770.  I hope this helps you out. Just my honest opinion.

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If you are looking for a white that is just a little bit "dirtier", Mr. Color has a paint in their line called "off white." I use it for painting intakes and in my opinion, is more accurate than just pure white. As for airbrushes, the ps770 is just as good as a custom micron at half the price. I was blown away with the really fine lines I was able to achieve. I was even able to spray individual dials on an instrument panel. Which makes it really useful to do touch ups when you accidentally slip with the brush. If you properly thin the paint, you can do wonders with this brush. It really is that good in my opinion. If the price of this airbrush scares you, I can also recommend the ps274. Just a solid, all around airbrush. I replaced my evolution 2n1 with this airbrush. I have found that it can also draw really fine lines with almost no effort. And for only $90, you really can't beat it. I bought both of my airbrushes at Spraygunner.com. There is a video on YouTube from doogs models that goes into detail about his experience with the ps770.  I hope this helps you out. Just my honest opinion.

 

Good thought...thanks for the idea.  Maybe I should have gotten one of these instead of the Sotar...though I'm guessing they are really for different purposes.

Edited by Curt B
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They'll run you about $300 at spray gunner. Not exactly cheap, but for what it does, you can't really beat that price for what is basically a custom micron. Those will usually run north of $500. You may be able to find one for cheaper on eBay.

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Still, about half price compared to the Iwata.  Are spare parts readily available for the PS770?  Another fear I have about airbrushes in general...

 

They'll run you about $300 at spray gunner. Not exactly cheap, but for what it does, you can't really beat that price for what is basically a custom micron. Those will usually run north of $500. You may be able to find one for cheaper on eBay.

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I understand the anxiety about keeping the airbrushes clean.  However, the good news is that it is pretty easy. This video has a lot of good information to get you started:

 

 

 

 

I find it hard to to videos like this seriously considering some of the basic mistakes made in it.

 

I tried out a Mr Hobby GSi airbrush, it works quite nice for the price.

Not on par with the Iwata equivalent but then neither is the price but its much better than most others at the same price. 

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Yes. Mr. Airbrush 770 is the one I m targeting for my Christmas shopping. It has great review both in terms of build quality and performance. Its half the price of Iwata and is equally. good. 

I just used the 770 with MRP(Mr. Paint Slovakia) colors to do a 1/48 Spitfire. WOW is all I can say. I free handed the dark earth/middle stone camo and it looks like I masked it, super tight lines. I had previously used it with Tamiya and Mr.Color and it was impressive but with MRP it's even better. Highly recommend this tool...It will make the average(me) modeler much better!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I solved my 'problem' of thinking I should have gotten the PS-770 instead of the Badger SOTAR.  I got even more stupid than I typically am, and just ordered a PS-770, from Spraygunners.  So now, I'm going to have more airbrushes than I can even remember 🤪   But after everything I've read about the 770, I simply could not avoid getting one.  I really wanted an airbrush that I could free-hand various camo patterns, and more than anything, I wanted to be able to do WWII German airplane mottling, and despite what I've written about my friend being able to do 1/48 mottling with his Paasche H, I know that THAT is beyond my capabilities, and I have wanted a specialized tool to do that kind of work.  And now that I've begun to collect a decent set of MRP colors, sounds like I'm headed to a way to make that happen!!

 

Just for anyone's info, I did panel line preshading on my 1/48 Eduard Tempest Series 2.  I'd used gray MIG One Shot primer, and then did the panel line preshading using my new SOTAR airbrush (I got the fine version).  Not the greatest work, but I"m still learning.  You've GOT to have a steady hand, and for me, at least, I used (and needed) the needle stop in order to not overdo the lines.  I learned that you can get really nice lines with the SOTAR and MRP paint straight from the bottle.  We will see if the PS-770 does better than that, or with greater ease.      Not a new idea from

me, but I'm thinking that once you get to a certain quality point, all airbrushes can do what the others do, it's just a question of the effort needed to get the fine work completed.  Here's hoping the 770 is even easier for those pencil lines than the SOTAR, which requires some effort to get that kind of line.  

Edited by Curt B
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Earlier in the thread I read you pulled the needle through the front to avoid getting paint or residue in the body of the airbrush... This is a very poor idea as you now wear the teflon seals out faster, and may indeed widen them, making your airbrush less "agile" and useable. Always pull the needle from the back.

 

Cheers

H.

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