Paint and airbrushing tips and advice

[Doubledealer]

Well, im currently living in an apartment and when i first decided to get into painting it was winter time and i couldnt paint outdoors so i opted for a spray booth after consulting with the master spray painters on this forum (i.e. gamblor, rampagesss and loophole )
similar to this:
http://www.hobbytools.com.au/prod789.htm
it has an exhaust fan that sucks up all the spray vapours and passes through 2 filters before dumping out whats left through an exhaust hose. you are suppose to aim the hose outside a window but i was no where near a window and since i was paranoid about filling up my home with spray fumes, i ended up putting a fine white filter on the end of that exhaust hose. thankfully i did, cos i could see the gunk that built up on the 3rd filter! after a while, a friend suggested that if i couldnt find an extension hose suitable to make it longer and reach the window, then i should try dunking the hose into a bucket of water to suppress the residual paint fumes. so far thats worked. just dont kick over the bucket... or maybe the bucket needs a bucket stand as well? lol

I have the option of painting outdoors but I'd have to be tripping balls before I'd even think about trying it in Perth. Is it just me or is this city like living in a wind tunnel? Every day I ride to work I can hear this wretched voice inside my head saying 'You're not streamlined enough, stop eating so many Freddo's and maybe you'll get to work faster!'. Shut up! I retort as I pedal like a madman against a wind so fierce, I have to be on the 1st gear just to go down a hill.

On a serious note, that spray booth looks brilliant! I just hope for your sake no one puts the bucket on top of a door on April fools.

yeah, maybe its because of my air tank. or maybe i havent fully abused my air brush in the full heat of summer? lol

lol, you could be right on that last point. Gotta keep the dream alive though, right?

boo.. stanbridges, perth city hobby and super cheap auto dont have them.
looks like i need to ebay it.
those cleaning pot thingies are pretty cool if they can also double as a holder.

That's odd isn't it considering how necessary they really are. If you're passionate about your business you'd think you'd think of these things...Ah well, group order?

but fark man.. ive read of people using air straight from scuba tanks or a make shift air tank from large coke bottles so it really just depends on what you want.

Why did I just imagine someone using a Nitrous Oxide tank for airbrushing...It would certainly make the time between coats more enjoyable!

Nice topic, it's good to hear about other experiences and techniques. Here's my setup which I've used for several years, Iwata HP-CS and basic Sparmax compressor. The compressor doesn't have any pressure controls so I have to use the screw at the bottom of the trap to adjust it. Not ideal but it works ok most of the time. I just have to be careful on really humid days which luckily are not that frequent. I'm surprised at how high the pressure you guys work at. For general work mine is 15-20psi and close in detail work is 5-10psi.

That compressor looks remarkably similar to my own, do you ever get the spluttery water thing with yours, gamblor? Interesting to hear about the psi levels you work with. I might have to try some of the lower settings to see if it allows better control. I basically just stuck with 23 as I'd heard a lot of people work at 25psi and 23's as high as my stinkin' compressor will go. Not sure what the rationale is behind using 25psi though...

Oh and Bruticus, when are we going to see your customs mate?

just a question that air compressor at the top looks very similar to this one from total tools just without all the stickers and black paint. I don't know


http://www.totaltools.com.au/icat/pdf.php?id=358

i think its $169 and u can get it cheaper on sales

You mean the one in the bottom left?? Sounds pretty good to me, although might be worth googling it to get some opinions on its performance?

Liege, it's all pretty confusing when you start out. That's why I created the thread! So any questions you may have now or in the future, let us know.

[gamblor916]

That compressor looks remarkably similar to my own, do you ever get the spluttery water thing with yours, gamblor? Interesting to hear about the psi levels you work with. I might have to try some of the lower settings to see if it allows better control. I basically just stuck with 23 as I'd heard a lot of people work at 25psi and 23's as high as my stinkin' compressor will go. Not sure what the rationale is behind using 25psi though...

It's happened once or twice in about 5 years. It's annoying having water droplets ruin an otherwise good paintjob but it's a relatively easy fix.

I've found it's a balancing act between thickness of the paint, the air temperature, and air pressure. The higher the air temp, the thinner the paint and lower the pressure which I prefer. For me around 25 degrees is the perfect spraying temperature. Under 20 degrees the silvers and chromes especially go cloudy or less bright.

[Draksprime]

I got a Iwata 925 with the HP.CP airbrush for xmas and its working great. I too looked at chiacago but went with a local supplier which ended up around 100 dearer, but warranty is local which was a factor for me. The Iwata is super quite and has the moister trap built in.

The air brush holder is super cool but as its glass be carefull not to drop it, it smashes into a 1000 pieces

I built my own spray booth as most of my work is done at night. Just buy a big 120 - 150 ltr clear container from kmart and the like and go from there. I put 4 computer fans at the back to take the air out and so far so good.

I have the pressure for painting set really low most of the time like 10 -15 psi and use all kinds of paints from autos to Acrylics, (auto paints I only use outside).

[gamblor916]

Where's a good place to get 3M filters?
My current mask needs replacing and I need to get a bunch of filters as well.
Normally I get them off ebay from here. I usually get these filters and pre-filters.

[Doubledealer]

Where's a good place to get 3M filters?
My current mask needs replacing and I need to get a bunch of filters as well.
Normally I get them off ebay from here. I usually get these filters and pre-filters.

These are the ones I have/get:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ht_1316wt_1139 They are great and dead sexy to boot.

Well, I certainly learnt something the hard way today. Yesterday I put my custom Guzzle's legs together. The legs have a rod which the knee feeds onto, and because I'd painted the rods I had to use a bit of force to get the knee on there. Once they were on, I tried to move the knee joints and duh, it's tighter than a flea's @$$ over a rain barrel. So (today) I start pulling the knee's off the legs again. One was a bit of a struggle but eventually came off...The other one, however, was wedged in so tight I actually snapped 2/3's of rod off the leg (while still attached to the knee). Miraculously though, I sanded off the stump that remained, tried screwing it all back together and it's actually perfect now...Phew. That was a close one!

On a less stressful note, my order of ProModeller Acrylic Black wash arrived today from the UK. I can't wait to try this stuff out, although I'll have to gloss clear coat the parts I use it on first.

[Doubledealer]

DD's Airbrushing Tip o' the Day:

Okay, so here's the scenario. You've taped up the painted area's of your Transformer you don't want to be sprayed a certain colour. You spray the new colour after which you then remove the tape. Oh Noes!, you then discover some of the paint has seeped through onto the area's that were masked. If this happens and the paint that was taped is of a lighter colour than the new shade of paint, this can be a real PITA to fix (especially if using acrylics).

My answer?

1. Wait 1 (preferably 2) days for the new paint to properly dry
2. Tape around the area that's been 'graffitied'
3. Veeery gently sand the graffitied area using 1000grit sandpaper (you don't want to sand the primer off!).
4. Dust off the area using your airbrush (use high psi) or eyeshadow makeup brush
5. Respray the area

Done!

[gamblor916]

That's a good tip. If the overspray is light you can polish the marks out too.