Paint and airbrushing tips and advice

[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.

[Doubledealer]

Another tip for ya, bots or 'Learn from DD's stupid mistakes' if you prefer.

Earlier this evening I was doing a bit more work on my Custom Guzzle and accidentally managed to clog up some of the visor detail by spraying too heavily. I instantly panicked and stupidly tried to rub off the paint before it solidified. Of course this made things considerably worse and left me about ready to cry to be honest. At this point I wasn't in the right state of mind to continue working so I went away and blasted some music (as you do) while I tried to think of a solution.

I later went back to my workstation and looked at all of my cleaning type products. One option seemed more logical that others, that being the stuff I use to clean my airbrush, Windex. So I'm thinking, well I've $%&#ed it this badly, what's the worst it can do? So I get a cotton bud, dip it in Windex then rub it over the affected area. My god. Like a purifying ray of light from the skies above, the Windex miraculously takes away all the paint bar the motherflipping primer. Words cannot describe the sheer elation I'm feeling at this stage. He's saved! Praaaaaise the lord!

Does anyone know what you'd do if using enamels? I imagine it would be way harder to get off but if someone knows I'd love to know (as I'm sure other do).

[gamblor916]

Simple Green will take off enamels and I think acrylics too but won't shift lacquers. Putting the parts in a bath of the stuff overnight will usually be enough.

[blackoptimus]

Does anyone want to paint up a couple of g1's for me? I'd kindly pay you for the job.

[M-bot]

Thread necromancy!! For any budding customisers out there, especially those wanting to try out airbrushing, the latest Aldi catalogue has a air compressor, regulator, hose and 2 basic gravity feed dual action airbrushes for $99. Pretty good value, especially to learn with. Page 8 of the current catalogue, for sale Saturday 18th of July.