forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Hints and Tips/Questions about modeling => Topic started by: Squiffy on November 29, 2015, 06:11:34 AM
-
Evening all,
I have only owned an airbrush for a couple of months and thus far have used Tamiya acrylics exclusively. After each use of the airbrush I have put an amount of Tamiya thinners through to clean it and have had no trouble at all.
Yesterday I tried using Humbrol acrylic and the airbrush worked well enough for a few minutes and then the flow of paint became poor then stopped.
Today I took the airbrush to my local model shop, where the owner stripped it down and inspected it. He showed me the jet and said it was clogged. After cleaning and reassembly he tested it and it worked once more.
Back home I did some spraying using Tamiya acrylic with the usual good results and, later, used Humbrol acrylic. Once more the brush clogged up and stopped working completely.
So to the question - Are Humbrol acrylics not designed to be airbrushed?
-
What are you using for thinner ?
Terri
-
What are you using for thinner ?
Terri
Water for the Humbrol.
-
Squiffy, add a small drop of acrylic retarder to the paint cup and also try dialling back the pressure a bit. Humbrol's acrylics dry quite quickly and the higher the pressure the more quickly they'll dry. If you do notice the paint drying on the tip, just pull the needle back and clean the tip with a cotton bud/Q-tip soaked in IPA (then spray it away from your model, because you will get splatter after using the IPA).
Cheers.
Dal.
-
Thanks for the tip, Dal.
I had wondered if I should have been using something other than water but, unlike Tamiya, I don't think I've ever seen a specific Humbrol thinner on sale.
-
They do sell thinners (http://www.humbrol.com/us-en/acrylic-thinners-125ml-bottle.html) but I've never used them, so can't comment. Mr Hobby Aqueous and Tamiya seem to be the least effected by the spray pressure causing drying on the tip, Vallejo and Humbrol the most (at least in the climate here). Chris at ACTSMS (http://actsms.asn.au/) is an absolute jet with an airbrush and he gave me his tips for spraying acrylics.
Cheers.
Dal.
-
I've found nearly all acrylics I've tried respond very well to Tamiya X-20A thinner. I've not tried an awful lot, but I know apart from (obviously!) Gunze and Tamiya itself, Revell Aqua, Lifecolor, the very old Polly S and Vallejo spray quite well with it. Might be worth a try?