Ahoy Watchmann. Yes. Simple green is great stuff. Especially in the squirt bottle, just a couple of shots and you’re ready to go.
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I stripped all the chrome off the inside of a Iwata Neo once… with Simple Green. I can’t remember what kind/strength but I was rather shocked. The airbrush still works fine, it’s just brassy inside instead of silvery.
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I’m likely to trigger some but Windex should never be used in an airbrush - the ammonia eats the plating and then it eats the brass parts themselves. Iwata Medea, 90% alcohol and laquer thinner in that order are sufficient for any paint you can buy. Use a computable thinner between colors and use laquer thinner to get the stubborn paint out before you put the brush away. Pull the needle to wipe it and lube it at the end of any serous painting session. Iwata airbrush lube is the other secret to keeping your airbrush running smoothly.
Konrad
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I use to use Medea, i found USA Art airbrush cleaner with restore. I use that and Tamiya airbrush cleaner once in awhile.
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Be careful using Windex- it eats the chrome (ask me how I know).
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Seriously Tom?! I’m really surprised, yikes. I checked the SDS and found it’s PH is between 8.5 and 9.5. House hold ammonia is 10, so yeah, I guess it could strip chrome. Windex’s PH is 10.5-11.5. Did you let your AB soak in it for a while?
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Wow that’s crazy, ruin the airbrush
It was a few years ago… I may have soaked it for some time. Consider anecdotal evidence at best. Ha!
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Actually, low pH (acedic) cleaners are the ones that can damage chrome. The real chrome killing ingredient in Windex, is ammonium hydroxide. Simple green is a base solution (high pH, similar to baking soda or seawater). Simple green is not corrosive and doesn’t contain ammonia. It’s safe for chrome. The chrome on my Iwata Eclipses and Badger Patriots remains nice and shiny. You can also buy Windex without Ammonia, which I’ve also used to clean my airbrushes.
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Back when I used to work for Iwata and TAG Team Hobbies, we’d call airbrushes where the chrome was removed by ammonia. ‘sunny’. 
Nowadays my two cleaners of choice are isopropyl alcohol and lacquer thinner.
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I clean mine through out a build depending on how it’s performing. After I complete a kit, it goes through a deep clean. Disassemble and in an ultronsonic cleaner with airbrush cleaner. Afterwards when it’s dry, very light fine oil on threaded bits and bees wax on the needle. I also use airbrush cleaner brushes both nylon and metal.
During builds, I will remove the needle and make sure it’s clean. I’ll run water and alcohol through it between colors.
I also keep a brush with some water and alcohol on it during painting and wipe the tip occasionally to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
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I too have 4 Gaahleri air brushes and use them pretty much exclusively with Kaleido paints. I found that 90% IPA tends to coagulate the paint so when doing a color change or a quick shutdown, I use plain water to remove the bulk then use their cleaner to remove visible paint build up.
For a more thorough cleaning, I will pull the nozzle and air cap and soak it in IPA then go after it mechanically. Either a trip through the ultrasonic cleaner or with interdental cleaners. I just picked up a set paper dental points but they are so tiny they only touch at the very tip of the nozzle which is probably useful but for me the build up is nearer the step from the main bore to the taper so tiny cotton swabs or disposable micro touch up brushes. Just don’t shove the micro brush in too hard. The tuft comes off easily and then you are searching for something small and none metallic to push it back out from the nozzle tip.
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Very interesting method, i never used Gaahleri paint yet. How is it, they don’t have any Military colors yet.
My only point of reference for comparison is my collection of 30 plus year old Testor’s but I like the Kaleido paints so far. Way less stinky and works straight out of the bottle plus cleanup is easier. It is susceptible to damage from alcohol, it will soften and bubble pretty quickly. This also means that an overnight soak will completely remove it if I goof. Again, since I’m coming from old school enamels, I don’t know if the amount of shaking to get them mixed is typical of water based paints. It can take well over 5 minutes on a vortex mixer to get everything mixed in. It seems like shaking by hand would take forever.
I tend towards cars and trucks so the lack of military colors hasn’t been an issue but I could use some for some Star Wars ships in my stash. They do say they are working on it. They did just release a second primary colors set that includes flats and a rubber. There is also a new translucent set that lets you do candy colors. I’m not much into candy but the amber and red are nice for tail lights and turn signals.
The varnishes seem very durable. I dumped some out into my clean out bucket and let it dry. Later when cleaning deep cleaning an airbrush, I dumped some 90% IPA in the bucket. The colors more or less became liquid but the varnish came off in sheets. I also tried mixing color into varnish to thin it without making it too runny and that seemed to work.
I just picked up some of their Gloss Black and Flat White Primer. Goes on like a dream!
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How is there primer, i use Vallejo grey primer now. I’m looking for a new primer to use, Hobby Lobby isn’t carrying Vallejo paint or primer anymore.
I sprayed the Gloss Black and it is beautiful. The packaging says the finish is equivalent to 1200 grit - I can’t argue with that!
This is straight from the bottle (one coat) on bare resin:
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That’s nice. I just ordered the Grey primer.
I just posted two builds in models/autos that were done with Kaleido paints. The Jeep has grey primer, I don’t think the Fairlane does?
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