I’ve seen a few threads of people being redirected toward airbrushes but I really don’t have $300 to drop on an airbrush, compressor and accessories. I am really just getting back into modeling after years away from it. I did a lot of hackneyed attempts as a kid and want to so some projects with an adult hand. I purchased a Revell (though mixed luck with them in my youth) B17G and testors enamels for all the paints listed.
I got it home and started punching out and shaving pieces and then went to paint the first piece zinc chromate and boom, it was either gloopy and look like i had over-hosed it with spray-paint, or when I put some paint on a palette and mixed in thinner, it was so thin it pulled off the other paint and I kept seeing the styrene underneath.
A few questions:
I’ve seen a lot about properly cleaning styrene. What do I need to clean it with?
Do I need to be priming the plastic for proper adherence?
How do I properly thin the paint so it neither clumps up, but the thinner doesn’t turn it into zinc chromate run-off?
If airbrushing is the way to go, is there anyway to get started for under $100?
I find thinning ratio is just as critical with brush painting as it is with airbrushing. I can paint very small parts with a wide ratio, including straight-from-bottle. But for larger areas I have to thin to a good ratio.
There are ways to get started airbrushing for under $100, but it is not easy. If you shop for bargains/sales, you can sometimes get a decent airbrush for around sixty bucks. An air tank and regulator should be less than the remaining forty. But you have to have a place to refill the tank. If you live near a service station that still has free air, that is an option. I have also seen small one-gallon compressors on sale for as low as forty bucks. Harbor freight has had an airbrush on sale recently for less than twenty bucks. It is not great but is useable and some of the folks in my area clubs have been using it and getting fairly decent paint jobs.
The other concern I have is that I live in an apartment so airbrushing without gassing myself/destroying the place, would I need to build a spray booth?
You won’t have much, if any, over-spray when airbrushing if done right. Don’t think of the airbrush as a “spray gun” but instead, consider it a brush that doesn’t leave brush stokes. You won’t produce enough over-spray to “gas yourself or destroy your apartment.” Good luck, and endeavor to persevere…[:D]
Washing up detergent and a paint brush, good scrub and rinse very well with hot water preferably just before painting.
Enamel will stick to plastic fine without a primer but a primer will show those little sanding errors etc.
All paints with MUST be stirred extremely well and often, that would be all I can think of for clumping, not come across that before, thinning will take practice, I use Humbrol and the thickness of the paint varies but if it’s running then it’s way to thin. What sort of thinner are you using? I have much better results with hardware enamel thinner than with the Humbrol thinner. The right size good quality brush is a big advantage as well.
Keep an eye on ebay, I picked up a A470 kit for $10 here in AU, as Don says there are cheapies about that work ok. I see there are kits with compressor for around $100 -$120 on ebay as well.
A $10 box fan in the window will act as a exhaust fan if your worried about fumes and if it gets hot where you live, turn it around at night and drag cool air in from outside, cheaper than having the air con on all night
For brushing I have much better results with acrylics, as opposed to enamels. For me, Tamiya acrylics do NOT brush well. Vallejo Model Color acrylic does produce results I’m quite happy with, thinned or straight from the bottle. For brushing acrylics, keeping the brush faultlessly clean as you progress is critical. I use lacquer thinner for cleaning as I go, then a final cleaning with acetone before I put the brush away. A thorough, quick rinse and towel dry about every three or four brush loads, ensures no little naughty bits getting into your finish. Be careful to avoid breathing acetone vapors, or any others for that matter.
Apartment dwelling and a noisy diaphragm compressor, may not make for some happy neighbors. Schucks Auto had a Sunday coupon sale, I bought a Coleman for my garage use, 1.5gal. tank, regulator, gauges, water trap and drain valve included, $30.00. It’s LOUD! There are quieter ones, check it out first.
Airbrush: Over the holidays I used a Chicago Airbrush coupon code, scored a new Badger 200G, well under $38.00 including shipping. The really cheap knockoff Chinese jobs from places like Harbor freight can actually be OK, (if you get a good one,) or terrible, (if you don’t.) Taking your time can reward you with an outstanding airbrush buy, I could not be happier with my Badgers. With careful use and good maintenance, a quality airbrush can give many years of trouble free painting.
1.Testors makes a product called “Plastic Prep” which is great for cleaning off your parts prior to painting. I use it on occasion with good results. But I normally have little need to use it all the time.
2.For use with enamels, it is rare to need to prime. When building multi media kits (resin & PE parts) or with some acrylics, priming is a necessity.
3.Thinning is very much a matter of trial an error. Yellow based colors such as Zinc Chromate can be more of a bear to paint, Make sure you stir your paints thoroughly first before any thinning.
Both Paasche and Badger, make an entry level single action siphon feed external mix airbrush that will cost you around $40. Air sources such as a compressor are where it starts to get pricey.
Testors in the small bottles are very good for hand brushing but have been noticing lately that the new ones do not brush as well as my older bottles that are 15+ years old. Now they cost more but of lesser quality. Humbrol in the small tins are also very good. Colors like white, and yellow are not brush friendly.
It’s possible to get airbrushing stuff under 100. The big cost is usually the compressor and/or tank. I just started with airbrushing recently. I got a cheap Chinese one, a Master G22, that came in a combo with a compressor and regulator. The whole kit-and-kaboodle was on Amazon for about 80 bucks. There’s a combo with a much smaller compresser for about $50. The brush by itself is only around $25-$30. It’s not by any means a top-of-the-line airbrush, and I plan on upgrading to something else down the road, but it does the job. But it’s worth looking around.
I received my setup and went through it in detail before doing any painting. Only thing I didn’t notice right away is that the compressor appears to be leaking from the area above the body, (plastic gril area where the handle and regulator attach. However, there seems to be a goodsize gap and the Allen screws that should be holding it down are not. I am going to try tightening it, and if that doesn’t work I’ll send it back.
There are some paints that will give you a brush finish so nice that you’ll swear it was airbrushed. I’m working on a Tamiya Steyr 1500A right now and brushing on Humbrol Panzer Grey. Wow! What a beautiful, flat finish! I do have two good airbrushes, just no place to use them right now except the garage (unfinished, darn it) - not an ideal environment, either too hot or the air will be full of blown sand.
