I have a Paashe VL airbrush which I really like, I spray everything using the NO.3 needle which sprays very nice. But I have tryed a couple of times to use the NO.1 needle for fine stuff and have had no real success, It has sprayed very splattery and not even close to anything nice and fine. If anyone can tell me where I am going wrong it would be much appreciated.
For the #1 (fine) needle to spray well you need paint with really fine pigment and it has to be thin. Many modeling paints just won’t spray well with these smaller needles and tips as they are designed to spray thin mediums like inks, watercolors, etc.
Mike
like mike says, your gonna have to thin the paint, and when you have thinned the paint, you have to tweak in the air pressure to “match” the viscosity of you paint. i would keep the #3 tip and needle in there and try thinning your paint further and dropping your pressure lower. its that whole paint to thinner to air pressure ratio that has to be dialed in and when you find it, write it down somewhere unless you have a good memory. when i’m doing my demarcation lines on a camo job, i have a 60%thinner to 40% paint ratio and my pressure is below 10 psi as my gauge kinda dont’ registar under 10psi. but, i have a gravity feed brush and i doubt the siphon feed VL will suck paint at that pressure. with that said, you may have a handicap with the finest of lines. later.
I’ve been able to achieve fine lines witha paasche VL, thin like above (but feel free to experiment) and keep your pressure about 15 to 20 psi also it’s nice to have a hair trigger finger.