From what I can remember, I think you add some Isopropyl alcohol on the airbrush, and let it sit so the alcohol can break down the paint inside. Then, spray it, and clean it some more with running water.
I also have some Tamiya thineer, which smells like alcohol. Do I also use that?
Also, and info on how to deep clean your airbrush?
Alcohol is fine except if you are spraying Vallejo paints,that combo will jam your airbrush up.
Try to avoid using Model Company thinners for cleaning,too expensive.Hardware store Lacquer thinner cleans Tamiya and most everything,just smelly.
Deep cleaning requires disassembly,what kind of AB do you have.
Here’s a reprint from my reply (9th reply down) in the tool section of the forum.
Here’s how I go about it.
Spray/clean out with laquer thinner as needed and using a pipe cleaner;
Blow it out with 91% alcohol… maybe twice.
Rinse and blow out a few times w/distilled water on a folded ('bout six layers) old newspaper until nothing comes out but air.
Wipe it all down with a paper towel and alcohol.
THEN ~ I pull out the needle, add a drop of clp on my .2 needle and re-assemble.
DONE.
Sometimes, if needed I’ll leave the cap and cone in a labeled plastic film container to soak in alcohol or laquer thinner 'till the next time. No scrubbing ever needed there.
To use next time, pull the needle out and give it a quick wipe then reinsert and shoot a drop or two of alcohol to clean off any of the clp that might still be in the main body.
I’ve been doing models for about 64 years now. I don’t know where it all went either.
My method is to wipe out the cup (gravity feed airbrush), and spray Velejo airbrush cleaner through the brush until it comes out clean. Then strip the brush down and clean with isopropyl alcohol using paper towel (needle & bowl), Q-tips (various places), pipe cleaner (hole from bowl through front of aitbrush), and GUM Proxabrush (nozzle). Then I place them in an ultrasonic cleaner full of distilled water for 16 minutes (two 8 minute cycles) to knock out any remaining dried paint. Reassemble, wipe dry, and spray water out of brush.
With my Paasche H, I just drop the color cup, needle, and needle cap into an old relish jar with MEK in it and run the jar in an ultrasonic cleaner. That cleans any type of paint out of it. I normally run that for about 30 minutes, but I have 3 matching color cup/needle/needle cap sets, so I can immediately get back to painting while one is being cleaned if I want to.
It is important to not delay cleaning too long. Acrylics dry fast and if you wait too long it is harder to clean out the hardened stuff.
I have a side feed. I didn’t buy a gravity feed one.
Others above have described their deep cleaning process