Hi all,
I just completed my first ever gloss clear coat in preparation for decals. I used Alclad Aqua Gloss over Tamiya flat acrylics. No matter what pressure I tried, the clear went on a little pebbly. I was careful to keep the brush about an inch away from the surface as I’ve read that if it’s too far the spray can dry out and lead to orange peel. It looks like I didn’t succeed. Can you guys confirm that this is what orange peel looks like? Any advice would be swell, too.
Looks like orange peel to me.
I may have an idea/advice, but a question first: What airbrush, needle/tip size if you know it, and pressure did you use? (for the Alclad Aqua, I mean)
Hi Greg,
I am using a Paasche H-series (siphon) with a 0.45 mm tip. I played around with the pressure, from 10 to 20 psi or so, and kept seeing the same result on practice plastics. I settled on 15 psi for the picture above.
Maybe too far from the surface? Try a practice model/spoon/plastic. Also try putting the last coat on wet.
I agree.
Thanks for the info on your gear and technique. I had wondered if you were spraying through a small needle/nozzle, but .45mm isn’t so bad.
That said, however, I never did figure out how to get consistent results spraying Alclad Aqua (or any other acrylic clears including ‘Future’ using the biggest tip (.5mm on my Iwata) I had.
I’ve since added an airbrush with a fan tip for clears and primers, problems went away.
As John said above, last coat needs to go on wet, “right to the point of running, but not quite” to quote as member Don Stauffer always says. The fan pattern brush makes this a no-brainer even for the all-thumbs me.
I think can make it work. Think of it as a rattle can. Lay it heavy and keep that airbrush moving. I’m not familiar with your airbrush. If it is a double action, don’t ‘baby’ the trigger with clear coats. Go full bore on the wet coat, and that’s why you have to keep the brush moving.
A wet coat on top of the orange peel will not totally fix the problem. When the next-to-last coat has set go back and knock down the “bumps” with something like an old t-shirt. Don’t need to polish it, just rub it down. Then go back and hit the final wet coat. You might also want to look at the paint nibs before every coat. Fix the small problems on after one coat instead of a larger problem at coat 5
Watch the custom car shows like Kingdigit or Iron Resurection (when they had Shorty on the spray gun) You can learn bunches about handling an airbrush watching how they paint a 1:1 body