Lo' I'm new at this hobbie and have some Q's about the Airbrush I'm getting

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

http://www.rexart.com/product2291.html

^^^Thats the Airbrush I’m buying, how do I know if its dual action or single action?

Anything in particular I should know about this Airbrush that is not obvious?

Also, does it really make a difference what brand of paint I buy? If so which brand do you guys recommend? I want to use acrylic.

Finally, any fundamental tips you guys have to offer about painting the aircraft and putting on the decals are welcome.

I’m looking to start off with 1/48 Hasegawa models

Thanks in Advance :]

2

For the paint I would say Tamiya’s because they are water colour which makes it easy to clean.

For info on the AB I have no clue. Someone else will be able to help you on that.

3

The Badger 150 is a dual-action, internal-mix, siphon feed airbrush. More info is on Badger’s site at this link: http://www.badgerairbrush.com/airbrush.htm

Most of the acrylics work well once you get used to them. I personally use Tamiya, Testors Model Master Acryl, and PollyScale because they are what is available locally.

4

For painting an aircraft, I use light coats instead of using one heavy coat. It helps keep the paint sticking to the plastic and makes a smoother finish. And practice till you learn the right amount to thin the paint. Usually the bottle will have the recommended ratio, then from there you can vary it till you find out what works for you.

For decalling I use Future floor wax and shoot it on the model till glossy. Then I place the decals (allows them to settle down smooth versus wiht silvering or bubbles underneath them) then I spray dullcoat on top. Here’s a good article on it:

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

5

On tidbit that I would add to augment tho9900’s decal advice, is that oftentimes shooting another gloss or semi-gloss coat over the decals and the shooting a matte coat after that will help blend in the decals.

6

actually thats what I do too… glad you saw that and added… Not futuring over the decal has led to disaster once for me… the decals wrinkled up like prunes with the dullcoat…

7

Thanks for the help guys

Appreciate it.

8

I find that Model Master Acryl and PollyScale give much better results than Tamiya, so much so, I won’t buy Tamiya anymore. MM has the better color palettes with many colors matched to FS595a and other specific colors. PollyScale has the finest pigments and runs the best through an airbrush, though, with the least amount of clogging and drying in the nozzle of the three paints mentioned. Here again, Tamiya is the worst.

9

I agree with the MM and Pollyscale recommendations above… . I would like to add Vallejo (also bottled as Andrea, Color of Eagles and a few others) to the list… very fine pigments and they don’t peel off with masking n my experience…

I’ve used Tamiya, some with good results, some I chalked up to experience…

10

used tamiya olive drab with thinner 1 to 1 ratio on a badger 155, the paint dried within 2 minutes after i finished painting a P40, hard as heck to clean them all off, even out of the color cup. i think i am gonna start to use model master enamels from now on.

11

Use laquer thinner to clean dried acrylic out of your airbrush. It will be gone in seconds.