I was working on free-handing my Me-262 camo, doing a mottled finish. I used my Paasche VL, #3 tip with Polly S paints. I used the adjustment wheel to push the trigger back just a bit, so I could just lightly push down on the trigger to get the “spots”. It worked great for a little while, then suddenly it just stopped flowing.
I looked at the tip. “Ah<” I thought, “so that’s tip dry…”
What a pain.
To top it off, my Paasche is behaving poorly. I clean and clean, yet I still get bubbles in the cup, and even bubbles around the trigger.
Any ideas for combatting tip dry would be great, as well as any advice from Paasche users.
My little Aztek 370 has almost no problem with tip dry, but it’s not near as precise on the trigger control, and doesn’t have the adjustment wheel.
The one section I managed to complete don’t look bad- so hopefully I can get it knocked out without too much more problems.
It sounds as if the seals on your Paasche VL may have given out. Try replacing them. Using a needle lubricant, silicone grease, or even just silicone spray on the seals periodically will help them last longer.
Thanks for the advice. As it is now, it’s impossible to paint more than a few minutes without the tip dry problem. I did have some luck with pulling the cap off, cleaning the needle tip, and getting back to it. Worked for about 30 seconds each time. [:(]
I gave it another good cleaning, and that seemed to help the leaks. I’ll try the lubricants, too.
99PP Paasche VL Paint Picker Air Cap, medium: $3.95
I couldn’t figure out how it worked till I put it on the airbrush and then the light came on. The tip is exposed for easy access, you can wipe it off without taking the tip off. It was designed to make painting with acrylics easier.
You might want to order enough stuff to get free shipping from Dixie Art. I ordered parts for my VL and some lubricant (needle juice).
I use Golden® Retarder, number 3580-4. There are also other brands available.
The difference is amazing. I was having the same problems with tip dry—30 seconds to zero paint. I added one to two drops of this to about 4 ml of reduced (thinned) paint, and had to clean the tip once before I used up all the paint. (I forgot to put the cap back on between coats.) Dry time was not noticeably affected. At this usage rate, I may have to buy a second bottle before I die—assuming I live another 40 to 50 years!
Do note that the stuff is fairly thick, and takes a fair amount of stirring to disperse. Add it before you put the paint in the air brush.
I use Tamiya acrylics in my VL. I started with using the Tamiya thinner and I never had any problems. Once I went to straight isopropyl alcohol I started getting tip dry. I read somewhere that the Tamiya thinner is isopropyl with a drying retardant. ??
That’s good to know- thanks. The LHS only carries PollyS acrylics, and though i’d love to support the LHS, the cost per oz between what they sell PollyS for, and what Tamiya costs from Squadron is quite a bit. There’s a break even point that if I buy from Squadron, even with shipping I would save money over the LHS. So it sounds like Tamiya is worth a try for several reasons.
Tamiya is excellent paint and I’ve been thinning it successfully with 70% rubbing al-kee-hol for years now. I sometimes have the same problems you described with Polly-S while doing the low-pressure, close in stuff. So, I try to use Tamiya wherever possible. The problem is that their color range is very limited. I’m not a big fan of having to mix a custom colors for 90% of my applications.
