Hi everyone,
Got my first airbrush and compressor and after some experimentation tried it on my Hobbycraft Canada Seafire. I am doing the RCN version. I put on my second coat of Neutral Grey from Modelmaster/Testors. This has come out somewhat grainy, although not outright “orange peel”-ish. I was pretty thorough in cleaning the airbrush/head/color cup last night after the first coat. Is my model ruined? If not how can I repair? What was I doing wrong? I am using an Aztek 4703 airbrush and an Aztek compressor. Thanks for the advice!
No, the model isn’t ruined. Sounds like one of two things. Either the paint wasn’t thin enought, should be the cosistency of milk, or not enough aie pressure, about 15-20 psi or so. After it dries, lightly sand with 600 grit wet/dry paper, and respray. Hope this helps.
Lee
Another possibility is that you might be spraying too far away from the model surface. If you’re too far, the paint will dry before it hits the model and look similar to what you’ve described.
Murray
Whaz up elfkin,
Here could be another factor to the paint being grainy. Where you paint is the air too dry??
Basically as the paint is coming out it is drying almost instantly before hitting the suface.
In this case you may need to get a humidifier which puts moisture back into the air.
Flaps up, Mike
if you find that you get the kind of finish described by elfkin… after it is thouroughly dry use fine steel wool to polish the rough texture away…a bonus to this technique is,with careful application of the steel wool you can acheive a fantastic faded look to the paintwork this works especially well if you prime in a metal colour [aluminium].
before applying the base coat…try it with winter cammo too…works a treat…
REGARDS…
All great suggestions!! Thanks for all you advice. I think in retrospect I was holding the brush too far away…of course the paint might have been too thick. Anyway, thanks for the advice!
Butz-“Here could be another factor to the paint being grainy. Where you paint is the air too dry??”
I am from the Arizona…Its NO humidity and 100 to 115 deg. It sucks for airbrush. I use early in the day or night time. I thought I was doing wrong…It was so bad I almost quit. [:I]
EasyCo