Airbrushing techniques

[gofaster]

Originally posted by GRUNHERZ
Dont even buy the compressor shane showed you.

The best hobby compresor in the world is sold at Wal-mart of all places. No joke!  They have this small compressor with a one or two gallon air tank and regulator for $99 ($79 on sale very often ). Its a quality unit and delivers much more reliable and useful air supply than a low cost compressor with no tank. Dont even bother with propellant cans.

Its made by Campbell Housfeld  and the excat same unit is sold at Home Depot Stores under the Husky Brand.

http://www.chpower.com/

Thanks for the tip!  I'll look for it next time I'm at Wal-Mart picking up model display cases for dioramas.  I know Wal-Mart also carries the Testors airbrush.  What's the opinion on that airbrush?

For paint, I've tried Tamiya, Model Master, and Poly-Scale Model Railroad paint.  MM is the best of the three, particularly for brush painting.  Poly-Scale is a bit thinner but that means you'll be brush painting 3 coats.  Tamiya is absolutely horrible to brushpaint; its too thin and has piss-poor paint adhesion.

[GRUNHERZ]

You mean the Testors Aztek line?  I dont like them because they are made out of plastic and people have a bunch of problems with them. Testors offeres a lifetime parts replacement warranty and people use that a lot I hear.  Stick with a good metal airbrush.

Check out the Iwata Revolution HP-CR I recomeneded. For $60 you cant go wrong. I love this one beacuse its so simple and straightforward and does a great job. Its a double action design but really easy to learn and use. The gravity feed design makes it spray better and clean up is much much faster.

You could also try the single action Paasche H, a bit simpler to use abut can still do a nice job.

I would avoid thec aztec line and the paasche VL. The VL is very rough and imprecise - I think the Paasche H is actually more useful.

[flakbait]

Guys, if you can find the stuff use Parafilm M instead of masking tape. It stretches, sticks to itself, and comes in a good-sized roll. Just stretch it out and wrap around the part, then paint 'er up. The best part is you can use it on previously painted surfaces without pulling the paint off. I used it on a C-47's invasion stripes a year or so ago and the stuff is pure magic! After doing the stripes I masked them off with Parafilm and painted the rest of the wing. When I pulled the film off it didn't pull up the stripes at all. Last time I tried that with Lo-Tac tape half the paintjob came up. It only runs about $4 a roll to boot.







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Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta Six's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High

[Shane]

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/TnT_Archives/Airbrushing.htm