Airbrush HELP!!!

Oh ya,
I'm using tamiya acrylic paints, and an air can

Sound like maybe the tip isn't tightend enough.
Lee

You've got problems :(

Many orbits around the sun ago, I did a similar boo-boo with a paint gun- paint dried/clogged up inside. It was so bad I had to physically drill it out! I wound up replacing many of the smaller peices.

Well, that didn't help you any.... but I thought at least we could laugh about it together!

Try soaking the metal parts in something like MEK, best to avoid getting any on any plastic components, but it should soften up any dried paint.

Jeesh!
First time out and I screw it up! It's been soaking in windex all day. Green paint is slowly coming out. Will get some pipe cleaners tommorow. and keep at it! Thanks for the replys. (maybe Ishould take up another hobby!

Nzgunnie,
What is MEK? and whwere do I get it?

MEK will do the trick, but if you're in the USA it may not be that easy to come by. And it's nasty stuff.

I've never had any real trouble cleaning up a mess with lacquer thinner, and it should do the trick in this case. It's not the nicest stuff either, but it's much more easily accessible.

With a couple days soak, a bit of prodding with a needle or long piece of stiff wire and lotsa Q-tips and pipe cleaners, (not to mention elbow grease) you'll get it clean.

Windex won't touch it, especially if it's dried. Most acrylics are impervious to any such solvents after thay have dried.

Again, lacquer thinner may not be pleasant to work with (I LUV it, though!!! ), but it, along with a bit of work and patience, will do the trick.

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Badger make a special airbrush cleaner which ciomes in aerosol form with a long tube. What they suggest is when you've finished spraying paint, you then squirt sone airbrush cleaner through. This not only cleans the paint path but also lubricates the moving parts.

What also works well in my experience is to squirt some into a screw-topped glass jar, then put the individual components into the solution and allow them to soak overnight.

HTH

MEK is "Methyl Ethyl Keytone" and it is NASTY stuff. It will take paint off of metal
like nobody's business but, and this is a big but---If you use it, use a mask and gloves as well as eye protection. It is absorbed through the skin and goes to your liver. The affect is cumulitive, too. It does not pass out of the body---ever.
Ray

Thanks for the hedzup, Ray
I think I'll stay clear of MEK
I don't need any more paint removed from my liver.

You know something's nasty stuff when an order comes down at your airbase instructing you to put all the MEK on the base in 55 gallon drums and place them in a remote corner of the joint to be picked up by HAZMAT crews! That was in the 80's. (Is that how it went Wayne?) Methyl Ethyl Ketone is, indeed, bad news.

Try to tell another friend of mine that MEK is bad for you. He used to use it to assemble his models, up until not too awful long ago. I guess that explains some of his behavior!

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