Dual Action Aztec

Leddy, there are a lot of members out there who are much better at this than me but here's my worth.

I also have an Aztec dual action. I use craft acrylics mainly because they are cheap, usually about $.89 for a 2oz. bottle. When they are on sale, I load up at 3 for $1.00. I use distilled water to thin and windex to clean.

After I'm thru spraying, I usually put some windex in the cup, use a cotton swab to clean the cup, then shoot it thru the brush followed by clean windex. Remove the tip and place in a small jar with windex to soak overnight. As Bick said, clean the area where the tip came from. That is very important. I use Windex. For real stubborn paint that refuses to come off with Windex, I have used Lacquer thinner with no ill effects. Next day, rinse the tip with a little distilled water and you are good to go.

If you google Aztec Air Brushes, you can find the list of all the tips (nozzles) and what to use with them. I've used them all for Acrylics and they seemed to work OK for me.

Good luck.

Jim

Leddy

3)Can you use acrylic paint through the Aztec?    What brand do you recommend?  Will Tamiya work?

4)What should it be thinned with?

5)Which nozzles work best for spraying fine lines and shading?

Thanks for your input!

Leddy

Leddy,

I don't have an Aztec but did have the Testor's inexpensive unit which used the same nozzles as the Aztec.

Yes, you can spray acrylics with the Aztec.  IIRC they made a nozzle specifically for acrylics (white??) but thinned properly the general nozzle will work fine. Many things can be used to thin acrylics - windshield washer fluid, Windex, Isopropyl rubbing alcohol but I liked Tamiya X20A when I was using Tamiya acrylics (I'm a convert to craft acrylics at present). Don't know for sure about the Aztec but cleaning my Testors unit was simple: unscrew nozzle, drop in thinner, use cotton swab dipped in thinner to clean the area from which the nozzle was removed. When both are clean, screw nozzle back on and ready for next session.

The regulator sets and holds a constant pressure.  A compressor with no regulator may work with any airbrush as long as the resulting pressure is within a usable range.  However, having an adjustable regulator is a good idea, especially with a DA brush, as different spraying jobs may require slightly different pressure.  With my older compressor I used to spray flats at 20 PSI, while doing gloss at 15.  However, my latest super-quiet compressor will not put out 20 psi, running at about 15 max.  It is a tradeoff.  If I were rich and could buy anything I wanted, I'd go for a more expensive compressor.  I don't use a lot of acrylic, so will leave those questions for others.