Air brushing problems

Hokey

I highly recommend to use the Tamiya thinner with their paint. It seems to work better than using alcohol as some other modelers do which speeds up drying increasing the dry tip issue. I got some retarder and flow improver at Hobby Lobby which seems to help out some. I have also heard of other modelers using regular lacquer to thin the Tamiya paint. This may work as I use LT to clean the AB after the very few times I use acrylics.

Another issue with MM acrylics is the possibility of lifting when removing masking tape even after using their primer which is garbage. On the other hand, Tamiya does not lift as it has  a better bite on the plastic.

Thx for the feedback. I did buy some Tamiya and Vallejo to try.

Model Master acrylics give me fits in both brush and airbrush. The only things I've used that helps (on the advice of other Forum members) are Liquitex slow-dri blending medium and Pledge Future, both of which slow the drying to enable the paint to level. That may help with tip drying. Your other issues are probably, as mentioned in posts above, a matter of pressure and distance.

Like PJ said, Tamiya is my current choice, although some swear by Vallejo and I may try a sample pack since they do theme boxings at reasonable prices. I'm working thru my remaining stock of MM acrylics and won't be buying any more.

Hope you can get your AB problems sorted out;

Mike  

The fast drying is the main reason I do not like to spray acrylics thru  an airbrush. The only acrylics that behave kind of ok is Tamiya. I love my enamels as I can dial down to 5-6 psi and do pencil line mottling all day long without any tip drying. .

I find 15 psi a good pressure- distance is about right.  Paint drying in airbrush is a problem with some acrylics.  Retarder in paint may help this.

OK. I am at 20 PSI and trying to spray about 4-5 inches.  I'll thin to maybe 50-50 and try.

1) Can be caused by too much pressure or too big a distance between the airbrush & subject - both can cause the paint to dry too much during it's trip from nozzle to subject.

2) Could be caused by tip-dry

3) Tip-dry - caused by too much pressure or too little thinning.

I would try lowering your pressure to start with (Neo should work fine at approx. 20psi or lower) & if you continue to have problems, look at your thinning ratio & painting distance.