Orange Peal, How'd I get it and How do I get rid of it?

Hi Shnake ;

  Orange peel is caused by the paint drying before it gets to the surface . The culprits can be too thick paint .Too far away from the project and To high a pressure setting on the A.B. .

     I always use the paint at about 8 to 12 lbs air pressure Sometimes higher ( But that's rare ) . The paint is no thicker than fresh Milk . and i shoot from 10 to 12 inches from the surface

Tanker - Builder

Hi Shnake ;

  Orange peel is caused by the paint drying before it gets to the surface . The culprits can be too thick paint .Too far away from the project and To high a pressure setting on the A.B. .

     I always use the paint at about 8 to 12 lbs air pressure Sometimes higher ( But that's rare ) . The paint is no thicker than fresh Milk . and i shoot from 10 to 12 inches from the surface

 

 

Thank you!

Wow, that is a low PSI. I have seen youtubes saying they are around 20psi, which is where I was.

I'm thinking since I had issues with the thinner I was using I probably had the pressure up too high and the paint not thined enough/properly.

What thinner do you use for Testors Model Masters Acrylic gloss paints?

I use Testors brand universal acrylic thinner to thin Model Master acrylics. (The one in the green bottle.) Works for me...

Humidity can be the cause as well. Or bad paint...

Tanker - Builder

     I always use the paint at about 8 to 12 lbs air pressure Sometimes higher ( But that's rare ) . The paint is no thicker than fresh Milk . and i shoot from 10 to 12 inches from the surface 

Good grief! I have a hard enuff time as it is differentiating consistency  ‘tween regular and skim - now you’re sayin’ the darn milk’s gotta be fresh as well??? 

I’m doomed 

Good suggestions above.  I find orange peel more of a problem with gloss than with flats.  It is important to put on a thick enough coat to get the paint surface wet.  The easiest way to do this is to paint with a geometry so that you see your light source reflected in the paint surface when it gets "wet."  This requires a positionable light source or really moving around at the bench.

This is one reason I do not airbrush at my spraybooth (I use the booth just for rattle can work).  Too hard to get that lighting geometry right.  I keep paint flow low enough that overspray is not a big problem.

The paint is too thick and you are basically splattering the model instead of airbrushing it.

The consistency of properly thinned paint for airbrushing is milk. Pour paint into your airbrush, add thinner, stir thoroughly with a brush and then test. Pick up some of the mixture with a brush, test the viscosity to see if it behaves like milk. It should run down the walls of the airbrush vigrously, like milk. Once it flows like milk inside the airbrush, it's ready to go. Once you achieve milk, stop adding the thinner. Too much thinner destroys the covering properties of the paint.

If you don't achieve milk but somewhat thicker, it still works great 99% of the time, as long as you have added plenty of thinner.

When you commence airbrushing try to maintain a wet edge meaning the spray pattern should be slightly wet. Watch some movies that show cars being painted--they are very wet and moist when that aerosol of paint hits them.

A clean airbrush should be shooting a vigorous, powerful, moist plume of thinner or paint. When you are not getting the plume but something anemic, disassemble the airbrush and clean the nozzle and needle. I meant complete field strip.

Always have a sheet of paper in your work area and test your patterns on the paper before you hit the model.  A proper spray pattern is so precise you can write your name with it and there is no orange peel and no splatter of any kind.

All good suggestions given. The paint/thinner ratio and distance are very important. As Don said, gloss paints are the main problem with the op. The 'wet' coat effect  is an excellent way to minimize op but I find that sometimes polishing with Novus or any automotive swirl remover will correct the finish to a glass smooth surface.

As an example, when I shot the paint on this Blue Angels Hornet, I had a slight op even though I considered the paint/thinner ratio perfect. I polished the clear gloss enamel coat with haze remover and got the look I wanted. Double click the image for an extreme closeup.

I have asked some car builder guys at shows how they got the finish so glossy and smooth. Their answer was polishing the paint out.

Hi Shnake ;

 Well , If I must say it . I hate acrylics . I have few and to thin I use their recommended product or Distilled Water . Also , In all these years I have never sprayed over twenty PSI.

Tanker - Builder

Hi Shnake ;

 Well , If I must say it . I hate acrylics . I have few and to thin I use their recommended product or Distilled Water . Also , In all these years I have never sprayed over twenty PSI.

 

I have dropped my pressure for airbrushing down to 15 psi now.  And, indeed, the type of paint makes a big difference. I also have a very hard time getting a good gloss with acrylics.

Any fast drying paint makes it hard to get a good gloss.  I remember when I worked with custom cars (1:1 scale).  In those days the choice was lacquer or enamel.  Enamels dried slow, and tended to self-level for a good gloss. But unless you had a painting oven, it took a long time to dry!  Lacquer dried fast, so it was easy to work with.  But you always had to rub-out and polish a lacquer paint job to get the same gloss you got with lacquer.