New to air brushing. . needle size?

Much appreciated.  Very helpful information.

KeithRob

I bought a new airbrush. . a cheap one on Amazon. It's my first. . . It comes with a .02 needle.  Will that work painting model kits?    thanks. 

 

 

 

That's probably a little small for overall coverage of larger models,my Iwata comes with a.35 which is great for small stuff,but it takes awhile to do bigger stuff,I can convert it to a .5 if I want

Amazon sells several different sets of needle/nozzle/tip combos that include .2 .3 and .5 in the sets. The issue is which set fits your particular airbrush. There are several different thread, air caps etc, though the tip and needles are very similar, depending if you have the tiny screw in tips or the larger drop in style.

.2 will do many things with models depending on the paint used and how thin it's mixed. .2 is for finer details, though you can thin the paint, open up the flow and get a pretty broad coverage as well. .3 is a bit more overall and is still able to do fine detail. It's a bit more forgiving in terms of thinning. .5 is the most forgiving if your thinning ratio is off a bit, will still do some fine detail work when cut way back and working in close but much better on broad coverage. Being .5 it will empty the cup sooner.

Many acrylic paints call for minimum .4 or .5 tip size. If you know how to properly thin you can get them to work with finer needles. I reserve a .25 for lacquers, it's my favorite size for model grade lacquer paints  like MCW. Tamiya LP or Mr Color. I shoot acrylics and enamels with needles from .5-.7, even 1.0 depending how I'm thinning and the product itself. I've shot Vallejo Model Air with the .25 though by just reducing it a little bit extra ( MA is acrylic that comes pre thinned) and adding retarder so the tip didn't crust over, works great. Then heat flash each coat with a hair dryer and no complaints from me that could be common ones to this paint.

Primers I generally use a .7 tip for but I think nothing of thinning the stuff for use in finer tips . Course you gotta know what to thin with and that's just learned over time.