Effective Feathering Camo Patterns with an Aztek 4704....HELP!

i dont own an aztec, but most people mask for cammo anyway. i free hand all of my cammo but i've never done too many cammo jobs on finished kits. you can take something like an index card or something of equal properties and cut the shapes of the cammo pattern assuming you have the base coat already applied. loop a piece of masking tape and stick it to the back of the shape, and apply the shape to the appropriate place on the subject. this will keep the mask "lifted" slightly off the surface of the subject. spray your next color at a slight angle over 90 degrees as to not spray under the lifted edge of the mask. this will result in a nice, tight, soft edge. you can also mask with silly putty or play doe and achieve the same line. hope this helps until someone can give you some other ideas. later.

Like SaltyDog, I can't really help you with the Aztek itself. I don't own one and have no idea what the capabilities of it or what tips you have available.

The key for me, and I'm sure no expert by any stretch of the imagination, is geting very, very close to the surface. As in about an inch off it. To be able to do that I use very low presure, like about 5 psi or so (I can't tell for sure because the gauge barely registers) and very thin paint.

Draw the outline very lightly in pencil about 1/8" in from where you actually want the lines to be. Paint just outside the line and angle your airbrush so the overspray will go into the area you are painting.

Fill in the area, and switch back to the base color. Go back on the other side of the lines and tighten the demarcation up some. If necessary, go back and forth until you get the edge that you want.

I own the 4704 and used to have BIG problems with camo. The solutions I used were three-fold:

First, I lowered my pressure and thinned my paint just a tad more. It sounds like you are already doing this somewhat. You might try going a bit lower yet and see how that helps.

Second, I used to have the airbrush set to spray paint at the full-foward trigger position. I found that by adjusting the rear mix adjustment so that I only get air in the full-forward trigger position I have much more control over the paint as I pull the trigger back. In fact my adjustment is completely counter-clockwise!

Third, I really had to practice (and practice some more) getting closer to the model. I've always had the old mindset from my spray-bomb days to stay back and "mist" the model in light coats. That works fine for basecoats, but will not work for camo. After much practice (did I mention practice), I can now confidently hold the airbrush as close as 1 inch from the model to spray fine camo. There is very little over-spray at this distance and my camo patterns really improved.

Hope this helps,

Guys,

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it...