Few Airbrushing questions

About the Tamiya colours, they are acrylics and you should you isopropyl alcohol to thin them (water will not work as well), or, obviously, Tamiya's own thinner! Aim for milk consistency.

I use a Paashe VLS airbrush with Tamiya acrylics with great results! Tamiya paints have been fantastic...they look great, have a high tack and I have never had cracking or any issues...Over all very reliable (EVen after opening a 4 yr old bottle!) My only beef is the limited selection of colors. Nevertheless the benefits far outweigh the negatives for me!

YEs you can thin with Isopropyl (Though I have never tried) I bought a $10 large bottle of thinner for diluting and cleaning and have had it for about 5 models (1/48 scale models) I use syringes to transfer and waste very little so I don't waste and save money. The paints lay down well when thinned with the Tamiya thinner. I usually mix 1:1 but depending on results sometimes change the mix. (Again some of my paints are VERY old and I'm to poor to buy new ones, so I have to thin the old paints more! Basically you're looking for a milk like consitancy!

I find by testing on an old model first I can tell if the paint is mixed properly. I make sure my psi is set around 18-25 and spray. If the paint spatters and looks flaky on the model you need to thin more. If the pain doesn't dry up after 10 secs you're probably to thin (or you're spraying to much) You'll get the feel!

I'm not sure what you mean by CFM??? perhaps clarify and I may be able to help out! perhaps you mean psi (refer to above)

I don't know about whitewashing!

Good luck

James

The small diameter air hose and orifice on an airbrush mean that any reasonable compressor will put out as much or more air than the airbrush can use. Most require a regulator to bring the pressure down to a good level. The CFM rating for airbrushing is pretty immaterial, unlike for air-powered tools or large spray equipment.

CFM = Cubic Feet Per Minute.
PSI = Pounds Per Square Inch.

Thanks for the tips gang!

I think jcarlberg has it right. PSI is important, but the airbrush requires so little that most compressors should be OK. If they're not able to hit 25 psi though, chances are you'll be sorry one day.
I use a refrigerator compressor hooked to a reservoir tank and I find that I am able to spray faster than the compressor when I am doing larger jobs at over 20psi. The tank is 7 gal, so it generally holds plenty of air for me to finish the job. The compressor just keeps pumping away until it is filled again. Big jobs like this are pretty rare, so this is not a critical problem.
BTW, I love the compressor setup I'm using (built from a fridge compressor). It is *DEAD SILENT* and was very inexpensive...

M.

mkish....I would be interested in learning about your fridge compressor air delivery system "FCADS"

Perhaps you could E-mail me or post more information about it :)

jamesppk@hotmail.com

james mark,
There was an article in a mag sometime ago that showed how to do it. I'll see if I can find it and send. If not, I'll try to take some picture and send them to you. You also might want to do a search in rec.models.scale because I'm sure it's been discussed there and I believe there was even some plans/drawings.

I got the idea from a buddy of mine that does airbrush art on autos, helmets, motorcycles, etc. It's very handy.

M.

James Mark,

Check out http://www.geocities.com/hugedom/model_misc.html. There's enough info there to give you the general idea. Note that mine isn't quite in a neat and tidy enclosure like this one, but it's generally the same principle.

If you still want more info from me, send me an email at murraykish@yahoo.com

M.

Hmmm. that didn't seem to work??

Try this link and then go to the bottom of the page and click on the Build a Compressor link..

http://www.geocities.com/hugedom/model_tips.html

M.