Aztec questions and a request for help!

Hi chef_ben- welcome to the forums!

I've been using the Aztek 470 for almost a year now. I also have a Paasche VL, but use the Aztek 100%.

Here's some things I learned, in no specific order:

• If you don't already have them, get the tan, gray and black nozzles. I use the tan nozzle almost all the time. I use gray for larger areas, and black for wide coverage and Future.
• You can soak the tips in cleaner/solvent, but not the airbrush body. I use acrylics 100% of the time, so I run some water through the airbrush, letting it run in where the paint cup plugs in. Main thing is don't let too much water coolect in the body back ofwhere the paint actually enters.
  
• The manufacturer suggests not taking the tips apart, but I like to do so to clean them. IM or email me if you'd like a more thorough description of taking them apart to clean them.
• Use a moisture trap in your air line. Otherwise, after a little use, you'll get bad splatter.
• The adjustment wheel is a great thing- I use it a lot! It makes it more like a single action brush.
  
• I have all the various cups- gravity, side feed and siphon- and found I like the gravity cup best.
• I've not had any problems with my Aztek, using both the 470 and the cheaper 370. Main thing (as with any airbrush) is keep it clean.
• I use PollyScale Flat. It's a great flat coat. If you use it, after you're done, let the tips soak in Windex overnight, then thoroughly clean them.
• If you use Future, warm, almost hot water, is good for the first clean, then Windex.
• If you have a badly clogged tip, soak it overnight in lacquer thinner. That will loosen up just about any gunk.
• I usually spray paint at about 18psi.

Hope these help- just off the top of my head! It's a good airbrush- Brett Green at hyperscale uses it, and has for 10 years or more.

As with any airbrush, it's more about practice than anything else. Aztek, Bbadger, Iwata- all are great airbrushes. None of them work worth a darn if you don't practice.

Have fun! 

Testors used to offer a lifetime warranty on their Aztek bodies.  Recently, they have changed that warranty to three years ( or is it one year?).  I have found that the only problem I have with the Aztek A470 is paint buildup behind the washer that the pin slides through.  This buildup will cause the pin to not slide all of the way forward resulting in a decrease in paint flow.  The only way to clean out the buildup is to take the airbrush body apart.  Of course, this will cancel out the warranty.  I've taken my apart about three times will no problems.  I clean all of the internal parts, put it back together, and it works like brand new.  It's not that difficult.  If you interested in learning how to do this, someone on the forum had posted a link to pictures of how to take the airbrush body apart.  Just some food for thought.

Jesse

Ah, ha!! Here's the link: http://www.master194.com/encyclo/aztec/index.htm

If you go to http://babelfish.altavista.com/ and copy the above link into the "Translate a Web Page" slot and select "French to English" , you can get a rough translation of the page.

chef_ben wrote:

I appreciate all the info!!  Could you give me suggestions as to what thinners you use and what type of success you have had with different paints?

Hi chef_ben,

I've been using a 4704 for nearly 5 years now and have only just begun using my first replacement tip. As for thinners, it all depends on the specific paints you are going to use. I use MM enamels exclusively and use the MM airbrush thinner exclusively. After a quick post-clean after each use, I put the Aztec tip in an old MM enamel bottle filled with thinner. The tip stays in this solution for weeks (sometimes months) at a time until the next paint session. As I said, I've never experienced any degredation or adverse affects to the tip by keeping it like this. The only exception is the tip (light blue) I use for Future. This is kept in an old MM bottle of plain alcohol instead of thinner. Again, there are no apparent problems keeping these tips "wet" in these solvents for extended periods of time.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with you brush...

Finally fired it up for the first time last night!  Interesting experience.  I first took a 2 liter bottle and sprayed it with white Krylon and then once it was dry I tried brushing on PollyS Olive Drab but when I mixed it with their thinner it curdled!! I then went to one of the MM blacks and thinned it with MM airbrush thinner and this seemed to spray just fine.  I do have a couple problems though:

 1:  When the black dried the coat I applied crack like crackle paint.  I'm guessing it was too thin?

2:  The gauge on my compressor is 0 to 160 so its hard for me to tell what my pressure is.  Any ideas?

 3:  Couldn't get a super fine line to save my life with the tan tip.  Is this also because of two thin a paint?

Thanx for your help!

chef_ben wrote:

1:  When the black dried the coat I applied crack like crackle paint.  I'm guessing it was too thin? 2:  The gauge on my compressor is 0 to 160 so its hard for me to tell what my pressure is.  Any ideas?  3:  Couldn't get a super fine line to save my life with the tan tip.  Is this also because of two thin a paint?

Here's my input...

1. There are many possible reasons for the effect you experienced. My own personal opinion would be the fault lies with the plastic bottle more than your paint. Generally, two-liter plastic bottles are intentionally manufactured with a plastic that has 0% porosity...it's a health thing. Try practicing on either spare model part, spare styrene, or a more "industrial" type of plastic. I've heard of some modelers using the sides of their Rubbermaid storage containers.

2. I would recommend putting in a second air gauge. I have this set-up on my compressor. First is the gauge that came with the compressor and this stays set at about 40 psi. Next, I have an airbrushing gauge and this is the one I actually adjust for differing airflows. Then the airbrush line is attached. Generally, with the Aztec, I spray most basecoats, Future, etc. at around 12 to 15 psi. For more detailed applications, I'll thin the paint some more and spray between 5 and 10 psi.

3. Please define, "Super Fine". If, as I suspect, you're trying to get uniform lines of something like 1/16", I think you're not going to be happy with this. In general, the smallest uniform, consistant lines I've been able to get with the Aztec are about 1/8" or just slightly larger. These are done with very thin paint and spraying at pressures around 5 psi. As the pressures increase, the overspray on the edges increase. Additionally, as the paint gets thicker, you need to increase the pressure to push the paint through the brush.

The whole key is practice, practice, practice. Even after 5 years, I'll still experiment with different paint formulations and air pressure settings to try different effects.

Hope this helps...

Ah, that clears things up a bit.

You shouldn't have any problems getting adequately sized pre-shade lines for most 1/48 aircraft, but 1/72 might be a bit tougher (depending on the actual A/C size). For most preshading, I've found you actually want a certain degree of overspray on the edges. This helps when it comes time to blend in your basecolors because of the graduated demarcation. You may find for 1/72 scale A/C that brush painting your preshading may be necessary, particularly around smaller panels or where the lines are very close together. Hopefully, some of the aircraft gurus can chime in with their thoughts.