My second airbrushing session is now complete! I tested several things today and had some good and some bad results.

Vallejo paint was flat amazing to airbrush, with little finicky thinning issues. Tamiya paints took some work to get right, but man were they troublesome.

My biggest concern was why I couldn't seem to get the paints to not over spray (I think that's the term?) like the photo below:



Here's what it was looking like on the model (as I attempted modulation the first time too!):



I'm using a Paasche H single action airbrush. Tried various air pressures and thinning ratios, as well as needle adjustments, got similar results.

Any ideas or thoughts how to best solve this?

As always, thanks to my international team of expert instructors!

A gravity feed double action brush will fix your problems.
As for paint, I find Tamiya is way better than Vallejo. Unless it's Vallejo Air, then you are set! Great stuff. The other Vallejo's I use via paint brush. Too thick for the airbrush. Doesn't matter what I buy for it. I just think it wasn't meant to be.

Ha.

So are suggesting that the low end airbrush I have isn't up to the task of the advanced techniques I'm wanting to use it for??

Seriously though, surely I can get better, less spattery results with this airbrush, no?

Your airbrush should be ok, but it isn't going to do the fine work I think you are after. Reason being is that to get fine lines, with little overspray, you need to drop your airpressure and thin your paint more than usual. Problem with a siphon feed is that it uses the airpressure to draw the paint out of the bottle/cup into the airbrush, so you can only drop your air pressure so far before there isn't enough to draw the paint into the airbrush.

A gravity feed airbrush eliminates that, so you can drop the airpressure down alot more.

As far as paint goes. Vallejo Air and Model Color are both great, been using both for years. Air is pre-thinned, the Model Color is thicker, more designed for brush painting, but with their thinner, can be thinned down and sprayed as well.

Gotcha, thanks. So on that advice and knowing I was going to do it anyway one day, I ordered a gravity feed 2 stage airbrush tonight

But fine work aside, shouldn't I be getting a less "dotty" finish when I spray? What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks for the advice!

My guess would be your paint is just a tad too thick, and/or the airpressure a tad too high.

How far is your airbrush away from your target?

For really fine stuff, you gotta be really close.

Yeah, I thought it was both the paint thickness and/or the air pressure. I tried both, but had no luck... same results.

As a side note, boy did I learn about drying, clogging paint this time around! I was airbrushing for a while and yikes did the airbrush get clogged towards the end. I kept having to open the needle up wide to blow it out, then shut it back down.

Thinking a bit more on this... despite having some pretty thin paint, I'm wondering now if it was indeed still too thick. As I airbrushed, my modulation was largely lost behind the new coat of paint.... maybe that's because it was just too thick?

Iwata may have an answer to your airbrush woes. I finally ponied up the money, and swore off other brands. Tamiya, I believe, is an Iwata copy. Badger airbrushes are tempting, but pale in comparison. On the other hand, you can always mask the camo pattern you are trying to achieve. Recommendation, here, is to use blue painter's tape.

I've used a Paasche H single action air brush for nearly 40 years, and have no problem then nor now air brushing a fine line with little over spray. My current Paasche air brush is only 3 years old.

The H series has three different cone/needles. 1,3, & 5. I use the number 3 setup for 95% of my painting. For fine lines, I use the number 1 cone and needle. You need to drop your air pressure to 10-12 psi, and be with a a few inches of the surface.

You'll find that enamel paints are easier to paint fine lines, as the pigment is smaller then in Acrylic paints. With that being said, I only use acrylic paints. I usually use Tamiya paints, I thin them with X20-A. For close up work, I thin them with Tamiya's Lacquer thinner with the yellow cap. It breaks down the paint pigment much better then their alcohol based thinner. As for thinning the paint, I start with 50/50 and then go from there. The darker the color, the more I need to thin it out.

Joel