Hi,

I'm building some Panther D model from Italeri and after cleaning the model I applied coat of Vallejo primer straight from bottle. I used my H&S Ultra airbrush with 0.4mm needle with pressures ~20PSI. Painting hull and wheels was univentfull but the trouble started when I wend to turret.

I ended up with something like this:





Can you help me guessing what I might've screwed and how I can fix it ?

Or maybe I should ignore it and apply paints as it was nothing?

Kind regards,
Radek

PS. SOrry, by mistake I've posted it in Campaigns instead of Painting section... Can someone move it please?

Looks like the airbrush was getting dirty, were you keeping the tip clean during use? I keep a jar of airbrush cleaner with a q-tip beside me, and constantly clean the tip when using acrylics. Also, I tend to go a little higher with Vallejo Primers, usually 22-25psi.

If it is smooth, as it looks, I would just move onto painting.

Kevin

I see this kind of pattern when too much fluid hits the surface and it starts to flow before it dries.

My advice is that try applying thinner layers, and give them a few seconds to dry before applying the next layer. Hold the airbrush at a bigger distance, use less thinner, lower air pressure, don't pull back the trigger that much. These are the things you can try and see what works for you.

One other thing came to my mind. You wrote that the problems started only after a while. Maybe the paint was sitting for too long in the cup of your AB and there was some pigment separation. This can cause that towards the end of your painting session the mix becomes thinner.

Hi,

@Kevin
yeah, I have noticed that Vallejo acrylics tend to accumulate on both needle and edge of air cap, so I try to clean them with aibrush cleaner (I use vallejo one) and distilled water (vallejo cleaner seems to me like it leaves the cleaned surface quite sticky).

I will continue with painting as you suggest. Surface looks fine and I will just put some light coats of rusty colours from Lifecolor as a base for my chipping effects. If it gets worse I will still have a chance to easily get rid of it if it goes wrong.

@Peter
thanks for info, that gives me some ideas. However, just prior the painting of turret I have completely cleaned the airbrush as the primer was accumulating too often on the needle and cap. So it was fully cleaned thing (thinner itself was also fresh in the paint cup).
You also said that I should reduce thinner. In fact I didn't use any, so maybe that was also a problem? I read that vallejo primers don't need thinning - but if I use lower pressures thinning a little bit would be an option.

Regards,
Radek

Radoslaw,I have had this problem when I have put too heavy a coat on when I first start priming.I have noticed that with the Vallejo primer if you do put too much on with your first coat you will get this result.

If you don't mind Me saying,I also noticed that the pictures in your post are small.If you right click on the larger picture that you have chosen that shows underneath the picture bar in your gallery to get all the options and do the picture thing from there,you will get a large picture in your post. Jeff T.

Thanks Jeff,

seems I really put to thick coat of primer with first layer. Well, another lesson taken

Do you know any other primer that is maybe more forgiving for a returning novice in model building (just a small info - I prefer using acrylic based products if choice is available due to small workshop I have at my home)?

Regards,
Radek

PS. thanks for tip with pics. I won't update those thou, cause the post was moved from other forum.

Radek,

I usually give it a mist coat first and since it dries very quickly go over it again right away with a covering coat. And even though you can spray it right out of the bottle I add a couple of drops of Vallejo airbrush thinner to each cup of the airbrush as I find it levels itself out a little better slightly thinned. Brush painting I use it straight.

My method is the same as James's.It works very well.

I have had very good luck with Tamiya's Surface Primer Fine light grey primer in the spray can,easy to spray,sticks like glue,does not fill in surface details,and sands well.The only problem with it is that it is laquer based and not acrylic.It is a little smelly.Jeff T.