I was browsing AK’s site for the retarder and while checking paints I read: „Our acrylics are manufactured by AK Interactive and are made with a formula that prevents clogging in the airbrush.”

Will see, I know I need to keep on trying as this is a learning process just like any other.

Thank you for all the feedback and of course keep them coming if there’s any more.

Happy modelling!

Adam

I'm able to shoot AK, AMMO and all Vallejo Model Air colors through various brushes (H&S, Badger, Iwata)from .4 down to a .15 needle without having to thin or use of a retarder. My pressure setting is between 12 and 15 psi for un-thinned paint and can go don as low as 4 to 6psi depending on what and how much I thin. I shoot between 3 and 4 inches away from the surface.

For larger ...and longer applications, a flow improver can certainly help ease the pain of the drying tips. Water-based acrylics like these just have it in their nature to dry both on the needle and around the inside of the tip building up until it clogs.

One big help, without having to resort to the retarder and flow improver is keeping a soft bristled paint brush damp with a little thinner handy when painting. It takes a second every so often while painting to quickly swipe the brush across the needle. This will remove the majority of the buildup allowing you to keep going. I would also suggest on long sessions, when the cup empties, take a couple minutes and swipe the tip, and flush some water and/or thinner/cleaner through the airbrush. This will keep things working great in between full breakdown cleaning of the brush.

With regards to paints like AMMO, they are designed to be applied in thin, built up layers until you have the desired effect. A continuous spray will cause the acrylics to build up quicker in the tip. This will not happen in a solvent based acrylic, like Tamiya, where he solvents effectively clean the tip as they pass over through it.

Turn the pressure down, thin if you must...1 drop to 4 or 5 drops of paint.....with flow improver (Vallejo's) 1 drop to maybe 10 drops of paint....avoid constant spray for long periods and try the wet brush trick....it helps a bunch!!

Thanks Todd,

I was cleaning the tip with a brush quite often, and it helped but only for a while and gave me even more sporadic results, since after cleaning the flow improved dramatically: it flooded the surface (I mean the paper towel I shoot at first).

I had no chance to try again but at least I have placed an order for AK retarder and also Vallejo's flow improver.

I can only assume that one of my mistakes was that when I wanted to switch from priming to details, I screwed in the needle adjuster (instead of lowering the pressure considerably), thus leaving less space for the paint to flow.

I also read on other forums that black is a kind of "heavy" paint, so I will try other colors as well.

First thing I will try is just unthinned paint with lowered pressure right from the start.

I have read many complaints of tip drying when painting details but also seen beautiful works so I am sure it should work after a few tries.

Cheers,

Adam

Hi Folks,

Did my experiment today.

Retarder and flow aider are really good against drying on the needle. Also noticed that this drying and the unwanted splashes come more often when painting thinned and with low pressure.

As for priming, the first very light coat is a bit tricky to achieve (to have it thinned enough but also to cover without forming drops/deposits on the surface). After that, normal (lightly sprayed) coats worked pretty well, unthinned and at around 18 psi.

As for normal colors, I still need to run some turns but I am optimistic.

I think my overflooding issue was caused by using a 0.4 AB and fully pulling back the trigger.

Today I used my good old Chinese 0.3 AB, with the needle adjuster screwed in a bit.



Cheers,

Adam

Amen Tojo!! I think it is absolutely assinine that we have to buy one or two other products to make a paint usable. The manufacturer already charges premium prices for what is already supposed to be a superior product....just dumb.

Again, this is not "assinine", if you buy and use an airbrush, you can expect to have to buy other products to be able to airbrush paint. If you don't want to have to buy other products, don't airbrush.

We have a difference of opinion and that is ok. However, if a company is making a product for airbrushing is it unreasonable to expect it to be ready to airbrush out of the bottle without adding two additional products to it?

Keep in mind that different climates change the way paints perform. In Spain, tip dry might not be as big of an issue with certain paints.


For what it's worth, I have never encountered an acrylic paint that did not dry at the tip. Nature of the beast with acrylic paints.

Adam,

You don't mention it anywhere...what are you thinning with?

Any paint can be airbrushed out of the bottle using the right air pressure and airbrush. But if you want to have control, you need need to change the consistency to match the required pressure and air brush. Also not all people use the airbrush the same, people will need to adjust to their own style of airbrush. I have absolutely no expectation that any product marked as airbrushable from the bottle will not need some sort of change to consistency to match my style of painting.

Hi,

I am using Ammo thinner, even for the AK paints.

However I've heard the two are not really the same.

Regards,

Adam

Tamiya paints do spray right out of the bottle. Of course I premix them and put them all in 30ml dropper bottles. Makes all my Tamiya paints as convenient as Ammo, AK, or Vallejo. Pour a 23ml Tamiya in with some X20a and a bit of retarder add a ball bearing and voila you can use Tamiya straight from the dropper bottle.

Yep, I was also toying with the same idea - just need to learn how to mix proper colors

It's not because of the brand, it's because of the nature of acrylics . There are many factors considering when spraying them- environment, air pressure, thinning, nozzle size etc.