hi guys

after since i've switched to using an airbrush, i found that i've been using much more paint than painting with a brush...

i've used about 3/4 of the paint from Tamiya's 10 ml (the small one) bottle to base coat my 1/35 panther A tank...

is this normal? or am i using WAYYY too much paint?

Check your air pressure. It should be about 15-20 psi. (sorry, I don't know the metric equivalent in kg/cm2). Ar eyou thinning the paint? You should be able to bet a good cover on any 1/35 tank with less that a color cup of thinned paint. Is teh needle set properly or is it too far back alowing too much paint out at a time? (remove the rear of the airbrush, loosen the lock nut for the needle, push it as far forward as it wil go andtighten it up. Replace the rear.

hi, thanks for the quick reply

yes, i've thinned the paint; with plain water.

from your reply, i'm guessing its my air pressure..since i'm using a cheapo compressor...it doesnt come with a pressure regulator...i think i'll go back and get an external regulator and try it out...

Danny from my personal experience, I use a lot less paint, than if I was using a brush, and even less since switching over to top feed airbrushes.

darn..i guess i'm really doing something wrong then..

could be that i dont have a pressure regulator...(think its this problem)

could also be my painting technique? i use a dbl action abby and i adjusted it so that the abby will hit a larger area and i placed my abby quite a few CM away from the model and spray...could this also be the problem? the trigger is about half-way back...

I would say that most definitely, your problem is too much air pressure, and witout a regulator, it is impossible to tell. A regulator is a must have!! Aquire one, reduce that pressure down to 15-20 PSI and see if it gets better. I would bet dollars to donuts that it does!

To add one more tidbit.. the tendency with an AB is to want to spray more, when all is coated fine...overkill leading to runs! "Still some in the cup and I need to finish it off" syndrome. NE1 new to an AB has probably done this! Best thing to remember is ..less is better.

As a general rule air atomized spray painting is about 25-35% efficient. This means on average two thirds of the paint never makes it to the object being painted. It is the nature of spray painting. The trade off is the appearance of spraying versus brushing.

Hi guys

i got a pressure regulator and i have some questions

when i switched on my compressor the regulator reads 30 PSI...but when i push the abby trigger and when the air comes out..the metre reads 15 PSI....hmmm so i am spraying out 15 PSI all these while ?? (note that i did not change or adjusted anything, i just fit in the regulator)

since i'm spraying at 15 PSI all those while...means that i'm wasting paint while spraying at 15 PSI!!!! weird! so i dont think its the pressure problem then?

Hi SpiritEye,

I'll take a stab at this. I think the pressure that you would be interested in is the pressure you measure when holding your AB down. This is the actual pressure since there is no work performed when you don't have the trigger pressed down.

I'm new to this site and I would have to say am new to the hobby (trying to rekindle the young boy in me) but I adjust the initial pressure with the trigger down.

My two cents,
Vern

You are experiancing line loss. Adjust the pressure at the regulator while triggering the gun to the preferred pressure. This will be the pressure at the gun.

Hope this helps.

Danny I noticed you say you thin with water, I would get a proper acrylic thinner if I were you Tamyias own is good or Isopryl alcohol cheaper but it works they tend to evaporate quicker and dont stain.

Thanks for replying...

my problem actually was.... i did not thinned the paint enough.. i was thinning the paint at about 20:80 ... water : paint.. lol...

now i thin the paint 50:50

well...i'm thinking of investing in Tamiya's own thinner.. but does it smell?

Tamyia's thinner has a pleasant order.
Smells like---- soapy alcohol.

I use rubbing alcohol to thin my Tamiya acrylic and found it to be better (and cheaper) then the Tamiya thinner.

Cheers
Cliff

I do the same here!