When I airbrush, I have to do so outside in the garage. Is it possible to achieve a good spray since it is winter now?

Hi Andrew,

I have to airbrush in the garage as well and do it during winter quite often without a problem (other than those I cause myself).

I use a kerosene heater to get the space to a comfortable temp before I take the model, paint and airbrush out to the garage. I've got plastic sheeting up to keep the heat from rising too far and I've even installed a ceiling fan to help out with circulating the heat. It can take a few hours to reach an appropriate temperature and can be impossible to do if the outside temp is very cold and windy.

Good Luck!

Scott

Hi Andrew!

I think the drying time of paint is much longer when it's cold (and much faster when it's hot)... other than that I don't think there is a problem...

Jean-Luc

One of my rattle cans recommends spraying at temps above 50 F. I assumed it had more to to with chemical reactions -- Paint -- carrier -- surface than drying times.

I've got a cold garage, I was thinking about having everything ready indoors, taking it outside (garage) and trying to spray quickly before the paint and plastic cooled to about 40 F. Maybe it's not as bad as I was guessing.

Andrew, I was wondering the same thing. I tried doing a bit of spraying earlier--since the weather in Cleveland has warmed up to the high 20's--but I couldn't get any paint to spray out. I tried thinning it further, opening the paint valve on the brush more, and even upping the pressure from the compressor, but it still came out spotty. Part of the problem for me has to be the equipment (I am desperately overdue for some new paint jars), but there's just no way I can think of to paint in the garage in winter. I wish I had a spray booth...

howdy..

I have tried to airbrush outside when its cool and have found it much harder to get a proper paint flow.. I've researched that the reason is that when paint is colder it increases the Viscosity.

Viscosity - The property of liquid which enables it to resist flow.

i.e. the colder the paint the harder it is to flow through the airbrush and this also affects the atomization of the paint out the spray nozzle.

I've personaly found that I get the best results when the overall temps are between 65F and 80F..

laters

04090
Hi Andrew
i am like you i have to spray in the garage but i found
that when you have sprayed your afv or plain i
take it into the house to dry off try that
yours cyril.

Huh? over 65F? restrict my spraying to 2 months a year?

But seriously, if it's too cold, I don't paint, or model for that matter,
but my house (in the Midlands, UK) is always cold.

Personally, I have to paint outside. Not "in the garage" outside, but outside outside. Rattle cans don't work well in the 30s, but the airbrush works fine. I just pop my color jar in the microwave for 10 seconds. Drying time is about 10 minutes instead of 30 seconds.

I'm in the same boat so to speak. Have to paint on the balcony, so far I just used the Tamiya spray cans but I'll give the airbrush a try soon.

Any tips? I'm using Tamiya acrylic paint diluted with lacquer thinner.

Cheers,

Christophe

I bought a cheap electric heater from Argos. I put it on about 2 hours before I'm due to start painting.

Won't work on an open balcony sadly...

Cheers,

Christophe