I painted the big areas on my Dragon Tiger 1 today. Now I know that we do this for fun, but somehow, for me airbrushing always seems to be a desperate business, & so it proved. It goes something like this...

Get out the paints & airbrush, airbrush box is of course buried under a pile of leaflets on the garage shelves which have to be found a home for first. Plug in extension cable, as compressor cable is about 3" too short to reach socket. Open paint, it's gone solid of course (Humbrol). Remove skin, pour & thin paint. Now we're ready to start. Do the inside first, gosh this is going well, I'd already put a black undercoat over everything the night before, & the red brown "primer" is dusting on nicely, leaving a pre-shaded effect. OK, lets try the off-white in the turret. Clean out airbrush, making sure plenty of turps goes a) all over the bench (misses tank amazingly), 2) all over me (that's OK removes the paint all over my hands, 3) into the toolbox on the floor by the bench. New tins of paint, mix an ivory colour, spray inside of turret, holding it by gun. Right, now let's try the outside. Clean out airbrush again, same performance with turps. Out with the Dunkelgelb. Funny, nothing coming out of the airbrush. Turn up pressure. Very small amounts coming out. Hmm, paint too thick? Thin paint. Still nothing much, then it stops altogether. Increase pressure again. Still nothing...Ahh a new twist, air hose has come out of union on compressor. Aghh! Trim back hose, jam it in again. Need some tape to hold it. The black tape is in the bike electrics tool box in the cupboard over the work surface. Clamber up, get box, soldering iron falls on my head. Get the tape out fix the hose. Surely the paint has dried in the nozzle by now? Clean nozzle, get spray going. (All done in a panic, in case the airbrush gums up!) On goes the paint, just the turret to do now. What? Oh B*****! The muzzle brake I was holding it by has just fallen off! Hang muzzle brake on bit of wire, finish turret. Spray muzzle brake, paint spray blows it off wire onto floor! Scrabble on floor, find muzzle brake, knock off dead leaves & spray it again, etc etc.

By the end my hands are bright yellow & I'm in a total lather. And I do this for fun...?! It was even worse when I used the old propellant cans. They always ran out in the middle of the job, then it was out with the box of old ones, shake them all, try the one that had the most in, three rummages & changes of can later the jobs done.

I don't know if everyone has an experience such as yours. but I pulled out the ol airbrush the other day and my story went something like this.

pulled out the bottle of Model Master Armor sand I decided to basecoat my LRDG truck with. Poured about 1/3 into another bottle.. thinned it.. sit it to the side.

took my airbrushing box out from under the bench (don't have a spraybooth) and sit it on the front porch.

Pulled the aircompressor out from the bottom of my shop tool box and took it outside and plugged it in..

Opened my drawer where I keep my trusty Badger 360 and related supples and attached my bottle of thinned paint in siphon feed mode.. took it outside and hooked it to the compressor..

Took some index cards and tested my airbrush, adjusted the pressure slightly. but as amazing as it is I managed to thin it just right the first time.

Took my LRDG truck and some assorted parts out to airbrush. Sprayed one side of the assorted parts first. Sit those aside. started with the bottom of the truck. getting into the tight areas first. let everything dry for a bit and every now and then test spraying my airbrush on some index cards to keep the paint from drying in the brush.

Then sprayed the other side of my misc parts.. flipped the truck over.. sprayed the tight area's inside the bed and cab first.. then the exterier. After ensureing everything was basecoated, and no runs in the paint. I took the paint off the airbursh and sealed up the remainder for later.. spent about 10 minutes cleaning my airbrush and putting everything back where it went so its ready for next time...

All in all I must say my latest airbrushing adventure was a fun and rewarding time..



btw this post is just to give the other side of the coin... back a few years when I started airbrushing I had many an experience such as yours. ..

Surgical gloves work wonderful to prevent having to clean your hands, also prevent your body oils from contaminating the paint surface.

I agree with the glove idea. I prefer the vinyl gloves. Also after 25 years of using an A/B I still run into issues. Usually my fault.

Did the same thing yesterday and today... both days the bottle fell off (my fault) and hit the concrete basement floor. Bottle did not break - the cap w/ siphon feed did (the second one was my brand new, never used backup). Twice in about 12 - 15 hours.

Sign from the BIG GUY upstairs - Paint w/ brushes?


N E O