Michael, Could you give me an idea about how much pressure and about how far from the model you hold the air brush. I have a Badger single action model with the jar on the bottom. I tried 15 lbs. then 20 lbs. and settled on 25 lbs. The paint was still a little mottled but will be ok on what I am doing. I tried the water thinning method and the alcohol method and the alcohol was somewhat mottled but seemed to covered better. I just need more practice.
Thanks Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: Scale S Only To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 11:02 AM Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Re: paint GOOD ADVICE! Bill Winans This started with a question nobody has answered: how do you make a terrible finish with water based acrylic? Depends on why it looks terrible. If it looks rough, mottled, extremely flat, etc, it is probably because the paint is drying before it hits the model. Acrylics dry much faster than lacquers and other solvent based paints. I hold the airbrush closer to the model and I use higher pressure when spraying with PollyScale. I use distilled water for a thinner. I tried alcohol, but this makes the paint dry even faster. It is easy to have the paint dry as it travels from the airbrush to the model, which actually can create some interesting weathering finishes, like dirt on the lower edges. The thing people don't usually realize about acrylics is that "drying" is not what you want, you want the paint to polymerize on the model, and it actually has to be wet for that to happen. It's like concrete, you want it wet while it hardens, but you also don't want to trap water under the paint. It is tricky, but so is any painting. Practice, practice, practice. (I teach piano for a living.) If it looks bad because the paint is uneven, not covering well, it is probably too wet when hitting the model, usually because the brush is too close, maybe because it is thinned too much. Worst case of this will cause buildup in corners, maybe even runs. A classic mistake for beginners is putting too much paint on, although I think Rusty will say that most people put too little on. Practice, practice, practice. Dick thought I might have said how to keep the brush from clogging. If it was I, I guess I would have said (1) I use an external mix airbrush, a Paasche Model H for all water based acrylics, (2) I never use paint more than a month old, (3) after I spray paint, I never allow more than about 20 seconds before I spray distilled water through the brush, (4) I disassemble the airbrush and clean it for each color change, using an unhealthy amount of lacquer thinner. -Michael Eldridge -San Jose -Temporarily working on other people's models, due to go to the paint shop Saturday if all goes well (yeah, right, like it ever does). [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
