Airbrushing question

[Greywolf74]

So I finally got around to messing around with my airbrushes for the first time and I have a question. When I press down (but not back) to start the airflow its spits a dot of paint before blowing clean. I'm assuming its not supposed to do that. Any tips as to how to keep it from doing that?

 

[Rolex]

Nope, it's not supposed to do that.
What airbrush are you dealing with?

 

[Phins Fan]

Depending on the brush your using you can adjust the engagement of when the paint kicks in. Sounds like its either a) a cheap gun or 2) you need to thread the airflow needle to a "leaner" position but again depends on the setup. Rolex or OLDS could probably help u best

 

[Greywolf74]

Its a cheap chinese job. We had a discussion on them about a year ago when i first bought them which you may or may not remember. The brand name is Veda. I bought 2 of them one is a bottom feed and one is a side feed. I'm wondering if the paint isnt bad though. When I poured it into the bottle it seemed awfully thick. and I did notice a couple of small clumps in the paint. I shook the paint as vigorously as I could and even tried thinning it out....first a little and then a lot. The one air brush which is a bottom feed (I believe a .3mm tip if memory serves) does it for sure. the other one I didnt really get a chance to tell after awhile of messing around with the bottom feed I did switch to the side feed (I wanna say this one was a .5mm tip) but it was sputtering the paint out so that if you try to paint a line there would be gaps in it. So I'm a little bit frustrated and just said to heck with it for today, I cleaned up my gear and put it up for today....Maybe I'll give it another whirl tomorrow with some differetn paint.

A couple more questions have popped to mine from today.

What size airbrushes should I have for painting RC bodies? I mean what are all the possible sizes that you would want in the long run. I've seen .8, .5, .3 and .2mm sizes so far. There may be more IDK.

If these airbrushes turn out to be complete crap I want to buy an Iwata. Which one should I get. I'm not overly concerned about the cost of it as long as it will serve my needs for years to come.


/sigh Phins.....you're killin me with these avatars bro
lol

 

[DawgNutts]

I have the Veda 180 and I think it works great. You may need to clean it or make some adjustments on the needle nut clamp. Which adjust how far back or forward your needle is. I have several other Veda brushes and have found that as long as you keep them clean and adjusted they work pretty good.

 

[Greywolf74]

I saw a video on how to setup your airbrush. It said to make sure the nozzle tip was good and snug as well as the core and then insert the needle until it stops and then tighten down the nut that keeps the needle in firmly. Is this proper or was the video wrong? I thgink my side feed is a Veda 183 and the bottom feed I think is a veda 134 but Id have to go home and dig out the boxes to know for sure.

 

[Greywolf74]

My local Michaels craft store has Badger airbrushes and 40% off coupons. I may buy a Badger and compare it to the Vedas and see the difference. i believe their Patriot line is a good line of airbrushes is it not?

 

[Rolex]

With a dual action you should be able to push the button all the way down without seeing any paint. The farther you press, the more air you will get till you reach the pressure you have set at the compressor.
Now, if you start to pull back on the button you will start to shoot paint. The farther back you pull, the more material you will release.
If you are spitting paint while just pressing down, the needle is not in the fully closed position and will need to be adjusted inside the handle.
Do that with just water in the gun so you don't make a mess. Once the needle is closed, there is another adjustment nut on the needle that limits how much material you will spray with full trigger.
You need to get familiar with the adjustments for using different types of paint.

 

[Greywolf74]

I am aware of those adjustments and I have the needle pushed all the way in and the nut tightened. I'm also aware of the limiter setting. I ended up getting the Badger Anthem 155. Seems like an all around good airbrush to measure the other Veda brushes by.

 

[Greywolf74]

What other airbrushes should I look at getting to compliment the Badger Anthem 155? Its a .5mm tip, Should I get a .3 or is it not really necessary? According to the Badger company they make it sound like it will draw pencil thin lines or can be used to fill in large uni-color area on an RC body too.

 

[ram69]

have you got a chance to use that brush yet?i just picked one up from ac moore marked down to 57.00.haven't tryed it yet but just curious if it was worth it or not.

 

[Greywolf74]

I have not used it yet but I can already tell the quality is better than the Veda brushes I picked up. You can tell the difference just looking at it, especially the tip.

 

[ram69]

let me know how it is.i was using a master g33 brush and was having a few issues but not sure if it was the paint issue or not so i picked this up on sale.before i open it i just wanted to get others opinions.thanks.

 

[DawgNutts]

I thgink my side feed is a Veda 183 and the bottom feed I think is a veda 134 but Id have to go home and dig out the boxes to know for sure.

I have several Veda airbrushes.
130E - I like it
182 - my favorite for big jobs
180 - my favorite for small detail stuff
134 - don't like the side feed on it
116 - haven't used it yet

I have only painted several bodies, but I have done lots of practice and testing on transparent overhead sheets. The only issue I have had is with the Createx white paint, the Spaz Stix paint sprays really nice straight from the bottle. I even did some spaz stix chrome on my last body and it came out to a nice mirror finish. https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1011094&postcount=25

Overall I'm happy with the Veda brushes and also PecoGlobal where I ordered them from. Shipping is usually around 10 days, but it's only $1 for the whole order. I still think I may have to buy a $100-$200 airbrush to compare them to (so far my 5 Veda airbrushes have only cost me ~$150), I'm just going to be pissed if I spend more money on a name brand airbrush and its the same quality.

 

[ram69]

hey man.i don't know if you ever figured anything about the spitting issue with your brush or not but i was reading something the other day and it said that if you release the air before stopping the paint the paint will build up on the end of the needle and next time you pull the trigger it will spit a dot of paint even if your just pressing down the air.don't know if this is your problem or not.it said to try keeping the air going even after you stopped with your paint.hope this helps.later.

 

[Greywolf74]

Ahhhhh it may very well be that I am doing that....I will have to double check I still havent gotten around to trying out the new airbrush...I went to do it this weekend but then found out that badger brushes dont have the 1/8in connector on them like the Iwatas do so I had to order an adapter. Waiting on the adapter so i can use the airbrush with my existing hoses and quick connects.