Brand new to airbrushing

[Greywolf74]

I have never airbrushed before but I've been watching how to vids and reading some stuff but the questions I have concern airbrushing lexan specifically.

1) What brand of paint(s) are generally considered the best to use?

2) Do you have to use some sort of thinner? If so with what?

3) if so what is an average mixing ratio?

4) what is a good PSI rating to start off with for just basic coats and/or fading?

Thanks in advance, I know thats like alot of questions all at once but I'm thinking they have fairly straight forward answers.

 

[Lessen]

1) What brand of paint(s) are generally considered the best to use?

• The most popular are probably Pactra Acryl and Parma Fascolor. These are both waterbased. I personally use standard Pactra paints but they are laquer based so it needs laquer thinner for cleaning and thinning when necessary.

2) Do you have to use some sort of thinner? If so with what?

• The above mentioned water based can be thinned with water but many folks use a little glass cleaner which I hear works well. Obviously the laquer based paints require laquer thinner for thinning and cleaning. The appropriate hobby grade laquer thinner MUST be used. You cannot go the economical route and pick up a big can of laquer thinner at Home Depot and expect it to work. It doesn't. It works ok for cleaning up but NOT for thinning to spray.

3) if so what is an average mixing ratio?

• Depends on multiple factors including ambient humity, spraying pressure and even color. I can tell you that Pactra Sprint White requires more thinning than any other color I've used. It's just one of those live and learn kind of things. Basically, you want it thin enough so that it atomizes properly and still makes a good bond to the lexan. Lexan paints do not simply dry on top of the lexan surface. It is engineered to bond chemically. If you thin your paint too much it will not bond well and will flake off badly upon impacts. Generally speaking you won't be thinning it very much. A few pipette drops per every 1/8 oz. or something like that. It took me a long time to figure this thinning stuff all out. I do not measure though, just kinda go with it.

4) what is a good PSI rating to start off with for just basic coats and/or fading?

• Most people will spray around 15-20 psi

 

[RC Addict]

The man knows what he's talking about. You need to check out some of his work!

 

[Greywolf74]

I'm sorry but what is a pipette? Is that those little plastic disposable eye dropper things?

So you add a few drops from the pipette thing and then I'm assuming you would test it on a piece of paper or something and you want it to come out nice and smooth without being like speckled or grainy or something like that but I'm assuming you also dont want it runny? Am I on the right track there?

 

[Rolex]

Yup, it's an eye dropper thingy.
Test on the same material you will be painting.
It's an absolute must to clean the area to be sprayed with soapy water, rinse very well, then clean with denatured alcohol before you paint. Make sure it's thoroughly dry.

 

[Greywolf74]

@Rolex (or anyone else that knows) So if you test it on the body and its grainy or to thin how to you remove the paint so you can start over again? I've heard of people using brake fluid to remove lexan paints but it seems messy and time consuming. Is there an easier way?

@Lessen (or anyone else that can answer this) What is the advantage to using the laquer Pactra over the acrylic Pactra and what is the draw back to the Laquer that makes the acrylics more popular? Just trying to decide which way I want to go when I start.

Thanks for the great info guys. I'm starting to feel like I have an idea how to start now.

 

[Lessen]

If you spray water based paints you can clean up your equipment with water. However, fully dried paint will come off easier with some sort of thinner. Also, if your spraying indoors you might prefer to spray water based paints due to the odor. I spray indoors but frankly don't give a darn about the odor because I like the way the laquers spray.

I personally dont' care for Fascolor too much. It's sort of thick and does not atomize properly unles you thin it fairly well and/or run higher pressure, but this makes it difficult to do detail work like fine blending and shadowing.

Pactra Acryl is much easier to use than Fascolor but I've only used it a little here and there but I like the way it sprays, very similar to the laquers without the odor.

The main reason I like the laquers is because I find it easier to cleanup my equipment. Laquer gets broken down by the thinner whether it's wet or dry. As I mentioned previously, the water based paints don't break down with water once they are fully dry (at least not very well). So if you have dried paint in your cup or in certain area on or in your airbrush, you may find yourself cleaning twice.

 

[Greywolf74]

Hmmmmm....sounds like acrylics would be cleaner overall but it sounds like laquer does a better job overall. Being in an apartment even with a spray booth it sounds like acrylics would be less of an annoyance to my wife and potentially my neighbors. I dont know how much the odor would linger in the air outside at the end of the exhaust tube if I were using laquers. However I'm tempted to say screw it and use laquers anyway. Ill have to give that one some more thought.

If I decide to go laquer I know I will need a respirator. I'm assuming home depot or anywhere that sells paint is a good place to get one but are there different kinds? Is there certain features I should look for in a respirator or they all about the same?

 

[Rolex]

Sears sells a respirator with double filters. It is so effective that you can't even smell the fumes no matter what you're spraying.
As far as testing on the same material, use scraps, not the lid. I always cut out the lids before painting, so there's lots of parts you can test on.

EDIT:
Not sure now if it was Sears. Might have been Lowe's or Northern Hydraulics. You can look it up on the net.
The brand is AOSafety and the cartridge labels say 8051 chemical cartridge for organic vapors.
Manufactured by Aearo Technologies in Massachusetts. NIOSH approved and made in USA.

 

[Greywolf74]

Cool thanks for the info guys!

 

[Rolex]

This is the one I have without the cartridges installed.
I can't even smell high powered lacquer thinner through it.

http://www.aosafety.com.tw/int/Product.asp?PageNumber=47&ProductCategory_Id=137&Product_Id=295

 

[Greywolf74]

Where did you order yours from? I dont see a place to order directly from their site and the only websites I've seen them on are sites I've never heard of. Price is pretty low though. I was expecting more than 18-20 bucks.

 

[Rolex]

I was looking around, and Ace Hardware also carries them.

---------- Post added at 4:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 4:44 PM ----------

Right here. http://www.shopping.com/aosafety-r5700-respirator/products

 

[Greywolf74]

sweet thx man

 

[Greywolf74]

So I've looked at pactra, faskolor, and spazstiks. I've read faskolor sucks so I'm curious what you guys think about faskolor. If the general feeling is the same about faskolor then it looks like the only 2 choices are pactra and spazstiks. Out of those two you can buy a 2oz. bottle of spazstiks for about 7.50 but pactra is only 5 bucks but its a 2/3 oz bottle. So is this difference in bottle size because you have to thin out the pactra and not the spazstiks? Thats the impression I'm getting. So if I'm correct I'm curious which one is is the best value. Which one lasts longer for the money?

 

[Lessen]

I don't think any of the top painters around here use Fascolor as their primary use paint. I'm not a big fan but wouldn't be against it depending on the application. Spas stick is really nice and easy to use.

 

[Greywolf74]

So am I right when I assume that spas stick doesn't need to be thinned. and pactra does? I'm assuming thats why the bottle sizes are so different?

 

[Lessen]

Not necessarily. Spazbottles used to be smaller. Spas does not need to be thinned though, that's nice.

 

[Greywolf74]

So if you run into the small spas sticks bottles those may need to be thinned? Not sure what you meant by "not necessarily".

Also I would appreciated other painters opinions on the types of paints they prefer for painting RC bodies.

 

[Lessen]

Sorry. I mean that bottle size doesn't necessarily determine the need to thin. All spas is ready to spray right out if the bottle.