James McPherson Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 I have been teaching myself to airbrush and have managed to get through 2 layers so far on my Plague Monks and they were looking really nice. I say 'were' because tonight I tried to do a final subtle highlight layer of Nurgle Green citadel layer paint, and I got really nasty speckled dots/chalky dots all over about 3 or 4 of them, and another one or two ended up pretty much covered head to toe in it! As its a citadel layer paint I thinned it down using some Vallejo airbrush thinner on a 1:1 ratio, until it was about the thickness of milk, and had my airbrush around 20psi. Not sure what went wrong but I've ruined a bunch of them so keen to try and learn why...did I have my paint too thin? PSI too high? I'm using a H&S Ultra 0.3mm and an Iwata Smart Jet Plus compressor. Had no problem with pre-thinned paints so guessing It's down to my inexperience in thinning them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsmith Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Did you clean your airbrush? My experience with thinning citadel layers is that they will eventually block up the end, and then it can sputter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James McPherson Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 well it was the first time I've used a citadel layer, before that I was using citadel air and vallejo game air, and yes I always clean it. Maybe something was clogged in there and stopping the air flow properly. I have cleaned it out a couple times tonight and have given up for now. I transferred all my Nurgling Green into an eydropper bottle, mixed in some vallejo Ab thinner about 1:1 and a few drops of retarder . Will give it another try tomorrow but on some practice sprues or something not so important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dez Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 That sounds like dry tip, which happens in long sessions especially if you are pressing and releasing the trigger a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James McPherson Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 it was happening right from the start though when I first added the paint, not 20 minutes into the session, and the airbrush had been thoroughly cleaned a few days before and left on the bench. I should've sprayed some water through it first or something to test it before I loaded it up with paint but I just assumed as I'd spent so long cleaning it , and the paint was well thinned down it wouldn't be a problem =/ Maybe my last cleaning job wasn't so good and some residue was still in there or something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dez Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Yeah I always test mine first, lesson learned the same way! The good part is airbrushing goes so fast that fixing the ruined ones won't take but a minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneMonk Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 i'm new as well. I try and spray on a napkin or carboard or gloved hand before to make sure you're shoot clear. I go through about 6 oz of water/cleaner mix between colors. Sorry to hear about the splotches. Any chance they are thin enough that you can spray over 'em? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James McPherson Posted July 9, 2016 Author Share Posted July 9, 2016 yeah I'm doing some repair work today! at least it was only 7 or 8 out of 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Hi James, Generally the "spitting" you get when spraying is down to two things, either: A - paint collecting on the tip of the needle or on the needle guard, air will loosen this and cause it to come off in little chunks B - much more common, the paint is too thick for the pressure you are spraying it through at. So options are thin paint further or increase psi. Both have their pros and cons. I would recommend trying to forget the "consistency of milk" idea. If the paint is behaving how you want it to then the consistency/pressure is correct. ( C - some paints just hate going through airbrushes! Often whites and metallics are a nightmare for spitting. I'd recommend just asking around and using the brand that people have success with) hope that's useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James McPherson Posted July 9, 2016 Author Share Posted July 9, 2016 thankyou for all your answers. In the end I went up from 0.2m to 0.4mm. it worked better with the PSI turned up a bit as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuneBrush Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 On 09/07/2016 at 5:59 PM, James McPherson said: thankyou for all your answers. In the end I went up from 0.2m to 0.4mm. it worked better with the PSI turned up a bit as well That makes a lot of sense, most people tend to struggle using a 0.2mm with most model paints. Citadel paints can be a bit of a pain and you'll need to regularly clean the tip of the needle - I leave the end cap off (though not all airbrushes allow that) to make it easier. Phil Stutcinskas tends to "wash" the tip down every ten minutes or so using Forge World Solution and blow some air back through the brush to make sure no clumps of paint have got stuck. Which is surprisingly effective! I would recommend to watch of some of the Next Level Painting tutorials on YouTube as they can be quite informative from the point of view of seeing how he deals with tip blockages etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James McPherson Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 awesome will check em out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dez Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Check out Vince too, he has great content https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgptSaRLvd1QH0SURdQNYgg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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