Had my first play

[VintageRacer]

My mask and paint arrived this morning, thanks Jon for great service (not sure how I managed to order 2 bottles of orange though, my fault, not yours).

Lesson 1: patience!
All things considered, I'm fairly pleased with my first attempt (practicing on scrap lexan cut offs). I don't think I waited long enough for the mask to dry and my blade was already used so not as sharp as it should have been which meant the mask was dragging a bit when I cut.

Also didn't let each paint coat dry properly and managed to put my finger in the red leaving a finger print mark with no red paint and a couple of red finger prints in the white!

My biggest concern was getting the pin-stripes thin and parallel and considering the above problems, I'm happy with the outcome.

Now I've got to fix my compressor :cry: Somehow managed to shear off a brass coupling when I was disconnecting my air hose. It must of been brittle as it snapped of very easily and it's left a piece in the thread that I can't get out Grrr.

[U1timate PigDog]

As long as your enjoying yourself I wouldn't worry too much about it,

Its a good idea to keep a hairdryer handy (or heat gun) to help dry liquid mask and paint between coats.

I usually lay down the liquid mask in 3-4 coats hairdrying in between and then leave to dry over night to make sure.

When painting I just lay the paint in thin coats, hairdry in between and then keep going.

This procedure works really well for me and hopefully might help you a bit.

Keep up the practice and you'll be flying in no time, post a few pics up of any scrap work you do and we'll be able to see how your getting on and offer any tips as appropriate.

youtube is a really good start for looking at how to's and i really like the airbrush tricks tutorials by Tony D.

good luck

[gainsy]

As long as your enjoying yourself I wouldn't worry too much about it,

Its a good idea to keep a hairdryer handy (or heat gun) to help dry liquid mask and paint between coats.

I usually lay down the liquid mask in 3-4 coats hairdrying in between and then leave to dry over night to make sure.

When painting I just lay the paint in thin coats, hairdry in between and then keep going.

This procedure works really well for me and hopefully might help you a bit.

Keep up the practice and you'll be flying in no time, post a few pics up of any scrap work you do and we'll be able to see how your getting on and offer any tips as appropriate.

youtube is a really good start for looking at how to's and i really like the airbrush tricks tutorials by Tony D.

good luck

+1 on all the above
Also check out Jon's how to guides on the rcs graphics worx site, well worth a look
http://www.rcsgraphicworx.com/howtos.htm

[VintageRacer]

Ok, hopefully this isn't too embarrassing! I am happy to accept constructive comments.

The red-orange fade turned out too red and I didn't put down as much blue shading as I had planned.

[gainsy]

1 thing the pro guys have taught me is to have a white piece of paper under the shell so i can see exactly how much paint is going down, it will help you no end with fades :)
Not bad for your first go buddy, just got to be patient with that mask & let it dry overnight
On to the next one :D

[U1timate PigDog]

Agreed not bad at all, really well done for a first and like you say, you know what you need to do next time for the fade, not sure which order you layed the paint but putting the orange down and then fading into the red will ease the blend (in my opinion) and will make a redish orange on the tip.

Like said a piece of white paper will help you see how strong your putting the colour on. but looks like it wont take you too long to get upto a good standard, really good start :thumbsup:.

[VintageRacer]

Second attempt yesterday.

I used a new blade and the mask had been drying since the first attempt so that cut much better, however, whatever I did when I fixed my compressor, didn't work properly. Previously pressure would rise to around 40psi and drop to around 25 whilst I was using the brush. Now it falls to 0 very rapidly and stays there until I stop trying to paint, making spraying almost impossible. Not sure what I've done.

I've indicated the part I broke with an arrow in the first picture. To fix it I've removed the handle which was a hollow pipe for the air to flow to the pressure gauge. I couldn't reuse this easily as it still has the broken piece in which I couldn't get out. Mine now looks like the second picture.

I am wondering if the small amount of pipe was acting as a small air tank and thought fitting an air tank might help? Or is there something else I might have done?

[eyeayen]

Is the 2nd picture ( like your one ) actually an image from their site or just something you've mocked up ? If it's the latter and they don't sell it like this maybe there is something there, that said I can't believe that as that would hold next to nothing.

So, my theory would be that you can regulate the pressure. On the adjuster it's possible to turn it to zero spray pressure, essentially when setting any air pressure you need to depress the trigger so max air is coming out the brush and then adjust the dial to your desired pressure ! I'd guess somewhere between 30 & 60 psi. The adjustment didn't used to be the handle did it ?

Hope you get it fixed !

[VintageRacer]

The second picture is a photoshop mock-up. There is no adjustment on the handle, it is (was) simply a steel tube with threaded ends. There is some sort of adjustment on the pressure gauge. I'l have a fiddle with that and see if it helps.

My other, more worrying thought, is that whilst trying to remove the broken brass, I attacked it with a drill and I'm wondering if I managed to get some swarf in it where it shouldn't be and damaged the diaphram. Might take the cylinder head off and take a look if I've done something silly.

[U1timate PigDog]

Have you tried holding the trigger down (full air on the airbrush) then turning the dial to the desired setting say 25psi ??

Thats the way I set my airbrush to the pressure I need but it does sound like you have a problem, I'm not sure if that model has a tank either?:confused:

[pro4nut]

Check the diaphragm first they are quite sensitive.
Also check your one way valve to see if it is damaged and allowing the air to reverse flow.
Diaphragm compressors do tend to puff so the pressure tends to pulse, the pipe in the handle before the regulator would have helped to reduce this effect this and allow the pressure to be a little more constant. So you could replace this with a spacing pipe.
Did you use ptfe around all the joins to ensure a good seal? Put a little water and washing up liquid over the joins and see if you get any bubbles.

A reserve tank and secondary regulator can make a big difference but by the time you have spent the money you may be better off with a bigger rotary compressor with a reserve tank built in.

[VintageRacer]

Taken the head of the cylinder this afternoon, all looks in good order. I did use PTFE tape around the joints. The only adjustment available to me to reduce the maximum pressure available however regardless of setting the pressure still drops to zero when I use the airbrush.

I've emailed Clarke parts dept. to see if they can help.

[pro4nut]

somewhere in the system in front of the diaphragm there is a one way valve this may be the source of your bother if you can find it!

[VintageRacer]

Sorted it!

I got the following reply (very quickly I might add) from Clarke:
Removing the handle should not have any adverse effects on the pump, though you may notice more pulsing at the airbrush.
Your description indicates the pump is not moving the volume of air needed for the airbrush so I wonder if something happened to the head when you removed the handle, I think the diaphragm stroke has been compromised, try re torqueing the head bolts.
Fingers crossed as I can't think what else it could be!Reassured that the removal of the handle should not cause any problems, and as I don't have a torque screwdriver I looked for other problems in the changes I had made.

I dismantled all the joints and reconnected them and it works as before.
I think what had happened was that I had tightened a joint too tight and squashed a rubber o-ring in there too much, obstructing the air flow.

Still dropping a little lower with extended use than I would like (down to around 17psi) but it recovers quickly again now and I was using it OK before so it should be alright for a starter set-up.

I'll see how I get on and maybe treat myself to something better in the future.