We've only just begun...

[adam_u]

So, it looks possible that tomorrow will be the first attempt I get to have a play about with my new airbrush and I was hoping to get a little advice from you very knowledgable painting experts of the forum :)

I have already been following a lot of the excellent advice given here and I have got hold of an Iwata Revolution CR, some createx paint, some RCS liquid mask and some 4011 reducer - which leads me to my first question...

What sort of pressures should I be looking at using on the airbrush and what sort of ratio should I be looking to thin the paint by? (ok so that was really two questions...)

Secondly, I really like the fade effect/colour transition done using some kind of perforated masking which leaves dots/circles of colour - IF that makes sense can anyone point me in the right direction of what could be used to achieve this? I was thinking the waste part of a sticker sheet of dots or something along those lines - am I anywhere near??

many many thanks in advance! :thumbsup:

[jonmiller]

I shall be stocking it very soon

as for pressures n ratios, it is an individual thing really and something you just need to experiment with

[gingapaint]

I'll second Jon with pressures and ratios. It'll vary for the type of work you're doing too. I'm constantly fiddling with the pressure adjust on the compressor, but never look at the numbers. A few hours of practise, you'll soon see what suits you and the situation best.

[bigred5765]

paint ratios i thin between 10/1 and 20/1 at That ratio I'm using 25=35 psi
but as Jon said thats not guaranteed test it first , as for masking best bet is to get one made again jons the man

[eyeayen]

Both thinning and pressure of air is a very personal thing.

Essentially you need the paint to go through the airbrush without spattering, thin it some more if it is OR up the pressure a touch, both will result in better atomisation, if you thin it too much it will spider across the job, so turn the pressure down. I'd suggest to get the feel of the airbrush get some thick paper or board and practice on that.

Play about with using it and see what you get, try and make an area of block colour so it's even. Try writing your name. Then draw lines with it so you have a noughts and crosses style gird, now you've got the grid try and put a dot on each intersecting line. Once you're happy with all that try it again on a cut in half lemonade bottle ( much cheaper to practice on than body shells ).

Because paper is porous though it's slightly forgiving, you'll notice you need to have more control on the plastic surface as obviously the paint can't soak in so it's very easy to go too wet.

Hope that all makes sense, post up if you're stuck on anything, i'm sure one of can help you out. Good luck :D

[adam_u]

Thanks for all the replies, I've been stocking up on the lemonade bottles for the past few weeks now so I'll be having a practice on those first before I move on to the real thing :)

[smarkham]

Another good thing to practice on is a sheet of glass. When you done playing you can clean it off with a razor blade and have another go :thumbsup:

[adam_u]

Finally put some paint to shell this weekend after a couple of weeks of sacrificial lemonade bottles and sheets of acetate - I'm reasonably happy overall for a first attempt (since a few rattle-can type jobs when I were a lad) but I know there are a lot of little errors which are really niggling me!

main problems I encountered were:

RCS chrome coming away with the liquid masking when lifted - this was probably the main one - maybe I sprayed it on too thick or didn't give it long enough to harden - any ideas?

Cutting the masking in hard to reach areas, such as the window frames, particularly the tops of the side windows :mad: Has anyone ever tried one of these fingertip knives? knifey (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SWIVEL-KNIFE-Fingertip-Control-Fiskars-/160713931840?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256b4bfc40)

difficulty in peeling off the liquid mask - I suspect I didn't lay it on thick enough in certain areas meaning it came away in tiny pieces - again :mad:

Drop shadows - bit annoyed about this as I thought I'd got better on the bottles but when the pressure was on to get it right on the shell I did them too heavy and I don't think I thinned the paint enough - it was a little bit spattery...

But it hasn't put me off! I want to try the same design again for my next shell and try to cut out all of the problems this time...

All advice/criticism greatfully received :thumbsup:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/6831804837/in/set-72157629205666497/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/6831806803/in/set-72157629205666497/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/6831807695/in/set-72157629205666497/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/6831805829/in/set-72157629205666497/

hmmm, pics not working... see here flickr link (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/sets/72157629205666497/with/6831805829/):)

[bigred5765]

that looks great mate Ive found the longer you leave the water based paint to cure the better it damasks,sometime a small trim around with a scalpel again cleans the lines back up, o and cut a std scalpel Handel down for the hard to get at places,

[cheekyscouse]

that's a top job mate :thumbsup:

[adam_u]

o and cut a std scalpel Handel down for the hard to get at places, hah! - obvious when you think about it! cheers :thumbsup:

[U1timate PigDog]

First I'd like to start with, I think it looks great :thumbsup: I love the chrome design youve put in there.

As for the chrome, chrome is a known to do that, really you want to be putting the chrome on last to lower the risk of lifting.

As for the knife, I just prefer to use the standard handle with a number 11 blade, but I have used others. Also got the twisty blade but never use it to be honest. Might try cutting one down to test but.....

Liquid mask I just apply 3 coats with a brush and leave overnight to dry nicely.

but if you did have problems there not showing as I said before it looks really nice and keep up the good work :thumbsup:

[AndyG]

on Flickr, you need to hit the "Share" button, then look for the "Grab the HTML/BBCode" bit ... then copy and paste the large lump of gumph from in there.

Just using "Grab the link" doesn't work.

Nice work btw too - very snazzy :thumbsup:

[adam_u]

Cheers for the positive comments :) Ah, I see, chrome down last, as opposed to the very first colour I put down on this shell :blush:

[jonmiller]

shell looks great buddy :)

chrome - most peoples problem is they lay the backing coats too heavy! 3 very light! mist coats of black is plenty.

mask hard to peel....put on too thin

[adam_u]

Thanks Jon, I'm pretty sure that will be the case with the chrome - I kind of went with the 'put loads on to be sure' approach, now I know for next time :)

[adam_u]

Finally did myself a new Shoot shell, must give design credit to Mike Parker - loved a set that he had done recently, and so it is 'heavily inspired' by his design ;)

Followed Jon's guidance for the RCS chrome this time and had no problems with it whatsover :D

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8004/7485885142_9c7eb87ff7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/7485885142/)
IMAG0439 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/7485885142/) by adamu25 (http://www.flickr.com/people/dafftpunks/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7485884430_75ffdb406e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/7485884430/)
IMAG0440 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/7485884430/) by adamu25 (http://www.flickr.com/people/dafftpunks/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8157/7485883844_1fd94fb635.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/7485883844/)
IMAG0441 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dafftpunks/7485883844/) by adamu25 (http://www.flickr.com/people/dafftpunks/), on Flickr

[RogerM]

Looks very good close up too ...