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[dougal99]

I use a Badger 350 with Revell air brush paint and a compressor. This all works for me except when I use Gloss paint. It's OK(ish) for quite small areas where I can get a lot of paint on evenly but when I try to spray anything of any size I get a matt(ish) finish with spots of gloss. Apart from resorting to aerosols is there anything I can do to improve the gloss finish ?(which is not wanted on many occasions)

Cheers

Doug

[ian kennedy]

Hi Doug

What solvent/thinners are you using in your gloss paint?

If you are using acrylic paint Tamiya thinners are the best, and if you are using any oil based enamels a high quality thinner like refined white spirit or special spraying thinner available from good model railway shops will be better.

The reason for my above suggestions are that normal household white spirit is just not pure enough to give an even high gloss when the solvent evaporates from the surface.
This could be the cause of your problems also how big a spray fan/pattern do you get from your Badger 350? This has a huge effect on the quantity and even coverage of paint applied to the surface.

As with all spraying methods multiple light even coats are the best way to get good results, as a rule i apply about 5-8 coats of top coat over a well sealed smooth primed surface.

I hope this helps i will try to answer more if you have further questions/info etc.

Ian

[bigford]

sounds to me like your paint is drying as it hits the surface

stavros is the paintmister he willknow for sure ::)

[Stavros]

Thanks Bigford yes I will agree with you on that.there are so many variables on this,the following can all affect the gloss on any subject
1 Wrong thinners
2 Pressure to high or to low
3 Temp,humidity
4 Gun set up
5 Paint viscosity wrong
6 Gun help to close or to far away
7 Oil in the air line(common problem)
8 Primer not dry enough
9Too many coats applied at once
10 Poor cleanliness
All this mentioned above would have a dramatic effect on the finished article food for thought I think



Stavros

[dougal99]

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm using Revel airbrush paint which is supposed to be ready to airbrush, so I would expect the thinners/viscosity to be correct. I have tried various pressure settings with no apparent effect. I can see no oil in the airline and using matt/silk paints I have no trouble. Oil would affect everything would it not? I have better results holding the gun quite close but it is the too easy to get runs. It may be that the brush is too basic, but I am loathe to upgrade with my current abilities.

So I suppose I keep practising

Doug

[Bunkerbarge]

I suspect that you are using an airbrush set up that either does not have an accumulator with the conmpressor or uses gas canisters.

Either way the more you spray the more the pressure drops off.  My money is that you are using gas canisters in which case the pressure drops as the canister cools and the gas drops in temperature, thus affecting the temperature of the paint as it hits the surface.

If you are using gas canisters you can help this by putting the canister in a bucket of warm water and if it is a compresor without an accumulator then you should use some form of accumulator.

The best solution anyway is to invest in a proper compressor with a built in accumulator.  Silent ones are superb but start at about 250.00 pounds but you can get more normal ones for round about 100.00 to 150.00 pounds.  Either way you will struggle with pressure if you do not have a set up that guarrantees the pressure is regulated and consistent.

[dougal99]

  My money is that you are using gas canisters in which case the pressure drops as the canister cools and the gas drops in temperature, thus affecting the temperature of the paint as it hits the surface.

Bunkerbarge, good job I'm not a betting man or I'd take your money, in my original post I said I was using a compressor.  However, thanks for taking the time to provide input.

Doug

[Bunkerbarge]

Missed that bit but does the compressor have an accumulator?

[Stavros]

Dougal 99 may I place a bet that the paint has not been stirred up properly or there is a fault in the paint,have you tried brushing an area to find out if it dries patchy


Stavros

[dougal99]

Bunkerbarge,

Yes it does have an accumulator but only a small one, perhaps a bigger one would improve things.

Stavros,

I've had this problem with various gloss colours and I do mix them well. As they are allegedly air brush ready I give them a good shake and stir them for a couple of minutes.

Thanks again

Doug

[Stavros]

Doug can you do me and you a small little favour you must have some household paint lying around thin this down with white spirit and test spray something and let us know the results.If this dries patchy then you DEFINATLY have a compressor problem



Stavros

[dougal99]

Stavros,

I'm not sure I have any paint that's less than 5 years old, if I have any at all. I'll check and if so do as you suggest.

Doug

PS the compressor is only 18 months old

[Stavros]

Does not matter on the age of the paint anything will do for the test.Maybee it is only 18months old BUT we have just had a 2month atlas copco costing over 5k go down the swanny last week in work.Try it and lets see what it does.if you are afraid the paint is too old then down to B&Q etc and get a tester pot of any GLOSS colour!!!!!



Stavros

[dougal99]

I have done as Stavros suggested and got acceptable results (I probably over thinned the paint but still got a consistent gloss result). This indicates to me that, for whatever reason, the gloss Revell airbrush paint I was using was not the correct mix. I have used one or two gloss colours with the same results. Moral: mix your own.  :-\

Doug

[Stavros]

Glad thats sorted we got there in the end,I never trust pre mixed paint!!!!!!!!!!!!



Stavros

[barriew]

I have done as Stavros suggested and got acceptable results (I probably over thinned the paint but still got a consistent gloss result). This indicates to me that, for whatever reason, the gloss Revell airbrush paint I was using was not the correct mix. I have used one or two gloss colours with the same results. Moral: mix your own.  :-\

Doug

I've used Revell airbrush paints without problems, BUT only matt

Barrie

[dougal99]

I have done as Stavros suggested and got acceptable results (I probably over thinned the paint but still got a consistent gloss result). This indicates to me that, for whatever reason, the gloss Revell airbrush paint I was using was not the correct mix. I have used one or two gloss colours with the same results. Moral: mix your own.  :-\

Doug

I've used Revell airbrush paints without problems, BUT only matt




Barrie

I do't have a problem with matt only gloss   :'(


Thanks to all for their input and a special mention to Stavros - all the best for next week sorry I can't be there to annoy you   

Doug