I sat down yesterday for my first real session of airbrushing. I loved every second. I bought a small car kit to assemble to practice with all around, including airbrushing and so far I don't think I've managed to really screw anything up very bad. I'd like to say what I did, what I discovered, and then let you nice people beat me over the head with what I did wrong. For starters, I used apple barrel craft paint that I thinned with windex with ammonia. (Later yesterday after a brief search I discovered that this Future floor polish stuff works better apparently, or at least is more recomended. Will be hopefully picking up some today if I can find some.) I started with I around a 2 oz. mixture of paint, laying it out at 10 psi. At first I found that when I had the brush closer than 3in. from the body, that it would push and smear the paint. But I think this was because I was allowing WAY to much paint to accumulate at one place. I also had a few problems with drips in some areas, again I blame it on the above.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE SOLUTION- Once I thinned it out it was very runny anyway, so seems that I was just laying the paint too thick. I think that part of me was expecting to get it done in a single coat, hence the reason I wanted to lay it down thick. But once common sense caught back up with me and I realized that I could get much better looking layers I was able to back off of the paint, and (duh) amazingly no drips, no runs and the color was starting to get much more even. Plus just by holding the brush over the area I just painted with air only it helped dry it in seconds.
Secondly, seems to stem from the problems of drips, but on some areas of the model, some seem to be a little bit darker than the rest. I tried going over these areas several times with light coats hoping that they would blend in, but it didn't seem to do much. My guess is it's where a drip has dried, and therefore thicker paint in the area. Is there a simple way to mask or blend these area's without taking the paint off and starting over?
Next problem I've noticed is dust and hair. I live with 2 long hair cats and 1 long haired wife, so there's plenty of stuff floating around and on everything. It's not that bad, but I did pull a few hairs off while the model was drying and they left small indentions where it was. Also small dust particles are also present that are embedded in the paint. I'm not sure how to get these out without damaging the majority of the paint job. Again, any thoughts on the cure, or the prevention of these would be appreciated. I did the painting in my garage, and I know there is all sorts of stuff floating about in there.
But overall I'm pleased with my first real use of my airbrush. Thanks mainly to reading the FAQ's and forums here. I try to learn from other peoples mistakes when I can, but there aint no substitute for learning like screwing something up yourself
I know more ways NOT to AB than how too, but it's all a learning process and I've been enjoying every minute (granted a few have been more frustrating than others).