The Little World

I am new to airbrushing but not that new. A couple of tentative years under my belt. I’ve gone from stark terror to grudging acceptance. Reminds you of married life, doesn’t it?

The first airbrush was a cheapie from Metro Hobbies, but complete enough to have three separate needle/nozzle/housing options included. They are stated as being .02, .03, and .05. I’ve no idea whether they are accurate measurements – I just think of them as small, medium, and large. It is a double action gun with a fixed top feed pot.

My friend Warren bought me a maintenance kit from Tamiya and I have a lot of little brass wire filaments, so the brush is clean and working all the time. What is uncertain about it is the dilutions and the air pressure for the three nozzle sizes. I’ve looked on YouTube and experimented and have come to some conclusions:

a. .02 is good for small camo and lines, but painful when you want to do any large coverage. Pressure of about 10 on the gauge is about right for this.

Note: the gauge may not be reading in psi or Pascals or anything. It might be measuring metric chickens. All my settings are empirical and sometimes the empire strikes back…

b. .03 is the most generally useful. It can cover paint for most small models and when controlled from the rear screw limiter is soft enough for weathering and dirt applications on larger scale cars. It can spit faster at a higher pressure of 15 and the paint can be a tad thicker.

c. .05 is a rather crude needle. The nozzle seems fine, and can throw a thicker paint without clogging, but you can also get spattering if the pressure isn’t up to 18-20.

I am reserving this gun for acrylics.

The second airbrush was a smaller kit – only one nozzle and needle – but it does have three interchangeable gravity-feed pots and is a trigger gun – and it has a much better .05 nozzle. This can make it a good choice for cars in larger scales – still not up to the coverage that you can get from a rattle can, but infinitely more controllable. I am using it to apply the Humbrol clear and satin coats and will probably reserve it for the rare times I’ll use enamels. Must do that, as I have a number of pots to use up.

The third gun was a sort of mistaken purchase – I wanted something bigger than the .03 when I had just one gun, and the .08 nozzle on it was appealing. It’s a trigger sort used for car spraying and has a massive pot on top. It also needs the most air – about 22 on my dial.

It uses up paint quickly, but as it will throw barely diluted acrylic and has a big fan pattern, it is the brush of choice for 1:18 scale buildings. I daresay you could respray bicycles, lawn furniture, or the car bumper with it if you were keen. It does rather overpower the spray booth fan. An outside gun, and don’t point it at the washing on the line…

The little disposable pots that I discovered in the kitchenware shop were not there last time I called, so I took a punt on a stainless steel drink jigger from India – a whole $ 2.95 purchase – and the small part of it is perfect for most mixing jobs. I score wooden coffee stirrers wherever I can so the Little Workshop is reasonably frugal.