Yeah, I'm from Stanwood, WA. We roll like that. ;)

 

Jenna, you were 21 once, just not lately. LOL

 

I can pretend I'm 21 online, damnit.

Okay, so the airbrushing experience wasn't all that fun.

First PITA thing was the propellant. I think I shall demand my father, the gift giver, gets a compressor. For what little we did, I think we used up a lot of that $14 can... and I thought we were doing good with closing the valve when we weren't using it too.

Second was the paint. We have these little bottles of Acrylic paint. I think we are supposed to thin them down a bit with water? The bottle says to use Tamiya paint thinner... whatever. I put some water in it and they seemed too thinned out.

Different sized tips. Okay, so I switched it. Can the tip and aircaps be interchangable? If not, how do I figure out which one goes with what since I messed it up?

We didn't successfully change the spray to fine, little lines. I thought changing the tip, whatever, would of done this.

Clogged or something. Eventually, no color was coming out but air was. This is where I got frustrated and we cleaned up.

Cleaning up... we didn't have pipe cleaners and stuff. And the cleaning up instructions were pretty lame. I just took some pieces apart and cleaned them.

I told my son that even though we had a failed attempt, it was good that we now know what we need to learn. I almost believe myself, lol.

 

Jenna/Son,

That sucks. Sorry to hear that it was such a PITA. I compressor is for sure the way to go. Make sure that you have a good water trap on it though. If not, it will introduce water into your paint and ruin your mixture.

Paint,
Acrylic paint is good to practice with but you will need to thin it. Water is OK to use but the paint should be the same consistancy as milk. It sounds like you had the right idea but maybe used too much H2O. Try mixing it in a dixie cup first and pouring that into you airbrush. I know some artists that use Fantastic cleaner as thinner. It seems to evaporate faster than water. There are some great INKS out there that don't have to be mixed and may be less frustrating. Createx says that you don't have to thin their stuff but I do anyway but not nearly as much as Acrylic paint. Experiment and do what worx for you.

Tips,
What size tips do you have and what airbrush do you have? Name and model. I MIGHT be able to help with sizes. Maybe!@#$%^

Clogged,
If this happens, what you have done is dried out the tip. The paint has dried out inside the tip and clogged the opening so paint can't flow. Everyone does it and you are not doing anything wrong. Just look at the tip and remove the dried paint with a fingernail.
The spray or pattern will only be as small as the airbrush is designed for. There is nothing you can do to get it smaller but change brushes. This is the same as any painter. you can't paint any painting using one brush. IS the airbrush single or dual action? Push down for air, pull back for paint?

Clean up,
This is my least favorite part of airbrushing. You did just what you should have done. Take it completely apart, clean every part, put it back together. Make sure that you don;t use Q-tips or any other cotton, It will get caught in the little places and ruin your airbrush. I use water and a plastic brush like a toothbrush. I take it apart and put the pieces in a dixie cup to soak and so I don't lose them. Clean them all and put it back together, run some water thru the airbrush just to make sure I got all the paint. Some people run a touch of oil thru just to make sure nothing rusts. If you do this, make sure you clean it out before you use it next time.

Fun huh? Good luck and keep him going on it. Before you know it, he'll be able to paint and clean it up with his eyes closed.

 

Thanks for the tip. I just got off the phone with my father (gift giver) and it sounds like he'll get a compressor for it. I'll be there for the purchase and make sure we get one like you suggested. That and the automatic on/off, that seems like a good idea too.

I'm going to eBay Createx and see what's doin' with that paint. My father already plans on taking my son to purchase a bunch more paint... if they have that brand, we'll get that instead.

Paaschs VL97245 Double Action.

I did look at the tip and I didn't see anything blocking. I even had air coming out, just not paint. I didn't screw around with it very long though.

But I can change the spray size a little bit, right? I have 3 different tips and aircaps (listed as 1, 3 and 5 and I don't know if that means sizes, lol). I'm concerned I mixed them all up because a particular tip comes packaged with a particular aircap. I mixed up some of them, lol. Oops.

Oops, I used a Q-tip. I think I managed to not mess it up though and will not use it again, lol. I was worried about rusting, might look into the oil thing.

Oh God, I hope so! I showed him that "how to" link you gave me and we looked at the dragon projects and it got him excited. He kept asking me how to do it but I think that "how-to" is more geared to the person who knows a bit about airbrushing to begin with. I see that a lot of people paint their drawing in white and then just do an overlay color of some kind that changes the white color.

I really need to buy a book like linked earlier in this thread. I think after I finish this post, and my nachos, I'll see what's good and buy it.

Thanks a bunch for your time and effort in helping us. I/we appreciate it tremendously!

 

for the air coming out but no paint... some times you gotta mess with how much the paint canister is screwed in to the airbrush...

its like blowing on the top of a pop bottle... hit the right angle/distance and you get a note... off just a hair and you end up with nothing more than a head ache...

 

Thanks Kekai... I will remember to check that if it happens again.

My father just said he got back from some shop and that air compressors and parts were $300 for a decent one. After I let him give me the "I know they're not jerking me around" spiel about pricing and what we'd need for a decent machine, I told him what was on eBay which had better specs than what he said and at a $80-$100 price tag.

Am I right or what?

 

i'll take "or what?" for a 1000 please

 

I'm not right?

Everything my father said a proper compressor should have, was listed in these auctions that were 1/3 the price of what the "proper" one was at the shop he went to. Actually, the eBay ones were better, PSI wise.

C'mon, edjumicate me!

 

lol... probably right

 

Jenna, I have a donation to make to the cause...

I have a complete Front bumper for my xB sitting in my barn. I caught a critter and tore the lower skirt loose. There is no front visual damage, just the mounting points for the skirt to bumper were damaged.

Anywho... I was sitting here reading through all the post and got to thinking of all the money your kid could make with that skill. You've already provided the tools, he just needs some real materials to practice on.... What would be better than a white front bumper (other than a white hood, which your not getting...lol)...

So there it is... If you want it, I can make sure it comes up on one of the trips I make to Washington in the coming months. If you don't, I may just sneak it up and ditch at your house anyways.

"hey, there's a bumper in our lawn"...

 

Singleshot, I think that's an okay idea, lol. Either way, we have the storage space for such a thing for until he's ready.

We haven't seen any evidence of airbrush talent quite yet... I want to be with him to show him how to set it up a few more times before I let him loose... and we're almost out of propellant which seems to be worth it's weight in gold.

Perhaps I'll force my father near the computer and buy a compressor off eBay today. Yeah... I'll have to call him and get him here.