Harder and Steenbeck Evolution 2 in 1

Hi,
I have the above airbrush,had it for a while,but normally use an Apex airbrush. Today I decided to use the H and S for the first time. It has a 0.4mm needle and nozzle fitted, I was spraying Vallejo 71.028 which is model air sand yellow, I did not thin the paint( never thinned it using the Apex) as it should spray straight out of the bottle. Quite a bit of a job spraying,as the nozzle kept blocking,then working okay. Not exactly new to airbrushing or modelling, but should I be thinning the paint anyway? Ran some thinners through the airbrush no problems at all. Thanks.
Martin

martinfbrown said:

Hi,
I have the above airbrush,had it for a while,but normally use an Apex airbrush. Today I decided to use the H and S for the first time. It has a 0.4mm needle and nozzle fitted, I was spraying Vallejo 71.028 which is model air sand yellow, I did not thin the paint( never thinned it using the Apex) as it should spray straight out of the bottle. Quite a bit of a job spraying,as the nozzle kept blocking,then working okay. Not exactly new to airbrushing or modelling, but should I be thinning the paint anyway? Ran some thinners through the airbrush no problems at all. Thanks.
Martin

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If the thinner sprayed fine and the paint didn’t, I would be thinking about thinning the paint. Different brushes atomise paint differently. Some withe the same nozzle size will cope with thicker paint better than others. If the paint isn’t flowing, higher pressure or thinner paint should do the job.


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Cheers for that. The fact that the thinners r@n through the airbrush okay,did make me thing that I should thinning it a little. Thanks
Martin

Very few ‘airbrush ready’ paints flow great from the bottle and need thinning at least a little.
from what I’ve seen most of those marketed as spray straight from bottle use a large needle (.35+) and higher psi (35+) than we generally use for artwork or are ink
Always always always give the paint a good mixing, use a stirrer of some sort, they can get thick at the bottom of the bottle/tin/jar.
I’ll give whatever colours I’m about to use for the session a good stir while I’m thinking about what area of the project I’m going to attack. Put the lids on and then give a vigorous shake for good measure. Test spray at 15-20psi and gradually thin as needed

The Apex is a rebranded Badger Patriot. You can spray bowling balls through them if you can get them to fit in the cup.