Completely new to this!!

UnknownTitan

Young Tutorling
Hello everyone I'm completely new at this, I have some equipment compressor, air brushes and some paint ( acrylic and enamel). I know I need a few more things like a in line air regulator and a moisture trap. I plan on painting some model kits and miniatures. Any and all advise welcomed.
 
Welcome aboard from Australia.
Where do you call home ? - If you pop that info into your profile then we can refer to it if we want to suggest local suppliers. just a country and general area is enough unless you want stalkers at your door lol

if you compressor has a regulator you probably won't need an inline one, unless you plan on running 100ft of air line, in which case one near your desk would be recommended.
A moisture filter is also highly recommended especially if you live in the warmer areas.
If you plan on using a couple of brushes then a quick connect makes life easy - changing brushes without one can be time consuming and sometimes hazardous to your brush (high risk of dropping)

We can suggest many ways to spend your hard earned cash, but we try and recommend good quality stuff and try and steer you away from wasteful purchases (like many of us made through trial and error on our journey)

Is you brush a brand name one or a generic - no we don't look down on people with generic brand brushes but sometimes they are a bit hit and miss and knowing what brand is sometimes needed for hoses - some brands like badger or Paasche are threaded differently so adapters are required.

enjoy scrolling through the forum, we recently added a miniatures/models section so feel free to post pics in there or miniature model specific questions.. it looks very empty in there at the moment :)
 
Welcome to our forum, JackEb has asked most of the usual questions, I can second her words, have a good read, there's plenty to find in the sections to help you along the way. If you get stuck and cant find the answer feel free to post a thread to seek the answer. If we can get you sorted we will.

Lee
 
Hey all thanks for the warm welcome I'm from CT US, the twoatwo brushes that I have are from harbor freight a dual action and a single action both siphon feed looking into getting a gravity feed other than that no sure if there if I should clean the air brushes prior to first time use, any particular cleaning solutions for enamel and acrylic paints.
 
Welcome aboard from NY. Your question on cleaning solutions depends on what paints you are using. Enamels are solvent based, so would need a solvent like a mineral spirits paint thinner.
Acrylics are generally water based. Some can be thinned with just water, but look at the manufacturer's recommendations and use their thinners/reducers and their cleaners to start with. You'll have your hands full just developing skills with operating the airbrushes. Save experimenting with homebrew stuff for down the road.
In either case, wear a paint mask with filter for organic solvents. You don't want to breathe in the paint or thinner fumes for either acrylic or enamels and especially urethanes paints.
 
Welcome aboard from NY. Your question on cleaning solutions depends on what paints you are using. Enamels are solvent based, so would need a solvent like a mineral spirits paint thinner.
Acrylics are generally water based. Some can be thinned with just water, but look at the manufacturer's recommendations and use their thinners/reducers and their cleaners to start with. You'll have your hands full just developing skills with operating the airbrushes. Save experimenting with homebrew stuff for down the road.
In either case, wear a paint mask with filter for organic solvents. You don't want to breathe in the paint or thinner fumes for either acrylic or enamels and especially urethanes paints.

Thanks for the info currently I have a testors enamel with a thinner, and a few master models acrylics. Currently I only have siphon feed brushes but looking into a gravity one I believe it's master airbrush G233
 
If you get the g233 and it has multiple size needles and nozzles be very aware. Its common of nozzles breaking off when changing them so be very careful. If you can afford to spend more I would, especially if you think you will like airbrushing. Get a feel for how things work by using what you have.
Use the double action as its the most widely used. Start with the acrylic as its easier, give the airbrush a clean / blow through with either the same brand reducer as the paint or with a solvent reducer then some water to get rid of the solvent. Reduce/thin your paint to the thickness of skimmed milk and practice. Plain printer paper will be ok or the back of old wallpaper for a larger area to work on. as its a suction feed start at about 30 - 35 psi and go from there, you may have to increase or decrease it to get the flow right. You will need less psi with a gravity feed. Main thing is to practice and learn your paint and control of the airbrush. once you have that you can experiment more.

Lee
 
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