Craft Acrylic Spraying Problems - What's this stuff in my paint?

[Miatatom]

I'm slowly getting the hang of acrylics. I'm thinning it using Future 1:1 with the paint. Just before shooting this model, I sprayed another body light orange and it came out fine. Cleaned the A/B and shot some red and it seemed to be spitting the paint out. Would not spray smoothly and seemed to be clogging the brush. I let it dry, sanded the spots off, mixed the paint again very thoroughly (I thought) and shot some more. Same problem. Seems like the paint has tiny clumps in it or something. It's not specks of dust. It's hard to see so you might need to click on the pic to see the specks.

Am I not getting it mixed enough? Bad bottle of paint? Throw it away and open a new bottle? What say ye?

[Monty]

From what I've read, acrylics can cause problems by drying on the tip of the needle, impairing the airbrush's ability to spray smoothly. Check the business end of the needle first.

[Miatatom]

I repeatedly cleaned the tip while painting. Also thinned the mixture from 1:1 to 1.5:1 (Future to paint). Also upped the air pressure from 25 to 30. Nothing helped. This particular color seemed to always "spray dry". I'm going to try again tomorrow morning. I'll get it but I could sure use some suggestions. I'm thinking I'm too far from the model. I'm shooting mist coats at about 6-8".

[Guest]

Try using something different than future for thinning your paint. I've got those specks when I dip my windows in it. My theory is that it comes from taking the lid on and off of the future causing the dried future to crumple off and fall down into it.

[Miatatom]

That's a really good theory, Roger. I used Future when I sprayed the orange and didn't get this problem. Maybe some sort of filtering system would eliminate that issue. I previously used water/alcohol with some flow aids and slow dry stuff as a thinner. Might switch back to it and see what happens. The thing I really like about acrylics is the ease in stripping it off. At this point, I need it!

[bobthehobbyguy]

You could also try straining your paint before spraying it. That would get rid of any material you don't want.

[Monty]

You could also try straining your paint before spraying it. That would get rid of any material you don't want.

Perhaps something like this would help. http://www.micromark.com/in-jar-paint-strainer-for-paasche-airbrushes,9121.html

[Miatatom]

Thanks for that suggestion. It was something I was thinking about as well. I just shot some more color a couple of hours ago. I put pipe screens in the little 2 oz. bottles I got at Michaels and filtered the paint as it went into the cup. Came out pretty good. Thinned the paint 1:1.

[sbk]

I'm not sure about using craft paint on a body. I use it on interiors, but to me, it wouldn't seem like it would dry hard enough for a body. There are still a good range of color choices in acrylic paints like Testors, Tamiya & others. I think that those need less thinning to shoot properly with good coverage.

Straining the paint is a great idea & I do that, too. I put a piece of pantyhose over the jar when pouring in the paint.

Edited February 10, 2015 by sbk