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I am new to airbrushing completely! So heres the skinny, I bought a harbor freight air brush compressor and airbrush kit. (God, why did I do this?) I have watched COUNTLESS youtube vids on this subject.. but its not working properly. I had to buy a regulator, because this one didnt come with one. I installed it but its not perpendicular to the compressor like it should be, it wont tighten any further and I am afraid it will strip. So the regulator is off to an angle, not straight up and down. Then on top of that the thing cycles like every two seconds on then off, even when in use. I set the reg at 25-30 PSI which is normal and recommended for thinned down paints. But that leads me to my next question... the double action syphon feed airbrush provided with the compressor looks the part but I think it SUCKS! It doesnt seem to wanna spray continuously. It spits. Plus I cant seem to thin down vallejo accrylic..I used Testors Aztec Multi use acrylic thinner and it doesnt seem to work..I NEED HELP BADLY! I bought the compressor a while back and so I cant return it..I dont want to be at a lost, but I will buy something better if I can get some proper recommendations. I also am thinking of purchasing a gravity fed Paasche Talon. IT seems everyone is using Gravity feeds. Any help would be DEEPLY appreciated. Thank you. Happy Modeling! 

P.S. Here is what I boughtcompressor.thumb.jpg.33c58aba8a24211a125

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The compressor should be fine, it will cycle quite often due to the small tank, but will be more than ample.  I know nothing about the AB you have, but i have had the same Paasche airbrush

for over 25 years, and only replaced an o'ring and a hose recently, so i will highly recommend Paasche.

As for spitting, it sounds like your paint could be too thick maybe, or if your using the jar, try the cup, i find the jars are a bit temperamental.

Can't help with the paints either, i only use auto acrylics. You could try a different thinner though. 

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You will have some grey hairs at the beginning. Do not worry, that is normal. Once you pass the trial and error phase and develop your own feeling and skill, you will enjoy the fun.

You made the right decision to go for a decent compressor directly. Air/Gas cans and lousy weak compressor would have caused you a great deal of frustration. Personally, I would have started with a cheap, external mix brush. They are simple to use, simple to maintain, and easy to understand why they work or not.

The problem as you describe looks like thick paint, and probably clogged air brush. Try to dilute the paint gradually in SMALL steps. Once the paint is thin you can almost never get it thick again. After each step of thinning increase the pressure until it starts spraying. Continue the thinning/reducing pressure iterations until you get a satisfactory spray: not runny thin, not spitty, and not strong that blow everything away. Fine results should be obtained around 28-35 PSI (depending on the airbrush) and spraying distance 20/25 cm. The spray should "fall" on the surface. Circulation of the spray means you are either too close or using high pressure.

Remember, it does not mean the paint is thin because it does not cover the primer. This can be corrected by additional layers. It is thin when it starts to run or looks like someone spitt it. Another thing to remember, airbrush does not mean a flawless glossy finish, rather, an even and homogeneous paint that will be glossy when polished, but to be polished, it must have a minimum depth (4-8 layers, depending on paint technique).

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Good advice. I have plain Badgerr single action ,and it took a while to get used to it. That should be a nice set up you have there. I use the biggest needle size available for my brush. I use a cup all the time.I shoot enamels mostly . Even if I use paint from a rattle can,I still have to thin it. Get some white poster board and practice on that. Good luck!

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A few tips:

- without a tank your compressor will cycle continuously 

- a siphon feed airbrush needs more pressure than a gravity feed to get the same result

- when adjusting your pressure,  try with the trigger depressed and adjust while air is flowing. Your gauge will show a higher pressure when no air is flowing. 

- also, I don't not think you can get more than 10-15 psi continuously without a tank from those small compressors 

- Vallejo paints tend to clog the airbrush quickly and need constant cleaning/flushing when spray degrades

- are you using Model Air or thier Game Color (or similar). Any vallejo  with air in the name is ready to go, thier others are very thick and need to be reduced quite alot.

- practice with different air pressures and paint viscosities  (thinner/thicker) until you find the sweet spot for your setup

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I think a lot of your issues are addressed well above. Just want to add that your air pressure seems a tad high for car modeling. High pressure works best for fine detail, very thinned mixtures. Large coverage areas like with most cars, 15-20psi is as high as I go, and I tend to spray closer to 17-18.

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Ok, you made a purchase of gear that will likely work but  it is not the top of the line for airbrushing gear. Like someone else above has said, the airbrush is likely clogged with thick paint or dried paint. Clean it thoroughly first. A hardware store should have some fittings that will allow you to reposition the regulator and tighten it  up. The most critical thing about using an airbrush it the mixture of the media, the paint. Too much thinner and it will run, not cover well and give poor results. Too little thinner and the paint will spray poorly, leave a dull, rough finish and make airbrushing seem like a waste of time and money.

A couple of tips that I have learned along the way, when buying an airbrush make sure it is "solvent" proof. That means can you clean it with strong solvents like lacquer thinner. If it is not solvent proof, the seals and other parts of it will melt in the solvent. Not good. The little compressors like the one in your picture are not that much fun to use, they are very noisy and the thing must run constantly while painting. It is hard to maintain the exact same pressure at the airbrush because the compressor is likely not able to keep up, it pulses as a result. Plus the loud noise is distracting. Gravity feed airbrushes are designed for illustrators using inks, not for model painting with paints, which are thicker. You can get a different nozzle and needle for paints but as a general rule, gravity feeders come with small nozzles and fine needles to use with inks. I for one, do not use one and prefer the quick change of bottles. Do not think that a particular type of airbrush is the solve all that will turn paint jobs into works of art.

My personal recommendation for a good setup for a beginner is a Paasche VL  set with all nozzle/needle sizes included, under $100. A silent compressor with a small air tank is a huge help. I recently bought one off Amazon with a regulator, a small tank built in and it is nearly totally silent. I can paint all day without any distracting noise. Cost me $100, shipped. A few things I consider important for successful airbrushing is a good cleaning kit of brushes and some spare seals. The biggest thing to a good paint job is good paints. While there are great paints available today, some require a lot more skill and experience to use. The mixing is critical and the thinners are very specific for a particular paint brand/type. Try so me pre-thinned. airbrush ready paints, that way you can see what results are possible without learning the thinning process. You can learn to mix paints and thinners as you go. A good rule is to use thinner made specifically for the paints. Such as Testor's Model Master enamel and Testor's Model Master thinner, directions are on the thinner can for general guidance.

Have fun and good luck!

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Sometimes I think we have a bit of a tendency to over complicate air brushing.

This is my set up.

Has been for over 25 years.

No tanks, no traps, no regulators.

Just a simple compressor with an inexpensive Badger siphon feed single action brush.

Has worked just fine for me for a quarter century.

I've thought about all the goodies over the years & the only thing that I can come up with that I may like to add would be a simple gravity feed brush for small jobs so I don't have to mix as much color & clean jars.

Other than that, this is all I really need.

I get perfectly good results with it.

 

Steve

 

 photo DSCN4762_zpsd0q2vuhx.jpg

 

 

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Just want to add a few things about the airbrush and compressor ,  I use that compressor, have been for three years now, while its not perfect, it does work and as long as you keep the psi in the range that it can handle, there is no pulsing , yes, it stays on constant, but its not very loud, in fact, my paintbooth fan is louder then the compressor.   Anyways,  I am ready to replace it now , as it starting to reach its EOL, and I will move on to one that has a tank. 

As for the Air Brush, I used that very same A/B for a few years, and its a work horse,  I never had one problem with it, or parts breaking on it,  and in fact,  I bought a Passche VL to move up in the world, and I had nothing but problems with the POS VL, in less then six months, I had parts breaking on it,  the hose also broke,  it was a frustrating experience with the VL.  I have since move on to Iwata.

My point is this,  while that set up may be cheap, it will work good for you, and is a good entry level air brush system.

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Everyone has an opinion on airbrushes. I started with a Badger Patrior 105. Retails for over $100 but I got it for $45. I figured it must be THE airbrush for me. I had moderate success with it. After much reading I bought a Paasche H siphon feed and love it. Simple, easy to clean and inexpensive and works great.

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Thanks everyone for the insight. Like I wish I could post a video of what the compressor is doing, because its cycling every two seconds and gets really hot, I mean scary hot. I am in an apartment and its annoying and I dont want to disturb my neighbors. So from what I have gathered I will be purchasing a compressor with a tank, that way its not constantly cycling and getting overheated. I will also be getting the Talon TG-3F set. I build more than just cars, I also do sci-fi (star wars) armor, and Air planes, so I think it will be the best route for that. But I also was using Vallejo model colors and like mentioned, it is pretty thick.. I couldnt get it to consistency of milk without over filling the bowl. Syphon is just too messy for me. I need a cap. So whats a good medium to thin Vallejo Model Colors? The ones in the white bottles. talon.thumb.jpg.88161d98a4494116c267bd5c41gZJntHC1L._SL500_SS125_.thumb.jpg.99c7

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I couldnt get it to consistency of milk without over filling the bowl.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but are mixing the paint in the cup/bottle for the airbrush itself? If so, that might be part of the problem, as you may be getting ticker paint that's not properly reduced in the bottom of the cup. It is always best to mix your paint in a separate container, then transfer to the cup/bottle for the airbrush itself. Dose cups/Epoxy missing cups work very well for that.

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Correct me if I'm mistaken, but are mixing the paint in the cup/bottle for the airbrush itself? If so, that might be part of the problem, as you may be getting ticker paint that's not properly reduced in the bottom of the cup. It is always best to mix your paint in a separate container, then transfer to the cup/bottle for the airbrush itself. Dose cups/Epoxy missing cups work very well for that.

Yea I was mixing in the bowl, like I have seen done in countless vids on Youtube, but I was just thinking that i probably should mix them outside to really see whats the consistency is. Thanks. 

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First, return the ab and compressor to Harbor Freight. It is a cheap setup. The return time is within 90 days?

 

Visit the web site for TCP Global (Tri City Paint). Lots of great information and airbrush/compressor packages. Something to give you an idea of what to buy.

This is the Paasche VLS dual airbrush  system I have.  Been using it since 2006. The compressor includes the air tank. It is QUIET and kicks-in (cycles) at long intervals.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/ABD-KIT-VLS-SET-T.html?sc=113&category=2776787#.Vqf1cfkrKM8

Also visit the Paasche web site to research airbrush's, compressors, accessories.

http://www.paascheairbrush.com/

Airbrushing takes practice. Lots of great advice in the previous posts.

 

Harbor Freight return policy 

http://www.harborfreight.com/customer-service-return-exchange.html

 

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Thanks Larry for the info. Unfortunately I think the compressor purchase was more than 90 days, but it was also purchased with a universal gift card. Not sure how that would work out. I can get the Talon for $99 off amazon. About thirty dollar cheaper than directly. I gave the the HF AB a good thorough cleaning and practiced thinning the Vallejo paints in a separate bowl.  This helped, but still not quite satisfied with the functionality. 

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There's nothing wrong with the HF setup, other than perhaps the lack of a tank for the compressor. I use them myself without any problems, usually spraying enamels and lacquers.

Even without a tank, it still works just fine,  as long as you keep the PSI in 15-25 range, you dont really need a tank.

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Thanks everyone for the insight. Like I wish I could post a video of what the compressor is doing, because its cycling every two seconds and gets really hot, I mean scary hot. I am in an apartment and its annoying and I dont want to disturb my neighbors. So from what I have gathered I will be purchasing a compressor with a tank, that way its not constantly cycling and getting overheated. I will also be getting the Talon TG-3F set. I build more than just cars, I also do sci-fi (star wars) armor, and Air planes, so I think it will be the best route for that. But I also was using Vallejo model colors and like mentioned, it is pretty thick.. I couldnt get it to consistency of milk without over filling the bowl. Syphon is just too messy for me. I need a cap. So whats a good medium to thin Vallejo Model Colors? The ones in the white bottles. talon.thumb.jpg.88161d98a4494116c267bd5c41gZJntHC1L._SL500_SS125_.thumb.jpg.99c7

I use that same airbrush and have had excellent results. 

I recently used Vallejo Model Color on a tank build (see my desert Sherman in "All the Rest"). I thinned the Vallejo with Testors acrylic thinner. I found it doesn't like to be thinned as much as say Tamiya or MM Acryl. I used the .32 needle and tip in my Paasche, but next time I spray Vallejo, I will use the .5 needle and tip.  I added a drop of Vallejo "Retarder" as well. I live in the dry dry desert and need all the working time with acrylics I can get. It worked like a charm.

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I use that same airbrush and have had excellent results. 

I recently used Vallejo Model Color on a tank build (see my desert Sherman in "All the Rest"). I thinned the Vallejo with Testors acrylic thinner. I found it doesn't like to be thinned as much as say Tamiya or MM Acryl. I used the .32 needle and tip in my Paasche, but next time I spray Vallejo, I will use the .5 needle and tip.  I added a drop of Vallejo "Retarder" as well. I live in the dry dry desert and need all the working time with acrylics I can get. It worked like a charm.

You have the talon? Sweet! That will help! I just watched this video, which explains exactly what you just said! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PM0C4xCu_4

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