Sprayguns over airbrushes

[aurfalien]

Hello,

I've been watching some of Paul Budziks videos where he mentions spray guns being a better choice for scale modeling then air brushes.

His reasoning is very logical and compelling.

So I was curious if any one agrees and how you adjust your spraying for things like Splash Plaints, True Color etc... which specify air brush needle sizes and PSI.

[El Roberto]

Hmm, I must have missed that. However I've seen a lot of his videos talking about air brushes and how to use them.  

I've found that spray cans work ok for things like painting the chassis, but if you're not real careful you can bomb the model making it look like it was dipped in a bucket of paint.  I do use Tamiya spray primer.  

[Pete J.]

I have an Iwata LPH 50.  This is one of the guns that Paul talks about.  I bought it when my Badger crescendo died.  At the time I was painting a 1:12 Porsche 935 and needed something that could put down wider swath of paint than the largest airbrush.  As it happened that there was a seminar at a paint shop that a friend worked in and he talked me into going.  The presenter happened to be Craig Frazier!   He used the gun to show us how to do art work on cars.

  Well, I was hooked and got one with all three tips and needles. I've had it for quite a while and use the heck out of it.  I like the fact that it works at a very low pressure and puts out a consistent fan pattern.  It did take me a while to figure it out though.  The trick is that you have to have two pressure valves.  One on the compressor and one on the gun.  The compressor needs to be at 40 PSI and the gun at 13 psi when the needle is open.  The down side of this gun is that it uses a lot of air.  A silent airbrush compressor just won't keep up with it. Neither will a small tank-less  compressor , thus the reason it is a HVLP(high volume low pressure). 

The gun can be had with any or all three tips .4mm,.6mm or 1mm.  Selecting the right one is dependent on the dilution and type of paint you are spraying.  The .4mm tip will spray down to a 1/4" and the 1mm up to 4".  To give you an idea for the versatility of this gun, I used it three days ago to paint the trim for my kids house.  I was spraying Sherwin-williams Sherwood lacquer for wood.  It did an outstanding job.  

Just to be blunt, it is not for everyone and should not be bought as your only brush. It is great when you have to paint large swaths and can function as at smaller airbrush.  I can paint 1:24 scale car bodies with three passes(one across the top and one on each side with overlap) but it takes practice and I would not suggest doing it the first time on your contest entry.  It does take a slightly different process but  you get use to it.  Of course the other down side is that it lists for $500 with one tip.  It can be had for less than $350 with careful shopping.

 FYI I also own a Tamiya HG, and an HG fine and got the old Crescendo refurbish and use all of them for different things. Hope this helps!

[StevenGuthmiller]

You can kind of kill 2 birds with one stone by purchasing one of the "trigger air brushes" like the Creos PS-390 that I purchased some time back.

It operates like somewhat of a hybrid between an airbrush and a spray gun.

It functions much like most airbrushes, but with the ease of a trigger like a spray gun.

No button to try to get used to air/paint feed, and with the "fan spray" tip, you can get a nice wide pattern for painting bodies with minimal overlap.

 

 

 

Steve

[restoman]

I've been using my mini HVLP guns for years. Old habits and all that... 30+ years of 1:1 car painting makes it much more comfortable in my hand and mind than an airbrush.

My favourite is an ooooolllllld MAC tools copy of a SATA mini, with both a .6 and a ,8 tip. 

Air pressure? Just enough to get the paint out of the gun with a droplet small enough to flatten out quickly.

I've used it for enamels, single layer urethanes, bases, clears (all automotive paints), latexes, acrylics, & water borne finishes.

I use my airbrush for smaller stuff like chassis work, engines, interiors... where the need to keep it all wet and not worry so much about melt-in isn't as great.

[aurfalien]

Thanks for the feedback, it helps quite a bit!

I'm going with the Creos 290 as I'm sure that's what Steve meant.  I've been eyeing it for a while now and might as well pull the trigger (pun intended).

I still have my H&S Infinity which is a great art work type brush that I've used on my models before.  But the over spray and narrow pattern even with a .4mm tip doesn't suite me well.

Edited July 6, 2020 by aurfalien

[Dave G.]

I definitely would use my touch up lvlp spray gun on a 1/8 scale model or one of these large ship models out there with 5' long hulls. I've used that on my wife's ceramics dioramas too. LVLP indicates low volume low pressure. It has a 1.0 needle installed so just short of my Paasche H with large needle. Has paint flow and air adjustment . Here is the selling point for me in large scale though, the fan cap. Course there are a couple of airbrushes out there that are fan cap capable too.

I have the compressor to feed spray guns though and that is a consideration when you start thinking spray guns. But lvlp is pretty air friendly anyway, especially in the small touch up guns. Just sayin.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Dave G.

[StevenGuthmiller]

10 hours ago, aurfalien said:

Thanks for the feedback, it helps quite a bit!

I'm going with the Creos 290 as I'm sure that's what Steve meant.  I've been eyeing it for a while now and might as well pull the trigger (pun intended).

I still have my H&S Infinity which is a great art work type brush that I've used on my models before.  But the over spray and narrow pattern even with a .4mm tip doesn't suite me well.

You're right, sorry.

It is a PS-290.

I was reminded again of the usefulness of the wide fan spray pattern that the 290 produces on my current project.

For some reason, I decided to revert back to my old Badger brush for the first "failed" paint attempt.

I wound up with a blotchy, streaky look because of the narrow pattern.

Some paints seem to go on fine with the old Badger, but all too often, certain metallic paints can be very unforgiving with the overlapped areas creating un-eveness in the finish.

 

I stripped the first attempt and did it over with the Creos brush, and it turned out perfect.

While the brush does spray in a nice, wide pattern with the fan nozzle, it does not lay down the paint as heavily as some other air brushes, so be aware of that.

But that can be a plus because there are less opportunities for all sorts of paint issues that can arise from the coats going on too heavily.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited July 6, 2020 by StevenGuthmiller

[aurfalien]

8 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

While the brush does spray in a nice, wide pattern with the fan nozzle, it does not lay down the paint as heavily as some other air brushes, so be aware of that.

Thanks Steve.  I actually prefer this as less is more in my book.

[Greg Myers]

I am not familiar with the term "spray gun" are you referring to aerosol  spray cans, i.e. "rattle cans" ?

[StevenGuthmiller]

11 minutes ago, Greg Myers said:

I am not familiar with the term "spray gun" are you referring to aerosol  spray cans, i.e. "rattle cans" ?

They are referring to "Low Volume, Low Pressure" touch up guns, such as this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Greg Myers]

• Steve, that picture was worth a 1,000 words, thanks

[aurfalien]

6 hours ago, Greg Myers said:

I am not familiar with the term "spray gun" are you referring to aerosol  spray cans, i.e. "rattle cans" ?

I found this link very helpful;

http://paulbudzik.com/miniature-spray-guns/miniature-spray-guns-pg-3.html

[Ace-Garageguy]

There's a lot you can do with a real-car spray gun that would be not so easy with an airbrush.

This heavily modded Challenger One body was shot with 2K urethane primer using a conventional full-size HVLP gun.

[aurfalien]

1 minute ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

There's a lot you can do with a real-car spray gun that would be not so easy with an airbrush.

This heavily modded Challenger One body was shot with 2K urethane primer using a conventional full-size HVLP gun.

WOW!!!  Looks smooth as butter.  Very very nice!

Looking forward to my hybrid of sorts Creos PS 290.