Karmodeler2

Hey Donn, great advice! I too, used to swear by the H, but now find myself using the Double more often than not. I even mix cones and needles to get different spray patterns (A #1 needle with a #5 cone). And I'm not issuing a challenge, but I can break down, clean and re-assemble my double in less than 5 minutes....but I have 15+ years of doing it and a set system as you mentioned, so I'm "cheating". A new guy will take a longer. I hope you make it to ATL this year in November. I'm looking forward to seeing some of your work in person. David

I agree with Matthew, If you were going to build one of these, would you intentionally have the back bumper/clip fit as terrible as they were in real life? And while the model makers make a valiant effort by accident to screw up things like this, I don't think a kit is this bad. It's never in scale.....regardless of how hard the kit manufacturers try to get it right. David I say real!

I use I.V. tape or medical tape you can get at Walgreens, and you already have some. Here are the belts in my Cunningham. It looks almost real and this is magnified several times with my camera. It's hard to see the texture with the naked eye. That's a towel it's sitting on. David

me too. I actually would use that for my business. I am unique and it is too. I thing we belong together!!!! David

That is the perfect size and it may already have a regulator on it. If not, you can get them at home depot. Might have to pick up some reducing fittings to make it fit the smaller stuff. You can take the compressor in and match up what you need for the regulator and the line to the airbrush. Good Luck. And I'll take you up on that glass of sweet tea.....my favorite beverage!!! David

Hey Drew, Might want to buy some cheap plastic sheets ("For Sale" signs or "Beware of Dog" signs come to mind as they are cheap and normally white on the back) and practice with different PSIs and mixes. Unfortunately, I can't give you a "set" PSI, however, you should be able with your experience to test a few and see. Also, spoons are a great way of testing paints/primers/compatibility issues and the like. You can even write in the inside of the spoon the color mix, and spray the backside. Drill a hole in the handle and hang it up for a paint chip rack. If you need that color again, you have the mix. If you have experience with the full size guns, then airbrushing for you will be a piece of cake. I would recommend the 60 psi gauge over the 30...you may never know when you need it and if you buy the 60, you get the 30. If you buy the 30, you DONT get the 60. There is no chart that I know of and the best teacher is you. Get your gun, a blank canvas and some paint mixed up in different cups (I use disposable cups or containers like pudding or applesauce come in....my mother-in-law saves everything plastic for me.....great woman!!) Mark on the outside of the cups the mix (like 70 paint/30 thinner) and then test different PSIs. Get a piece of paper, write down your test data and create your own chart for a guide. I would do several sprayouts going from 70% paint and 30% thinner, and then start changing the ratio until I was at 40 % paint and 60% thinner and see what PSIs worked the best and what kind of coverage the paint gave me. A normal size compressor (like at Home Depot, not the big mamma, but the 20 gal) is more than enough to push the psi you need for an airbrush. You will need a regulator other than the one on the compressor, near your booth or where ever you paint. It sucks to use the one on the compressor if it's set high to run air tools (like mine) and you need to bleed it off to do model painting. Use one closer to the paint booth and you can fine tune it much more accurately with a gauge that only goes to 60, instead of 150 like the one on the compressor. I have a small one on my little compressor and the increments on the gauge show increments of 1 psi. Very accurate. I can't read 4 PSI on my 30 gal compressor because each mark on the gauge is about 7-8 PSI and I can't fine tune it like I can the small one. The mix/PSI formula is something that I wish I could pass on to you, but I generally do it all by feel and sound and that is something you will develop when you practice like I mentioned above. I don't think there is a source for what you need for mix/PSI when it comes to model paints like there is with the PPG cards and stuff. It's just trial and error. Good Luck. David You can call me if you have questions and I'll try my best to help you. 864 979 1844

Depends on the gun and the paint being used. Is the paint super super thin? Then very low pressure. If it's thick, a lot of pressure. Am I using an HVLP gun? They require 40 psi at the input to provide a 20-25 psi at the tip. If I am using Alclad chrome, I shoot no more that 4-5 psi. Other paints in my airbrush I run 15-25...depends on the paint. My Devilbiss I use 40-50 psi to get a solid 25-30 at the tip which is the green band on the gauge for the gun. I mostly do it by feel and by sound/flow, but I've been doing it for 18+ years, so a lot of it is by feel and what sounds right. And I'm using CO2 so my numbers may be different than those using compressed air. David

Here you go. I thought you knew we had a celebrity among us!!!! http://www.amazon.com/How-Use-Airbrush-Robert-Downie/dp/0890242879 David

Hey Marc, you will find that if you do the two step process, several things will be in your favor, but it's your choice to not try it. The paint will go MUCH further (I can get two bodies done with one can), the paint will not be a volatile and will cover 4 times better without as much paint. The propellent in Tamiya is very hot (chemically) and this is what causes the paint to not want to adhere to door edges and such. The airbrush will allow you to control the application very well. I sprayed the stripes on this car using the side cup that came with my Paasche and I only filled it up 1/2 way. I shot 8 coats of blue to get the richness, and when I took the tape off the car, you could barely feel the lip where the blue met the white. When I cleared it (8 coats of Tamiya.....less than 1.2 of the same cup) you could not feel the difference between the blue and the white. That's the control Bob is talking about. You can lay down SUPER THIN coats with incredible coverage if you take it out of the can. But you make that choice. David

If you are using full size guns (your SATA), then why not use it for your model bodies? I do it all the time. I have a Devilbiss GFG 670 that has about a 10-14 inch fan. I use CO2 and I recommend you do the same. I grew up in SC and live in FL now and the weather sucks in the summer for painting. I can paint on any day, any temp, and with CO2 I have no fish eyes or blemishes. Plus, a lot of the tiger stripping and shading you see on full size cars comes from the pulsating compressor as it's running trying to keep up with pressure. You will have no tiger stripes and a constant psi. Another great thing about CO2 is you can throw all the rules about CFM and what the gun needs out the window. I have 1100 PSI pushing 30 constant with no pulsing and no calculation for CFM. It's is WELL WORTH it. And I use all 4 of my airbrushes on my CO2 tank. I agree with Bob Downe...buy the best you can afford. I would stay away from Harbor Freight unless you just want a $9 airbrush to learn with. Bob and I have both taken the Best Paint award at GSL, so we come with experience. David

I agree with you Dan. I find that a tattoo is just a poor man's way of investing in art. And I think Jeff Foxworthy says it the best. When these young hot girls get these pretty little butterflies on there shoulder, it seems cute. But when they are 70, the grandkids will say, "Hey Grandma! Show us your Terradactyl"...nows that's funny right there, I don't care who you are!!! David

I hope this helps you to see the runway...that is really there.

Hey Harry, I am almost certain the plane photo is not a fake. I fly heavy jets for a living and there are numerous cross-wind landing photos and videos on line that show just how some of the places we go into can be hair raising to say the least. Lajes, in the Azores, has a 25-35 knot cross minimum every day. I have lined up on the runway, but was looking out the co-pilot's window to see the runway. I earned my money that day. That place sucks!! David

You are welcome Shane. And thanks Shane and Jim for the kind words. I know it was a lot of work to do the dash and I thought you might be able to see the dash a little better, but I know it's done and I feel comfortable knowing that I did the best I could....even if you can't see it!!! David

Here are a few more pics of the progress. I'm about 90% done. Still have about 20 more hours of detail work and must re-do the windscreen...I don't like where I put the slit on the left side. I have a few more bolts/snaps/straps and "the like" to put on before she's done. Hope you enjoy it! David in the above pic, you can see I still need snaps on the door and two on the rear cowl where I have drilled the holes. you can see some already on the rear cowl and just visible on the far side.

Hey Ben, I send stuff to Robert, and he does not like how I mount parts, but he chromes them. I had the same concern as you. What I do is drill a hole in the part the diameter of a paper clip. I superglue the paper clip into the hole. I then superglue the paperclip to one of my runners on my 6X9 coat hanger rack and then zip tie the paper clip just to make sure. I mount very small parts by putting Evergreen rod (different sizes based on part) vertically on the runners and get my parts up away from the runners so that the chrome is all the way to the edge. There is always a place on the model part that will not show in the model. This is where I mount them to my rack. I only raise them up off the runners about an 1/8 of an inch at the most. If it's plastic to plastic I use Tenax 7R. If it's something else, I use superglue. Hope this helps. David

Here are some shots I took the other day for the runaway thread. Hope you enjoy them. The 250 LM is the Academy kit and the 275P is the Revell slot car body. The windshield had a molded in windshield wiper that was terrible. I sanded it out, polished the glass (plastic) and dipped it in Future. Then made one from Photo Etch.

You must plan your painting day when you are off and she is on, or she's visiting friends or out with the girls. If it's a guest bath, you might could end up making something where it hangs just behind the curtain, where when you walk in, everything appears normal. It only needs about 6-8 hours to have a "dust cure"...meaning it has tacked up enough to resist dust. I use the stuff from Wal-mart..runs about $14 a gallon. I have a mustard squeeze tube like device (thanks Mark Jones!!!) that I keep it in. It makes it much easier to add when I need it and keeps me from wasting it since it's so expensive. I also have a double action air brush and this is the best part. I pour my paint in the little open cup (Paasche), then I squirt my lacquer thinner in the cup with my mustard bottle (the dollar store has them for about a.........dollar I think!), then place my left index finger over the end of my gun, slowly pull back the needle while I slowly push down the air and the air will flow back down in the cup and mix the paint for me. Thanks Mark Jones for that too!!!!! If you get nothing from the above paragraph, make sure you read the word "slowly" several times, or you will be wearing what ever color you thought you were going to paint that day!!! As far as the screens, I ordered them all because I knew I could use them for something. In fact, I used this screen on the Cunningham for the oil cooler that is on this forum under WIP so you could see through it. If I was going to order some, I would order the ones with the smaller holes, that is, the ones that have the most squares per inch. The 5 micron and so on are good for staining. I just looked at mine and these should do the trick: CMY-0054-A (54 micron) CMY-0033-A (33 Micron) CMY-0073-A (73 Micron) Hope this helps. David

Thanks Charlie for saving me....that's what I was trying to replicate.....just kidding!!!! And thanks for the kind words. David

I would like to see some WIP when you get a chance.....sounds really neat!! David

Don't tell people my secret Steve!!! And yes, I tend to be somewhat....howyusay?...obsessive!!! Thanks Simon for the kind words. You also lay down some really sweet paint, as I have seen your 850i and your Ferrari at GSL. Nice work!!!

Thanks!! I can occasionally get two pieces of brass to stick together with solder!!!

I shot the middle car below with MM Burgandy Metallic with MM clear top coat. Had no problems and thinned both with lacquer thinner. I suggest white primers and it takes several coats to get good coverage (about 8-10 light coats) David

You can use anything of mine that you want to Jim. Here is the link to the photobucket site where I took all those photos for that runaway thread the other day. I can take a few more of the Caddy/pickup if you want them. My batteries died when I was trying to take some more so I just gave up and put it away. I realized I did not post enough of it from different angles with the panels/hood closed. Just let me know. David http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z83/Karmodeler2/models/