Dave G.

As I mentioned in my other message I too have had good luck with Zap holding up well in the bottle. No complaints, have liked it above other brands for years. I go through a bottle of others here and there but come back to Zap, both gap filling and the thin stuff.

For those speaking of CA thickening I just want to say that a little acetone will loosen it up. And it still works fine. I notice the Gorilla brand thickens easiest for whatever reason that may be. And the Locktite thin less so and Zap even less. I'm not here to explain why that might all be, it's just my experience. You may find too that acetone will clean up your caps and built up crust of dried CA on the bottles with some soaking. Acetone is the all round neutralizer of things gone wrong with CA.

They faded they rusted, weathered, oil and water stains. I have a Malachite green craft paint that after weathering is very convincing. It has a hint of metallic in it that doesn't really show but with the weathering I do brings in a touch of the greyish tone so many of these engines had,though mostly green at a glance. Mix some added colors into Hunter Green and you can get close too. The 53's I believe were a dull red so you don't need to think on that color. Trucks too. The 40's were some form of green. You can look up internet photos, the colors will be all over the place from pale to dark green . I do the Model A 4 bangers in an actual machinery looking grey/green that I mix from craft paints. The 32 Ford V8 was a darker green. But seriously look up photos on google or some other browser, you will see quite a lot of variation.

Oh you need some surgical tweezers, the tips have grooves like pliers but much finer. When I had a gland removed in my neck , on follow up the next day they removed a drain and put in a stitch, the doc gave me a the pair he used. The scissors were horrible but the tweezers great.

All I use is Stynylrez for acrylics and some enamels or Mr Color Primer Surfacer 1000 for enamels or lacquers. Some folks like the 1200 or 1500 better but I've had no trouble with the 1000, comes out very smooth. So far I've only found the Mr "Primer" Surfacer in light grey. Mr Surfacer comes in other colors but without the specific "Primer" designation.

Also Bob, that's a long run up and out, you may need a secondary blower up near the top to help suck those fumes out. You could cut a squirrel cage right into the existing venting.

Just a thought, switch to bottled primer and airbrush that too. I did that 8 or 10 years ago and don't even think rattle can primer anymore. The rattle cans you have now can be decanted, winter is coming, the air is changing etc.

But that's good news though ! I usually give mine a little twist once I push them in. Push and twist,not forced but firm. I've also used a little light film of bees wax on the pipe in the past, more so it won't get stuck on there but it also helps seal the connection.. This had been more on my Badger 200 but the same would work for the Paasche. I've used bees wax on the threads of the needle too. For the longest time I used my H with the nozzle set a little back from seated and locked the set screw down there but lately I push it all the way in. I've found it's more how many turns out from seated to spray at than anything. As I mentioned there is a honey zone for this and screwed all the way out isn't in the equation any more than all the way seated is.. Anyway, glad to hear it's working !

The body is just air and air alone, no fluid ever goes through it. I mentioned system loss of pressure in an earlier post actually. Look to see how much drop you have in pressure flowing vs static. It could be dropping below an acceptable level to pick up paint. Your air valve could be flammed up and not letting enough pressure by out to the tip but this really a stretch of imagination. One thing about the H is it likes it's air for sure, especially with the larger needles. You've tried a couple of bottles and cups, I think we can rule out the paint holding device and delivery tube. So we are down to the nozzle assembly for fluid or air system for proper air flow. Other than that get the nozzle tip down into the main air stream, from the photo you supplied it's too high, too far out into the stream. You want that tip to be about center column of air or even a tad low from center for good suction. Right now your air is crashing into the side of the nozzle vs running over the tip where it creates the most draw.

When I think back on my own H screwing up and not spraying, it was too low a pressure for viscosity of paint each time of which that's been maybe twice in ten years.. I think twice I did that spraying artist paints, had to thin more then boost the pressure a bit. I mean that's all there is to this device, air pressure, fluid viscosity, no blockages. It should spray. There is also the factor of nozzle position. For max flow there is a point of diminishing return or honey zone if you prefer. If the nozzle is screwed too far out you actually lose paint flow rather than gain.. There is a defined range there of good flow equal to about three full turns of the nozzle and that's about it.

It's true that by the photo the needle tip is way too far up in the air stream. I just assumed though that different positions are known and tried. He doesn't seem new to the H or inexperienced. Still, something is causing this and I still contend that it must be simple. As to paint viscosity ( referring to Bobs post), the fact that it wouldn't even spray water was brought out early on in the thread. Finally though, It would be great to hear this has been and how it was resolved I must say.

I'd change out the whole tip assembly and maybe put on the metal side cup ( which is what I use 90% of the time anyway) and try again. Sort the other parts from there if it sprays this way..

Have you taken the tip/needle nozzle assembly off and unscrewed the nozzle from the needle and checked all those passages.You keep talking about the body and bottles but I've heard no mention of this thus far. IE take the needle assembly off the body, you have to loosen the set screw on the bottom to get it out. The body is fine, no paint goes through the body and you're getting air. It's a simple device it's got to be a very simple answer as well. 9 out of 10 times these issues come down to cleaning.

My experience with Duplicolor is it could use a slower thinner in it so blushes extra easy. But I'm not a fan of hot lacquers anyway so pretty much never use the stuff, or at least rarely.

Plain hardware store lacquer thinner has always worked for me, since I've been using it to clean airbrushes for more than 50 years without a fail.

One thing I thought of is it's blowing air but is the air flow sufficient ? No leaks or blockages on the air side of things, including the hose and regulator ? Boost your pressure to 35 psi and see if it sucks any fluid up then. Also be sure your feed line isn't cracked and is sealed tight, good fit etc. Be sure the very tip of the nozzle is clear and clean.

IDK.

I don't clear coat enamel paint jobs, it's one reason I've used the enamel to begin with.. The models I use enamel on are usually old classic cars that never saw clear coat in real life. Done right it has a beauty all it's own so I opt to not ruin that.

I use 1000 in the bottle, thin it and airbrush it and it's smooth. But I get the Mr "Primer" Surfacer 1000 in white, can't speak for Mr Surfacer 1000 in black. What might be of interest to you though Mike ( and more why I writing this), the stuff stinks enough to blow your head off. But doesn't stink for long as it dries quickly.

My Hobby Lobby locally has been getting a bit better stocked with paint lately, I could get by with them if need be in terms of paint. But I have a local hobby store too and online. Some things come from Amazon prime. As you know Mike, I have no issue with Testors enamels or other enamels even if decanted. Craft paint is fine, I'm sure I can get along with Createx and Wicked as I do with Liquitex Soft Body paints ( similar) or Goldens High Flow. I've been tempted to try the Vallejo Metal line of paints myself which HL stocks here. Hobby Town when we had those around here were no great shakes on paints IMO but that was decades ago. Anyway,all that said, I think your choices are Vallejo for acrylic metal colors or AK for solvents if you don't want Alclad. But Vallejo has a couple of different lines of metals, the metallics in MC or the bigger/wider bottles of metals.

Thanks Skip. Ya I been airbrushing since the mid 1970's and painted in 1/1 professionally for 35 years. I think it's just this brush, if I pull the nose off and flush it that way all is well. For whatever reason back flushing with this one doesn't want to get it all. As it turns out a good stream of hot water in there with the nose off and needle out pretty well does it with Createx if it hasn't dried. And on the pedal needle protector some had dried and acetone took it right off. Additionally I usually use single action on models but was doing graphics so grabbed my only double action with .3. It shot the stuff fine was taking forever to back flush, it's nothing to unscrew the whole nose assembly so will do that going forward. Thanks for your detailed reply, normally I do pretty much the same as you.

I put it on wet with a Paasche H and #3 tip @ 25-35 psi. Generally one good wet coat and done. Try moving in closer and slow down your passes. If I happen to get some fuzzies it's easy enough to scuff off with 1500-2500 micro. I've also thinned it with lacquer thinner, we can talk about that another time.

The only black primer I use is Stynylrez so I guess I can't help on a second choice there. The key for me with that stuff is mix it with a badger power mixer. Works great under Tamiya X-1 which is also what paint I personally would use if I wanted to do a black finish in acrylic ( and have).. Can't speak for the Createx, I haven't shot Createx over primer yet just paper and cloth straight from the bottle @ 40 psi.

I'm thinking it's more the airbrush and dense pigment load of the Createx opaque paints. If I used my Paasche H I probably wouldn't have an issue.

I have a feeling I need to pull the tip assembly on this airbrush with this paint, the pigments seem never ending just trying to flush and back flush. That gun has always been a bit fussy to clean but it's my only double action. I don't normally use double action and won't on models but I wasn't painting models today but lettering. I like this paint though, I might mess with it some more.