sak

I been mostly using acrylics with mine and I take it apart and clean it well after every use. Especially createx, it starts to dry in the cup almost instantly and gums up the needle tip if you dont thin it. Even the ready to use stuff needs to be thinned a little I find. If you use acrylics, and you are not doing a large area, just put in a drop or two of paint in at a time and spray water through it immediatly after its empty. Enamels take longer to dry so that should be alot easier to clean up. What I recommend is spray enamel thinner after you are done until its clean, then take a q-tip and scrub the cup clean. I dont take the needle out but I remove the head and wipe the tip of the needle clean. Then run warm soapy water through it. If theres something in the nozzle, let it sit in thinner for awhile. Lacqours, I dont have much experience with except for alclad, but I would do the same way but use lacqour thinner instead.

Thanks Bredan, but I will have to try your method when I install a new bearing as I have already removed the old one. one. It came out in 2 peices but I am not sure if thats from pushing it out. Either way, it looks very thin at one end. So I removed the bearing, air valve and everything that can be removed. Now everything is closed today for tanksgiving day. Until I can get a new bearing, I was thinking about letting it soak in something. I am not sure what kinda of paint this brush was used for but testors airbrush cleaner seems to take it off with scrubbing. Is it safe to used CSC on it, I would assume degreaser would be safe on real platd parts, and will CSC remove caked on acrylic paint?

Thanks evryone, help is appreciated. I will try to change that needle bearing mr. obsessive. BIg Garry, I am using a 3 gallon compressor, as for the tip, it is not clogged, it was a brand new tip and needle and I was testing with water. So if the tip isnt clogged are there any other places for air to get blocked, I ran the airbrush without the head and air flowed thru that little hole real smooth and still smooth even with the head on.

Just bought a used badger 150 airbrush. Air flows through nozzle smoothly. But when paint is applied the pattern pulsates. Higher the pressure, the worse it gets. When I got it, I noticed the needle was bent at the very end and it did not seem to fit the nozzle very well so I replaced both with a medium nozzle and medium needle, as well as replaced the head o-ring. I googled this problem and it seems pretty common. In another forum Ken badger says that the spray regulator might not match the new medium nozzle or that the internal needle bearing is defective. Does anybody know how I go about removing this bearing? I notice also large amounts of air bubbles in the paint cup when I apply air and paint. Which I would think would indicate a blockage of the air but the nozzle is clean. I will replace the entire head if I have to, but I have heard also of people replacing all these parts and still having this problem. But I would only like to replace what needs to be replaced. Ken Badger also says to keep pressure at about 18 psi. Which might explain why it worked better under lower pressures but is this normal for badger airbrush? Thanks JJ

Have you try mebbe to take popsicle sticks and apply a one-step wood stain. Mebbe not practical for interior but I know it looks good for the bed of a truck.

I suppose it depends on how much of a perfectinist you are. Ive been testing the alclad and I have found that polishing the black enamel isnt crucial, as long as it is fairly smooth, as it will be still be smoother than most sheets of bare metal foil which seem to always have a shimmy to them,even if they look smooth in a certain light angle. After you mask off the trim you are going to paint, brush on a thin coat of future floor polish, then black enamel then the alclad. I am testing it with a 56 chevy belair and the side trim is more complex than later cars so it will be a challenge. The alclad will rub off easy but realistically, if you are happy with the finished product, if won't be something that will be handled very often, if at all. But try a good sheet of bare metal foil first. It shouldnt take long to get good at the window moldings. Or only use the alclad around the more complex parts like the front vent windows.

I think depends on the type of trim. What I do is bare metal foil all the raise trim like the eblems and the trim above the side windows first, primer and paint over them and rub the paint off these high areas after. But for trim that sits more flush with metal parts like the trim around front and back windshields, I use bare metal foil on these areas last.

Nice job, and what a wicked color.

I think that for as much bare metal foil that most use, I don't see why not use it. I tired recently the tin foil method and I will admit that the final results look just as good as bare metal foil. I actually found it was easier to get smooth and becuase it is a little thicker than bare metal foil, it hides more slight imperfections that bare metal foil does not. Some drawbacks I think. I have not found an efficient way of glueing it to the plastic. On my test I used elmers spray adhesive and found it worked fine but much extra tedious work was required to mask the areas around the trim so avoid adhesive going where I don't want it. Another drawback is this tin foil makes blades dull after only a minute. I know that most use some sort of metal foil glue but I have not tried this. My biggest worry is that while easier to use, the process of burnishing and rubbing the tin foil, might cause the glue to ooze evrwhere underneath including under the part of tinfoil that will be cut away. But practice might solve that. Until only recently, I built late 60's and 70's model kits so only chrome trim was around front and back winshields and small trim above side windows and sometimes around wheel openings. But now I have a 57 chevy and 56 chevy kits, which have more elaborate tim and in more places, like the side panels and on tops of fenders. So one technique I am testing is painting the chrome trim on with alclad chrome. I have tested with 67 coronet kit and so far,the results were good, especially on the triangle vented windows, which I could never do with bare metal foil, as it would buckle in the corners and look terrible. I think with carefull masking, this method could be more consitent results to bare metal foil. But this is not cheaper method, so better option is still to use bare metal foil or tinfoil for areas such as windshields trim and other simple shaped areas. W hen I resume airbrushing in summer I will do one more test and take digital pictures and post.