scalenut

don't let my story scare you off , other posters seemed to have a much easier time with it . I just did everything wrong from the start. and was learning the airbrush at the same time. going to a bigger needle was my big aha ! moment... too bad it took me forever to figure that out. I'm sure you could get the hang of it , just don't practice on your prized models right away.No harm in thinning it down just to practice spraying with the airbrush. It's good cheap paint.. you mentioned backing the needle off , I have done that with my passche VL and it turned it into a paint can, it worked ,,, not the right way to do it but it sprayed a smooth wide pattern like that. it's better to have a bigger needle.

I had a coworker years ago that had a bolted down lawn chair, in his car for quite a while ... I can still picture him driving with his head bent over against the roof interior.

Dc C he may be referring to the "fade" craze of the 70's,,, especially on vans and lowriders. I could not find the original source to credit for this photo , for discussion purposes only.

Kaleb, It will help alot to understand this paint. water , windex , alcohol, pure retarder,airbrush cleaner or any of these old timer techniques with createx don't apply very well ,, it will turn into a runny mess by the time you get it to a thin milk consistency , ..even if you do get away with it , it will be a very weak and fragile grainy result.and the color will go dull... that is a bad way to start off learning to airbrush bottom line... you don't want to thin createx to the consistency of milk... it is unlike any common "modeling" paint. it took me forever to figure out how to get great results from this paint , and I did not learn anything from modeling forums to get there I very , very ,rarely found anyone who uses it to paint cars and really understands this paint.(and that still remains true today) all I ever got was "thin it more"...(the universal solution to all airbrushing problems ..lol).. it works best to spray it as it comes in the bottle. you have to kick up the pressure, use the right needle,, and use something like acrylic airbrush medium as a primary thinner so the binder and polymer level remains intact. a"little" water or windex won't hurt...but in most cases a "little" aint enough. you want it closer to the thickness of a spraycan paint, like krylon ,duplicolor.ect. anything less will not give you optimum results. it is not easy to use as the common paints like tamiya, as it does not take well to over thinning at all. also it does not gas out on it's own like those paints .it is purely waterbourne .it requires air movement and heat to dry it out.... a hairdryer between each coat. don't dry each coat and it will never cure...I mean never..trust me on that it's great to practice with but really tricky to master. the main reason I put myself thru the pain of figuring out this paint was because the wife got me a 72 bottle set for christmas one year. I finally got it to work for me consistently after nearly a year of fighting it ..thru trial and error.I tried every concoction known to man.. 7 years later I still have problems, mostly with the heavier pearls and metal flakes...and you simply can not thin them to fix it .. it quickly turns into a watery suspension of particles.. I don't wish for anyone to go thru the same process I did...lol there is a reason very few people use it on model cars. auto air is much more forgiving and has the killer candy's and metallic bases. createx is great for learning to use the airbrush ,,,getting the killer results from it is a whole different beast.. It's possible , but it can be a real heart-breaker just as easy.

I let it dry overnight

Kaleb , what brand/model airbrush?

I'm a primer guy like Plowboy

I don't worry about the primer color ,, not sure why anybody should ... if you want a white base .. shoot a light coat of white over the primer . ... you will often use less primer and color coats this way . plus.... the base paint wet-sands really nice .. I buy one primer ...grey

that caught my eye as well . , or maybe that's the way they actually arc ?

if your worried about yellowing,you can airbrush it with some archival grade gloss varnish from the hobby/craft stores. they make great clears and mattes for airbrushing , you can get it as an acrylic. I use the stuff on my aircraft models ,, haven't tried it on a car yet., but plan to try it on the next one.

never had the best results with crepe/paper based tapes .. great for roller painted walls but hard to get a razor edge on a super smooth surface. they are also generally thicker than automotive non-paper tapes.

you want plain old "acrylic medium"(craft/hobby stores) ,,, retarders, drying agents, and flow aids are additives

I use acrylic airbrush medium , from the hobby/craft stores. It won't strip the paint of it's binder like cleaners,windex and other concoctions.If you use too much

the metalizers are my favorite ,add a bottle of alclad chrome and your set. you can spray the metalizer over different color bases, raw plastic, I've used it over primer also... you can get different sheen's that way

.. thats cool skydime ,, me an the iphone guys are always jousting with each other at work .. it's all good

great job ,, and fast too !..keep it coming

I was hoping you wouldn't totally rust this one ...lol.. I haven't see a strait up built one yet ... the last one I saw was converted to a Texaco Donk with huge chrome rims? but like you said you have plenty more !

sounds like time to break away from the I must have an "iphone" Teat...lol... and get an android that can do pretty much anything right from the box... heck I can turn my android into an iphone If I wanted ..!( for half the cost)

microscale decal film will protect the decals from lacquers... If you are using alps decals ,treat them with decal film ...it's ultra thin, you won't even notice it

cool this might bring them down to retail !

possibly a mobile version for better phone browsing ?

I usually spray it anywhere from 35-60 psi from the bottle,, any lower pressure might need thinning. siphon feed might need a little more pressure as well also it does not always play well with a tiny needle, depending on the color. do you know what size needle it has ?

I've been afraid to do this as I noticed my canister of bb's contains a lot of tarnish ... wouldn't this effect the paint over time ? are you guys referring to copper bb's ?

thanks futurabat.

Answer to spraying Createx questions I use a badger 155 and . a passche h... not much different from spraying any other paint....... but there are some crucial differences in going about it.,, a primer or at least, wet sanding/deglossing the plastic is essential. light coats hit with a blow dryer lightly between coats. the model body or parts must be filled, sanded, fit and prepared before painting as you can not sand or repair createx paint. if you do try to sand it..... it will ball up like eraser particles. Createx has to be clear coated to protect it as well as gloss coated prior to decals...bare metal foil can be applied prior to any clear coating however handling the painted parts prior to clear coating is risky as the unprotected paint can and will pick up dust and fingerprints like a magnet.. it's tricky to work with at first, but I have my system down and achieve some fantastic finishes and plenty of comments about them. considering these things , It's probably not the best choice for beginning airbrushers/model builders It is a great paint to practice with and learn to spray, since it's pre thinned and cheap The biggest bonus of createx is, it's designed to go on flat. and than be cleared to achieve the gloss the benefit of this is that light shines thru the gloss and strikes the flat underlayer bouncing it in all directions. this provides a brilliance and depth of color that is not obtained from a one shot gloss paint no matter how much you polish and wax the paint or it's clear coat.. when done well,...you have to see it to believe it .especially under an automotive clear ! I have seen some people ask in forums " why are some acrylics flat when I want a glossy finish,,, whats the point ?" .. well........now you know...lol. also I have never had createx react to humidity, heat, cold, other paints and clears ..it's pretty much idiot proof in that regard. I'm still a beginning car modeler but I have been spraying createx for 7 years now.. that's the main reason I made it work for my modeling as well. (plus I have a ton of paint !). Auto Air is very similar and a great next step as it provides many more colors including the transparent candys and metallic base coats