There’s been quite a bit of activity since my last post. I’ve resurrected a Minicraft 1/144 Mustang (more in the next post), and done some work on it. I’ve also pulled an Eduard 1/144 BF-109 out, but nothing yet. I’ll discuss these in more depth next time. However, for now, suffice to say, painted the Mustang, including the interior.
No development on the Lancaster (except dropping it again), but the Academy BF-109 has had the small tidying up, and then, today, I sprayed the blue underside, or, rather, re-sprayed. I used Humbrol enamel 65 a reasonable match for RLM 65. Of course, I could be wrong on that, but, it looks OK to me, and, anyway, paints can look quite different from different batches, different manufacturers, plus, over time paints change colour.
For this model, which I’m trying to complete to reasonable standard (even though I’ve mucked in places, see earlier posts), I’m spraying the paint. I’ve not spray-painted in a long time, probably not in 8 or 9 months, maybe even more! Spraying enamel is harder than spraying acrylic. I used Humbrol enamel thinner, and mixed it in a way I was taught a couple of years back. Basically, it involves putting the paint, and the thinner, into the bowl of the airbrush (it only works with gravity feed airbrushes), then opening the crown, to cause air to feedback into the bowl, resulting in bubbling, and hence, mixing. I have been told that one should put the thinner in first, but, well, I don’t. Maybe I should…?
Anyway, I tried spraying, on a plastic lid of the takeaway boxes I use for storing kits. It was a disaster! I used my Iwata as it seemed to be the only airbrush which was in OK condition. However, it wasn’t, resulting in a complete clean, not just the usual quick clean I do. I’m guessing that the last time I used the airbrush I didn’t clean it, or indeed, the others. Quite why is a bit of a mystery, as I’m usually very fastidious about such things.
Anyway, I have a few airbrushes: an Iwata HP-C (gravity feed, medium bowl, dual action – the original one, there have a couple of models since) with a medium head; a Badger 200GF (gravity feed, small bowl, single action) with a fine head; a Badger 150 2F (suction feed, dual action) with a fine head; a Badger 100GF (gravity feed, small bowl, dual action), and an early Badger suction feed, single action.
So, in total, 4 airbrushes. There is also a another one, a simple one, which is external feed, but it’s not boxed, and, for much model work, not up to the standard needed.
However, as I’ve talked a lot about airbrushes, I should explain a little about them, before I move on. In essence, an airbrush mixes an air source and a paint source, into a single stream of air, carrying the paint. Air sources can be bottles of compressed air, as sold in model shops, tyres, or, best of all a compressor. I’ll talk about these another time, but, for now, suffice to say that, unless it’s pressure regulated air, it’s a pain to use. Personally, I use an unbranded airbrush that looks identical to a Revell Omega (top of the range), but which contains a regulator, a air-tank, a display, and a water trap.
Airbrushes, to mix the paint, use two methods. They either mix it in a mixing chamber (internal), or, directly in the air stream outside the body (external). The latter is much cheaper, and, of course, no dirty mixing chambers! Externals give the user the ability to regulate the air flow, using a level, handle, button, etc. The paint is stored in a bottle under the airbrush. The bottle will then have a tube leading from the inside of the bottle, via a hole in the lid, to a nozzle. The nozzle will usually be adjustable (normally by being on a screw top, like a Coke bottle), to determine how far into the paint stream he nozzle projects. As the air runs over the nozzle, the Venturi effect causes a vacuum, which sucks the paint up. Adjusting the nozzle can cause different paint mixes. The air too has a nozzle, and, mixing these two can cause different spray patterns
The bottle and nozzle are completely separated from the air. The entire paint area is a bottle, a tube, and very simple nozzle, making cleaning a doddle. Moreover, the airbrushes can be picked up cheaply. I’ve seen a Humbrol one in 2007 on sale at Hobbycraft for £9.99, and the Revell one for a couple of Pounds more. Whilst prices might be a little higher today, you can get one for not very much. My own one is one I bought in America in 2007, from Badger, but procured cheaply in Wal-Mart. It’s quite a nice one, nicer than the others, which some smart design. The bottle fit into a nice clip, which then clips them to the body, whilst the control is a nice lever, and the body is smart, feels nice in the hand, with a ‘tail’ to counter-balance it. Excellent!
One might then ask the very pertinent question: if externals are so good, why use expensive internal airbrushes? The answer is that internals allow good regulation of the spray size and pattern. Control is the single most important factor in airbrushes, and it’s why they can be so expensive, more than 30x the price of a cheap external in some instances.
Using the different nozzles can allow for adjustment on a external, but, it’s hard, and fiddly. Even my Badger, with easy to use nozzles, is not as good as internal. The internals are split by the following types, and come in any combination thereof.
The first major difference of the internals is the way you control the airflow and the paint mix. The typical internal airbrush is T shaped. One end of the T is the ‘business end’, the other is a counterbalance (or tail), with, sometimes, some additional controls. The lower line is where the inlet valve is, with the air-line feeding into that. Some airbrushes have little or no tail. One that I rather loved just had the control behind the needle, but no real tail.
Above the inlet valve will be, typically, a button. Spray brushes, and some airbrushes, have a valve control in front of the valve. These are called ‘triggers’. Depressing the button opens the valve, allowing air in. The air, in a typical airbrush, will run in a separate line, and thence, join the paint forward of the bowl. The user can regulate how much air is allowed in.
The user also needs to regulate how much paint is released, and this is the major difference. Both systems work by moving a needle, which sits in the bowl, and, by opening and closing, regulates. A ’single action’ airbrush will have the button, but, at the back of the tail is, normally, a dial of some nature. Often you will see the back of the needle here too. Moving the dial turns a screw, which adjusts the needle, regulating the paint flow. As soon as you apply air then, the paint leaves, to the level pre-set.
The other system is called ‘dual action’, possibly obviously! Here, the button is the same, but, the needle control is built into the button. The button can be depressed and raised, to control airflow, but, it can also be pulled back, to regulate paint flow.
Single action airbrushes are not necessarily inferior, as for most work you do not need to adjust the paintflow, and, indeed, some of the best modellers around use them. Moreover, a quick twist can adjust them. However, for some specialist work, a dual action is far better. For example, where paint starts, and finishes, within a viewable area, and has a ‘feathered’ edge. Still, this can be done with a single action too. Really, it’s down to the individual as to which one to use. Single actions are cheaper, and, can be less fiddly to clean (the small level, which sits behind the button, can be a pain).
The other main differences in design revolve about paint. Basically, there are two main types: suction and gravity feed. Aztecs, and some others, also offer side feeds, but, then, Aztecs are quite different in design from anything else! I won’t cover them here, but, suffice to say, their design, whilst interesting, is often derided for it’s difficulty in cleaning and maintenance.
Suction feeds have a similar set-up to external, as you might expect. The big advantage of them is that you can rapidly swap bottle of paint over. However, this often isn’t needed! Moreover, you lose paint in the transfer pipe, and, you can be caught out by the delay in the feeding (as the paint travels to the mixing area). Still, they are popular. The other type, and the one used by just about everyone I know, is gravity feed. Here a bowl, often fixed, sits above the body, just in front of the ‘button’. The paint drops directly onto the needle, and thence, to the mixing area. Bowls can be small, medium, or large. Some bowls can be removed too, but, opinion differs if this is a good or bad thing (removing bowls makes them easier to clean, but, can also paint to creep into the joint). All airbrushes suffer from the paint source getting in the way. Small bowls reduce this problem. However, they can cause other problems, in, when painting large areas, needing more re-filling. Badger have a unique solution, in that, they sell an airbrush with no bowl at all, just the slot above the needle. This just a small paint storage area, so very little paint, but, it makes sense for some detailed work.
Most airbrushes also allow a choice of heads. Needles must be matched to the head. Badgers, for example have notches on the needles, with the heads marked F (fine) and M (medium). So long as the needle is either F or M marked correctly, the set-up will be OK.
Airbrushes do though require cleaning. Paint build ups will kill or impair their ability to function. You’ll be amazed just where paint can go in an airbrush! I clean mine by stripping them down, and immersing them in lacquer or cellulose thinner. In the old days, this wasn’t a good idea, as the thinner attacked the plastic seals, but, it seems to be OK now. However, I still remove the one between the crown and body on a Badger, as it slides off easily. The nozzle on a Badger is smooth, and hard to remove, so I generally clean it attached. The one on my Iwata has flattened area, enabling me to use large tweezers to turn it. However, I’ll leave airbrush cleaning techniques for another day!
Suffice to say, once cleaned, I was able to airbrush again! I cleaned the Iwata and the gravity feed Badgers. The old Badger has a valve problem I think, as whilst I cleaned it, it didn’t play ball. The last airbrush I’d put aside, and didn’t find until after I had finished for the day!
Spraying the Academy was, at first, a bit of a pain, until I added some more thinner, swirled it around, and then, bingo, it worked! Slightly rough surface, but good enough, However, I’ll sand it with tissue paper, before I spray it again.
There is more, but, for now, I’ll leave it there! Y’all enjoy your modelling!