HobbyBoss TA-7C - Operation Granby FINISHED!

[Captain Canada]

That's just gorgeous...I think I'm in love !

[Taiidantomcat]

You might just need a new airbrush  I know that is bad news. I used to have the same wonder about why people like airbrushes at all when I had to use a cheap "entry level" Airbrush. It was always frustrating and I had to do about five minutes of maintenance to paint for one minute during any given painting session and that was before the post paint strip down cleaning! I bought a quality airbrush and the problems disappeared. I love Airbrushing now.

[Mossie]

I hope not!  Although it's not new as such, it's barely been used.  It's a Badger 155, I bought it for around £100 (about $160US) so I would be pretty hacked off if it was knackered from the off.  It took me a long while to get it up & running, I had the compressor & the airbrush but really struggled to find the relevant parts to put it all together.  I talked to people at several LMS's & I heard that it was a fairly common problem, people buying airbrushes & not being able to get started.  I'd reccomend to any other newbies that they buy a starter pack with the compressor, airbrush & everything else.

However, it's not the first airbrush I've had.  The first one was a Humbrol branded airbrush (made by someone else, can't remember who) that was bought for me when I was about fifteen.  Not long after, I dropped the hobby for the usual reasons, not cool, girls (well, I wish!), beer.  I then picked it up a few years ago, had slighlty less problems getting it together but it fell apart on the second use, lots of shredded pieces of plastic falling out of it.  I put this down to being slung around the loft & a house move, but this one hasn't had that so I really hope it's okay!

I've done a little more work on the kit, sanded it back, managing to break off one of the stabs & the canopy again.  Glued them back on, I now need to brush paint a light coat to repair some bits where I took too much paint off.

[Taiidantomcat]

Wish I could help more Mossie. Maybe it just needs lots of TLC?

[srkirad]

Mossie, I can only advice you not to push when you see something went wrong..

I had those moments too - and like by some unwritten rule always when I already was satisfied with job done so far...

So, maybe you should take a little break - few days off this TA-7C,... maybe try some other project to cool down and then return to this one

I had some annoying problems regarding to airbrush few months ago, during first steps on my A-7D cammo.. and what's most annoying it's brand new airbrush that I bought recently (Harder & Steenbeck Evolution 2in1)... well.. I cooled down a bit, started to think more reasonable about where is the problem, and managed to do the job...

So, as was written on the intro page of "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - "DON'T PANIC!"...

Regarding to your "blocking problem" with AB..

1. did you check whether some tiny particle of paint stayed inside the nozzle? Try to thoroughly clean nozzle with nitro thinner (or if yopu have Revell Aibrush Cleaner - great solvent)

2. let the airbrush parts (nozzle, needle, trigger, paint cup,...) dry thoroughly! This can make some problems if nozzle seal (a little rubber ring that tightens nozzle head onto airbrush body) is still wet - airbrush just doesn't work!?

3. maybe the colour was not thinned enough, or pressure of spraying was too low? Try to thin the colour to the consistency of MILK, and then to spray it at pressure of 0.5-1bar.

4. also, when thinning colour don't thin it directly in colour cup (cannister) on airbrush - usually paint pigments fall down to the bottom of the cup, so, no matter how much you thin that mixture, when you press the trigger, that pigment (that is thick) goes first through the nozzle and make a blockade! So, thin the colour in some jar and then pour it into the cup on airbrush...

Well, these are some ideas that fell on my mind, please let us know whether something of these was helpful.

Regards and good luck with next steps
Srdjan

[Mossie]

Thanks Srdjan!  I think you're right, I was originally mostly happy with the colour & should have stuck with it.  I've done the same before & I should know better by now!

1. I did get some paint blocked it in, although I'd cleared it before hand.  That was the frst time I had problems, I'd used an older tin of white paint to lighten the Humbrol 250, some dried bits stuck in the airbrush & I had to clear it.

2. I don't think that's happened, most times I've used it have been the following day.

3. I think the paint was thin enough, but low pressure may have been a problem.  I've checked on line & found out that bottom feed airbrushes need higher pressure.

4. I have been thinning the paint in the cup.  Thank you, I would never have guessed this was a problem!

Thanks Srdjan, I'm going back to the brush for my next step as my confidence with the airbrush has taken a little knock, but I won't let it stop me picking it up again!

[Weaver]

It's a great project Mossie - stick at it!

I've got a little 1/300th scale GEV (hover tank) painted in Humbrol Flesh with sand drybrushed over it. I'll photograph it properly tomorrow and post it up.

[Mossie]

Thanks Harold!  I know nev mentioned  Humbrol flesh before, I had a try & thought it looked a little 'David Dickinson', but I'd like to see how it looks toned down.

[Weaver]

Here you go:



The one on the left is painted with Humbrol Flesh with a drybrush of (I think) Sand. For comparison, the light colour in the one on the right is pure Sand. Sorry to be a bit vague, but it's 20+ years since I painted these things. Bear in mind also that they're VERY small: about an inch long. Photographed in natural daylight (grey overcast) without flash.

[srkirad]

You're welcome Simon

Oh, one thing I oversaw is that your airbrush is bottom feed? In that case case #4 would not be such a problem as pigments are stuck at the bottom of the cup, while airbrush with bottom feed picks up colour from the top of the cup, I presume?

My airbrush (H&S Evo 2in1) is gravity feed so you have to be carefull not to leave colour pigments at the bottom of the cup...

Well, hopefully some of these "brainstormings" could help you to solve the problems with AB

Keep us informed of progress on the bird

Cheers,
Srdjan

[Mossie]

Thanks for posting those pics Harold!  Flesh with sand is a very interesting combo, might have to think about that for other builds.

Srdjan, the feed still comes from the bottom of the cup (if it took from the top you'd soon run out of paint! )

I pulled this pic of the Badger 155 Anthem off the net.  The paint cup is upside down, but it shows how the feed connects to the bottom.  The airbrush is mounted to a paint jar (I used to use this but cracked the lid  ) & you can see the feed.


I've read that top feed airbrushes allow you to slow down a bit as you can use lower pressure due to the extra assistance gravity gives you, bottom feeds give you more flexibility, allowing you to add a paint jar for greater volume of paint.

[srkirad]

Oh yes, now I see - from this picture it's obvious that airbrush picks up colour from the bottom of the cup, like gravity feed does too..

Anyway, you can definitely try with mixing colour in some jar rather than in airbrush cup

And it's true that gravity feed airbrushes can work with much lower pressure - with Aztek airbrush that had ... uhm.. semigravity feed (?) (cup was connected on right/left side of airbrush) I used to do with pressure of 1-1.5bar, while with Evolution I usually work with 0.5bar or less, very rarely I put the pressure up to the 1 bar!

[Mossie]

Here's where I am tonight.  One step forward, half a mile back.....

Over the weekend I'd brush painted a couple of thinned coats of 2:1 Humbrol 250 to white.  It looked pretty good, although with all the coats of paint & it washes it's had on, it was starting to obliterate the fine panel lines.  When I added wash it wouldn't take in the lines.  I rubbed it back with some white spirit which seemed to help, but this glossed the surface & now the wash wouldn't adhere.  Sanding it didn't help, neither did washing it down.

So I decided to go back a step & start from the beginning.  Took the Fairy Power Spray out & stripped the paint, although it'll need a light sanding as there's a bit of rougness to the finish.  Managed to knock of both those pesky stabs & the canopy came off again, so I'm going to go shopping for some Clearfix tomorrow & I'll need to pin the the stabs somehow.  Not sure how as they are very thin in cross section, which is the reason they're knocked off so easily.



One thing is for certain, I AM carrying on with this build.  I've left too many builds at this kind of stage recentley, but however much it fights (& however much I fight myself )
I AM going to win with this fecker!!!

So Par-dee on!!!

[Captain Canada]

You can do it !

[Taiidantomcat]

You will feel better once you get that first coat of paint on