Just picked up first airbrush in years. Chemicals questions

S

Stingeragent

Guest
So I did basic airbrushing years ago with a fleabay brush. Never quite worked that good. Had the need come up recently where I needed an airbrush so I got back in with a paasche talon. Loving it so far but have a few questions regarding thinners, and cleaning. I'm using craft acrylic (yes I know its not the best but 5 bucks a pop for airbrush colors is way more than I can afford at the moment). I have been thinning with windex which has honestly been working great but I read on here or somewhere else that ammonia based products shouldn't be used with an airbrush. If this is the case, what would be a better thinner to use? Would alcohol or water work better? Next with regards to cleaning, I've also mainly been using windex to shoot through the brush when I'm done but that brings me back to the previous problem. Would alcohol, or mineral spirits or vinegar work better for this and keep my brush alive longer? I know they sell fancy airbrush cleaners and all that but I'm looking for budget solutions. Lastly, does anyone know of a source of cheap airbrush ready paints, or just some other sort of paint that still needs to be thinned that would be better than the 50 cent walmart acrylic bottles? I saw a youtube video the other day where a guy had a big bottle of white, and just put a few drops in the cup of the color he wanted to use, mixed it with 95% (guess) white, and it turned all the paint in the cup yellow. Is that a more economical way of doing it, and if so , any idea what paint system that could have been.
 
Hi there, first up - windex IS NOT A REDUCER! Please don't put that stuff through your brush. Also really unhealthy to inhale once atomised, as is alchohol, etc. If you are going to put anything you've listed through your brush you need to be wearing a proper mask for protection of your lungs. IN addition, you need to make sur the O ring in the brush is teflon! In terms of what is the right reducer to use, we recommend you never use anything other than what the manufacturer recommends for reducers. For the acrylics it is typically water or a designed reducer.

In terms of paint, it's worth schilling a few bucks on a good quality airbrush specific paint. They last a long time. Even if you get a couple of colours just to start. Golden high flow, com-art are a couple of good ones and can be reduced with water.

How about you pop along to the intro section as well and let us know a bit about you. Where you're from, background in painting, what you want to paint, that sort of thing.

Here is the link. http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/

Cheers Mark
 
Hi, thanks for the reply. Is there any way to check if my oring is teflon or not? According to the paasche site the packing is ptfe, and the brush can supposedly be used with all solvent based paints. Can't find anything specific on the ring. I know the best practice for reducing is to use what the manufacturer recommends, but I haven't been able to locate a manufacturer website for the acrylic I got so no luck there. I'll give it a shot with just water tomorrow and forgo the windex. I had actually never tried the windex method until I got this brush, as I've seen that recommended numerous places for reducing acrylic paint. I guess there is a lot of mis-information out there.

Edit: Just looked at the createx site and that have a bottle called base. Not sure if its white or something else. Price is relatively cheap if that would extend the life of their regular smaller bottles of color. They way I have been doing it, is using whatever color I want, and then mixing in white or black if I need to darken or lighten it. Perhaps I've been going about my paint mixing the wrong way.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You are right the talon has a teflon o-ring, just distiled water for craft acrylic paints work well!! Leave the windex for cleaning!


Enviado desde mi iPad utilizando Tapatalk
 
Hi, thanks for the reply. Is there any way to check if my oring is teflon or not? According to the paasche site the packing is ptfe, and the brush can supposedly be used with all solvent based paints. Can't find anything specific on the ring. I know the best practice for reducing is to use what the manufacturer recommends, but I haven't been able to locate a manufacturer website for the acrylic I got so no luck there. I'll give it a shot with just water tomorrow and forgo the windex. I had actually never tried the windex method until I got this brush, as I've seen that recommended numerous places for reducing acrylic paint. I guess there is a lot of mis-information out there.

Edit: Just looked at the createx site and that have a bottle called base. Not sure if its white or something else. Price is relatively cheap if that would extend the life of their regular smaller bottles of color. They way I have been doing it, is using whatever color I want, and then mixing in white or black if I need to darken or lighten it. Perhaps I've been going about my paint mixing the wrong way.

If the manufacturer states its safe for solvents then all you can do is trust them. (My Iwata ptfe seals are white, not sure if its the same with other manufacturers)

Just to clear up a bit of info on the createx products before you go handing out $$

-think of 'Trans base' as a clear paint. it has the same binders/viscosity etc as the paint its designed for
there are a couple of different 'base' products. one for 'createx airbrush paint' which is for textiles. another is for 'illustration paint'
they are two different products.​
- HP Reducer, is what is used to reduce the viscosity of the paint (across the entire createx range) so that you can attain greater detail by thinning the paint.... PSI needs to be reduced accordingly !

Often the two products are used together. the trans base reduces the pigment load in an area thereby creating light layers, (think a drop of food colouring in a glass of water.... the colour intensity isn't there). then add the reducer to suit the pressure you are working at.

if you are looking for a white then you can choose either an opaque white or a transparent white in a larger bottle and just get colours in the smaller bottle. Just be aware that by doing this all your colours will be muted.
 
Yup, PTFE (or Teflon) is white. And welcome to the world of colour mixing... mixing black or white may not be the answer... in fact it rarely is. For example if you want a darker red the answer may be adding blue but there are a ton of other variable that play into it. It is a dark art but well worth putting in the hours to learn how to colour match!
 
You can thin good quality tube acrylics to be used in an airbrush. That is because the pigment is grounded super fine. With cheap craft acrylics the pigments are bigger and that is what clogs the nozzle. No amount of thinning with reduce pigment size and all you are doing is breaking down the binder. The reducer for acrylic is water. If it dries too fast, you use a bit of retarder.

But like everybody else has said, do not use Windex.

@Airbrush Dreams Future Floor wax has been a favourite with model builders for many years. They use it as a clear coat.
 
As strange as this sounds you can use Future Floor wax as a reducer and it is supposed to flow just like a urethane. This came straight from a tech at Golden company Paint development department. Or I would just stick with water.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
http://fredaw61.wixsite.com/the-artist
Yup, I used to use it in my models, mostly in windshields and canopy


Enviado desde mi iPad utilizando Tapatalk
 
It is not future is called glocot incoloro, same product, different brand and cant recall the other name but is made by johnson&johnson


Enviado desde mi iPad utilizando Tapatalk
 
It is not future is called glocot incoloro, same product, different brand and cant recall the other name but is made by johnson&johnson


Enviado desde mi iPad utilizando Tapatalk
Yes it is a Johnson and Johnson product. I just did a bit of digging around and now it is called Pledge with Future Shine. As far as I can tell this is the product. It is a clear acrylic base http://m.sears.com/search=pledge future shine premium floor finish 27 ounce bottles


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
http://fredaw61.wixsite.com/the-artist
 
Thanks for all the replies. Researching the ab colors to see which brand will do what i need. Did come upon a new question. I did a painting based off a youtube beginner channel. Basically a black forest at night with moonlight shining through. Used black posterboard, sprayed a gray midtone all in the center, then did the moon with white, as well as covering over all the gray. Then go in and paint the trees, grass with black. Turned out great. I then wanted to do same thing but have the moon and light from it be red, kinda like a bloodmoon. So i got a new piece of black posterboard, and made up a dark red and bright red and proceeded to do same process. Quickly realized its not going to work. Red just cant cover the black. In this situation would starting with a white posterboard be the solution? I think the red would be fine on that but then im worried when i spray the trees in black it will kill the red. I read an unrelated post and saw that yellow is a good color to make red pop. Is there a way to look at the color wheel and see how to determine that? Or is it all just learned from experimenting
 
Thanks for all the replies. Researching the ab colors to see which brand will do what i need. Did come upon a new question. I did a painting based off a youtube beginner channel. Basically a black forest at night with moonlight shining through. Used black posterboard, sprayed a gray midtone all in the center, then did the moon with white, as well as covering over all the gray. Then go in and paint the trees, grass with black. Turned out great. I then wanted to do same thing but have the moon and light from it be red, kinda like a bloodmoon. So i got a new piece of black posterboard, and made up a dark red and bright red and proceeded to do same process. Quickly realized its not going to work. Red just cant cover the black. In this situation would starting with a white posterboard be the solution? I think the red would be fine on that but then im worried when i spray the trees in black it will kill the red. I read an unrelated post and saw that yellow is a good color to make red pop. Is there a way to look at the color wheel and see how to determine that? Or is it all just learned from experimenting

To answer your question simply, still start with a black base but do all the areas you want red first with white and then mist it over with your red, the brighter you want your red, the more white you need, using yellow would give you an orange that covers just as bad.
 
Back
Top