Paint creating oil like spots

[Saphiral]

Hi everyone
I'm new to airbrushing. With my last projects I haven't had any big issues but this time every figure has the same problem. When I spray a coat it goes on fine then in places the paint moves away leaving a circle showing the primer coat beneath. Almost like oil is there... Some times it happens on the second coat only so it's the same paint on paint. I thought it was maybe the primer but now I'm not sure. I use fluid golden acrylics with Rust-Oleum primer. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Thanks for reading.

 

[JackEb]

If the paint is ‘moves away and leaves a circle’ I’d certainly assume contamination somehow. Is your window open, did you sneeze (no I’m not trying to be silly) is your airbrush free from solvent/cleaner etc prior to adding paint. The airbrush could be pulling contaminants you didn’t know were there. When I clean a brush I never let it dry until it’s had 4 - 5 cups clean water rinsed thru after cleaners have been used.
you may need to strip it right down and give a deep deep deep clean just to be sure.

Can I respectfully suggest you head over to the intro section and tell us a few details as our friendly forum dragon suggests

 

[Saphiral]

Thank you so much for your help! I did clean it recently so I might have not rinsed my brush properly . I will try and do this and see if it's fixed. And yes I will head over to intro forum

 

[JackEb]

What is your cleaning process?
@markjthomson uses golden high flow so he may be able to provide some insight into the nuances of it and the best product/process to keep the airbrush squeaky clean

 

[markjthomson]

OK so a degreasing question. Am I right that you are painting figurines? What is the substrate? How are you preparing it before priming then any surface preparation after priming before top coating? This can be tricky. So a couple more questions...

1. I assume the primer is compatible? Can you send me a link to the product?
2. Do you touch the primer after it dries? If so, do you wear gloves?
3. Have you tried the paint (golden high flow) on a different surface?

A couple of things it could be,

a. It may be the thing you are painting has oil contamination on it that doesn't affect the primer in the same way it affects the paint. For example, if the primer is solvent dry and not water based.
b. It may be there is cross contamination that has got into your paint.
c. It may be something else...

Lets start walking through step by step in detail and eliminate the obvious...

 

[JackEb]

Lets start walking through step by step in detail and eliminate the obvious...

haha, if it was obvious then it wouldn’t be a problem that requires help

 

[Saphiral]

OK so a degreasing question. Am I right that you are painting figurines? What is the substrate? How are you preparing it before priming then any surface preparation after priming before top coating? This can be tricky. So a couple more questions...

1. I assume the primer is compatible? Can you send me a link to the product?
2. Do you touch the primer after it dries? If so, do you wear gloves?
3. Have you tried the paint (golden high flow) on a different surface?

A couple of things it could be,

a. It may be the thing you are painting has oil contamination on it that doesn't affect the primer in the same way it affects the paint. For example, if the primer is solvent dry and not water based.
b. It may be there is cross contamination that has got into your paint.
c. It may be something else...

Lets start walking through step by step in detail and eliminate the obvious...

Hi thanks for the help,

Yer they are epoxy resin figure i sand them and wash them in warm water and leave them to dry (the figures i cast myself and i dont use a mold release agent on them)

The primer is https://www.bunnings.co.nz/rust-oleum-340g-2x-ultra-cover-primer-white_p0265556
I try to not touch it, the pieces usually are on crocodile clips. I dont use gloves at this stage.. i use cotton ones at the end when i add pastels

The only thing i have used the paints on is paper and the figures

The only other thing i can think of for contamination is that i recently cleaned my brush and put some of the oil on the trigger piece because it was getting stiff. It could maybe also because i made some silcon molds in the same area as my paint station. Maybe that could be contributing? all my paints are in the bottles and i am have these issues with the colours straight out the bottle too

thank you so much for taking your time to help

 

[JackEb]

If the trigger is getting stiff then use something water based, not oil or petroleum based. I use chapstick for sealing threads rather than overtigjten them. I have heard KY gel is also an option.
normally a good clean with soap an water will clean it, just give it plenty of time to dry
Paint shouldn’t be getting near the trigger unles you have a seal issue

 

[jord001]

What compressor do you use? If its a big garage compressor that has oil in it there may be some oil getting through into the air line 1 spot of oil will make the water based paints form a ring... If so you need to have an oil and moisture trap in line to stop this happening. You should be ok after that. If its a small oil less compressor I'm not sure what it could be.

Lee

 

[Mr.Micron]

Are you scuffing prior to painting on the primer?
Are you wiping the area with a wax and grease remover after scuffing?
While it could be oil coming through your airbrush/spray gun most times it is surface prep causing fish eyes.

 

[markjthomson]

haha, if it was obvious then it wouldn’t be a problem that requires help

As an Engineer "eliminating the obvious" is what I do best... it's right up there with RTFM!

 

[markjthomson]

So cotton gloves are easily contaminated and silicon is the most evil substance in the world for paint and contamination.

And what Joord asked... what about your compressor?

 

[JackEb]

As an Engineer "eliminating the obvious" is what I do best... it's right up there with RTFM!

True ! I've lost count of the number of times I've asked 'are you sure the monitor is turned on'