varnish for air brush

[Ron Tamburrini]

Hi all
does anyone have experience of using varnish in an airbrush and if so which varnishes

ron

 

[kagemusha]

There are no restrictions other than the size of your needle/nozzle set-up.............as long as we are talking 'modelling' varnishes

Cheers

Ron C

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

There are no restrictions other than the size of your needle/nozzle set-up.............as long as we are talking 'modelling' varnishes

Cheers

Ron C

Using an iwata hp b plus Ron ,just don't want to clog the needle

 

[John Bowery]

I have used both testors Dull coat and Gloss coat and thinned it with lacquer thinner at a 50/50 ratio.
Also used wood varnish at the same rate. Cleaned the airbrush with the lacquer thinner with no problems.
Cheers
John

 

[kagemusha]

In my personal experience....as long as you are using a 0.3 (or above) needle/nozzle setup....use the required type of thinner....and keep the psi above 30....you should not encounter any problems.....

Only thing I would add to John's comments.....use a good quality airbrush cleaning fluid (Medea is Iwata's own brand) after the lacquer thinner as, over time, it will attack the seals.
Modern airbrushes use 'teflon' seals but, can still suffer degradation when using lacquers.

Ron C

 

[FigureLover]

I've used Model Master Gloss, Flat and Semi-gloss for years through several airbrushes, never had a problem with clogging. Thin well and don't spray too thickly is the way to go
Ben

 

[rossbach]

I would never ever use Testors dullcote to achieve a matt finish on a figure. It has a tendency to fog if applied or thinned in the wrong way. It is known to be temperamental and unstable especially if the bottle is older.

Mr.Hobby flat clear H-20 is easy to thin with the brand's own thinner, sprays like a dream and doesn't fog (even if you have it on the shelf for a few years). It's very stable. All that is needed is a thin coat which will give you a perfect deadmatt finish. No problems whatsoever.

Alclad also has a range of acrylic lacquers ranging form high gloss to matt but I prefer Mr. Hobby. These acrylic lacquers are mainly used by aircraft modellers but they seemed to have passed by the figure painting community. I can asure you that they give a perfect finish.

When thinning Mr. Hobby I use a ratio of 1 : 3. The consistency should be like water. For thinning Hobby Color Thinner 400 is used. I own several airbrushes: Iwata, Olympus, Riche and Harder & Steenbeck.

The big advantage of such an easy going lacquer in my opinion is that one can work with oil paints without constantly having to worry about whether or not it will dry matt or with a sheen.

If you have any questions about airbrushing don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck

 

[rossbach]

Forgot to say this: nozzle size is not really relevant. The thing you need to do well is thinning your paint/laquer. I use nozzles ranging from 0.15 mm to 0.3 and never have clogging problems. Clogging normally occurs during longer airbrushng sessions for instance when working on large scale garage kits. Spraying lacquer on say a 75 mm figure doesn't tke more than 10 - 15 minutes

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

I would never ever use Testors dullcote to achieve a matt finish on a figure. It has a tendency to fog if applied or thinned in the wrong way. It is known to be temperamental and unstable especially if the bottle is older.

Mr.Hobby flat clear H-20 is easy to thin with the brand's own thinner, sprays like a dream and doesn't fog (even if you have it on the shelf for a few years). It's very stable. All that is needed is a thin coat which will give you a perfect deadmatt finish. No problems whatsoever.

Alclad also has a range of acrylic lacquers ranging form high gloss to matt but I prefer Mr. Hobby. These acrylic lacquers are mainly used by aircraft modellers but they seemed to have passed by the figure painting community. I can asure you that they give a perfect finish.

When thinning Mr. Hobby I use a ratio of 1 : 3. The consistency should be like water. For thinning Hobby Color Thinner 400 is used. I own several airbrushes: Iwata, Olympus, Riche and Harder & Steenbeck.

The big advantage of such an easy going lacquer in my opinion is that one can work with oil paints without constantly having to worry about whether or not it will dry matt or with a sheen.

If you have any questions about airbrushing don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck

Sounds just what I'm looking for Rossbach . See you are a new member It would be nice to get a first name .

Ron

 

[rossbach]

Well................ I am not exactly new, just not very actively participating on the forum, although I do visit Pf several times a day.

You can trust me on the Mr. Hobby story; it's true. Is Mr. hobby paint easy to get for you?

Paul

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Well................ I am not exactly new, just not very actively participating on the forum, although I do visit Pf several times a day.

You can trust me on the Mr. Hobby story; it's true. Is Mr. hobby paint easy to get for you?

Paul

Yes Paul I don't think it would be much of a problem to get hold of .
Thanx for the info

Ron

 

[kagemusha]

Would be good to see some of your AB pieces Paul......a picture being worth a thousand words.....and gives a much better example of what results to expect when following your advice.

Cheers

Ron

 

[rossbach]

Ha........................... . I would have to borrow a camera to do that since I don't own one. It will take a while.

In the meantime: a picture will tell you nothing at all, for it only shows a piece with a flat finish. Humbrol, Alclad, Gunze, Modelmasters,
Testors, Vallejo etc. : they will all give you a flat finish.

Over the years I tried them all. Mr. Hobby is good at what it is supposed to do. What I have been doing over the years is trying them out.There's no way a picture can tell tell you that oil based lacquers have a tendency to become more unstable as compared to non - oil based ones. That's something you will only find out by trying.

Sometimes the only way to end uncertainty is to jump into the deep and see what happens.

 

[kagemusha]

Ha.........no mobile phone then ?.......

As for a picture telling me nothing at all......I think you misunderstood....it would allow me to understand where your coming from, in terms of your level of skill with the AB in general, as well as examples of the advice you are giving....

With regard to "jumping into the deep end".....people tend to ask for advice, to avoid ruining a piece because they don't have the experience you state you already have....

 

[rossbach]

Indeed I don't have a moblile phone able to take photographs. As soon as I can get hold of a camera
however I will post some pictures.

 

[kagemusha]

Great.....will look forward to them

 

[rossbach]

View attachment 166495View attachment 166496View attachment 166496

 

[rossbach]

 

[rossbach]

For the time being.

I manage to find these pics of two of my older figures whith which I competed in last year's Dutch IPMS (EMS) nationals. Grecy's 54 mm French herald had his tunic finished with Mr Hobby flat lacquer applied with an airbrush. The face has a slight sheen from brush applied Vallejo satin varnish (thinned with water).

Stefano Borin's 90 mm Roman clibinarius/cataprhract had its metal parts finished with Alclad 2 klear kote light sheen. Again airbrush applied. The clothing was finished with Mr Hobby H-20. It took a lot of masking with Humbrol Maskol.

Both figures were basically painted in oils except for the metals which were done with those funny named Citadel metal paints.

The pics are a bit garish since they were taken with full flashlight.

I'll try to get up some more sharper pics when I manage to borrow a camera.

 

[rossbach]

It is possible to enlarge the pics if you click on them so to get a better idea