Airbrushes

[NAB]

So can i just put tamiya acrylic paint straight through the gun?

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[Herr Dr. Professor]

I'd bet you thought this would be simple. Although nothing replaces experience, for starters I recommend a book on airbrushing and other modeling techniques, such as:

Edmundson, Gary. Robert Oehler, Ed. Painting and Finishing Techniques. Osprey, 2010. ISBN 978-1-84603-263-9.
Skinner, Aaron. Airbrushing for Scale Modelers. Kalmbach Books/Fine Scale Modeler Books, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-89024-957-4.

I find Tamiya Acrylic paints to be excellent for airbrushing. (For regular brushing, I prefer Vallejo acrylics. Other brands--MIG, Revell, Humbrol, and many more are varyingly great for one, the other, sometimes both forms of application.)

I always use a primer first. Tamiya makes great primers in spray cans, as do Mr. Hobby, Vallejo, and many others.

Rarely do I airbrush any paint without thinning, except sometimes Vallejo ModelAir or others that are specifically advertised as ready for airbrushing. Although mixing brands of thinners might sometimes work, I avoid doing so, and lately I have become even more of a stickler on this. Rather, I keep on hand the brand's specific thinner, so I use Tamiya Acrylic Thinner for Tamiya Acrylic paints (etc.).

Just how much to thin a paint for airbrushing differs by 1) the brand of paint, 2) the airbrush, 3) sometimes even the color (no kidding!). So each time, I test the paint on clean paper or even a bit of plastic (such as old pieces of sprue) and adjust until the paint behaves as I want, covering lightly, not running.

For clean up, hobby brand paint thinners are w-a-a-y too expensive. A trip to a nearby hardware store will yield "brush cleaners" good for enamels and other paints. Above all, learn how to disassemble and clean your airbrush blindfolded--it is your friend who needs loving care.

[NAB]

Ok thanks. Rather than books I will probably use the modern equivalent, YouTube lol.
I will search for tamiya paints and airbrushing and go from there.
Thanks

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[tankme]

There is an easy way to thin the entire pot of Tamiya acrylics. Andy from Hobby Headquarters has a vid of it on Youtube. You will need to thin it for airbrushing.

[NAB]

I've seen that but would rather keep the pots normal incase I want to do some brush painting.

Delivery has been delayed so I might get it tomorrow or Tuesday

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[Herr Dr. Professor]

"I've seen that but would rather keep the pots normal in case I want to do some brush painting." Good move! You have avoided one of the mistakes I made more than once before my pea-brain caught on.

[NAB]

Finally arrived a day late. Unusual for Amazon.

The compressor straight away is not the same model I ordered. This is a TC-20C where as the advert says AS-186K30.

Attached everything and it pressurised up to 4 bar then stopped. Nice and quiet operation so I'm happy with that.

The airbrush is a cheap one but seems ok for now while I learn what I'm doing. Probably won't attack the KT with airbrush and paint just yet!

I will update this thread once I've used it for a while in case anyone else is looking for a cheap airbrush/compressor combo

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[NAB]

When its operating there is a knocking noise. I suppose this is a normal compressor sound.

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[43rdRecceReg]

The Chinese have a knack of giving the same product any number of different names- as if to disguise them. Mine, for example, is 'Hseng' (perhaps a corruption of 'hissing' ) but it looks identical to yours, pretty much. It does knock a bit, and the hiss comes from clearing the airbrush (Harder and Steenbeck Ultra) from all the usable pressure it builds up; but, all in all, it performs very well. It's also turned out to be fairly robust, as it has had to contend with a fair amount of physical and verbal abuse in the last 3 years.. I'm a born cynic, but will say that I have been pleasantly surprised with mine. If the clanking bothers you, just put some cotton wool in your ears.

Hseng Compressor with original airbrush

This is how I visualise the frustrated airbrusher:

The Airbrusher's bad dream...

There was a link earlier, back to another airbrush thread, where I said that practice is the key. Even the Harder and Steenbeck, and Iwata Neo, brushes I use would still make an awful mess without a spot of daubing practice. However, with a good brush, and a reliable compressor, it should be possible to get acceptable results quicker then when learning on a crappy brush and compressor setup (the cheapo types on Amazon, and elsewhere, aimed at those luckless folk condemned to spraying toenails for a living ).

[Kaczor]

Recently I've bought MR.PROCON BOY PS-274 0.3mm (Iwata like). It is a pleasure to use it.