Any help appreciated

[highlandlord]

Hi guys
i have never airbrushed before and my first project will be a wooden model ship
i have a mini compressor capable of 100 psi and 2 airbrushes one with 0.3 tip and one with 0.2 the latter is gravity fed and the first is suction fed
just to try them out i put some poster paint in the suction fed one but i could not get the consistancy right are there any guidelines as to the thickness of the paint or anything i can compare the viscosity of the paint with?
I also make small wooden boxes and would like to varnish them is this possible with the airbrush using normal household varnish
also i hear a lot of talk about opaque or transparent paints which would be the best for wood?
any help on these points would be a great help
i told you i was a newbie OK i will get my coat lol
Thanks

[KDSilverBrush]

Originally Posted by highlandlord

Hi guys
i have never airbrushed before and my first project will be a wooden model ship
i have a mini compressor capable of 100 psi and 2 airbrushes one with 0.3 tip and one with 0.2 the latter is gravity fed and the first is suction fed
just to try them out i put some poster paint in the suction fed one but i could not get the consistancy right are there any guidelines as to the thickness of the paint or anything i can compare the viscosity of the paint with?
I also make small wooden boxes and would like to varnish them is this possible with the airbrush using normal household varnish
also i hear a lot of talk about opaque or transparent paints which would be the best for wood?
any help on these points would be a great help
i told you i was a newbie OK i will get my coat lol
Thanks

Welcome Highland. I don't think yer gonna get those abs to blow poster paint LOL ya may try to reduce it with water untill it is the consistancy of milk, but I think ya may still have a problem. The pigment is just to heavy. Same with the varnish, ya may be able to reduce it, but by the time ya got it reduced right, it may have so much reducer it would dry before it gets out of yer ab, or it may have no sheen to it. Hope this helps ya. I'm sure there will be others that will chime in on this with some helpfull info for ya.

[Kaiilla]

Ya really gotta watch the varnish. I did a bunch of gaming miniatures (D&D) as a chess set about 20 years ago and when I went to varhish them so that they would hold up to the handling of playing chess over time, the varhish either got areated too much or partially dried between the brush and the miniature or a combination. (or the stuff was just bad) 'cause it looked like it had showed on the miniatures. Real bummer. Luckily it was only one sides pawns that I sprayed. So I didn't screw up the whole set.

[highlandlord]

Thanks guys
for the answers just need a couple more answers ie the difference between Opaque and Transparent paint and what would be the best for coverage on wood and plastic models as this is my main aim at the moment and when i get confident with models hopefully i can move on to other projects
Thanks again
Allan

[landsbro]

hmm,, when painting on wood i would go with opaque colors
it will cover the fibres on the wood which the transparent wouldn't

abut the viscosity of the paint ,,,well,,i worked as a paint/clearcoating machine operator manny(25) years ago,,but learned some from that
those days we used the wooden stick that we stired the clear/hardener/thinner with lifted it up and with a correct/acceptable
mix the clear/paint shouldn't not run off the stick ,,just a even flow of droplets
this i use these days too when checking my clear,,,,i have found that
mcdonalds wooden sticks that the have to stir coffe is excellent to use
to stir smaller volumes of clear or paints,,,wife is litte embarressed
when i take a handful of these wooden sticks..he,he we usually go there when i'm out of wooden sticks,,not a big fan of this burgers taste like
paper,,
/kimmo

Btw,,,about the varnish i use a cheap plastic suction feed
airbrush when i varnish
my canvas paintings,cost just a few bucks

[highlandlord]

Originally Posted by landsbro

hmm,, when painting on wood i would go with opaque colors
it will cover the fibres on the wood which the transparent wouldn't

abut the viscosity of the paint ,,,well,,i worked as a paint/clearcoating machine operator manny(25) years ago,,but learned some from that
those days we used the wooden stick that we stired the clear/hardener/thinner with lifted it up and with a correct/acceptable
mix the clear/paint shouldn't not run off the stick ,,just a even flow of droplets
this i use these days too when checking my clear,,,,i have found that
mcdonalds wooden sticks that the have to stir coffe is excellent to use
to stir smaller volumes of clear or paints,,,wife is litte embarressed
when i take a handful of these wooden sticks..he,he we usually go there when i'm out of wooden sticks,,not a big fan of this burgers taste like
paper,,
/kimmo

Btw,,,about the varnish i use a cheap plastic suction feed
airbrush when i varnish
my canvas paintings,cost just a few bucks

Great info there i suppose with the wood i could just keep coating it til is all covered with acrylics would you recomend 50/50 mix? or is it just trial and error?
Regards
Allan