I
received some timely tips on airbrush malfunction in the comments section from
both Joroen and Tim. (Thanks, gents). These involved helping to get a good seal on the forward
parts of the airbrush with a blob of Vaseline in order to prevent air pressure
loss. So I glopped a bit on the threads - you would be surprised how many
questions your wife may come up with when you grab a jar of Vaseline and
disappear into the basement - and tightened things up as best I could.
Soon
the airbrush was running and I was spraying a matte topcoat onto the SM-82 that
I recently completed (and which you'll be seeing on the blog shortly). The
matte coat went on fairly well, so I thought the problem might be solved.
Unfortunately, the next color up was a reshoot of the Alclad that sputtered out
on me during the last session. Once again, the stream reduced and reduced until there was no paint emerging from the tip at all.
I
don't thin Alclad (since it typically doesn't need it) so it wasn't a chemical
reaction with thinner. There was some buildup around the outer portion of the airbrush tip, which is also unusual for Alclad. Was this another manifestation of the
Alclad Curse, which only seems to be invoked whenever Alclad paint crosses the
border into 72 Land? I'm not sure yet. The level of frustration was high and
the evening was cold, so I decided to defer the experiment with another enamel
paint until a later date.
So I'm
not quite there yet, but I continue to experiment. Airbrushing is such an
integral part of the modelling toolkit that I have to overcome this or start
looking for a new hobby. Could I have slopped on too much Vaseline and
contaminated the airstream, causing a chemical reaction with the lacquer
thinner? Not sure - despite what you may have heard, I am not an expert in
Vaseline usage - but I am not beaten yet. One other effect of the painting
session was that I realized my surface prep for the Hasegawa B-26 was
inadequate for a NMF, so I will need to do some additional buffing and put on a
coat of primer.
On the
other end of the production queue, I have decided to delay the start of work on
two new kits - the Hasegawa Ta-154 and the DML He-219 - in favor of two Italeri
models of Italian aircraft: the Fiat BR-20 and the Caproni Ca-314. With a great
Sky Models decal sheet of Italian bombers to provide unique markings and the
completion of two other Italian models in 2014, I figured I should strike while
the proverbial iron is hot.
Airbrush-troubles can be really frustrating. I was never sure if it was me or the brush.
ReplyDeleteI ended up tossing my (Revell) airbrush (I still use it for Alclad klear kotes, I don't like putting cellulose-based stuff in my "regular" airbrush) and bought a new one (second-hand Aztec). Haven't had a single issue since, except normal problems with paint consistency. At least, now I always know that I did something wrong (and what), instead of some unknown issue.
I still think the troubles started after spraying the Vallejo varnishes. Never got that to spray right and everything went sideways after. I think it messed up something inside that I cannot clean myself.
Best of luck!
I suspect that the ultimate solution is a trip to Portland for a professional thorough cleaning (and part replacement) by Iwata Medea. But until my income situation rights itself there are more critical items to spend that money on. So I'm going back to attempting a deep cleaning myself. So send out the dogs if I disappear inside there! (And thanks for the comments!)
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