Yep, me too...I thought airbrushing was a giant pita, until I got a double action gravity feed.
Tom
Iwata HP-B owner
Great airbrush! A lot of modellers pass on the B because of the small cup without realising that there´s benefits from it. The smaller cup makes for a shorter body, nimbler and lighter airbrush.
A friend of mine calls his B "the air pen". Fitting name.
But as always, people must realize there are no perfect, do everthing, general airbrush. Details are best done with fine nozzle small, well balanced airbrushes at low pressure and with properly thinned paint, and large cover is best done by large nozzle airbrushes at high pressure.
I've had three "revelations" in airbrushing during the years. First was reading some article in the late 90's, where the author suggested a technique of always keeping the air on. As long as the airbrush is in your hand, let the air flow. I've read this from other sources a couple of times later as well, and it is sound advice. The thing is that with the air going, you will decrease the risk of tipdry, since the air keeps the needle point clean, and the classic "start spatter" will be completely eliminated. It also reduces the things to keep in mind. A lot of people that has started with single action brushes have a hard time with the "open air first, then the paint, close paint, then the air"-mindset. They want to just release the trigger to stop. Doing that on a double action is inviting disaster. First, while stopping the air before the paint, it usually lets a drop of paint bleed out onto the needle to, or the needle cap. Result, spatter or tip dry. Second, it is one of the primary reasons for broken nozzles. While demo-ing airbrushes at a national event, I had to stop people from doing this. Most of the culprits doing this was either single action or Aztek owners....
With the air going, the only thing to think about is paint or no paint. Reduces the things to think about to the same level as a single action.
My second revelation was understanding paint and paint products. I switched to acrylics from Humbrol enamels in the late 90's, early 00's, and immediatly had even more problems than I had with enamels. My problem with enamels where inconsistent behavior and results, and when I started with acrylics, it continued, but added to the earlier problems where tip dry and to short drying times (orange peel effect).
For years I had been listening to peoples advice on "skimmed milk consistency" and other rules of thumb. After almost giving up on airbrushing, especially acrylics, I talked to a very good modeller here in Sweden about his superb finishes, and he said that he thinned a lot more than generally recommended. His goal was never to get complete cover the first run, but to build up thin layers of paint. Sounds so basic, but today I thin a lot more. Add to that the use of retarder, extender, and flow aids, and I would say that my airbrushing has developed tremendously.
And the third. Backflush and car wax. So simple, and still so effective. I used to tear down my airbrushes every time I had used them, most of the time even between colour changes. Then I started to backflush, and today I strip down my airbrushes maybe once a month, or if I know that it won't be used in a while, before putting it away. And I use silicon free old fashion car wax on every part, even the needles. Works great, and makes cleaning so much easier.
Today I do 90% of my airbrushing directly at my modelling desk. No sheds, no standing on the balcony, no paint booths. Fine nozzle, small cup airbrush, some drops of paint in the airbrush, and of you go.
Only large cover work needs to be brought to the paint booth.
MO is the best of the best in my eyes ...
She's a real magician with the airbrush. First time I saw her work I thought it was retouched photographs.
