Stupid Iwata Eclipse BS airbrush question

lakespeed · Post by **lakespeed** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:13 pm

I didn't see this question answered elsewhere.....and it's kind of dumb......but I've been fooling around with my Iwata Eclipse BS airbrush and let's just say other than playing with an old Badger many moons ago I'm inexperienced.

Anyhow, with the old Badger I could adjust between fine and wide spray lines by adjusting the nozzle (for lack of a better term) however it seems that on the Iwata I have no adjustment.

Do I simply go between fine and wide by adjusting the distance from what I am spraying (as in close for fine and far for wide) or am I just looking past the obvious? There's nothing in the instructions that indicate anything.

I'm running this off a Smart-Jet compressor just for information purposes.

Right now I'm just test spraying Vallejo paints to get used to the feel of an airbrush again.

DasPhule · Post by **DasPhule** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:17 pm

Pulling the trigger back will make the line wider, forwards makes it smaller.

Erin
<*>

lakespeed · Post by **lakespeed** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:26 pm

Thanks Erin.

I just went and sprayed some air and I noticed a little difference on my hand. I also noticed I had the knob on the regulator turned all the way to the + side so it was hitting 35PSI. I turned it down to about 20PSI and that seemed to make a difference too.

I'll spray some paint again tomorrow and try.

I've been building for 30 years and now I feel like I'm starting all over again.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:17 pm

Gravity fed brushes can run down to about 2psi depending on the paint. Bottle fed works fine between 12-20psi.

Down for air, back for more paint. The more paint, the thicker the line.

Post by **TER-OR** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:24 pm

You can also over-tighten the spring tube which will limit how far back you can pull the trigger.

You'll like the eclipse, Eric, but moving from an external-mix single-action to this type of airbrush can be a learning experience....

lakespeed · Post by **lakespeed** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:59 pm

Kylwell wrote:Gravity fed brushes can run down to about 2psi depending on the paint. Bottle fed works fine between 12-20psi.

Down for air, back for more paint. The more paint, the thicker the line.

I've been limiting myself to three drops of paint at a time using the Vallejo stuff. Just to be able to judge the flow and how much I need.

The Alclad stuff I ordered came in today so that gives me a little more to learn with.

lakespeed · Post by **lakespeed** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:01 pm

TER-OR wrote:You can also over-tighten the spring tube which will limit how far back you can pull the trigger.

You'll like the eclipse, Eric, but moving from an external-mix single-action to this type of airbrush can be a learning experience....

Yep, it's definitely different.

I'm just trying to learn with little steps. I'm afraid if I jump into things too quickly and don't get results I'm happy with I'll get frustrated.

Post by **TER-OR** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:08 pm

Jump right in, Eric. Call me if you need some help.

lakespeed · Post by **lakespeed** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:34 pm

Thanks Terry, I have your number so I may just take you up on that if I get really stalled. I'm trying hard to learn on my own with some advice from you guys on some of the basic stuff. There's no better way for me to learn.

I sprayed today and learned some hard lessons.

I did some pre-shading with a darker color for practice on my D-6 and it came out really nice. I didn't thin out my Vallejo paint at all.

However, I should have thinned out the top coat of the lighter gray I used as it was thicker and I should have known better so not only did I get some pebbling in my top coat but I also clogged up the brush.

I took everything apart, cleaned it, and stripped the D-6. This time I thinned out the Vallejo really well but I put too much in (not thinking again) and basically put on wayyyyyy too much paint. However I once again cleaned everything up and stripped again. On the positive side the spraying pointed out a couple of small pinholes in the resin that stuck out like a sore thumb so I made an improvement there.

So what did I learn?

Well.....the thinner the paint the greater the flow when you spray. Also, have a plan for how you want to spray instead of just throwing paint around.