I forgot how much I hate... (enamel paints)

[Less Than Super Ostrich]

I forgot how much I hate ENAMEL paints. Always clogging up my airbrush. Difficult to clean up. Inconsistent thickness, so you don't know how much thinner to add.

How do y'all clean your airbrush with spraying enamels? I had to stop several times and run high strength lacquer thinner through it. Anyone got a better idea? I needed to use gloss black enamel under my Alclad II chrome coat for my Naboo Royal Starship.

[joey_d1119]

I forgot how much I hate ENAMEL paints

I hate to disappointed but thats the only type of paint you should be running through your airbrush. Enamels never clogged my brush.

Sounds like you are not getting the right ratio of paint to thinner. Usually 2 parts paint, one part thinner....however I learned this a while ago from a better modeler then I.......

Your paint should end up looking and feeling like the consistency of 2% milk.


Done that every time, of course its not exact, but I use enamels all the time and I have never had a clogged airbrush.

[Less Than Super Ostrich]

I will put my Tamiya acrylics up against your enamels any day of the week.

I had the consistency right on the enamels... milk consistency. It just begins to dry and clog much quicker than acrylics.

[Godfather]

Interesting... I've had just exactly the same problem, but with acrylics. They dry too fast, sticking all over and clogging the brush.

I like Tamiya acrylics, but because of the sticking/clogging problem, only use them when absolutely necessary.

Are you using two separate airbrushes (one for acrylics, one for enamels) or the same for both? The sensei who taught me the tao of airbrushing told me to use separate brushes for each type of paint.

As for cleaning after using enamels, lacquer thinner's the best thing out there. I use mineral spirits in between spray sessions, and then use lacquer thinner to thoroughly clean the airbrush before storing it.

BTW, how old are your enamel paints and what brand are you using? It could be the cause of your headaches.

[Thomas E. Johnson]

I only airbrush acrylics with a little retarder mixed into them, and every now and then Mr. Surfacer 1000 thinned heavily. I too have always had trouble airbrushing enamels, for the same reasons that the author of this thread has.

[Less Than Super Ostrich]

...


'Round these parts, we gotta name for folks like you.... ENAMEL-LOVERS!





....

[Kylwell]

The only thing that passes through my brush other than acrylics is lacquers.

Buggered far too many brushes with Testors.

[Digger1]

when and where available, acrylics are the only paints that will go through my airbrush.

[Godfather]

Well, good luck with that.

[TER-OR]

...


'Round these parts, we gotta name for folks like you.... ENAMEL-LOVERS!





....

Would that be ENAMBLA?

[ralphee]

I would have so say this is odd, it could be your mix Bri. I use Tamiya, Floquil, Pollyscale and Humbrol. None of them clog at all, the only ones that tend to stick up a little if left for a litlte while between coats or fettling are the Pollyscale or Tamiya, as they are acrylics they tend to dry so fast, but thay dont clog the brush.
I quick dip in some thinners and they are ready to shoot again, Tamiyas shoot so sublime through a brush, never fail me.
Just try a thinner mix and you should be good to go, enamels thinned will take a while to stick up a brush to clog though!

lee

[budgie]

enamel fan here, never have any real problems with drying etc as opposed to acrylics which seem to dry too fast for me..

This might be a stupid question Less than.. but how do you clean your guns?

Do you just run thinners though them or do complete strip downs?

Ive found between colours a quick squirt through with cellulose thinners does the trick but at the end of the job everything gets stripped down and any parts that come into contact with paint are dipped/soaked in cellulose (taking care with parts with o- rings though.

I use this method on three out four of my brushes, the only one that doesnt get that treatment has a plastic body, all others are metal

budgie

[Digger1]

Well, good luck with that.

as with any paints or substances, you have to know the nature of the beast - how it behaves, how to mix and thin it and clean up afterward. I don't think there's another type of paint that'll give as smooth and flawless paint job as acrylic.

[Mr. Badwrench]

I hate to disappointed but thats the only type of paint you should be running through your airbrush. Enamels never clogged my brush.

I assume you're horsin' around, but I've put acrylics, enamels, lacquers, Future, inks, food coloring, and spit through my airbrush, to no ill effect. That having been said, I prefer enamels and lacquers over most anything else. It sounds to me LTSO that your enamels are not being thinned enough. I'm nowhere near an expert on the subject, (just look at some of my crappy finishes and you'll know it's true), but whenever my airbrush spits and clogs, I'll add a drop or two of thinner, and it usually clears the problem right up. Don't make it too thin though, 'cos that creates its own problems. What air pressure are you running at?

[DX-SFX]

What Mr B said.

It's important to stir enamels carefully so that all the pigment is dispersed evenly but otherwise, they're my paint of choice. They stick to plastic much better than acrylics too which is important if you're doing a lot of tape masking.

[tonyG2]

Do you just run thinners though them or do complete strip downs?

Regular complete strip downs. If the next colour through is similar to the last - is a dark colour after a dark, then I'll just clean with some blasts of thinners and change bottles and dip tubs etc.

If is, say, white after using red (nightmare) then STRIP DOWN

[TER-OR]

I will run some Simple Green or Windex through if I want to airbrush another color soon. I will tear down and clean well if I'm not airbrushing again that day or the next.

[Less Than Super Ostrich]

My consistency with the enamels are fine. Any more thinner and it starts to go on messy. Enamels just simply stink. Acrylics go on easy, clean up easy, dry quicker, simply superior. Enamels are the bane of my existence.

[Kolschey]

Myself, I only use acrylics in my airbrush. I find that even with thinning, too many enamels are just too dense to use in that way.

[raist3001]

I will put my Tamiya acrylics up against your enamels any day of the week.

Agreed.

[SpaceDuck]

I needed to use gloss black enamel under my Alclad II chrome coat for my Naboo Royal Starship.

Maybe I'm looking at "old" bottles of Alclad II but mine are lacquer based and the chrome is intended to be used over a black lacquer base too?

You obviously know the difference between lacquers and enamels since you mentioned that you 'needed' to clean your gun with lacquer but trying to thin a lacquer paint with an enamel solvent would certainly produce clogging and spitting- it just doesn't work. So I wouldn't know what's happening with your experience but I cast my vote with the other 'enamel lovers' (lacquers too, just not acrylics) 'round these here parts!

Yup, I'll keep my solvent based paints. Can't trust it if you can't smell it!

Thar now, that's sum kind mo' better!

[justcrash]

Let me add a wrinkle here: I only use Acrylics, but Acryl clogs up my airbrush everytime and is a pain to clean up. It is suspposed to be good for blowing right out of the bottle, but I thin it anyways because of teh luck I had. It doesn't matter.

I mention this because I blew some acryl this weekend for teh first time in a long time and it made a mess.

Tamiya gives me no issues.

[Jonas Calhoun]

I think it could somewhat depend on the airbrush.

I tried spraying lacquers through my Aztek, and failed miserably--I think it may have eaten some of the stuff inside. Enamels it had no trouble with. Same with Acrylics.

My Iwata will spray just about anything I can fit into the cup: Lacquers, enamels, acrylics, really small rocks, ink, blood, and water.

However, I've also noticed that if I switch from one to the other in the middle of a painting session, I better make sure I clean the brush really well before (well, except when spraying lacquers and switching to Gunze acrylics--they don't seem to mind lacquer thinner for some reason).

Dan

[Mr. Badwrench]

What do you thin really small rocks with? 'Cos I was thinking either lava or quicksand.

[Dr. Yo]

What do you thin really small rocks with? 'Cos I was thinking either lava or quicksand.

I use the power of my mind....


Ahem. Anyway, like Kylwell, I'm either acrylics or laquer, and the latter
only very recently. I converted from enamels about fifteen years ago-
and I've found my brush ( an old Paasche H ) to be a little easier to clean.
I'll have to remember the Windex trick-sounds cheaper than thinner.

[Jonas Calhoun]

What do you thin really small rocks with? 'Cos I was thinking either lava or quicksand.

You take a bike, put it so the wheels are upside down. Then hand crank the pedals, put the rocks against the tires. It'll eventually wear them down, you'll either be able to spray them, or you'll get ice cream.

Dan