[Closed] airbrush basics..

Give the needle a clean..

the paint/ink needs to the consistency of milk, although depending what you're spraying, that can cause adhesion problems.

I use my compressor set between 30 & 50 psi - too low & it won't move the paint; to high & you'll get too much & it'll run, unless you can control the amount of paint.

What type of airbrush? single or dual action? gravity feed or bottle beneath?

Single action means the trigger just lets the air through; dual action allows you to control the paint flow too.

also depends what you're wanting to paint. scale models or art?

Don't get too close to the thing you're painting. if doing multiple colours, do pale colours first, then mask off the areas that you don't want covering with the darker paints.

If you're doing scale models, e.g aircraft, mask off any 'glass' areas with either Tamiya masking tape or masking fluid such as Humbrol Maskol. Do not use DIY store masking tape except for larger areas.
Spray the whole thing with the underside colour, then mask off the underside; then spray the upper side with the palest of the camouflage colours. Then, if you're feeling confident, spray the darker camo colours by hand. if not confident, again mask off the bits you don't want painting, again with Tamiya masking tape (if straight patterns e.g. WWII German aircraft) or some more masking fluid (British camo patterns).
Italian WWII aircraft can be almost giraffe patterned - paint the upper surface in the paler colour (e.g. sand), then make a number of small plasticine 'sausages' & press these on where you want to keep the pale colour; when the whole thing is covered, spray the darker colour. remove the plasticine when fully dry.

Spray lightly, moving the brush from side to side before releasing the paint. don't get too close. leave each different colour overnight to dry completely before starting the next colour.

I then unmask everything except the glass areas and give the whole thing a coat of clear gloss. Decals next, then seal them in with more clear gloss. Finally, if it's a military model, a coat of clear matt.

what paint you using yunki? plus what john said.

i find tamiya acrylic paints dry far too fast (i.e even on the needle), need quite a bit of thinners

Games workshop paints are ace, again need thinning down to get the right consistency.

play play play, is the only way to get better at airbrushing, load up the pot and dial up different pressures and spray up old bits o newspaper, going round the photos etc to get the feel of it.

i use the finest needle for my modelling work.. 0.3mm or something.

it's a dual action gravity feed..

for spraying readymixed edible colours onto cakes..!)

the colour just comes out with a wadge of tiny paint drips all around the main spray area..

higher pressure, thinner colour. practice on disposable stuff until you get the air/colour mix right, as cheez0 said. Ok you may use more of your colours, but you won't ruin the cakes

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yunki, sod the cakes off and get into spraying tina turners/ terminators onto truck cabs...

There is a truck on the old A30 climb up to haldon that has a tom cruse airbrushed onto it... why would you do that?

thanks folks..

the compressor isn't adjustable, so that's definitely gonna be a problem.. 😐

There is a truck on the old A30 climb up to haldon that has a tom cruse airbrushed onto it... why would you do that?

I'm trying really hard to think of something shitter than that... and can't 😆

There is a truck on the old A30 climb up to haldon that has a tom cruse airbrushed onto it... why would you do that?

what's really baffling about that monstrosity is that it's parked outside of a beautiful 18C toll house.

it's like they used all their taste credits up when they bought the house.