Hmmm…do you mean like ramming a cotton swab down the body?
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yes, or reaming it out with a needle file …
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Or perhaps using more caustic chemical cleaners that speed up deterioration of the item.
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@RonW @Stikpusher @Armor_Buff @brekinapez @Stickframe @SSGToms @MontanaHunter @G.Baran @Uncle-Heavy… thanks to all of you with your suggestions. I was able to resume my painting using multiple suggestions from you all and have been exceptionally pleased with my results.
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Good to hear!
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Fantastic. That’s what the gang is about.
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I had the same recurring problem with that specific piece with my Badger. I replaced it several times over many years and eventually sent it to Badger to fix and my airbrush worked fine after that. That was years ago, now I use my Iwata. Still love badgers though
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Keeping the needle clean is critical to not abusing these PTFE (aka Teflon) seals. Dried paint build-up on the needle will work like an abrasive, turning the needle into a kind of “sanding stick” which will abrade / scratch the seals and allow compressed air to pass (and in extreme instances allow paint to leak from the bowl into the air valve assembly under the trigger).
Seal 50-046 is the one the needle passes through between the air valve / trigger and the paint bowl (gravity fed) or paint channel (where the paint jar attaches on a siphon brush). If 50-046 is leaking, you’ll get air bubbles in the bowl or paint jar. This is the seal that is usually replaced by Badger under warranty.
(At one time, authorized Badger airbrush dealers had the small tool required and could perform this service, but alas, that’s no longer the case. Seal 50-046 can be replaced at home, but it’s not an easy job and you’ll likely ruin one or two as you figure it out. If you want to do it at home, buy 3-4 spare seals before you attempt it. Once you do it right, you’ll know how to do it again, but it’s something you just have to figure out.)
Seal 50-055 prevents compressed air from the body assembly from entering into the paint tip (that is, it isolates the paint tip from the air tip). The leaking / bubbling between the air tip, 50-036, and the front of the body, 50-035, is because seal 50-055 is missing / damaged, the air tip is not screwed on snuggly (just “finger tight”!) or there’s damage or fouling on the screw threads between the air tip and body.
You can use a very (VERY) small amount of airbrush lube on these threads and the seal 50-055 which will eliminate or mitigate any slight amount of air leakage. Seal 50-036 is usually available as a spare part at the vendors who sell Badger airbrushes. I keep a couple of spares on-hand just in case I drop one while cleaning and can’t find it later.
If you commence to clean the airbrush and the needle is “stuck,” do NOT just use force to pull it out to the rear. Add a couple of drops of lacquer thinner into the bowl and give it a few moments to dissolve the dried paint. Try turning the needle. If it still will not pull out to the rear EASILY, then remove the paint and air tips and PUSH the needle out through the front. You’ll likely observe a ring of dried paint around the needle at the point where it enters the bowl.
(Actually, pulling the needle out to the front is pretty much the best way to remove it for cleaning. Once it’s clean, inserting it back into the brush from the rear is the way to go. Install the paint and air tips and gently push the needle into the brush from the rear until it just touches the inside of the paint tip, then install the jam nut that locks the back of the needle in place. If you have need to remove the paint and air tips, loosen up the needle jam nut so that when you reinstall the tips, the paint tip wont screw down hard against the tip of the needle. Once the tips are back on, then gently push the needle forward to just touch the inside of the paint tip and retighten its jam nut. Sounds complicated, but really all of this is just a matter of how you sequence the steps and is not actually any new steps.)
Also, using an airbrush needle lubricant will help the longevity of the Teflon seals. Badger sells Regdab, Iwata sells Super Lube, and Paashe has one that’s just called Airbrush Lubricant. All work pretty much equally well. Use whichever is easiest to procure.
Spread just a very (VERY) thin film of the lubricant on the needle after cleaning and before reassembly. If you can’t find any of the proprietary airbrush lubes, you can use ordinary drug store liquid lanolin.
A clean airbrush is a happy airbrush!
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@SdAufKla now that’s quite the airbrush care and use guide…thanks for that excellent explanation. I honestly dont think the leaking problem is causing me much grief, but I could be wrong.
@metalhead85 in 35 years of modeling I’ve only owned Badger products (200,155 and 150). Lately I’ve been considering trying a new brand and switching to gravity fed. I want to be able to freehand cammo paterns. I bought a .3 MM needle and nozzle set for my 155 but haven’t tried it yet.
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If you want to go gravity-feed and stay with Badger their Renegade Krome is the brush for you! I have one as my workhorse, both for general painting and for delicate camo (pressure cranked down, needle travel limited, paint suitably thinned) and wouldn’t trade to another brand. For fine pressure I use a MAC valve screwed to the air-input on the brush - it’s easier than fiddling with the valve on the compressor under the desk…
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Ambiant humidity and temperature have a huge effect on the “tip drying” problem. If the air in your workspace is warm and dry, then atomized paint particles swirling around the paint tip will have a tendency to start to dry and collect on the air paint tips. Not much you can do except perhaps turn down the a/c and put a humidifier in your work room.
(If your a/c runs constantly, then the air in your house is probably at a very, very low humidity, so humidifying the air in your workroom might be all that’s needed. Same could be true if you live in one of the high-desert regions. Winter environments where the outside air temps remain below or near freezing for long periods also tend to create very dry interior conditions, these often coupled with warm air temps from the house heater. Air temp and humidity constantly change.)
Also, airbrush paint flow rate and air pressure can also combine to contribute to the problem. There can be a mis-match between the two settings.
High paint flow rate can cause the paint being drawn off the end of the needle to flow slightly over the end of the paint tip because its more paint than the amount of air flow can handle and atomize. That is, air flow / pressure is too low for the amount of paint being offered (or you could look at it like the needle is open too far for the air pressure setting). Atomized paint particles also tend to build up around the air and paint tips because the atomized paint is not being blown away from the brush quickly enough.
Too much air pressure causes its own problems (poor surface coverage and orange peel, especially), but generally mitigates the tip drying problem.
Be sure to match your paint flow and air pressure to the method of application you’re using. Don’t try to compensate with just adjusting the distance to the surface and the rate of application. If you’re going to get in tight, then make the correct paint flow and air pressure adjustments to do so. Same with wider, general applications. Adjust the paint flow and air pressure to match the distance to the surface and the rate of application. Don’t just stick with the same settings for all uses.
(Thinner paint + lower flow + lower pressure = close and tight. Higher viscosity + higher flow + higher pressure = moderate distance and larger area coverage. Rate of application is a combination of paint flow and speed across the surface. Too fast = poor coverage and opacity. Too slow = puddles, spidering, drips and runs. Everything has to be in proper balance.)
Paint viscosity and reducing ratios have already been discussed, above. There is a balancing act. However, you might try pushing the thinner ratio a bit higher. However, the problem with this is that as the thinner ratio goes up, the ratio of acrylic binder in the reduced paint goes down. Of course, pigment ratio also goes down, but this mostly effect coverage and opacity, both easily countered by multiple applications. Too little binder, however, effects the adhesion of the paint and if there not enough to form a continuous film of BINDER across the entire surface, then the ability of the binder to also polymerize as an unbroken film is compromised.
To counter this, if you’re going to thin (reduce) your paint to the limit of its useful coverage ability, try adding into your paint mix some clear paint. The clear will add binder into the mix without adding addition heavy pigment. This may be enough to mitigate or eliminate the tip drying problem (that is, lowering the amount of pigment in the mix). Matt, semi-gloss or gloss can be used to match the specular quality of the paint you’re using, but it you’re willing to overcoat with a clear flat later, then gloss clear will add more binder to the reduced paint mix.
I can’t offer up any specific mixing ratio for this clear paint additive, but I might suggest starting with adding about 5-10% clear per volume. That is, if you mix up 25 drops of paint with 25 drops of thinner, then you should add about 3-5 drops of clear into the mix. If you add a retarder, then don’t count that in the base paint-thinner volume for figuring how much clear to add.
This may or may not work for you to mitigate or eliminate the tip drying. In the end, you may need to take a combination of approaches - managing the workroom temp and humidity, adjusting the air pressure and paint flow, and changing / adjusting the paint reduction ratio and additives.
After a while, mixing paint for air brushing can become something of a “high school science fair” project. This approach with adding clear into highly reduced paint does work quite well for mixing up semi-transparent glazes for use as filters or for weathering layers.
Finally, you have to take into consideration the nature of acrylic paint, itself. The binders in acrylic paints polymerize as they start to dry. This means that the molecules form long chains that weave and knit together to hold the paint pigments to the surface. Once the binders polymerize, they don’t “un-polymerize.” That is, thinners and cleaners don’t really “re-dissolve” the binders to go back into solution. The polymerized binder is broken down into small solids and loses its adhesion qualities, but it doesn’t simply turn back into paint again.
Enamel and lacquer paints tend to “self-clean” when being sprayed. As the fresh paint flows out of the paint tip and is atomized, the paint thinner tends to “wash” the previous paint from the air and paint tips. The previous paint re-dissolves, returns to solution, and sprays out with the new, self-leveling on the surface with the new paint.
Acrylic paints that have collected on the paint and air tips will not re-dissolve once they start to polymerize, so they tend to build up to exacerbate the tip-drying problem. The formulation of the acrylic paint is also a factor. Some acrylics are thinned with cellulose thinners (alcohol, lacquer thinner, etc.) and some are thinned with H2O. Those that are cellulose based tend to “self-clean” a bit better because of the way they’re formulated. Water based acrylics, though, have effectively zero self-cleaning ability. Once they start to dry (polymerize), they’re there to stay. Cellulose based acrylics can also reach a point where they have polymerized to the point that the fresh paint flow will not “self-clean” them either. However, they tend to be more forgiving.
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A quick update
So I’ve been researching airbrushes like crazy. I really want to buy a fancy new gravity feed model. In my travels on the interwebs I watched a video about my Badger 155 and it had orings on the handle and head. Apparently Badger makes them for my ab as seen above. I have no idea why mine did not come with them. Anyways really want to buy a H&S infinity…trying to decide if I should.
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Well opinions will vary about the benefits of various airbrushes for sure so I’ll share mine 
I’ve had my hand in the airbrush game for +45 years and owned/used Badgers 100, 150, Thayer-Chandler, Azetc, Harder and Steenbeck, Paasche & Iwata, Binks and other no names.
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H&S is OK but I’d pick a nice Iwata over H&S everytime. My Iwata Micron B is far less fussy and finicky than my H&S for the type of painting I do modeling. I really dislike the H&S especially the way it feels in my hand compared to Iwata and others. Strongly suggest holding any airbrush being considered etc. Different folks like different balances etc.
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My H&S doesn’t paint any better than my ancient stone age but customized Paasche VL but the H&S has been far more fussy and finicky.
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The Iwata brushes are very very good.
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Most of airbrushing models is what you get used to and practice using the most.
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I run a 3 airbrush set up on my compressor and air tank. My favorites that always end up on the rig are the Paasche VL, H & Iwata Micron B.
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Filtering paint before loading in airbrush really helps avoid clogs and issues if that’s an issue. A pack of paint filters is nice to have available.
My H&S was purchased to replace the old Paasche VL…the H&S stays in the box because the Paasche VL proved less headache to deal with and sprayed just as well (or better) for how I paint.
The H&S is the only airbrush ive purchased out of about a dozen or so that I felt was a waste of my money.
Your mileage may vary.
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Thanks for your insights…any thoughts on the Creos P270 or P289? I’ve been considering Iwata as well.
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Creos 270 & Creos 289, I haven’t used either so zero first hand experience. Did this used to be Gunzy’s line up of airbrushes? Part availability or lack of might be a factor, I don’t know.
Note the .2 mm nozzle on Creos 270 will have potential to be finicky due to small size with some hobby paints. It’s more of an ink nozzle size in my opinion than paint. I’d personally pass on the .2mm first time around with airbrush, later on sure maybe. Otherwise, has very real potential to be extremely frustrating.
Creos 289 with .3 mm is probably a better choice for hobby paints. However, honestly I’d favor an airbrush closer to the Iwata Eclipse (or other) ~.35 mm size nozzle.
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My badger 155 with .3 needle does a decent job…im just sick of siphon. I have to run my pressure around 25 psi.
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There’s other issues, my siphon fed external mix H can spray at ~8 psi & the siphon fed dual action VL ~ 5 psi with filtered and thinned paints.
Typically ~12 to 15 psi should be workable in my experience.
Have you given your Badger’s needle & nozzle etc a good ultra sonic cleaning?
I have a cheap ultrasonic cleaner that really helps etc.
How well does your Badger spray at ~15 psi with just water?
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So this is an option for gravity feed to test, beat up and trash if not a fan for not a lot of coin.
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I may have left some info out…I can spray down to 10 psi or so. Normally i spray at 15 using Tamiya paints. This is the first time I’ve tried freehand cammo and using ak interactive paints. Sprayed at less than 15 psi upclose caused it to spatter. Turning the pressure up helped it to atomize better giving me cleaner lines.
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Cutting out all the whys and wherefores if I were to buy you an airbrush, it would be an Iwata HP-C+.
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