Actually i did play tennis as a teenager! But thats another story.
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Re lube. I watched a video on YouTube where a guy used the lube normally kept in the draw beside the bed!!! I found a tube of that “somewhere” and it worked. On the NEEDLE. Sheeze you guys.
Seems being water based it wont hurt orings etc.
watch this guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3pf30XiMNA
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Good advice by all.
My experience
A. Mix paint in a cup, strain it into the airbrush. Mixing in the airbrush allows trash and the possibility of thinner /paint problems gumming up in the airbrush.
B. If a brand of paint misbehaves frequently, you can no longer trust that it will preform when needed. Change brands. Do not look back. Do not listen to those with miracle cures. Match thinner brand and paint brands. Match acrylic thinner to acrylic paint, enamel thinner with enamel paint and lacquer thinner to lacquer paint. Know the type paint you are using. This can be tricky when an acrylic paint is not truly an acrylic paint. Tamiya is an example. Their acrylic paint does well with their lacquer based thinner because it is not a pure acrylic paint.
C. Add some paint retarder to slow tip dry and allow the paint to stay wet a little longer (a good thing).
adding more thinner to the paint can increase tip dry issues. Retarder helps in this case.
D. Fine lines can be achieved by thinning the paint way down, use low air pressure, take the nozzle cap off so the needle tip stick out in the open air and spray about a half inch from the surface. Smooth and steady lines takes a little practice but quickly achievable. Don’t bump the needle tip on your work…
E. You can get an airbrush handle that has an adjustable needle stop on the end of it (preset handle). This allows you to set what ever width line you want See photo.
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Nothing to add but a big thanks for everyone’s tips. Bookmarked this thread. Probably some of the best collected advice in the forum!
Sincerely
A still amateur airbrush guy
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A texas freeze two years ago killed about twenty bottles of my vallejo and 6 gallons of home house paint. plus ever spray can in my shed, about twenty.
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My regret!
Off topic, but it’s very hard for me to understand: freezing in Texas! It sounds to me just like the palm trees in Siberia and the beaches of the Barents Sea…
And I bookmarked the topic. The shortest, most to the point discussion. Thanks everyone for the advice!
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Texas gets cold and snow, location depends on how much. As I recall power outages added to the fun.
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For anyone who can’t find a proprietary airbrush needle lubricant (Iwata Superlube or Badger Regdab, etc.) you can use a tiny drop of ordinary glycerin from the local drug store. Out of the bottle, the glycerin is not as thick as the proprietary needle lubes, so it may need to be reapplied more often (don’t use more of if, just put it on more often). You just need the barest amount of the lube on the shaft of the needle and not actually on the pointed tip.
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yes, that why it was such a nuclear meltdown here. Its was sub 25 degrees for 4 days. Anything anyone normally put in the garage became ruined if it was paints mainly.
The Iwata lube - its good stuff.
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