Learning to spray paint

Morgans wrote:

The water trap suggestions should be taken as a "must."

I am not sure how it carries to using an airbrush, but I would imagine that
it does.

I use a HVLP conversion sprayer, which is High Volume Low Pressure and the
conversion means it takes relatively high compressor pressure, and regulates
it downward, to as low as 15 pounds per square inch. The higher pressures
atomize the paint better, but at the cost of more over spray. A decent 100
buck HVLP can also spray a very narrow pattern, and when used with low
pressure, almost no overspray.

For water control, I made a primary water trap myself, then used a
filter/desiccant to get the air really dry. You can get them at NAPA, and
they go inline right before the gun.

For my water trap, (follow along carefully, here g) I took the air from
the compressor, and went into a 1 1/4" T, with the air coming in the side.
On the bottom side of the T, there is a petcock (valve) to drain out water
once it accumulates. You can also leave it open a very small amount, and
water will dribble out. In the top of the T, there is a 6' tall 1 1/4"
steel pipe, and at the top a reducing coupler, which goes to a regulator,
and then to a quick connector to hook your air line into, going to your
sprayer.

The trap works better than commercial units for two reasons. One, is that
the small air line going into a large pipe will allow the air to cool, and
will cause the water vapor to condense out. Two, since the air is moving so
slowly, the water will run down the sides of the pipe, and can drain out the
bottom.


I second the HVLP approach.
Mine is a $90 Harbor Freight cheapie that I've used for the last 8 years.

It makes very little overspray, and works fine.

Richard

"cavelamb himself" wrote

I second the HVLP approach.
Mine is a $90 Harbor Freight cheapie that I've used for the last 8 years.

It makes very little overspray, and works fine.

I should add that there is not enough tea in China to make me spray a
fuselage with an airbrush, when I could fill the quart HVLP gun one time, or
perhaps two, and do it all. The waste factor difference would be very
small, indeed.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"cavelamb himself" wrote

I second the HVLP approach.
Mine is a $90 Harbor Freight cheapie that I've used for the last 8 years.

It makes very little overspray, and works fine.

I should add that there is not enough tea in China to make me spray a
fuselage with an airbrush, when I could fill the quart HVLP gun one time,
or perhaps two, and do it all. The waste factor difference would be very
small, indeed.
--
Jim in NC

Agreed. Time has a value. Personally, I'd use one of the little HF touch
up guns. Handy, inexpensive, and can be adjusted to provide a fairly fine
spray pattern.

Another thought is using a brush (Horrors, I know ;-)). No overspray and
you get very good control of where the stuff goes.

An earlier suggestion about having someone else look it over when you're
done is a winner. There are probably 1001 nooks and crannies in a fuselage.
You will miss some.

KB

Kyle Boatright wrote:
"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"cavelamb himself" wrote


I second the HVLP approach.
Mine is a $90 Harbor Freight cheapie that I've used for the last 8 years.

It makes very little overspray, and works fine.

I should add that there is not enough tea in China to make me spray a
fuselage with an airbrush, when I could fill the quart HVLP gun one time,
or perhaps two, and do it all. The waste factor difference would be very
small, indeed.
--
Jim in NC


Agreed. Time has a value. Personally, I'd use one of the little HF touch
up guns. Handy, inexpensive, and can be adjusted to provide a fairly fine
spray pattern.

Another thought is using a brush (Horrors, I know ;-)). No overspray and
you get very good control of where the stuff goes.

An earlier suggestion about having someone else look it over when you're
done is a winner. There are probably 1001 nooks and crannies in a fuselage.
You will miss some.

KB



Tommy taught me to set up bright lights all around the subject
and to watch the paint in the glare.

Worked for me...

"Kyle Boatright" wrote

Agreed. Time has a value. Personally, I'd use one of the little HF touch
up guns. Handy, inexpensive, and can be adjusted to provide a fairly fine
spray pattern.

Yep, I have atouch up gun too, but I don't know of a HVLP touch up gun, so I
have found they have a lot more overspray. That is the biggest drawback, to
me.

An earlier suggestion about having someone else look it over when you're
done is a winner. There are probably 1001 nooks and crannies in a
fuselage. You will miss some.

Yep. That is why I like a spray instead of a brush. g Along with the
having someone else look for misses, another best suggestion is to get
plenty of light. LOTS of light. So many lights, you get as many as you
think you need, then triple it!

The key here, is to always have a light source so that it will reflect off
of the surface and to the eye. You HAVE to be able to see these reflections
to know if it is going down thick enough, if it is missing a surface, if
there is a run, and if ...... You get the idea. Light, and lots of it is
key.
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:
"cavelamb himself" wrote

I second the HVLP approach.
Mine is a $90 Harbor Freight cheapie that I've used for the last 8 years.

It makes very little overspray, and works fine.

I should add that there is not enough tea in China to make me spray a
fuselage with an airbrush, when I could fill the quart HVLP gun one time, or
perhaps two, and do it all. The waste factor difference would be very
small, indeed.


I second the cheapy HF HVLP sprayer. The suck at spraying regular
paint, but the watery aircraft paints are a perfect match for it. It
puts down PolyTone in a perfect layer.

I used a $6 airbrush from Northern Tool to spray a lot of the tube on my
project. It clogged up beyond repair about halfway through the
fuselage. It was actually beneficial that it was so small, because I
couldn't have gotten a touchup gun into all that small spaces between
tubes. I ended up doing a large section with a 3" roller. That worked
really well for everything except the tight corners. If I had to do it
over again, I'd roll as much as I could and hit the corners with the
modeler's airbrush.

--
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, with chocolate in one hand and
wine in
the other, loudly proclaiming 'WOO HOO What a Ride!'"
--Unknown

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:50:58 +0000, Ernest Christley
wrote:

Morgans wrote:
"cavelamb himself" wrote

I second the HVLP approach.
Mine is a $90 Harbor Freight cheapie that I've used for the last 8 years.

It makes very little overspray, and works fine.

I should add that there is not enough tea in China to make me spray a
fuselage with an airbrush, when I could fill the quart HVLP gun one time, or
perhaps two, and do it all. The waste factor difference would be very
small, indeed.


I second the cheapy HF HVLP sprayer. The suck at spraying regular
paint, but the watery aircraft paints are a perfect match for it. It
puts down PolyTone in a perfect layer.

I used a $6 airbrush from Northern Tool to spray a lot of the tube on my
project. It clogged up beyond repair about halfway through the
fuselage. It was actually beneficial that it was so small, because I
couldn't have gotten a touchup gun into all that small spaces between
tubes. I ended up doing a large section with a 3" roller. That worked
really well for everything except the tight corners. If I had to do it
over again, I'd roll as much as I could and hit the corners with the
modeler's airbrush.

you tried to get by with just one???? :-) :-)

buy a dozen of them :-)
expect them to gum up and replace them.

I must throw out the 5 gummed up ones I still have in the workshop.
Stealth Pilot

Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:50:58 +0000, Ernest Christley
wrote:


Morgans wrote:

"cavelamb himself" wrote


I second the HVLP approach.
Mine is a $90 Harbor Freight cheapie that I've used for the last 8 years.

It makes very little overspray, and works fine.

I should add that there is not enough tea in China to make me spray a
fuselage with an airbrush, when I could fill the quart HVLP gun one time, or
perhaps two, and do it all. The waste factor difference would be very
small, indeed.


I second the cheapy HF HVLP sprayer. The suck at spraying regular
paint, but the watery aircraft paints are a perfect match for it. It
puts down PolyTone in a perfect layer.

I used a $6 airbrush from Northern Tool to spray a lot of the tube on my
project. It clogged up beyond repair about halfway through the
fuselage. It was actually beneficial that it was so small, because I
couldn't have gotten a touchup gun into all that small spaces between
tubes. I ended up doing a large section with a 3" roller. That worked
really well for everything except the tight corners. If I had to do it
over again, I'd roll as much as I could and hit the corners with the
modeler's airbrush.


you tried to get by with just one???? :-) :-)

buy a dozen of them :-)
expect them to gum up and replace them.

I must throw out the 5 gummed up ones I still have in the workshop.
Stealth Pilot

I painted the garage walls when we moved in here.
Nothing fancy - just a coat of water based Kilz.

The Wagner Power Painter was my first choice, but even thinned 50:50
(way too thin for this stuff) the WPP would gum up in less than a
minute. It was a prolem withthe pump piston - not the spray head.

I gave up and tried the HVLP. Thinned about 10% he Kilz went on
beautifully. No overspray at all hardly/

Go figure.

The whole 2 car garage tool an hour to paint.

Along the door frames a simple cardboard mask made nice sharp edges.

HVLP - it ain't yer grandpa's spray painter...

cavelamb himself wrote:

The Wagner Power Painter was my first choice, but even thinned 50:50
(way too thin for this stuff) the WPP would gum up in less than a
minute. It was a prolem withthe pump piston - not the spray head.

I have similar annoying experience with the Wagner PowerPainter.

The power roller on the other hand works really well with even
thick paints, but I'm not sure I'd consider painting a plane with
it.

When it comes to PolyFiber, read those instructions VERY VERY
carefully. The first few coats are required to be brushed on
to get the mechanical penetration of the fabric weave.

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 07:45:48 -0400, Ron Natalie
wrote:

cavelamb himself wrote:

The Wagner Power Painter was my first choice, but even thinned 50:50
(way too thin for this stuff) the WPP would gum up in less than a
minute. It was a prolem withthe pump piston - not the spray head.

I have similar annoying experience with the Wagner PowerPainter.

The power roller on the other hand works really well with even
thick paints, but I'm not sure I'd consider painting a plane with
it.

When it comes to PolyFiber, read those instructions VERY VERY
carefully. The first few coats are required to be brushed on
to get the mechanical penetration of the fabric weave.



the OP was talking about spraying the fuselage tubes.