Thursday, March 24, 2016

Easy clean airbrush

Airbrush Cleaning

One of the cardinal rules of airbrush ownership is that you MUST clean the tool out after every spray painting session.

I did a little painting last week for a BRM video. We finished shooting around lunchtime and so I was faced with a choice - trip to the pub or clean the airbrush.

A week later, I've finally got around to doing the cleaning.

Happily, the tool proved to be easy to clean. A bit of cellulose thinners rubbed on the needle and poked down the paint cup followed by a blast of airbrush cleaner and all is shiny again. The Spraycraft airbrush seems to be every bit as easy to own as expected and doesn't do a bad job of painting too.

I've had the same experience with the Sparmax airbrush I received for review. This is a bit of a prima donna in the painting department as it requires paint to be thinned to homeopathic levels if you want to avoid blockages, but like a true diva when it performs it's fantastic, it too cleans easily.

Both are easier than my trusty Badger 100 which ought to be easy as it's such a simple tool. Maybe the difference is the top mounted paint cup on these tools as opposed to the side mounted separate cup on the Badger. I always thought I preferred this for painting but maybe I'm wrong.


3 comments:

  1. As always, looking forward to next BRM and the dvd.
    Airbrush tips always useful. Glad you are still using the Badger Phil. Many people have pensioned theirs off.

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  2. Phil, I do the same with my airbrushes as I do wish my spray guns. When you're shooting the thinners through, put your finger tip over the nozzle lightly and send a lot of air back up through the mixture, so it bubbles out. Chuck out the dirty thinners and do it again till clean, then shoot a half cup straight through. My Paasche Model Hs both respond to that. As does my Wally spotting gun, which does most of my spraying. If I can get thinners to flow backwards through a Model H, you can do it on any. OK, I haven't tried the process on internal mix brushes with needles yet and I've never used "Airbrush Cleaner" as such. I have a couple of those, new, unused to try out on weathering jobs.

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  3. I forgot to mention the finger over the nozzle bubbling thing but I have been doing that for a while with the cellulose thinners. It certainly seems to make a difference.

    Airbrush cleaner includes an oil I'm told which is (apparently) good for the tool. Might be snake oil but since it's cheap I'll live with that.

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