Beginner Air brusher
 

hey i want to paint my 3rd body and my first to bodies were unsuccesfull due to not backing the paint with a white. but i want to paint a new body for my tc.
so what are some simple effects a beginner could do with a cheap air brush?
its gravity fed no name brush from an auto store.
i have used parma fascolor so far as it is whats available.
how good is the parma liquid mask? also what colors go with purple? i own a MI2 and its annodized purple so i was going to match.
was thinking carbon fibre stripe down the centre with white going into purple for the rear section?
would this be to complicated?
what can i practice on? say laminated plastic?
with flurescents and paints that change colors are there a bad idea? also glitter??
thanks any help would be great ie pressures for compressor (has a mouisture trap) and thinning paint?

at least tell me some tips on using faskolor? also liquid mask by faskolor its all i can get? how can i do out lines with a cheap air brush is it possible??
please help im really keen to get into painting
what can i practice on apart from bodies and coke bottles?

You should really just use the search option, you'll find threads that have this information in great depth.

You can thin acrylic paints (like fascolor) with rubbing alcohol, windex, or denatured alcohol.

Outlines (or pinstrips) are simple to paint, you just need to mask them, so use the liquid mask and then cut two lines 1/16" apart.

You can pick up flat plexi or lexan sheets from an art supply store.

Fascolor liquid mask is fine, but I've heard that dively is a better product (it's what most of the painters use). Masking tape also works fine, all of Roly's paint jobs are done with blue painters tape.

I've always simply used water to thin Faskolor. Any particular advantages to using Windex or Alcohol?

Begin science lesson.

Water has very strong polarity within the molecule, where the oxygen atom attracts each electron from the two hydrogen atoms to fill it's electron shell. Because of this, the oxygen atom gains a negative charge and the hydrogen atoms gain a slight positive charge. Each molecule then aligns itself somewhat readily to the adjacent molecules, so that one H2O's positive region aligns to another H2os negatives region. This is called a hydrogen bond, because hydrogen's positive region is sponging off another molecules negative oxygen region. Though really really small, it's actually a very influential force in molecular behavior. It's responsible for water expanding as it freezes because the molecules align themselves in a rigid geometric pattern rather than just crushing together in a compact, efficient way (like most liquids do when they solidify).

Hydrogen bonds are also the cause of surface tension in water. Water has incredibly high surface tension. You see this when you overfill a glass, or view the miniscus in a beaker, or if you've ever tried to use water as a lubricant (not so good). Water, when sprayed on a surface, especially a clean surface with few imperfections, will bead, because the bonds between the water molecules are stronger than any atomic attraction to the lexan.

Rubbing alcohol does not share these properties with water, but it does mix readily (unlike oil). Rubbing alcohol also has a lower vaporization temp, thus is evaporates faster than water at lower temperatures. You notice this if you ever spill rubbing alcohol on yourself. The alcohol absorbs energy (heat) in order to jump from one phase (liquid) to another (gas). This is also why people sweat (it evaporates, which cools you down, acting as a radiator).

If you thin with rubbing alcohol, it has a lower surface tension than the same volume of just water. Paint won't bead as readily, even though it's more viscous (flows easier), plus, as an added bonus, it dries a little faster (not cures faster, dries faster, there is a difference).

Basically, you CAN thin with water, but there is no reason to, and certainly no benefit.

End science lesson.

hope you learned something.

Go here, learn more.

I did learn something. Or at least you reminded me of some fundamentals I should have remembered from freshman year college! I'm going to try alcohol next time!

thanks for the tips, they certainly gave me a leg up :smile: