Serpentd

Your welcome bro. Yeah, it's game over once the thinner hits that lexan. I have a jar of the 50/50 mix (Lacquer thinner/Isopropal alcohol) on had always. Even if the paint dries this mixture will work. As far as the water based paint, yes I have started to use it. So I'm am in a learning curve as well. A few things with the water base. It will scratch easy in the first 24 hours. It needs a minimum of 24 hours of cure time. It doesn't cure fast like lacquer. It dries fast, but needs that cure time. But there is an awesome coat you can put on to avoid scratches. If you use the Parma stuff, it's called Fascoat. Now a few things about this stuff, it's a milky white so not quite clear, it's VERY sticky, and pretty thick. To spray with it you need to crank that pressure up to about 75psi. After you do one coat of it and waiting for your body to dry, clean it out IMMEDIATELY!! Don't even let it sit in your airbrush for 20 seconds. They recommend 3 coats of this stuff, but 2 is plenty. I put it on medium sort of on the heavy side. It's so sticky and thick that it doesn't run easily. Just don't go way thick.

A few more tips is to spray your first coat or two thin to seal against your masking to avoid bleeding. Some of these colors need 5 to 6 coats I am finding. After you are done with whatever color you have just sprayed, backit with the silver. Even if it's black, back it with the silver. You will want to do this on EVERY color. This will prevent any color showing through. Always try and start with dark colors first when you can of coarse. If you are doing flourescent colors, back them with white and then silver. Metalics just silver. Any other colors like red, green orange etc, I back with white also and then silver.

If you need to thin the paint for small detail like free hand lightning or something, I make a mixture of 50/50 (windex/isopropal alcohol). Yes it sounds funky, but works great. Anyway, take the 50/50 mixture and add it to 2 parts paint to 1 part mix. So around 1/3rd thinning stuff. I'll usually just mix it right in the cup. A dab of windex and a dab of rubbing alcohol and then I break a Q-tip in half and use it as a mixing stick. Spray a little first until the "thinned" mixture is through the airbrush. Then your ready to go. Only use this if you are using a smaller tip though. Normally you need to use a medium tip to spray the paint straight out of the bottle.

Anyway, if you have any questions let me know. I've been airbrushing for about 10 years or so, even though I just started with the waterbase (one body) as yourself. Last tip, if you are using Bob Dively's liquid mask, brush on 3 (THREE) good coats. 2 will NEVER cut it. Good luck bro. I'm actually going to get painting right now. I have well over 10 bodies I need to do for me and others. Talk soon bro. Later!