airbrushing is frikin drivin me insane.. help!!

[northrivergeek]

I bought a cheap airbrush (Harbor Freight).. probably most of my problem, or paint is too thick or too thin can't decide. Ive read over and over the other posts here.. but cant figure out what the prob is.. doesn't help that I have a 3yr old standing next to me .. saying daddy I wanna paint .. please please.. let me paint ahhhhhhhhhh I'm losing my mind and patience lol.

Ive tried adjust air pressure lower and higher 15 - 30 psi either I get no paint or too much .. and it seems watery when comes out .. cant get good solid paint line for the top. Maybe its just that I do not know what paint should look like as hits the lure .. seems to thin .. watery, but looks to me as milk should look when mixing it, I'm using acrylic craft paint, Im too cheap to by airbrush paint yet .. lol.. I may have too big of needle on the cheap brush I think its a #3 says 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch spray pattern.

Maybe I'm expecting too dark of color as it comes out, like a spray can of paint, I need to find someone local that airbrushes to see what the correct way it should look as it hits the lure .. or maybe some one here has done a tutorial on what it should look like as it comes out of the nozzle, correct and incorrect spray width and how close you should be when spraying the back color etc etc.

Makes you have a true appreciation for those who can .. starting to seem like I would rather just buy a 20 to 30 dollar bait than do it my self lol

I haven't given up yet .. but sheesh its a big learning curve.

[Coley]

Go over to this site and read and try the applications.

http://www.howtoairbrush.com/Lindex.htm

You didn't mention what brand or type (single action, double action)

your airbrush is. I bought mine from Harbor Freight also.

I have not had any problems with it. Mine is a Paasche VL3.

I also use craft paint.

I thin the paint with bottled water and then strain it through

a piece of pantyhose.

Practice, practice and more practice is the only way you can

get fairly decent at airbrushing.

Less paint is better, when you clearcoat the bait, the colors really

come out. Use a hair dryer to dry one coat before applying a

second.

Coley

[northrivergeek]

Mine is single action no brand name, was $10 on sale for $4.99. external mix bottom feed. I guess I just need more practice on paper ... and I think a better brush dual action internal mix would be better .. I need to see If I can find a local airbrush artist to see what they use and how they differ from what I have .. ez of use and detail work.

Thanx for the link to beginner lessons, I may see if I can rent a video on the subject too. would help to not have 3 yr old buggin the holy crap out of me !

[Coley]

I am not going to knock your airbrush.

Just let me say, this is your main trouble.

You can't expect much in the way of quality

results from a $5 airbrush.

Get yourself a decent brush, if you don't, I am

afraid you will get discouraged and give up

a great hobby.

Its the old saying "you get what you pay for"

Coley

[RiverMan]

I have had the same problems with my Iwata and Paasche too......my guess is that it's not the brush. If you are interested write me an email and I will phone you to see if we can clear up your problems. Here all day today, fishing tomorrow.

Jed V.

tossmealine@yahoo.com

[northrivergeek]

It as best as I can tell from looking at paasche airbrushes there ez-starter airbrush sold under central pnuematics (freight harbor) brand name it is a 20 dollar air brush if sold under paasche name brand, its a external mix brush not internal mix. what brand and price range (cheap as possible would be good) just to get me going without so many headaches .. I've priced them from 20 to 500. I see why some on here just hand paint .

But I would like to get good enuff to be able to sell some to pay for my hobby someday. Obvioulsy long ways off from today LOL. I guess its like fishing or anything else you dont come out of the chute knowing how to do it .. At least the making the baits is coming easier than the painting is.

I guess for the time being I'll be buying more premade baits to fish with than Im making my self.

Here is one I hand painted .. got frustrated at trying to airbrush it and said the heck with it. looks better in person

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/northrivergeek/DSCF0004.jpg

[Coley]

I see Harbor Freight doesn't have the Paasche VL anymore.

You can get it at Dixie Art for around $65 with free shipping.

Here is the info on it.

Paasche offers the classic VL Airbrush in a boxed set.

This popular set contains:

? VL airbrush;

? #1,#3,#5 tips, needles & aircaps;

? 1/4oz color cup;

? 2 bottle assemblies (1 oz. & 3 oz.);

? plain 1 oz. bottle and cap;

? 6' air hose;

? airbrush hanger;

? wrench and instruction booklet

Click here to order:

99 VLSET VL Set Complete: $64.95

A lot of guys on the site use this brush.

Coley

ps....Your hand painted bait looks good.

[northrivergeek]

I have had the same problems with my Iwata and Paasche too......my guess is that it's not the brush. If you are interested write me an email and I will phone you to see if we can clear up your problems. Here all day today' date=' fishing tomorrow.

Jed V.

[email']tossmealine@yahoo.com[/email]

Hey Riverman... I tried the 40 lbs air pressure you mentioned on the phone, using just the cheap craft paint .. and playing with the line width, It made all the difference in the world. I was expecting one pass to create the dark color on the back .. having no experience with a airbrush previously. I'm still gonna try the createx like you said when the art store opens but it did make a big difference even using craft acrylics. I will just have to make a couple passes instead of one to get the color depth I want using craft paint createx may do the trick in one.. will let ya know.

[RiverMan]

Great, keep an eye on the needle tip too, clean it off as necessary. Be very careful with the needle tip while cleaning, if you damage it at all the needle will no longer function correctly. You may find that you can turn the pressure down with some colors or turn it up a tad with others. Also watch the paint pattern as I mentioned to you. If you are seeing large pieces of paint on the paper towel you either have too low of pressure, too thick of paint, or the tip has paint on it.

jed v.

[allstate48]

I'll bet, it you just keep practicing, you'll be able to paint with anything. I'm sure you get what you pay for, but, they are all the same. Just keep trying. That's what they make primer for. Good luck Doug

[Mallard]

Since I had airbrushed before I thought I knew what I was doing so I started with a Paasche and laquer paints. What I quickly found out is there is so much more to airbrushing than just spraying the paint. It did not take me long to jack-up a nice airbrush due to improper cleaning and handling. And while the paint looked good going on, I made mistakes along the way that caused me to trash most of my baits.

I then bought the same Harbor Frieght brush and craft paints you are using now and just practiced. I did not worry about damaging the brush or wasting paint since I had only invested a total of $10. I practiced on paper, then PVC pipe then I started priming wood dowels and painting them. I then bought some plastic baits from the TU shop and painted and sealed them. The end was result was not something I was particularly proud of, but it was good practice. I ended up giving my practice baits away to kids, they thought they were great.

Use your cheapie air brush to learn skills like color mixing, blending and fading and working with stencils (and also proper cleaning!). You will know when it is time to move up and when you do you will fully appreciate what a good brush and quality paints can do for you.

[ROBZILLA]

The problem with a single action is that ,it drags paint out of the container as it blows over the top of the paint spout. With a dual action it mixes the paint together inside the gun! The most you can do with a single action is covering big areas (even then your more acceptable to get blotching) Also when using a single action its best to strain the paintthrough a pair of panty hose or some kind of paint strainer. you will have to run a thinner paint because you dragging the pain out of the jar. When I bought my dual action gun I almost had a heart attack it was that much better I would say if you could save up for a dual action its worth it's weight in gold. Remember keep them clean, clean ,clean you really got to think like a surgeon the cleaner they are the better they work! :-D

Robby.

[michael merrill]

Hey northriver keep on pluggin away, you'll get better.BTW, you kinda resemble the crankbait king David Fritts.

[northrivergeek]

Your right we do look similar, both too fat lol , but seriously I can see why ya say so .. cept I'm better lookin But he has sure made more money fishing than I have so far .. I'm coming at ya Mr.Fritts .. I gotta crankbait rod in one hand , and a spinnerbait rod in the other .. deadly with both! Look Out! rflol

[northrivergeek]

Finally figured out the spray paint thing .. here is pics of my first successful attempt at it on my lure dryer. I figured out easier way to make wheel .. with no wheel.. lol see pics .. using the craft magnifier (remove magnifier and weighted base) with gator clamps to hold the lure on rotisserie meat hooks, and you get 2 lures drying per meat hook fork, that's 8 lures per meat fork.