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Hello Dakka,

So I just started airbrushing up some of my necrons. Got the primer down nice and good and then went to put on the gunmetal and I ran into issues. It seemed to stop and go a lot and the finish seemed to be very speckly and sparkly. Has anyone had these issues?

20 PSI with HP+CS Eclipse

I'm assuming you added an extender/thinner (flow-aid) to the mix? Was there a lot of humidity? And (the last thing I can think of) what size needle were you using?

DCannon4Life wrote:
I'm assuming you added an extender/thinner (flow-aid) to the mix? Was there a lot of humidity? And (the last thing I can think of) what size needle were you using?

Yep/ Nope / .3

Basically the standard needle that came with the airbrush. I am really not sure what is up. I also shook the crap out of the paint too of course.

I have had zero luck with Model Air metallic paints. Way to thick (probably due to shelf time) and I really struggled to get them thin yet not be transparent. I would recommend the Game Air Metalic paints. It is a world of difference and very smooth.

20 PSI is a touch on the high side, so you might be getting tip dry, but I've started to get issues with mine too just recently, and I'm suspecting settling with age is causing uneven distribution of the metallic pigment.

I've not had cause to use it for a bit, but I'll be putting an agitator in with a little thinner before I next use it, and I think that'll do it.

Worth mentioning mine is amongst the oldest air paints I own, so age is probably a factor with mine.

 Azreal13 wrote:
20 PSI is a touch on the high side, so you might be getting tip dry, but I've started to get issues with mine too just recently, and I'm suspecting settling with age is causing uneven distribution of the metallic pigment.

Yeah, these paints settle really bad. Often times I've had to remove the cap and stir with a stick to get it mixed well enough to use.

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of Vallejo's gunmetal paint and I never use it. I prefer Tamiya's Gunmetal (X-10) as it has a much better finish.

can't give you any advice unfortunately :( just wanted to chime in with my two cents - I had this same exact issue! Using an iwata neo with a .5 needle which should have been large enough for it to not clog, but it did. And when I got the clogging fixed, it did the same - went on very spattery, when it did. I'm not great at airbrushes or anything but I did try a few thinners and such too, but nada. Gave up in disgust tbh and did them by hand =/

I don't use Model Air Metallics specifically, but I do have a bit of experience spraying metallics in general. Just some general comments.

1. What are you spraying it over? What's the primer? This is very important when spraying a metallic. If you primer is rough, the metallic will look sparkly because matte = lots of small bumps that diffuse light, when you then spray something very shiny on top of it you can get a sparkly look, more so than if you'd hairy brush painted it (because when you hairy brush paint a metallic you tend to lay down thicker coats and so the primer is less important).

You might be better served using a gloss primer if you want a nice smooth metal finish, even with a gloss you can end up with a grainy finish (which in turn results in the sparkly metallic) but it's typically easier.

If you're airbrushing your primer and it's coming out grainy even if it's a gloss, try thinning it more, turning down the PSI and spraying from a closer distance (reducing the chance of the paint drying in the air).

The primer is more important on metalizers (things that are supposed to look like real metal such as Vallejo Model Color, Alclad, Testors lacquer metalizer, Gunze's Mr Metal, etc) but even for regular metallics it massively changes how it looks.

2. What I said about the primer can equally apply to the metallic itself as well, if you're spraying a paint that is too thick, from too far away or at too higher pressure, it will come out grainy and sparkly (maybe even splutter a bit creating large chunks which will also tend to sparkle). You can try thinning it down a bit. I'm not sure about Model Air metallics, but some metallics like to be laid down in light misty coats, others like to be wet. If it's the latter, you might want to drop the pressure, reduce the spraying distance and thin the paint out. If it's the former you might want to still thin the paint, but tune your pressure and distance to get misty coats instead of wet coats.

3. Metallics like to clog more than normal paint because the flakes build up in the nozzle as you spray. Using a needle and nozzle combo designed for fine detail work (small opening, long pointy needle, etc) will cause more issues than one designed for wider pattern spraying (more heavily tapered needle or dual taper needle, wider opening). But the same things apply as with regular paint, you might want to thin it more, use a stronger solvent to thin, lower the pressure, clean the needle frequently and as soon as you notice the paint flow slowing down try and clear it before it completely clogs. A semi-clogged needle can also produce a grainy finish on the model itself which will change the look of the metallic on the model.

4. Spraying metallics is hugely temperature dependant (both for your primer and for the metallic). All paints are somewhat temperature dependant, metallics are far more so. If it's a warmer day they are far more prone to clogging and becoming grainy or sparkly. This is because it'll dry faster in the air (causing graininess or sparkliness) and even on the tip and in the needle itself causing clogs. I avoid spraying metallics on warm days, but even if it's slightly warm I'll consider putting just a touch of drying retarder in the paint and thinning it slightly more than usual. Metallics that I spray out of the pot when it's 15C I'll slightly thin on a 20C day and heavily thin with some retarder on a 25C day.

Honestly one of the better spraying metallics is GW lead belcher and of course Tamiya anything as its meant to be put through an airbrush. You might also consider Rub N Buff dry brushing with coats of pewter and gold with a coat of Tamiya smoke for grunginess. Will give your Necrons a very FW look.

Just to jump in on this, I used the vallejo metallics for my GK and had a similar issue.

If the issue only happens with your metallic paints, your friend here will be Vallejo flow improver.

The metallics seem to clog up easily, whereas the standard colours don't. Try the flow improver and see if that helps.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I don't use Model Air Metallics specifically, but I do have a bit of experience spraying metallics in general. Just some general comments.

1. What are you spraying it over? What's the primer? This is very important when spraying a metallic. If you primer is rough, the metallic will look sparkly because matte = lots of small bumps that diffuse light, when you then spray something very shiny on top of it you can get a sparkly look, more so than if you'd hairy brush painted it (because when you hairy brush paint a metallic you tend to lay down thicker coats and so the primer is less important).

You might be better served using a gloss primer if you want a nice smooth metal finish, even with a gloss you can end up with a grainy finish (which in turn results in the sparkly metallic) but it's typically easier.

If you're airbrushing your primer and it's coming out grainy even if it's a gloss, try thinning it more, turning down the PSI and spraying from a closer distance (reducing the chance of the paint drying in the air).

The primer is more important on metalizers (things that are supposed to look like real metal such as Vallejo Model Color, Alclad, Testors lacquer metalizer, Gunze's Mr Metal, etc) but even for regular metallics it massively changes how it looks.

2. What I said about the primer can equally apply to the metallic itself as well, if you're spraying a paint that is too thick, from too far away or at too higher pressure, it will come out grainy and sparkly (maybe even splutter a bit creating large chunks which will also tend to sparkle). You can try thinning it down a bit. I'm not sure about Model Air metallics, but some metallics like to be laid down in light misty coats, others like to be wet. If it's the latter, you might want to drop the pressure, reduce the spraying distance and thin the paint out. If it's the former you might want to still thin the paint, but tune your pressure and distance to get misty coats instead of wet coats.

3. Metallics like to clog more than normal paint because the flakes build up in the nozzle as you spray. Using a needle and nozzle combo designed for fine detail work (small opening, long pointy needle, etc) will cause more issues than one designed for wider pattern spraying (more heavily tapered needle or dual taper needle, wider opening). But the same things apply as with regular paint, you might want to thin it more, use a stronger solvent to thin, lower the pressure, clean the needle frequently and as soon as you notice the paint flow slowing down try and clear it before it completely clogs. A semi-clogged needle can also produce a grainy finish on the model itself which will change the look of the metallic on the model.

4. Spraying metallics is hugely temperature dependant (both for your primer and for the metallic). All paints are somewhat temperature dependant, metallics are far more so. If it's a warmer day they are far more prone to clogging and becoming grainy or sparkly. This is because it'll dry faster in the air (causing graininess or sparkliness) and even on the tip and in the needle itself causing clogs. I avoid spraying metallics on warm days, but even if it's slightly warm I'll consider putting just a touch of drying retarder in the paint and thinning it slightly more than usual. Metallics that I spray out of the pot when it's 15C I'll slightly thin on a 20C day and heavily thin with some retarder on a 25C day.

So far I have been using Vallejo black Surface Primer. The primer goes on well with no issues. I spray inside my apartment at 70 degrees inside. Currently the needle I use is a .3. I started out airbrushing at around 10 PSI and noticed the sputter. I decided it may need more PSI to get it through so I raised it to 20 and then 30 just to try different settings. So far the only way to get it consistently enough is to pull the trigger back pretty far. This however doesn't allow for precise and fine base coating of it. I may just dunk these in ISO alcohol and start again with leadbelcher from the air line.

Also, I use a thinning mixture that I apply to my paints to thin them down. 1/2 Distilled water to 1/2 Matte Medium with a cap full of flow and slow dri

@AllSeeingSkink - awesome advice thanks for that! looking back on what I was doing I suspect a primer was a problem for mine, because I tend to have a lot of issues with primers and humidity here (when not using my airbrush). Might give it another go on future projects keeping your advice in mind now!