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Hey Everyone, i've had an airbrush for about 3 months now and im getting pretty good with it. I've recently started a new GK army and they all have power weapons, i'm having trouble getting a smooth gradient from 1 color to the next, i'm currently using a badger 105 patriot arrow and i have been using vallejo game color.

Usually when i paint my models i prime with vallejo model air grey, let that dry for an hour and then start spraying coats, in this case i'm going from white > hawk turquoise > Black, and i usually dilute my paints 2:1 or 1:1 Paint to Windex, but when i go from white to hawk turquoise its not a smooth gradient but instead there are little dots on the white part.

Any ideas what i can do to fix this?

Hey Dashyl,

have you considered, laying down some hawk turquoise as a base color and then adding the white and black highlight from there?

And how do these "dots" look? Just unevenness, or colored dots?

hey ik-painter,

the dots are fairly uneven, if I stared with a white base and then go to hawk turquoise the dots are hawk turquoise, it kind of looks like over spray, but really uneven over spray dunno really how to describe it, I haven't been able to get a smooth transition between the white and turquoise, where the gradient should be are just dots of paint

like if the gradient is supposed to be in the middle

white > dots of hawk turquoise > pure hawk turquoise

Always always check your spray on a bit of paper first.

If you're getting a spattery finish, there are 2 possibles; 1) The paint isn't thinned correctly - try Tamiya Thinner / Isopropyl alcohol, in around a 2:1 ratio. 2) Insufficient pressure / too much paint flow - up the pressure a bit, and / or ease back on the paint flow. You want very little paint going on, and it has to be very translucent. The alcohol medium will allow it to dry very quickly, so you can build it up in layers till it's the right colour. It can also be an issue with some paints - GW paints thin pretty well as do VMC. Never used VGC so can't comment on those.

Edit: It can also be an indicator of a blocking nozzle, especially if it's sputtering.

I replaced the nozzle last night ill try a greater dilution factor, and lower the issue and see what happens that's for the help!!

Do you have a moisture trap on your compressor? Sputtering could be an indicator, that water is getting in your airbrush. Winterdynes suggestion about upping the pressure or cleaning the brush sound good too.

I'm also using windex as a thinner could that be an issue?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
yes I have a moisture trap

Dashyl: US Windex is ammonia based rather than alcohol based (like the European version). This makes it a very effective solvent for cleaning up after yourself and *should* make it a good thinner, but I've never liked the effect of paints thinned just with windex. Even though I use windex to clean up, I thin with water + ethanol. Really the ethanol is just there to help the paint dry on contact so excess accumulations & drips become less likely.

I've heard that ethanol causes problems with acrylic paints, the youtube chanel called buypainted uses vallejo glaze medium but I haven't had any luck luck with it.

what ratio would you recommend for paint to water to ethanol?

Ethanol can make the pigments of certain paints precipitate out... it does not work with Vallejo paints, at least not with Valejo Air paints... so I stick to diluting with water.

With GW paints, I dilute with water first 1:1, then add ethanol about a dropper full at a time, mixing thoroughly in-between. The pigments seem to stay in solution this way and I do get a faster drying time.

There is a brand of hobby paint that can be cut directly with ethanol... E3 or D3 or something like that (can't find it on google so I must have the name wrong), but it's not available locally so I've never used it.

you may be talking about P3 paints, im thinking about investing in airbrushimg medium from my local hobby shop.

I'm going to mess with the settings on my airbrush with windex before I start hunting for another medium. thanks for the help!

Yep, those are the paints! Had an airbrushing class with a GD winner and that's what he did (P3 diluted with ethanol).

Sounds like a plan, always start with the easiest solution.

Good luck!

thanks for all the help!! it is greatly appreciated

Keep us updated on this, ive experienced the same thing with my airbrush and haven't figured it out yet

Sounds like to me your getting a nice spray,but some sputtering is sneaking out. When you test your spray on your test paper you need to specifically look for this. Usually it's a partial blocked needle from my experiences. Once you get the hang of diluting it's rarely that.

One thought occurred to me... make sure all the components of your airbrush (especially the nozzle parts) and tightened fully... sometimes if one or the other is a bit loose, you get air sneaking in or out where it shouldn't be and it messes with your spray pattern.

Just a thought.

Hey everyone, when i got home from work today i did a little but of air brushing on some old models i had lying around, i've come to 2 conclusions so far...

1. Earlier IK-Painter mentioned to try spraying White onto hawk turquoise which i did, and it seems that for me its easier to go from dark to bright colors when airbrush, so i re did the gradient but instead of starting at white i started at black and went to white, the white wasnt completely white, i was kind of in a rush because i had to run some errands but their was definitely a smaller amount of sputtering

2. If you thin your paint to much itll cause the airbrush to sputter really really badly.

Thanks again for the help!!

I think the thin.er the paint the lower the pressure. Verify please.

For me it still splutters, i tried the opposite the higher the pressure the higher the thinner to paint concentration, dunno if this is right

Here is an oddball suggestion, have you tried to REALLY shake up your VGC White? I know that my white has a tendency to get little hard bits of solidified paint in it if it is not shaken up very well before hand.
Do you have any paint agitators inside of the dropper? Vallejo does not add them, so you will have to pop off the dropper and manually add them yourself if not.

A question: How much pressure are you using?

Also, for thinning paints, Windex will work (albeit it isnt ideal), Isopropyl alcohol will also work, but I would recommend getting some airbrush medium from a craft store - it gives the best results by far (in my experience anyway).

@Andrewdrexler i've messed with adding a agitator with some of my paints stuff that i use alot, but not with the white, any suggestions on what i can put in the dropper?

@Cobbie, i use between 10-20 psi depending on what im painting, i'm def thinking about investing in some thinner but for the time being until i can get to a local craft store i'm stuck with what i got =/

Dashyl wrote:@Andrewdrexler i've messed with adding a agitator with some of my paints stuff that i use alot, but not with the white, any suggestions on what i can put in the dropper?

I used some pea gravel that I had left over from a big bag that I purchased from OSH for terrain over a decade ago (and I still have not made a dent in it). Each piece of gravel is about half the size of a marine head and is non reactive (and clean to avoid contamination).

Awesome thanks! i might just throw a marine head in there, and i just went to the warstore online and ordered some vallejo airbrush thinner, so we'll see how it works out for me

Dashyl wrote:Awesome thanks! i might just throw a marine head in there, and i just went to the warstore online and ordered some vallejo airbrush thinner, so we'll see how it works out for me

They also make a VERY nice line of paint formulated especially for airbrushing. It does not need thinning, but everyone seems to thin it anyway.

Dashyl wrote:

@Cobbie, i use between 10-20 psi depending on what im painting, i'm def thinking about investing in some thinner but for the time being until i can get to a local craft store i'm stuck with what i got =/

That's about what I would recommend as far as pressure goes, so your problems do not stem from there I think.

You'll find airbrush thinner to be a big help, I can assure you.

That's about what I would recommend as far as pressure goes, so your problems do not stem from there I think.

You'll find airbrush thinner to be a big help, I can assure you.

i think your right, i think the reason i've been getting sputtering is because im not mixing my paint externally but doing it in the pot itself. Going to go home and try again with a external mixing pot and see how it goes.

and i hope your right about the thinner, i bought the big 200ml one from vallejo, i figure if i dont use it for my airbrush i can always use it to thin my brush paints

I mix internally and don't have these issues - what are you using for mixing? I have found, that a soft second string brush is perfect for mixing the color.

You can also try this neat little trick: Add all the mixing ingredients into the brush and then hold the tip of the airbrush against the palm of your hand, so that no air can escape. Then, just press the trigger on the airbrush. The air won't escape through the nozzle, but will backdraft into the mixing cup, throwing bubbles and swirling the paint around. This way, you can easily mix up your paints.

Give it a try and tell us how it went,


IK-Painter

I'm afraid to do the backdraft thing lol don't want paint in my face. I put water in my ab cup, then toss paint in and mix with an old paint brush...no problems. I use gw stuff.

also be careful you dont stab yourself with the needle when you try it