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Made in us
Dangerous Skeleton Captain




Honolulu, HI

I was able to get a used Iwata Custom Micron C...used like new in box. Great for me...just wonderin its supposed to have a .22mm/.18mm needle I''ll have to look but the kicker here is it's advertised as having "hairline precision".

I'm using a portable airbrush compressor...I'm assuming it purrs at about 15 PSI as recommended and I'm painting with Valejo Airbrush paints.

I guess what I'm asking is, what is a "hairline"'really? The lines can achieve are more along 1/8 of an inch and when I think of a hair line I'm thinking drawn with a pen. I know it's possible as you see pro airbrushers paint shirts, helmets, and vehicles with that kind of detail.

Tips and links to guides appreciated...

Also my nozzle dries/clogs superfast do I need to lube the needle more or add something?

Ft Shafter
 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




Nottingham, UK

In terms of hairline, I have a .25 nozzle and I can get lines down to about 1mm in width (shakily!) but can do 2-3 mm lines pretty steadily. Your skill level tends to be the first limiting factor - both in terms of judging the mix you need and in simply holding the brush / action steady enough.

'Tip dry' and clogging are usually mix against pressure issues - having the pressure too high can dry the paint on the tip of the needle, having too thick (heavy) a mix can mean that what pressure you have isn't enough to force the pigment through the nozzle, or it's dried on the outside (see above) and the paint stops flowing.

You'll find doing fine lines needs a pretty thin paint (as it does with a hand brush), low pressure and VERY little paint flow. Heavy pigment (large pigment grain - browns are awful for this!) can make this worse. You'll find Inks and thinned paint with a flow improver are your friends here.


 
   
 
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