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Hey guys,

I recently started Airbrushing, and I am running into some issues I would like your input on.

What I have:
iwata HP-B Plus
iwata studio series Silver Jet Air Compressor

So I believe my issue is paint consistency, but let me give you the run down.

So for my first attempt I bought my paints from the Citadel Air line, I read the reviews online and most people said there was no need to thin it out, so I didn't bother.
I started with a pretty open nozzle, and worked my way down to fine detail, but after about 30-45 seconds of using detail, my needle started to clog (working at 12 PSI), so I took the nozzle off and wiped off the gunk from the needle. Trying again it worked fine for about 10 seconds and then it starts to clog again. Instead of cleaning the needle off I decided to pick up the PSI gradually as it started to clog each time for minimal downtime in actual painting. but eventually i just had to stop.

I took the airbrush apart and the needle was coated in dry paint even after a quick clean before disassembling it. So I did a very thorough cleaning.

My next attempt I thinned the paint with water some, but even a tiny bit of water made me start to spiderweb when painting, so I added a little paint until it stopped spiderwebbing. now it took a little longer for the clogging to start happening, but it none the less did. (also i tried opening the nozzle to widen the stream, and again it only worked for a little bit before it started to clog as well)

After I again was required to take the airbrush apart to do a thorough cleaning again.

I tried several more times with thinning and not thinning and with different colors and each time had the same issue. My friend who has been airbrushing for a while told me to non Airbrush paints from not Citadel, and thin them down. He recommended Vallejo, so I tried that out. And to be vigilant I also bought Vallejo Thinner, and Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver. Now for this it still clogged but it took 3 times longer to start to clog. however at least with the Vallejo, doing a quick cleaning actually got all of the paint out of the hopper and off the needle. adjusting a little.

I went back and tried the citadel paint again both with thinning it with airbrush thinner and adding the flow improver and still had the same issue.

I have been looking for people that are having the same issue but have not found any. I am starting to think there may actually be an issue with my airbrush.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have only been airbrushing a few months but what I have found is that the end of your airbrush is always going to clog during use if you use it for more then 5 minutes. I keep a small toothbrush at my station and clean the end off every few minutes to help with spray issues. The other thing is the lower psi you use the faster your brush will clog. I use vallejo model air and citadel air and I have found both need minimal if any thinning at 25-35 psi. When I use non citadel air citadel paint I thin it 50/50 with Liquitex airbrush medium and spray at 35 psi and it works great. I have also found that using a bit of airbrush medium in the airbrush cup with citadel air and vallejo model air will extend the amount of time before it clogs my tip.

Edited to add: Always always always clean your airbrush when you're done. I would recommend never letting it sit dirty, I also like to give it a break down and a thorough cleaning after every 2 color changes while painting.

How long are you spraying for? If its 30 seconds or longer, some of the paint will eventually dry at the needle tip.=, just through the simple process of deploying the air and the paint at the same time.

You should be just able to wipe it away with a cotton bud, or something similar, no real need to pull your brush apart all the time to clean it.

What do you mean by "I started with a pretty open nozzle".

When the paint starts to clog and you clean the AB, are you cleaning out the nozzle and the paint passage? You need a pipe cleaner type brush to clean down the paint passage and something to clean out the nozzle. If paint is slowly building up i the nozzle and you aren't properly cleaning it out, each time the paint will clog it more and more easily. I made that mistake when I first started airbrushing and didn't really understand how to clean it, after a while I had almost completely clogged the paint passage and nozzle I discovered it finally because my AB started clogging way too quickly.

Trying to do detail work is the hardest, you will constantly have to be cleaning the tip of the needle and clear minor clogging (I just pinch the tip of the needle with a tissue to get the paint off and clear clogs by spraying full blast in to the side of my spray booth).

If you're not doing fine detail work it shouldn't be so difficult, you can slightly increase the pressure and keep the paint flowing more to stop it jamming things up for you.

12PSI is reasonably low, I don't use the Citadel Air range to know what it's like but you'd need the paint to be quite thin to spray at that pressure. Also be aware your regulator might not be accurate, 12PSI on my regulator is barely even blowing. Also if you're running a long hose or additional moisture traps you lose pressure between the regulator and your brush so you need to bump up the pressure to account for that. You might just be spraying at too low of a pressure and getting clogging issues because of that.

I don't know about Citadel Air, but usually dedicated Airbrush paints (like Vallejo model air) I will still thin them slightly, but only slightly.

Put this in your favorites bar.


https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/troubleshooting

I had similar experiences with the Citadel Air paints when I first tried them.

They have amazing coverage compared to some other airbrush paints, but one downside of them is that they seem to dry quicker, and lord knows what GW have put in them, but they really do adhere quite strongly to the airbrush itself.

The adhesion is a good thing once the paint is on the model, but like you, I've found that they take considerably more effort to clean up than some other paints. The best cleaner I found for them so far is the Vallejo airbrush cleaner.


Because of the way they dry, I found I get more "tip dry" with them compared to other paints too, and this could possibly explain some of the things you're seeing in regards to the paint "clogging".

So for this, as it's mainly an issue with the paint drying round the end of the needle, I just keep a toothbrush handy that's got some Vallejo cleaner on it, and every so often, just give the end of the needle a quick (not too heavy) scrub, while it's still in the airbrush - basically just scrub the end of the airbrush and this should clear it. You'll see if it has as the tiny end of the needle that's poking out should look clear.

Tip dry is something you'll experience with most acrylic paints through an airbrush, but the Citadel ones have been worse for me so far.

This in itself is not a major negative towards the paint or anything, just something I had to get used to when using it.

Hope that helps

Thanks for all the replies.

I will check into all of these and try out your suggestions.

The higher air pressure was something I was thinking.

Hey, I was having the same issue with thin paints drying to quickly. There is no real winner for this however. Thin paints drip when to low, and dry when to high on the psi scale.

Truth be told, I set my airbrush to about 40 psi and feather stuff watch how open i set my needle. If I we you I'd try a teeny dab of vallejo retarding medium to kinda thicken up the paint just a bit. However anyone with an airbrush will tell you that needle clogs happen, frequently, best bet is what's been said, keep a little tooth brush handy to just brush it off.

Questions feel free to contact me
Nemesor Blackwing

I also run at 40 psi (drops to 32 ish) when shooting. 12 seems extremely low.

I had this issue when using extremely cheap paint. I thinned down some dollar store paint just to get a feel for it. I wasn't exactly surprised that it clogged so much even when watering it down plenty.

I bought Tamiya acrylics , water them down by eye , never a problem. I imagine any good quality paint should not jam , including citadel.

I also understand that different airbrushes have different needle/tip sizes. Its feasible that yours is too small. I am only speculating.

I've noticed that mixing paint of different types (mixing waterbased paint with oil based paint) can result in gumming. So if you were trying out different paints and didn't clean out your gun properly , perhaps you gummed it up.

Just some food for thought. Hope you get it sorted out.

Wow....

OK I shoot paint at about 10-15 psi MAX. Primer i do at 15-20psi, and inks at 5psi. You're wasting a ton of paint at the higher psi and blasting the detail from your models.

If you are having issues with Tip Dry I would recommend a few things. First stop shooting for 30 second or longer blasts. If you look at all the videos of folks airbrushing you will notice that they are constantly on and off the trigger. Second and this is a huge difference maker. Use an airbrush lube on the needle when you are done cleaning it. It helps tremendously. Third, What are you using to thin your paints? If the answer is water..... well get a good thinner.

Now this will not eliminate all Tip Dry but it will help a bunch. If you find yourself having it, move your airbrush to the side hit it full blast to clear the clog and go back to painting.

Hope that helps a bit.

 darefsky (Flight Medic Paints) wrote:
Wow....

OK I shoot paint at about 10-15 psi MAX. Primer i do at 15-20psi, and inks at 5psi. You're wasting a ton of paint at the higher psi and blasting the detail from your models.

Not necessarily. The air may come out at a high psi but the paint flow is minimal as you don't reef back on the lever for full paint release. If you are on/off pulling back on the trigger, paint flow is easily managed. Trigger control and muscle memory is a big part of it. Yes, if you are using something like inks, drop the pressure.

To the OP, keep a wet Q-tip on hand and give the needle tip a swirl every now and then. If you are careful, you can even go without the protective crown on your brush and just pinch off any build up with your fingers. If you are not careful, you will snag your needle or stab something and bend the tip. Water works fine for thinning acrylics

One thing I always wonder when people state they spray at X pressure.... how accurate is your regulator? The cheap little hobby regulators are often miles off, 5 to 10psi error I'm sure is quite common.

Spray at what feels right (based off how well the paint is spraying), not what someone says they think is right.