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Hi guys
I'm sure there's a tone of posts of this on here but I wanted to highlight my exact problems and see if anyone has the same issue and any advise.
I run a foxhunter airbrush, day I got it no problems. I keep thoroughly clean and strip it down everytime after use to do so.
My issue is it seems to block up more than what I actually get use out of it. I seem to get air flow but no paint. I than get splashes of paint thrn nothing. Then if I pump the switch I seem to get little blobs. I literally thrn strip it down give it a good scrub and then the same thing, there's no consistent paint flow.
Am I doing something wrong!!! Help!!!!

Check if you have a bent needle or if the nozzle is damaged.

Also, what size needle/nozzle are you using? If it's on the smaller end you're going to experience fairly frequent blocking.

Could be paint thinning, pigment issues in the paint, tip dry, or even water issues. Strain your paints, make sure your water trap is as close the the airbrush as possible, and thin your paints. Every paint needs different pressures (I run Valejo game air at 7 psi but run other colors as high as 20 psi) so try adjusting your pressures too. My guess is your issue is clogs due to the paint.

I'm running gw paints thinned with their medium. Not sure if that has an impact?
How do you strain the points and what's the water trap and how can I bring it closer to the brush?
The thing is I've thinned the paints to I think is pretty much water consistency and still nothing.

The normal GW paint is pretty thick and gloppy. Try thinning with an alcohol based thinner. I have found that those work well with the GW paints but throw away whatever you don't use as it will separate over time. It also slows the dry time reducing tip dry. Water traps can be found anywhere that sells air brushes. I have mine mounted on my airbrush and one on my compressor. Make sure you keep emptying them. You can find paint strainers at Michaels or hobby lobby and I think you can find water traps there too.

I don't think it is a bent needle or broken/split tip. My experience is that typically causes bubble back even when there is not a clog. What size needle are you using?

I've been getting some bubbling. If I'm honest I've not a clue. What ever came with the brush. I'll the alcohol thinner perhaps that will help

 Darkmoonlight wrote:
I've been getting some bubbling. If I'm honest I've not a clue. What ever came with the brush. I'll the alcohol thinner perhaps that will help

If your looking for a cheaper alternative that works, you can use distilled water to thin down your GW paints. That's what i do and it works like a charm.

A good rule of thumb is to have the paint have the same consistency as low-fat milk. If it's thicker it can clog up your airbrush and you also get that "dusty" appearance where you get little speckles instead of a fluent gradient.

Not being familiar with Foxhunter I looked it up, seems like someone just slapped a name on a generic cheaparse chinese thing, in which case it might be so poorly built that it might be a goner. Not exactly high tolerance machining there. Friend of mine has experience with similar low-end airbrushes and says that it's nearly impossible to get them to stop bubbling and spattering.

Your best bet in this case might be to just get a new airbrush. You don't need anything too fancy, something like Iwata's Neo range or H&S Ultra will be a massive upgrade.

Initially I only ever used Vallejo/Army Painter paints in my airbrush - thinned 50/50 with Vallejo Thinner.
GW pots suck. They dry out the paints, and most GW paints are way to thick and claggy anyway.
I did try out some GW air paints. Although I did pour them into empty dripper bottles. I still dilute them with 1/3rd thinner as well.

Thinning down paints (more than you think possibly) is the key to keeping the paint flowing.

And for the record, I use a cheapass chinese 0.3mm and a 0.15mm Infinity CR plus.

Are you sure you're cleaning out the nozzle properly? If there's a build up of paint on the walls of the nozzle it might seem clean, spray clear when you put thinner through it, but when you actually try and spray paint it'll clog much faster.

Also, yeah, thinning the paint more. GW paints I find thin well with Vallejo thinner. The thinner you go for the same pressure, the less clogs you'll get (though if you start lowering the pressure to much, for example painting fine detailed stuff, the clogs will start to come back).

You want the paint to be reasonably thin, thin enough that it takes several passes to build up a decently opaque layer of paint.

Thanks guys. I think I wasn't thinning the paint enough. Time will tel I guess. I think I'm going to invest in a new airbrush aswell t some point and probably change paints and more away from gw

I've never had any troubles spraying GW paint, the reason I've moved away from GW paint is 95% because of their pots, I absolutely despise GW's pots more than any other paint supplier. I used to have a problem with Tamiya and Gunze's pots but I discovered that was simply because I was overtightening them.

The only acrylic hobby paint I don't really like spraying is Reaper's, it seems they put a lot of matting agent in their paints which works fine when brush painting but they come out too matte and too grainy for my liking when sprayed.

About 98% of the time someone complains about blockage, its a paint issue. Its not a brand thing, or even necessarily a thinning thing. Its just the will of the paint gods. You can be using brand xyz with great success and then run into trouble even though you shook the thing to death and thinned to water-thin consistency: Sometimes even the best paints will develop lumps and, with our unfortunate predilection for minuscule nozzle assemblies, our day is ruined.

Just last week I grabbed a brand new bottle of my favorite paint, did everything "right" and within seconds NOTHING was coming out of an otherwise perfect H&S Evolution. Dumped it out, cleaned and reamed the tip, refilled.....and all was good.

When in doubt put some plain ordinary water in your gun, dial the pressure down (if you can), and spray under a desk lamp so you can see the pattern. First just trigger the air. Any bubbles in the cup? If so you have a paint seal issue (or possibly an air tip clog but that's exceedingly rare). Now spray some water. Does the spray look even and full, throughout the full range of the trigger? If it does, the gun is fine and its the paint which needs to be addressed. EITHER it needs to be thinned more OR you got unlucky and ran into a lump (again....this can happen with ANY brand of paint, and simply shaking a the bottle does not usually get rid of them).

Lumps can happen in all types of paint.... but because of their pot design it does tend to happen more with GW paints, a dropper or even a decent flip top like P3 is less like to have lumps if you keep the lids clean. I also think water based acrylics are more likely to form lumps than alcohol based acrylic (because the paint itself is a strong enough solvent to prevent them forming) or enamels (all my enamels are silky smooth, the only problem I've had with enamels is they sometimes separate to the point where shaking does nothing and they have to be stirred).

Some people strain their paints before spraying with them. I've never had enough problems to bother doing that, though I do have a few lumpy pots of GW paint which I never let anywhere near my airbrushes.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I also think water based acrylics are more likely to form lumps than alcohol based acrylic

Anecdotally speaking, I think you are right. Many years ago I rid of all my Tamiya's Acrylics because at the time I didnt have a spray booth and as you may know they are glycol ether based.....but I dont recall ever being particularly frustrated with them. With Vallejo's Model Air, which is a water based vinylic formula, I do run into frustrating lumps from time to time, and certain colors seem to have a greater propensity for it than others (ModelAir pure white comes to mind). Lately I've been experimenting with thinning, even when not categorically necessary, with their new thinner which incidentally is a glycol ether based thinner, but haven got enough data to draw a conclusion as to whether it helps cut the paint.