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So when I first bought my airbrush I decided to go with minitaire paints for my army, I could pick up the entire line of 80 paints for around $100 I thought that was a great deal. As time went on and I started using the paints I noticed that some paints go on much better than others. For instance: I've had no issue with blues or reds. However when I airbrush a bone color or Orange I have a LOT of issues. Sometimes the paint wont come out at all, I'll thin the paint and it'll just end up running out of my airbrush to the point where I have to disassemble it, clean it, put it back together, only for it to have the same problems. lots of spurting and splattering. So my question is: Is this just a problem with certain pigments? would I be better off matching the color to vallejo model air? Have you guys experienced problems with certain paints?

I use the IWATA NEO as my airbrush, love the trigger style and have never experienced issues.

I have never used that brand of paints before, and I have never heard it common for the same manufacturer's paints to have differing Pigment/vehicle/carrier ratios, but I suppose it is possible in some cheaper brands. That is what I think is giving you the problems is on the lighter colors they may have used a more dense/thicker pigment to help in coverage as compared to the darker colors.

When using a paint through your brush that is 'thicker' here are some tricks I have used:
1. Be sure to thin using the proper carrier or the manufacturer's recommended thinner. What works great in one paint does not work so well in others
2. For acrylics, one drop of Windex type cleaner can do wonders - just don't over do it.
3. Use the next size bigger nozzle, if you have one.
4. Reduce your air pressure a bit. Believe it or not, this is the opposite of what we think, but more air dries the paint coming out of the nozzle quicker causing more clogs.

Good luck!!

Great suggestions MDSW I'm definatley leaning towards the pressure I'll try a drop of windex too. Exalted for the advice!

I use Minitaire quite often. Haven't had any issues with it. I'd suggest as above and lower pressure, could also try using flow improver as well.

The problem could also be with the airbrush itself. I started out with a NEO as well, but the seal design and cheap nozzle materials meant I had a lot of issues with paint flow and keeping everything clean.

If you've the budget, I'd recommend upgrading to an Iwata Eclipse. Very worth the money once you're familiar with airbrushing basics.

 Formerly Wu wrote:
The problem could also be with the airbrush itself. I started out with a NEO as well, but the seal design and cheap nozzle materials meant I had a lot of issues with paint flow and keeping everything clean.

If you've the budget, I'd recommend upgrading to an Iwata Eclipse. Very worth the money once you're familiar with airbrushing basics.

So I checked out the eclipse and it looks like a good airbrush, only thing is I've grown quite attached to the trigger style of the Neo Is there anything comparable? Is the "push pin" style better?

Don't use Windex to thin your paint unless you wear a full respirator mask and have a vent hood. Be mindful that while you might be protecting yourself, what about the others in your home? What about your pets?

http://nj.gov/health/eoh/rtkweb/documents/fs/0084.pdf

Use the recommended thinner and/or flow improver for the paint line you are using. Or, use the 100% safe and just as good substance water.

/cue the airbrush professionals that use nothing but Windex and nothing bad has happened to them (yet).

As far as I'm concerned, this ranks right up there with brush licking.

To the OP: There are just so many variables at work here that it's hard to pin one thing down. Is it the paint? Well, the only way to test that would be use a different paint line and the same color. Is it the airbrush? Again, try a different airbrush. What about the pressure you are shooting at? Too high? Too low? What's the humidity like? Too high, too low? Temperature? All these things can cause the problems you are describing.

For me, I'm not going to run out and buy a new airbrush every time I have problems with a certain paint. Your first step was the correct one- break down the airbrush and give it a thorough cleaning. If the problem persists, then it's trouble shooting time. If I have to "work" the paint too much- add water, flow improver, thinner, adjust the air pressure, spray nozzle, needle- I'll try another brand of paint in the color I want and use that instead. I'm a lazy airbrush painter that doesn't want to have a "cook book" of paint recipes for each color/brand I use. With that being said, I do keep a "Painting Journal" of how I achieved a certain look, how I made that color, etc. etc. and adding the airbrush aspect beyond a simple "P3 Cygnar Blue- 1/3 water, drop thinner, 12 psi" is more than I want to spend time doing. If a particular paint just does not work well for me, I'll make a note. Right now, the list is very long for GW paint. It just does not like my Badger Sotar 20/20, and I really have to work the paint to use it. Conversely, I've even used the so called "Ready Air" lines of my manufacturers and found them to be just as temperamental as the so called "regular" paints.

Pro Tip: Many manufacturers that sell "Ready Air" paint charge more then "regular" paints for something that is thinned down from their regular acrylic line. What do they use? Water, or less pigment/more acrylic medium. Those companies are trying to make money, and adding expensive thinners or retarders costs more than just thinning the paint with water. You can make any acrylic paint "Ready Air" yourself simply by working the paint- and you'll save money in the long run over the more expensive "Ready Air" paints. I've yet to not have to do some kind of work even on a "Ready Air" paint to get it to shoot properly through my airbrush.

OK, anyways- good luck! If I was you, I'd switch to a different paint line in that color and try that instead.

I have my expensive Iwata and a really cheap Paasche. I use my cheap Paasche more often simply because I do not need that tiny detail level on most things I do nowadays and never have an issue. So if one color shoots OK and another color does not shoot, it sounds more like a paint than a brush issue. Nothing wrong with getting a better brush when you are ready, though.

Thanks for all the info Tamwulf, exalted. I plan on just getting the Vallejo model air in the same color (only because I dont want to bother with thinning) If I end up needing to thin that too I'll just buy the regular paint and thin it myself.

 supreme overlord wrote:
So I checked out the eclipse and it looks like a good airbrush, only thing is I've grown quite attached to the trigger style of the Neo Is there anything comparable? Is the "push pin" style better?

I personally felt no difference in the trigger action between the two; it was a very clean transition. YMMV of course.

So I went ahead and tried to turn the pressure down on my airbrush as well as mixing in a few drops of water for thinner. Nothing seemed to work with the orange so I went ahead and tried purple again, went off without a hitch. I ordered some vellejo model air in Orange to see if this helps at all. I'll keep you guys updated!

I was going to say, don't use Windex for several reasons, but somebody beat me to it. I personally use Liquitex Airbrush Medium with everything and it never fails.

Whether I am using Vallejo AIR paints or Minitaire or GW AIR paints, or non-AIR paints, I still always add thinner (Liquitex Airbrush Medium) to get the consistency I want.

I also have the Neo Trigger AB and I love that thing. I can't imagine that your AB is the issue because I push primer, varnish and metallics through that thing all the time with no issue.

 Gunzhard wrote:
I was going to say, don't use Windex for several reasons, but somebody beat me to it. I personally use Liquitex Airbrush Medium with everything and it never fails.

Whether I am using Vallejo AIR paints or Minitaire or GW AIR paints, or non-AIR paints, I still always add thinner (Liquitex Airbrush Medium) to get the consistency I want.

I also have the Neo Trigger AB and I love that thing. I can't imagine that your AB is the issue because I push primer, varnish and metallics through that thing all the time with no issue.

The thing that was linked is about ammonia - just buy ammonia free. I use ammonia free windscreen wiper fluid, it works great - Cost like 10 AUD for 5 litres of the stuff.

You could do that, but Liquitex Airbrush Medium will still work soo much better because it will thin as well as keep the nozzle tip from drying as fast.

 Gunzhard wrote:
You could do that, but Liquitex Airbrush Medium will still work soo much better because it will thin as well as keep the nozzle tip from drying as fast.

As does the fluid I use? Its a thin liquid - so will thin the paint. It is windscreen wiper fluid so has a drying retarder in it, so it stops the paint drying on the nozzle so quickly. I wont try and claim you will get equal performance out of it as the pricier specifically designed things (haven't given many of them a go, due to price, so for all I know they may perform no better) as it be conjecture. But it will certainly serve you better than water will! Can also confirm it behaves nicely with gw paints, army painter paints, and minitaire paints.