I have an Iwata HP BC airbrush I have been using and I cannot get the fine details on Woodduck bills I want without overspray. Can someone give me any tips on the fluid nozzles/needles tha tmay help this. Anything would be appreciated.
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First, try turning your air pressure down. I would start with 15psi and work down from there. You may need to thin and retard your paint. Also check to see if your needle is fully seated.
I even bought a new needle and put in the brush. I have been regulating air pressure, but I have found that the high pressure works better than lower pressure. The only thing I have heard that I haven't ever tried is the paint retarder. How exactly does that work?
Basically it retards the typical drying time of your paint overall.When doing fine details you don't use a constant stream of paint like you would with larger areas.So when doing your fine details the paint tends to dry clogging your needle and causeing either no paint or splatter even at lower pressures.Takes a little bit of experimenting with your paint,thinner and retarder to get the right mix but it works great for fine details and you never have the clogging associated with not using it.I use just a little bit of paint about the same amount of retareder and a little bit of thinner to get me mix where I want it.If it's not enough you can always add more of whatever you want.
I have always used the Polytranspar and Lifetone paints from WASCO. Do you normally have to retard these paints straight out of the bottle. I just cannot seem to get the right combination for spraying the fine touches on woodducks. Another artist told me that I probably needed a finer fluid needle in my airbrush, but 3 mm is the smallest I see for the HP BC. I saw that Paschee makes 3 different size needles for their airbrushes. Any thoughts on this...
Hydromist and ALWAYS add retarder to it. I thin it down with the retarder to about the consistancy of skim milk. That has helped a lot of the problems I was having. I also like my air pressure on the higher side. BP
Is this retarder the same as what you buy from Sherwin Williams paint stores or ACE Hardware?
I use an HP-BC also,with WA Polytranspar paints. You can get a .2mm needle and nozzle for it, I'm not sure if the .3 cap handles the .2 needle, but it is listed that way. Polytranspar retarder is great, you need to use either FP or WA retarder to match your paint. I also got a Crown Cap and a Color Cup for it, and it helped me out. I use Winsor & Newton Acrylic Flow Improver with the Retarder and I can paint better now than without it. Do some research here. There is lots of questions and answers. I read on it for two weeks myself.
Lifetone/Hydromist retarder. The differant brands have their own retarder. BP
The number 1 tip in the paasche brushes measures .55. That's nearly twice as large an opening as the .3 needle in the Iwata. You definitely need retarder for your paint when you use any kind of detail brush.