It ain't the airbrush. It's the paint.

[tucohoward]

MRP is easiest paint to spray ever. As much as I love Mr. Color, I can get the same results with MRP without any of the thinning to get the right mix. Shake it up and spray. Pressure doesn't even matter. From less than 5 psi on up to whatever you want. Will still use Mr. Color since I have a ton of it but will replace it with MRP as it is used up. It will spoil you.

 

Jay

[Guest Peterpools]

Jay

I'm pretty well hooked on both MRP and Mr Color and use them interchangeably. I thin Mr Color out 3:1 with their thinner and MR - no thinning required. Of course, this is all your fault as you got me hooked on Mr Color!

Peter

[ChuckD]

In spraying a test aircraft last week, I found that Mr Color tended to splatter more than MRP.  The Mr. Color was thinned 2:1 and later 3:1 with Mr Leveling Thinner, and shot with an HP-CS with a .3mm nozzle at ~12psi.  I could lay down the MRP paint with ease and the pattern was nice & tight.  The Mr Color splattered and while the center of the spray cone was smooth, the fringes of the cone were much less consistent.

 

In short, I too, am an MRP convert.  I'll still spray some Tamiyas and the occasional Vallejo product, but they will never behave like the MRP stuff.

[davral64]

Thanks all for the advice.

I ordered mission model paints from hobby easy out of HK. (I'm in Australia and there isn't much in the way of modelling stuff here compared to back home.)

By the way, a shout out is in order for hobby easy... Their prices are 1/3 the price of everything available in Australia and their selection is really good. Their sites a little hard to search being the only drawback.

Anyhow, next time I spray I'll bump pressures to 10 and see how I go.

Again thanks for the advice.

[rafju]

My spraying way to get rid of closing airbrush nozzle:

Tamiya / Gunze acrylics / Humbrol enamel...

Evolution H&S, usually work with 0.3mm and at 10-12psi max.

 

start with 2-3 drops of thinner in the airbrush

- spray out of the parts

add max 5-10 drops of  pre-thinned paint

- spray to the parts

before end of the paint, re-load with 2-3 drops of thinner, not necessary to mix

- continue to spray to the parts

if necessary, re-load with thinned paint (some drops)

- spray to the parts

before end of the paint, re-load with 2-3 drops of thinner

and so on...

 

"My" rules are to work with small paint qty in the cup and to add thinner at regular time.

[davral64]

Okay okay already, I've moved the pressure up to 10psi (spraying pressure) and I've had much better results, so good call and thanks.

Still shooting Vallejo Air but I'm thinning just a few molecules more and the results are better.

Super pumped for the Mission Model Paint to arrive to see if it'll make me a convert. Hobby easy sent me an email saying they're out of the poly additive. I ended up ordering the poly and a couple of other colours from Airbrush Megastore here in Australia. Their prices were only a little higher than Hong Kong. Now I've got a backup source for MMP.

[G-Man]

I use only Mr. Color paints. Colors get mixed at a 1:1 ratio with Mr. Leveling Thinner, clears are 2:1 (2 parts thinner). I spray them around 12-15 psi through an Iwata Neo TRN. Everything sprays beautifully.

[Bstarr3]

Davral, I too have had frustrating experiences with Vallejo model air. every color seems to be thinned to a different level - some need additional thinner, some don't. I've played with different levels of thinking and different pressures, and I rarely get really good results.

I have quite a few colors of Mission Models and really like their stuff. It sprays very well and they publish a consistent recommended thinking ratio using their thinner and poly additive. I recommend their product heartily, and think you'll be happy with them.

That said, I've heard so many great things about MRP that I ordered a few bottles of it for my next project, Tamiya Mossie. I look forward to trying it out based on the glowing reviews in this thread and elsewhere.

Also, I should note that I've had very good results with Model Masters Acryl, whether sprayed or brushed on, despite a somewhat negative reputation that it seems to carry on many message boards.

[davral64]

Back in the good old days of the early '80s there was Testors and Tamiya and that was it. Back then Tamiya was formulated differently than it is now. It brushed perfectly and airbrushed through one of those siphon feed airbrushes beautifully. Of course back then I was painting aircraft like houses are painted today. But, like I said Tamiya was great.

Now there are something like 10 mainstream paint manufacturers each with its own advantages. Choice is a good thing. Spending a couple of hundred dollars on paint isnt. Well, I think it is but my wife doesn't which ultimately means I don't either. So like everyone else I'm in search of the holy grail.

Everything I've seen about Mr. Paint MRP leads me to believe that it may be THE one but I like the water based stuff as I paint in the house without a fan or respirator (I'm a total barbarian I know!).

Anyhow stay tuned for me painting my fingers with Mission Models Paint and we'll see how it goes!

[davral64]

I've been spraying the Mission Models paint for a week or two now. I've been mixing using their instructions and spraying through a new harder and Steinbeck with the .2 needle and 10-15 psi.

I'm not impressed. I get tip dry at a rate compatible with Vallejo model Air used un-thinned.

I've experimented with amounts of the poly and going as far as 50% thinner but it's no different than the other acrylics imho.

Edited January 23, 2018 by davral64

[davral64]

Sad because I blew just short of $100 bucks to find out. The poly does seem to work okay with Vallejo though.

[Bstarr3]

I have had no problems with tip dry with Mission Models.  I am using a bigger needle (the standard 0.35 "fine" needle that came with my Patriot 105), but it is noticeably better for me than Vallejo. Maybe once or twice I'll have to wipe the tip in a 20 minute painting session, compared with every 90 seconds (it seems at least) using Model Air paints. 

 

MRP, by the way, is definitely better in this regard than Mission.  Even though I had invested fairly heavily in Mission Models paints (10 bottles or so, plus their thinner and poly, of course), I think I'll be buying MRP when I need new colors in the future. Having recently built a spraybooth really takes the last concern (the fumes) out of the way for me. 

[Bruce_Crosby]

Hi Guys,

 

Just a few notes:

 

Most airbrush manufacturers recommended pressure is above 10psi and there's a good reason for it. The airbrush works on the principle of a Venturi, pushing air thru a little hole causes a drop in pressure, in fact a partial vacuum and that's what pulls the paint past the needle thru the hole you've opened by pulling back on the trigger. Next to no air pressure = next to no vacuum so the paint won't pull out. Open the needle further and the paint literally drops out and you get the splatter. What hasn't helped either is water based acrylics have a relatively huge pigment size. Do you guys not actually watch YouTube? It's not called an AIRBRUSH for nothing, it depends on the AIR to work. I hate to be stating the bleeding obvious but NO AIR, NO WORK!

 

How are you setting the air pressure? Just turning the adjuster on the filter/regulator isn't enough, you need to have the trigger depressed on the airbrush. You're setting the WORKING pressure, not the STATIC pressure. Your 5 or 6psi at the regulator is probably less than 3psi when working, totally useless for moving anything, not even paint. Get the pressure up!

 

Can't believe you're getting tip drying problems with MMP. I've been using it for ages and it's very good, works every time, no fuss, no bother. Gave all my Vallejo away! Use a working pressure of 18-20 psi. Shake the bottle well. Mix the paint and thinner and additive thoroughly by stirring only. Don't shake it or introduce air by an electric mixer, the mix goes off faster. Don't throw the ingredients into the paint cup and blowback to mix, once again, you get a pile of air in the paint.

 

I happen to love Gunze's Mr Color but it really will harm you given half a chance. MMP gives a similar finish due to its small pigment size and the marvellous polyurethane additive. And only use their Thinners. You don't need much.

 

Regards,

 

Bruce Crosby

[davral64]

Hey Bruce,

That Venturi thing, didn't some guy from the Bronx called Bernoulli or something come up with that? "Hey yo Bernoulli! Get ova hee wid dat Venturi will ya?"

You are of course correct they don't call it an airbrush for nothing. My working pressure according to the gauge with the trigger down is 8-10psi. The needle of the airbrush is about9mm away from the work and I'm trying to get that wet vapour patch on the model that evaporates almost instantly. Or , at least that's what I'm trying to do. At 18psi doesn't your model blow across the room?

[davral64]

I have started thinning down the MMP paint more and am having better results. I still get that pull trigger back and no paint no paint oops more paint than I wanted....

I do live in Adelaide Australia which has a climate exactly like inland North County San Diego. It's pretty dry here but it's not Antarctica dry.