Priming

[Blue man]

Do you have to prime any thing your going to spray paint??

What colour primer do you use or does it matter??

[Ciaran (Perfect-32)]

am always best to prime before spraying, and yes what color primer makes a big diferance.... unles you like to have the paint driping off  nice light coats

for lithe colors use white primer, i learnt the hard way !

[Blue man]

im spraying ford blue on to nearly fendt green

what pimer colour should i use

[Ciaran (Perfect-32)]

gray id say

[Blue man]

and will it be ok if i sray the primer and the spray paint straight from the cans??

How long should i wait for the primer to dry before spraying

[Ciaran (Perfect-32)]

i take it you havent done thi befor?

yes it will be fine if you have a gun its better but then you have to be abile to set it up right because miniture suff is hard to get a good finish on... but have a look at my dooley tomorro when i put up pictures of it primed . i did it strate from a can as its plastic primer and the uni dose not have that! \

but have a play around on a pratice peice 1st!

1200 grit wet and dry sand paper is good to sand back any muck ups 

[Blue man]

Nah I havent  ;D

Thanks

[Fendthead]

Hi

Should be ok with spray cans, just use light coats to avoid runs and covering detail in a thick coat of paint, the last coat is the hardest, the "flood coat" as some call it, as you need to get a good enough coat of paint so you get a great finnish without loseing detail \ . Ford blue is a light colour thus will prob need a light primer grey or white I would think, but if your realy not sure see what colour ford primer is for the full size tractor .

as has been said use a very fine wet and dry to rub down look for your mistakes at primer stage, a bit of rough filling etc will soon show up when primer is applied

It is better with and airbrush as you are in far more control of the paint, also if you are using spray cans your masking will have to be 100% spot on! or you will get paint creeping in at the edges, but with an airbrush you are putting the paint on so softly you can get away with some very dodgy masking .

have fun

[Lady Ferguson]

Hi

Should be ok with spray cans, just use light coats to avoid runs and covering detail in a thick coat of paint, the last coat is the hardest, the "flood coat" as some call it, as you need to get a good enough coat of paint so you get a great finnish without loseing detail \ . Ford blue is a light colour thus will prob need a light primer grey or white I would think, but if your realy not sure see what colour ford primer is for the full size tractor .

as has been said use a very fine wet and dry to rub down look for your mistakes at primer stage, a bit of rough filling etc will soon show up when primer is applied

It is better with and airbrush as you are in far more control of the paint, also if you are using spray cans your masking will have to be 100% spot on! or you will get paint creeping in at the edges, but with an airbrush you are putting the paint on so softly you can get away with some very dodgy masking .

have fun

This is a very interesting topic. We currently use cans of primer for our models, but are looking at getting an airbrush because of the quantities we're now painting. What airbrush would your recommend and do they need special paint?

[Fendthead]

If you are using the airbrush a fair bit it is best to spend a bit of cash on a good quality make.I have had a badger for a few years now and it's still going strong.The thing I find is with badger,Iwata etc you can still get parts with ease even if the brush is getting old.

If you are spraying large amounts of the same colour I would go for a bottom feed so you can fit jars, thus you can mix large amounts of the paint, use as needed then screw the lid on when finished.(My most used paint is mud brown...I just love it , huge jar of that). with say a 0.5 needle. But if you are doing very fine work you may want a top feed with a small colour cup and a fine 0.2-0.3 needle.  This is why I use three diffrent airbrushes, if you see some real pros workbenches they can be running up to 7 all at the same time with a huge compressor

As for paints you can spray most paints, just thinned to about the thickness of milk. a little thinner if you are doing fine work with a fine needle. You can spray the  spray can into a jam jar then use the paint in the airbrush BUT spray paint is very thin thus you need to be carefull  with the airbrush 1st time or use fine needle.

to clean out I use spray away, and you can't beat a good compressor for air supply.

That has just scratched the surface, but it may help a bit . Also as with a lot of things,it all personal preference, so the next person you speak to will prob say diffrent to me.....

[PDH]

Mandy,

I've just bought two new airbrushes for the other modelling I do (1/35th scale armour). I bought an Iwata Eclipse CS and a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution.  The H&S is the best one, a fantastic air brush, easy to use, clean etc - see http://www.hansa-airbrush.de/english/index.html for all the details. I may sell the Iwata and buy another Evolution!

Don't forget you'll also need an air source, compressor perferably.

I'm currently converting to acrylic paint from enamels and there is a huge range of acrylic paints now available, Vallejo being my personal favourite. Rumours have it that acrylic paint will be the only paint you can buy soon. The EC is contemplating a ban on all other paint types due the their chemical composition.

If you want more details just PM me.

[Fendthead]

H&S good airbrush, I have one for fine work . I agree acrilics are far easier to work with, i use a lot of tamiya.

[Blue man]

Thanks for all the help