Another AIRBRUSH thread

[Gunkie]

I was reading the most recent airbrush thread and I came up with different questions.

PREFACE: I have used spray can paint exclusively for all of my model and high power rockets since... forever. No one has ever mistaken my rockets for works of art Anyway, now that my little girls are getting interested in model rockets, I was wondering how a basic airbrush setup might create additional interest for them. They like to paint their rockets, but since they are young (7.5 & almost 5) I try to keep them away from spray paint.

QUESTIONS:

1. Can we use water based paints?

2. Is the spray pretty well contained? (i.e. not too much over spray)

That's it for now. I'll probably have more questions soon. The girls and I just built an egg lofter (Quest) and it is ready for paint.

Thanks!

 

[Micromeister]

Part of the beauty of the air brush is they can be used with ANY liquid that can be thinned enough to pass though the nozzle. Water color is just fine. but keep this in mind. if you switch from water based material to oil based material. do not try going back to water based. It is nearly impossible to remove all the oily residue from the airbrush which will contaminate the water color causing fish eye, streaks and all manor of defects in your next paint job. I have two inexpensive airbrushes for this very reason. I went so far as to use 2 different airbrush manufactures to insure I don't mix up the units. a badger for my watercolors, pastels, and water based acrylics reserving a Passhe for all oil based applications. One more hint, if you are going to buy an airbrush, go with a single action type. dual action brushes are very difficult to learn, very expensive, and are designed for extremely detailed work.
Large areas are time consuming with an airbrush. #5 is the largest needle/nozzle combination I've seen available for either airbrush I use frequently. It will take a LONG time to paint a BT-60 size model. Overspray from the larger tips is almost a heavy as that of a spray can. Control is by far better with an airbrush, but they will still make a mess with the larger opening tips.
If you outfitt the girls with a decent resperator, and use spray cans with a snap on handle, in an area with good ventilation they really aren't that bad.
If you will go the the Narhams.org web site in the library section under Tech-Tips I have a series of articles that may be of help with your model finishing. From primers to finsihed coating, and buffings. As well as plans for your own "In House" paint booths to help contain that overspray
Hope this helps a little.

 

[Gunkie]

John, thanks for the reply and thanks for redirecting me to your 'paint booth' white paper. I'm adding the link here for others that may be interested:

http://www.narhams.org/library/tech/011-PaintBooths.pdf

I'm not sure, and somewhat embarrassed that I don't know, what a BT-60 is. I built a ton of model rocket kits as a pre-teen (circa 1970's), mostly Centuri. Once I returned as a BAR ten years ago (aged 30 years), I jumped right into HPR. I'm looking to paint small-to-medium sized model rockets with my kids. The size range is from 1/4 A tumble recovery rockets to about Big Daddy (??) sized rockets.

Anyway, fabulous article!! I plan to build a paint booth, as per your dictum. I'll try to remember to take a few pictures and post them to this forum to help with the pollination of ideas in the world of model/HP rocketry.

Thanks again!