Airbrushing 102: Must have items, troubleshooting charts and airbush bling

Wanted to share my experience with airbrushing and what I believe everyone who has, or getting, an airbrush must have.  There are a couple of pics of the troubleshooting procedure from Iwata's Manual and Parts Guide.  For those interested you can slso adorn your airbrush with bling.  Mostly unnecessary bling, still bling.

My shiny new toy.  This is replacing my original airbrush.

 

Must have parts.  I'm sure there are airbrushers out there that would agree you don't want to have to stop airbrushing in the middle of a project because you lost or damaged the airbrushs nozzle or needle.  There are some parts of an airbrush you don't need to use it.  Such as needle cap or handle.  Not having a needle cap will affect the paint coming out of the airbrush.  It continues to work, just not able to make a large spray.  Handle is just to cover the needle and needle choke.

Since I damaged the nozzle of my first airbush by dropping it on the floor, I thought it would be best to have a spare needle and nozzle should that happens again.  Personally I'm hoping for one of those carry-a-gun-in-hopes-of-never-using-it situations regarding the extra needle and nozzle.

Nozzle.  Its screwed to a weight as to not lose it when taking it out of the packaging.  The nozzle is a super small machined part.  Easily lost and damaged.

Extra needle.

Here are some troubleshooting charts.  No doubt you can find them online.  This was actually quite useful the couple nights ago. Used without permission.

Here are some bling to spruce up my airbrush.

This is really the piece I want.  This will help me to airbrush small areas.  The point of the pre-set handle is to reduce the amount the needle pulls back.  When you're doing fine detail you don't want to mistakenly pull the lever back too far causing more paint to come out than intended.  Iwata Kustom CS and Harder and Steinbeck Infinity both have pre-set handles.  Harder and Steinbecks pre-set is numbered indicating how wide the spray is supposed to be.  This handle allows you to actually to pull the needle back before spraying, instead of being a stop for the needle.  Turns the airbrush into a single action, just press down for airflow.  Compared to most airbrushes which are double action.  You have to press down and pull back.  This allows air to go through the gun and moderate how much paint is coming out.  Few examples of what you would use a pre-set handle for: thin lines.  highlighting, "drybrushing," slow build up of paint.

Those interested.  Airbrush and parts were all purchased from Blick.


slainte mhath