Project CFX sponsored by Parma

Last edited by Pig on Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:02 am; edited 2 times in total

This is the official Project CFX thread.

In here, we will guide, mold, and sculpt our (new student) davecnitrors4 into a finely tuned super painting machine!! We've all seen where he's at now, at the end, we'll see the full transformation.

ParmaPSE has generously provided Dave with Faskolor paints and other great ParmaPSE products for this project

Starting off, we'll go through some basic principles of airbrushing. It'll require some reading, but it's great stuff to know. Afterwards, we'll assign Dave some homework and have him post up his results to be graded.

This thread will be for the Pros and Dave. Others can view this, but this is not a public posting thread (to keep clutter to a minimum). If there are questions from the non-pros, please post them in the other thread.

So, lets kick this things off!!!

First up on the virtual podeum, we have Maxx (and me) covering the Basic Mechanics of an Airbrush and Paint flow.

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:43 pm Post subject:

Okay, we're ready to kick this thing off! Here we go!

Airbrush mechanics 101

Here, without going into extreme detail, I'm going to talk about the basic mechanics of the airbrush. Specificly, the Parma Faskolor f1 airbrush set, since this is the brush being used in this project.

Let's take a look at the F1 and what it has to offer. This particular brush was designed especially for use with Faskolor paints. This is a dual action, internal mix, siphon feed brush that gives fine control when spraying small areas or fogging colors around the edges of panels. Unlike most airbrushes, it features a needle guard that is reversible, giving the brush two different application characteristics. In its normal position it not only protects the exposed portion of the needle but gives the airbrush a wide soft edged spray pattern ideal for spraying large areas. Reversing it creates a smooth, aerodynamically rounded area at the needle/tip intersection which generates a fine sharp edged pattern, good for more detailed work. The F1 airbrush set has everything needed to start spraying with the exception of compressed air. As well as the airbrush the kit contains air hose, brass compressor adaptor, a Faskolor mixing bottle, and a Faskolor bottle adaptor.

Features of the F1 Airbrush

• Counter Balanced cutaway handle.
• Stainless Steel needle.(essential with water based paints)
• Self-centering, self-sealing fluid tip.
• Solvent resistant “O” rings so it can be used with solvent based paints too.
• Heavy nickel chrome plating (essential with water based paints)
• Attached needle tube / rocker lever assembly.
• One piece trigger.
• Adjustable trigger tension.
• Reversible air cap.
• Will accept most major airbrush jars and colour cups as well as the Faskolor bottle adaptor.

The airbrush is similar to a pen, the blunt end is the handle and the pointed end is the tip. The paint comes out of the tip, and you hold on to the handle. At the very tip of the airbrush is the air cap, which covers and protects the paint tip. The back of the airbrush is covered with a handle, which when removed, exposes the needle. The needle runs through the brush all the way to the front paint tip. It controls the flow of paint and is activated by the trigger, which is the button or lever located at the top of the airbrush. When depressed, the trigger also turns on the air, which enters the brush through an air valve located at the bottom. Inside the body of the brush there are two channels, one for paint and the other for air. The air channel is taperd and when compressed air rushes through, it speeds up and draws paint up through the paint channel and into the air stream, where it becomes spray. A taperd needle controls the volume of paint sprayed. The trigger is depressed for air and then drawn back to varying degrees to produce smaller or larger volumes of paint. This is capable due to the needle and nozzle design. The taper of both are precise to each other creating and tight seat. When the trigger is pulled back just a little, this pulls the tapered needle back away from the nozzle creating a small opening for the spray to escape. When pulled back all the way, the opening is at its greatest creating larger volumes of spray.
Paint enters the brush via siphon, from the contained cup or bottle that is attached to the bottom of the brush. Air rushing through the brush draws paint up from the cup and into the tip where it is mixed with the air or atomized.

The airbrush is held and pointed like a pen. The difference though, is you don't touch the surface with the airbrush and you are able to control the amount of ink (or paint) that is applied.

Air is delivered to the brush via your air source. In this case we're talking about a piston type compressor. This compressor is usually more powerful than a diaphragm compressor and produces more air than normally needed to propel an airbrush. Therefore, the air needs to be restricted before it reaches the air hose. This is accomplished by attaching an air regulator to the 1/4" threads that come from the compressor. The air regulator usually has an attached moisture filter which captures the moisture that is developed inside the compressor before it reaches the air hose. If the piston compressor uses oil, then an oil filter must also be attached after the regulator and before the hose to remove any oil that may work its way into the air source. Attach the airbrush hose after the regulators and filters.

Now that we know a little bit about the brush we're using, how it works and have our air source set up, our brush connected and ready to use, all we need is paint!

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:04 pm Post subject:

Now let’s talk about paint.
In this case we’re using Parma Faskolors. Faskolor is a waterborne acrylic designed to spray straight out of the bottle at 40-70 psi. However, there are many instances where we need to have the paint thinned or (reduced). Also we’ll find many cases our air pressures will be adjusted to better suit our application.
First let’s cover Thinning, also known as Reducing. Thinning is the act of cutting down the thickness of paint using a solvent. A solvent is a fluid (liquid, gas, or plasma) that dissolves a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution. The most common solvent in everyday life is water. The solvent then evaporates leaving the solution behind, which is now in a “thinner” state. Since Faskolor is water-based, water can be used as a reducer. Testing has proved some solvents work better to reduce acrylics then water alone. Some examples are Windex or Fantastik which can contain Alcohol or Ammonia. Any of these solvents, mixed with water work great to reduce Faskolor. I myself use a mixture of 50% water, to 50% Windex or rubbing alcohol, mixed up in it’s own container. I then use this “homemade” reducer to “thin” my acrylics. How much do you thin your paint? Well this is all an experiment. Thin, and test. I like to start with a 50/50 or 1:1 mix and then test. You’ll need a few empty bottles, fill half with your color of choice and the rest with your reducer. Shake it all up, test it out and adjust from there.
When your paint is ready to spray, the next issue is air pressure. Where do you start? I like to start at 40 psi. This pressure is not set in stone and changes largely depending on your application. A rule of thumb is, higher pressures for covering large areas and lower pressures for closer work where over spray needs to be kept at a minimum. Again, this is not always the case, but is a great place to start.
Now that you have your pressure set and your paint loaded, we’re ready to let the paint fly and start our first practice exercise. I’m going to assume your right handed, if not, make the proper adjustments. Hold the brush with your right hand much like you would that pen we talked about. Your index finger should be on the trigger. Wrap your left hand around your right or the paint bottle, under the brush and out of the way of the tip. Keep your elbows at your sides in a locked position and your wrists straight and locked. ( Do NOT swing your wrists ) For sweeping motions, instead, swivel at your waist. For up/down motions, use your shoulders.
Now depress the trigger and pull it back just until paint starts to flow creating a small dot on your paper. Repeat this a few times, then pull the trigger back half way and do a few more. Finally, pull the trigger back all the way and make some huge dots! Now you know what your brush is capable of. Do this again, but this time make small lines about an inch long in all three positions.
You should notice that depending on how far back you pull the trigger, you’ll have to adjust the distance the brush is to the paper to keep the paint from running or dripping. Adjust your air pressure up or down by 15psi and do this all again. Also when painting lines, move at different speeds.
This will get you used to how your brush works and how it makes the paint flow. It is important to get to know your brush. Know what it is capable of and how to adjust it to make it do what you want.

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject:

We're almost at a point where you're ready to paint. There are four steps you need to follow every time you spray. These steps are: start air, allow paint flow, ease trigger forward to stop paint flow, and stop air. These steps are critical!!!! Remember to ALWAYS follow these 4 steps....EVERY TIME!!! Also, don't gorilla grip the brush. It's not going to run off on you, so you don't need to hold on to it for dear life. Let it rest comfortably in your hand and hold it solid enough so that you have a good control over it, not complete and utter dominance.

Now that you have a solid concept of how your brush works and what you need to do to reduce your paint, it's time to get things rolling in earnest. Here's your first homework assignment (and it's a fairly easy one):

Break out that piece of plexiglass you have to work with. I want you to take a small notebook and pen and keep it with you while you do this. Your assignment is to get used to the brush and how things spray. I want you to pick up the bottle of Fasblack you have and use it on the plexiglass. Just get used to how the brush sprays. Go back to Maxx's post on the reversable tip, and learn how it sprays with the tip in both positions. Get used to the action of the brush and how it feels. Play with the brush, become one with the brush...you are the brush and the brush is an extension of your arms (not hands)! Goof off with the brush for a good half hour. Clean your plexiglass off thoroughly after you're done goofing.

As a reminder, when spraying, here's what you ALWAYS want to do: Start the air flowing through the brush first, then work on the paint flowing. To do that, push down on the trigger to get air flowing, then slowly pull back on the trigger to get paint to spray. Take Maxx's ideas and get used to spraying different lines.

Here's where your notebook comes in handy. I want you to keep notes on the brush. If you notice little quirks about it, write it down!! Next thing you'll have to do with the notebook is take notes on how everything is spraying. Here's a nifty little chart to fill out during your trials:

Paint Used: Fasblack

Air Pressure:
Paint Ratio:
Result:

You should have a page of full of this same thing...over and over and over. Here's how to fill them in. Each of the above will be called a trial. For Air Pressure, start with 30 psi for 10 trials. Over these 10 trials, gradually add your reducer to the bottle (and shake vigorously). Record the amount of paint and reducer you add. For example, If you put in 10 drops of Fasblack, add 1 drop of reducer per trial.

Here's the time kicker, for every trial, you'll want to spray till the bottle is empty. Try doing broad strokes to cover large areas then try to do fine lines. Remember the basics!!! Once the bottle is empty, then you record your results. An example of your results could be like this: broad area coverage great, but fine lines suck.

Going over the above, just one triall should be this:

Paint: Fasblack
PSI: 30
Paint Ratio: 10 paint, 1 reducer
Result: broad area coverage great and even but fine lines suck!

Do 30 PSI for 10 trials adjusting ONLY the reducer (2 drops at a time)!! Afterwards, I want you to drop down to 25 psi and repeat another 10 trials. After that 10 trials, drop to 20 psi and do another 10 trials. That'll give you enough information to work with in follow-on instruction.

Pretty clear? It should be fairly straight forward. Eventually, you'll want to do this with all your paints to keep some good notes, but that'll be on your own to do if you're feeling froggy. After this exercise, your hand will be a bit tired, but it's going to pay off. When you're done, I want to see you post some of your results. You don't have to post them all, but I want you to tell me what air pressure and thinning ratio gave you the best spray pattern for medium coverage and for fine lines. After that, we'll go in earnest into the basic exercises you need to do to master your airbrush and exact your dominance over it with skill and technique instead of brute force.

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:24 am Post subject:

if i can add one thing. Strain your paints. get a pair of stockings and cut some small pieces like 2"x2", take off the paint cap, put stocking over paint and screw the cap over the stockings. instant strainer.

good luck

Aldo

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:07 pm Post subject:

No, it doesn't hurt. It's just a good tip in general. Any paint can be subject to foreign particles. As long as you shake or mix the paint properly and it's not old paint, you should have no clumping issues.

The only fault in this tip, is that if you don't wipe off the bottle cap, paint can dry there and possibly become loose and fall into your paint cup when filling. If straining is a concern, the strainer should be placed over the paint cup for extra precaution.

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:31 pm Post subject:

More to think about:

When you’re getting used to your airbrush, and you’ve taken notes on how well things flow, there’s a couple of other things I want you to do. I want you to not only vary your air pressure settings, the amount of reducer your using, but I also want you to vary the distance of the airbrush to the surface of the plexiglass.

See what it looks like when you back the brush off the plexi around 6-8 inches and see the results of being within an inch of the surface. Work all the aspects and get used to the brush and how it feels and sprays. To give you a heads up, you’ll notice a larger spray pattern the farther from the plexiglass, and a smaller pattern the closer you are. Vary these along with the amount of reducer and air pressure. Figure out how to do nice consistent fat lines to as thin of lines as possible. Don’t worry about splattering paint on the plexi, it’s about learning. Eventually, we’ll worry about that, but for now, get used to the brush.

And don't forget, follow the basics EVERY time: air, then paint flow, then paint stop, then air stop. Happy painting!!

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 7:48 pm Post subject:

Very Cool, way to go Parma!

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:21 pm Post subject:

lol thanks DJ glad i could help out!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:27 am Post subject:

in time for your first real lesson:

Now comes the first real challenge of learning to airbrush: learning control.

You must have control at all times over your brush or things will get out of hand, get messy, and cause you untold amounts of frustration. The concept to learn control is easy, mastering it is something else. It can be done, and the best way is to do some basic exercises that force you to maintain control. The first of which are dots.

Dots are rather simple to do, but making them like you want to or where you want to can be a challenge. The dot starts off with the airbrush pointed at your target at a set distance. Start the air flowing through the brush (push down on the trigger). Slowly pull back on the trigger to let paint flow and you’ll see your dot forming. When the dot is just about the size you want, move the trigger forward to stop the paint flow THEN stop air flow.

Dots can be tricky, especially on lexan. The fluid paint can easily be pushed around by the air flow, so you have to experiment and find that magic balance. That’s why I gave you your previous assignment of taking careful notes. You’ll be referencing them from time to time to keep the frustration factor down.

Let’s talk about another aspect you’ll use and not even know it: Rhythm and Tempo. Keeping paint flowing in a single spot for any length of time will eventually be blown around. The key to keeping things where they should be (and not blowing around your plexi) is finding your own Rhythm and Tempo. Eventually, your painting rhythm and tempo will increase the more you practice. If you were to watch painters around here (some of whom will be teaching you) at work, you’d be amazed at how fast they move through their work. Their rhythm and tempo keep them flowing quickly, but accurately and under full command of their tools (not the other way around).

When painting dots, you’ll get into a rhythm before you know it. When you’re done painting, stop and think back to how things went and you’ll notice your rhythm. Remember that feeling of being in the groove and strive to regain that every time you paint. Also keep in mind, your rhythm will change depending on what you’re doing, but the feeling will remain the same. That’s when you’re in the “groove” and things move beyond work and become fun and relaxed.

So, here’s what you need to do to complete this assignment: make dots…lots and lots of dots. Pull out some pocket change (specifically a quarter and a dime) and get a fat sharpie marker. I want you to do 50 dots the size of a quarter, 50 dots the size of a dime, and 50 the size of a fat sharpie marker dot. It seems like a lot, but it’ll go quicker than you think. I want to see pics of your quarter, dime and sharpie dot sized dots. I don’t need to see all of them, but a good portion of them would be nice. I will not only need to judge you on your ability, but see if you’re doing anything wrong and give you any additional help you may need.

Key things to do during this exercise: vary your air pressure and reducer content to maximize flow and vary your distance of the brush to the surface of the plexi. Now get to paintin’…time’s a wastin’!!

Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:45 pm Post subject:

Spraying dots is more of learning control of the trigger, or paint flow, but this doesn't mean you can't practice control of the AB at the same time. Use a ruler or yard stick and marker and place it across the plexi about a half an inch from the top and draw a line across the top and bottom of the ruler. Move it down about a half inch and do it again all the way down the plexi. Use the lines inside the ruler as a guide for your dots as I did on this paper. Keep your dots equal size, even and in a straight line.

Don't forget every now and then to clean the AB tip. Paint will begin to collect on the tip and dry if you don't keep it clean and will cause you problems. A nice tip from Piggy is to use a Q-tip soaked in windex and just rotate that on the tip to clean it.

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:24 pm Post subject:

this may seem like a no brainer to some, but be sure to pull the needle back before you try to clean the tip. Bent needle tips suck Crying or Very sad

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:23 am Post subject:

Well, we've had a bit of a hiccup, but we're ready to kick this thing off again. After much searching and more searching, we've decided on a new student.

davecnitrors4 is the lucky stuckee!! We think he's going to be a great person for this and we're excited to keep this ball rolling!!

Dave, go ahead and catch up on the reading, and work on the last few assignments. Welcome to CFX and we look forward to moulding you into a great painter (or at least a better one)

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:36 am Post subject:

I accept your challenge!

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:38 am Post subject:

Welcome aboard Dave!