Airbrushes

[troppo]

The two things I'd be spraying would be a zinc phosphate primer, (that does seem quite a thick mix), and a synthetic enamel, (that seems quite a thin mix). Would that Bergen gun cope with those as is, or would I likely need to thin them?

As someone else has said I`d opt for a touch-up gun myself, you can adjust then down to almost airbrush sized fan size and up to about a fair sized fan. The airbrush is for detail work and artwork basically. You can pic up cheap touch up guns on flea bay easy enough.

 

[MattF]

Aye, that's the one I'm planning on getting. Just trying to get to grips with the whole viscosity versus nozzle size bit at the moment. When you pop, say for example a primer, in the cup, if it was too thick for the nozzle size in use, does it just not spray full stop and that's the indication that you need to thin it, or do you have to find the viscosity beforehand and thin it if necessary else risk damaging/clogging the gun? I realise I'm being totally dim here, but once the penny does finally drop I should be fine. I'm just being exceedingly slow on the uptake.

Just on a slight tangent, I've realised I've gone and shot myself in the foot regarding the spray gun bit temporarily. Went and flogged my only working compressor very recently, (as I only ever used it for inflating the vehicle tyres), and the compressor unit I'm planning on getting working first is one of the things which I'll be wanting this spray gun to paint. I think I've dropped one big style there.

 

[troppo]

Look at it this way Matt, the size of the gun should give you a good idea on its usage.
An airbrush is detail and art oriented, a touch up gun is for small spray jobs (and toouch ups lol) and a full size gun is for the big stuff. The three guns can be used in conjunction or seperately.
You need a bigger needle and fluid cap to spray the thicker stuff like primer filler unless you thin it right out.

 

[Chipper]

Can't say for sure about zinc primer, but synth works well. You can use white spirit, synth thinners or 2k thinners. Would avoid celly thinners myself, touch fierce.

Re viscosity and suchlike, don't worry about it too much. The hi-build primer I use is very thick/viscous, it'd be pretty bonkers to put it in a mini-gun, and be horrible thinned down far enough to make it out of the nozzle. This is high-build primer specifically, not every primer.

Guessing the zinc is more "normal" and can be thinned OK - someone here will know re miniguns. And if not you could just use etch or even red oxide, I've thinned & sprayed that.

Re foot/bullet, can you use the comp to spray itself? Or is it in bits.

 

[MattF]

Can't say for sure about zinc primer, but synth works well. You can use white spirit, synth thinners or 2k thinners. Would avoid celly thinners myself, touch fierce.

Re viscosity and suchlike, don't worry about it too much. The hi-build primer I use is very thick/viscous, it'd be pretty bonkers to put it in a mini-gun, and be horrible thinned down far enough to make it out of the nozzle. This is high-build primer specifically, not every primer.

Guessing the zinc is more "normal" and can be thinned OK - someone here will know re miniguns. And if not you could just use etch or even red oxide, I've thinned & sprayed that.

Cheers.

Re foot/bullet, can you use the comp to spray itself? Or is it in bits.

Would anything be that simple? The compressor head unit hasn't been stripped down yet, but the compressor unit overall is in pieces.