> Hot paint well mixed is thinner and the propelant is at a higher
> presure than cold paint.
One question that occurs to me... Are there benefits in warming (or
actually heating) paint for use in an airbrush? Would the paint flow
better or would there be adverse reactions with the relatively cool
propellant, in my case, from my CO2 cylinder? Or, would it be a wash,
benefits canceled by negatives?
Frank Kranick
(who still marvels at the finish of many competitive auto models)
West Coast Engineering - 28 Apr 2004 22:48 GMT
>> Hot paint well mixed is thinner and the propelant is at a higher
>> presure than cold paint.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>propellant, in my case, from my CO2 cylinder? Or, would it be a wash,
>benefits canceled by negatives?
Well the warm paint might be thinner but the drop in temperature of
the CO2 as it goes from high pressure to low pressure is pretty large
and experimentation would be in order to see if warming the paint
helps. When using a compressor and tank, room temp air increases in
temperature as the pressure builds in the tank and then drops as the
air is used. That is why we need the moisture traps. High pressure air
holds more water and when the pressure drops in spraying, moisture
comes out and needs to be trapped so it does not become part of the
paint job. :-) Then again, the CO2 in the cans is dry and has no H2O.
I'd be really careful about heating the CO2 cans. Having a CO2 car
racing around my hobby room at several feet/sec after it ruptures
would really take all the fun out of modeling for at least a few
hours. :-)
I'm sure it depends on the amount of paint heated and I'd be careful
not to heat water based paints beyond the point where they might turn
into "pudding". Good luck and I think we might all like to here how
the heating helps (or not).
Jim Klein
>Frank Kranick
>(who still marvels at the finish of many competitive auto models)
Alan Dicey - 28 Apr 2004 23:37 GMT
> One question that occurs to me... Are there benefits in warming
> (or actually heating) paint for use in an airbrush? Would the paint
> flow better or would there be adverse reactions with the relatively cool
> propellant, in my case, from my CO2 cylinder? Or, would it be a wash,
> benefits canceled by negatives?
It would be quite difficult in any case to heat the paint in a paint
cup, perhaps easier in a jar. The main reason for warming a rattle-can
is that the expansion of the propellant cools the can and thus the paint
as well. In an airbrush, even using propellant cans, the paint is not
cooled (since the cold can is at the other end of the air-supply hose).
Even the most basic of airbrushes atomises better than a rattle-can; the
spray head is precision engineered in metal, compared to the moulded,
throwaway atomiser on a rattle-can. This is the reason they give better
results, more consistent droplet size and with an even spray-pattern.
Going upthread, there are several reasons for applying mutliple light
coats, beginning with a mist coat.
A light, non-opaque first coat is easier to apply evenly and will not
run, sag or ripple. An attempt to cover in one coat will usually result
in runs in some places, as it isn't easy to tell how thick the coat is
once it is opaque. Applying several mist coats on top of each other
will give an opaque covering, but by allowing intermediate coats to dry,
there is much less risk of runs. For a glossy finish, the final coat at
least should be "wet", i.e. run together to form a continuous gloss.
One other advantage of several coats over just one is that the colour
gains "depth". I think this is from internal reflections between the
layers. This is also true for varnish coats, and is improved by rubbing
down between coats; this to get the paint progressively smoother.