Before I start. I apologize for the length of my post. I believe that you should pass on any knowledge you can to new people in the hobby. Here I am attempting to do so. I believe that there is some good advice here, and if you don't think so, just look at it as an old man's ramblings.
I must be lucky. I bought 3 of these HF Deluxe brushes when they were on sale almost 8 years ago. I'm still using the first one. I sold the other 2. I consider it, for the money, a great little brush. It is a perfect one to learn to paint with. It's double action, internal mix and unlike the one Don reviewed in his article, my trigger is soft and smooth, the needle is perfectly centered in its holder, so not having to basically rebuild the brush before you use it,does help a lot, esp if you've never used an airbrush before.
Depending on what I'm painting, (size, detail, # of colors required, etc), dictates to me which of my 4 brushes do I use. If its just a paint job on a loco, car or structure, I'll use my old friend, (I've had it since I was 19, and I'm 61 now, the Passche H, with the #1 tip, (Finest tip available for the H model). I have never used a #3 or #5 tip. They just put out too much paint. There's always a danger of applying too much paint with anything larger than a #1. Try to always use the smallest tip, and the thinnest coats on the model. The color will look better and the model won't look like the paint is too thick. None of the detail is covered. When painting, always try to use a neutral primer. This will allow some of the more difficult colors to paint, like red and yellow, to require less paint and this allows you to use thinner coats. I prefer Floquil foundation as a primer. Its truly a light neutral color. Any of the paints labeled primer can be used as well. These are generally grey to a reddish color. Stay with the lightest color available. Also, always apply these lighter colors first on the model. In order, I've always applied yellow first, red second. At times, black can also be difficult to paint, as if it goes onto a model with a black background, it can be hard to see where you've painted and how thick that coat is.
Next there's my gravity fed Air Pro, that has 3 separate tips and needles. I think that the smallest tip is a .025". The two others are .035" and .050". I've never been good with decimals, so note that the sizes I gave may be backwards. Its really great for small areas with lots of detail that can't be over painted, or the detail disappears. It's another double action, internal mix brush. While it's an off brand, it's one of the finest airbrushes I've ever used. Even with the largest tip in the brush, you can put down very thin coats, that are very smooth, and clean. With the smallest tip in place, its ability when weathering a model is second to none.
Lastly I may use my Badger XF100, the XF meaning extra fine. This one has a paint cup that only holds about 1/32 of an ounce or so. It is used strictly for weathering. It can paint a line that is so fine that you can write your name with it, and someone would swear that the name was written with a very sharp pencil. This one I've had since 1979. I use it for applying super thin coats of weathering that, as on the prototype, can disappear in a very bright light, like the sun. Don't expect to be using it as a main airbrush to paint complete models. While it can be done with this brush, you'll find yourself reloading the paint cup about every 10-15secs
I have always painted by starting with a ratio of 60% thinner, to 40% paint. I also close the tip down to almost nothing. I will test the paint on a nearby surface to see how it sprays. I will then adjust the paint/thinner ratio as I see fit. This will come with practice. I use mostly solvent based paints and the air pressure is determined by the airbrush. I do my best not to paint with acrylics, as it will gum up your airbrush quickly, if you're not careful. A lot of the acrylic paint will dry up around the end of the airbrush tip and as soon as you're through with an acrylic color, you almost have to completely disassemble the brush to get all the acrylic paint out of it, so you don't mess up the next color. At least that has been my experience. There are folks that swear by acrylics, and they do paint as well as the solvent based, but for me, its more trouble than its worth.
While the Passche paints great with 20-25lbs of pressure, the Badger paints the same at 18-20. One of the painters on here recommends thinning the paint to a consistency of 2% milk. Good advice. I also try to paint at the lowest pressure that the brush can handle, and still put out a good spray pattern. If you do paint a lot using a bottle instead of a cup, after cleanup, make sure the vent hole in the top of the bottle has been cleaned as well. When that hole becomes clogged, and eventually it will, the brush will not be able to suck up any paint at all. You'll swear that it's broken and you need a new brush, when all it is, is a little vent hole in the top of the cap. Another good idea for cleaning the brush between colors is to have a bottle of thinner ready to run thru your brush. I have a big 4oz bottle of clean solvent ready to go for between colors.
My last piece of advice is this. If you're going to be doing a lot of painting, try to buy, or build you a spray booth. There are plans on the internet if you plan to build it. Also, no matter what kind of paint that you plan on using, get you a chemical filter mask, with changeable cartridges, and be sure to wear it!. A surgical mask, a dust mask etc, will not be good enough. There is plenty of information about what solvent based paints will do to your lungs, but I don't know if anyone has done any research into what long string polymers, (these make up a big part of acrylics) will do to your lungs over the years either. You can get a good chemical mask and cartridges at HF. These can be had for $20-25. These are one of the good things they sell.
I've been a custom/pro painter and have painted for over 30 years and have had many satisfied clients, many repeats. Now I'm out of the business and am not soliciting any work. I have 4 jobs left to complete, and then I can finally start on my own trains that have been dormant for longer than I care to admit.
