In the Yak photos above I used "airbrush" water based acrylic paint for the purple and green colors. For the canopy and the pilot I used cheap water based acrylic paint.

The 2 oz. airbrush paint sells for about $3.47 a bottle.
The 8 oz. cheap paint sells for $2.47 a bottle.

The cheap paint was thicker had to be thinned more then the airbrush paint, but it seemed to spray fine for me. I used rubbing alcohol as the paint thinner and for clean up.

First time I took a look at this thread. Thank you so much for all the information, guys.

Walmart has a fairly good selection of the acrylic paint too. I think they have the big bottles of gloss for $3.50 and flat for $1.88. They are a little thicker and have to be thinned so they go even farther.

All of our local craft stores have a wide range of acrylic colors too.

Lee

A.C Moore has "My studio" 2 floz acrylic for .49 cents. Very wide variety too. Love the neons.

Will thinning with rubbing alcohol eat blue FFF? That is the only type of foam that I have along with cheap dollar store foam. I have heard to stay away from regular spray paint on this because it eats the foam. Krylon H2O only should be used.
Also, do you get the lower alcohol content type or higher? I think one has like 91% alcohol and the other is about 70%.
Do people use Windex because of the ammonia in it?
Thanks

Originally Posted by nikg

Will thinning with rubbing alcohol eat blue FFF? That is the only type of foam that I have along with cheap dollar store foam. I have heard to stay away from regular spray paint on this because it eats the foam. Krylon H2O only should be used.
Also, do you get the lower alcohol content type or higher? I think one has like 91% alcohol and the other is about 70%.
Do people use Windex because of the ammonia in it?
Thanks

The rubbing alcohol shouldn't touch the blue fff, but it is always safer to try first on a scrap piece of foam to be sure. Just put some rubbing alcohol (70 or 91%) on a scrap piece of foam. If nothing happens it should be safe to use it as your thinner.

I have not read thru all the links, but do have some experience with the old Rattle Can paint job, from my earlier days doing Plastic Models.

******* WARNING: This can be dangerous *******

Heat up a pot of water to a boil, rolling boil or super hot is not needed. Take the pot of hot water to a safe location (outside is a good idea), shake the paint can well and then set it in the hot water for a 3-4 minutes or until you can still handle/hold the can. (at this point I shake it a little more) This heats up the paint and basically atomizes (smaller paint droplets as they exit the spray can), as well as increases the pressure in the spray can (the danger part).

So now when you spray on your Paint..... it comes out with a finer/lighter coat of paint, with a little more pressure and applies easily. This should allow you to put on a thin (light wgt.) and even coat of pain. (careful, don’t use your normal paint method... practice a little) Also remember, always apply with light, even coats, if you can still see the color showing thru the paint, get it next coat after it dries. If applying a lighter color of paint on a darker surface, apply a base color coat first (ex. flat white paint), let it dry well then apply your top coat.

In the many years i have used this, I have yet to have an *cough* accident, but i am always careful and don’t go "Full Tilt Bozo" on heating up the can either.

Sandray

Sandray,

I have heard of this method before. A long time ago, an old metal finisher told me how they used to hot spray enamel, by warming the paint container on a hot plate and them load it into a spray gun. He would rave about the results, especially with black. I know its not exactly the same, but the concept is there, and the pan of boiling water is much safer.

Ken

Strictly from a safety stand point and not trying to upset anyone, but I am not thinking its good advice especially with the number of youth that visit these threads.

Definitely a neat trick but, I am thinking an inexpensive airbrush and compressor would be much more cost effective than a potential emergency room visit. If that were not embarrassing enough you would certainly make the short list for the Darwin Awards


Mark

If someone could list out recommended foam safe paint brands for both airbrushing and rattle cans, that would be a nice addition to the thread!

This is one of the best threads I have seen. I have been flying R/C for over 25 years mostly glow planes, but have recently decided to try electric.

I stumbled onto this thread, and I am totally in Ewe with you talented painters.. wow.. wow.. double wow LOL.

I have a Aztek A470 Airbrush (by Testors) that I recieved as a present about 10 years ago, and up until now havn't had much of a use for it.

I tryed it today and it appears to spray fairly well then start spitting paint out and no matter what setting I use in the dual function, it does the same thing.

I don't know if my paint is two thick or what. Could anyone that has some knowledge with airbrushing help me out.

This old guy would be very grateful.

Thanks so very much again, and FANTASTIC Painting by all of you.

Oldguy

Thanks so much for your tutorials, Adam!

Some time ago, I attempted airbrushing a foamie, but the results were less than optimal. Your videos, along with me catching a sale at Harbor Freight on their "Professional" dual action gun, inspired me to give this painting thing another go.

First off, the $5 single action guns (I tried three different models) are difficult to get a good spray pattern. The dual action gun made all the difference in the world! I can apply the smallest hairline or a large spray pattern almost equivalent to a spray can. Your posterboard method for masking is superb for this type of work.

The example included in this post utilized the posterboard masks and the "flag" application (although I admit it's abit out of place with the rest of my scheme - like I said, it was a testbed. ). My air supply was at 50psi and I used the Creatix paints.

I am so pleased that I scrounged up all of my EPP that I have remaining in my inventory so I can look at what to build next so that I can try my hand at some fancier stuff!

Thanks again!!

Thanks guys! I am glad you are enjoying it, hopefully I can do some more video's soon.

Oldguy1999,
I would say a couple things to try. Tear your brush apart and clean it really well (as much as you can tear it apart). Run something like rubbing alcohol through after that and see if it is spitting and stuff with something that thin. Make sure the paint is thin enough, and make sure you have enough psi (I shoot around 40 or above). Worst case, go to Harbor Freight and get a new 15 dollar dual action airbrush.

Crash man,
The dual action is a must! I'm glad you gave it another shot, it looks good! If you are looking for another plane go for the firefly or yak (both leadfeather designs). Both great planes.

Here's my Edge 540 paint job. This was done with Testors Model Masters spray cans and a "LOT" of tape. This one took awhile to finish painting, but I like the looks of the Castrol Edge 540, so it was worth the extra effort.

This plane is painted with a dual-action airbrush from HarborFreight and Createx opaque paint