I just treated myself to a New Iwata Eclipse hp-cs Airbrush, has anyone had any experience using Tri-Art acrylics on Tanks or Vehicles? I know the norm is to use base clear, which I have, but the supplier who I bought this from swears by these colors, and I'm about to do my new V-Star and these colors seem to be very convenient in their squeeze bottles. Anyone with any experience? It seems like a take off from the old Auto Air Paint, I really was'nt comfortable using those all the same.
Thanks
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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Enjoyed talking with you yesterday. I checked out a couple of sites on the tri art paint but don't seem to much the wiser. My feelings would be to stick with the automotive paints. Thats what they are meant for and any other artists that I know who are serious into automotive airbrush work all use base/clear paints. Usually a combination of candy dye's mixed into an intercoat clear base and some solid colours.
The auto air paints did not impress me much and if the tri art is similiar then you'l have the same problems. Gun clogging and useless for fine detail work. Maybe your supplier would give you a free sample to try.
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Get some of the Tri-Art and play with it on a panel. I'm with Bevin in that it's probably gonna act like all the other acrylics and the clogging will have you tossing the Iwata across the room.
The convenience of squeeze bottles is nice, but it can be obtained using automotive paints. Clear plastic bottles can be obtained in 8 and 4 oz. sizes from suppliers like Sid Moses and Lazerlines. I found some nice little 2 oz. at Michael's the other day. Find a cooperative body shop, one who will sell/give you small amounts of the base colors. An automotive paint supply might help you out also. No need to buy a pint/quart of something if you don't have to.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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Hey, try a practice panel B4 you chance wrecking your bike!
This week I did some expermenting with Auto Air:
I took a scrap piece of plexiglass, mirrored cut some white vinyl with some sample lettering. Then went over this (on the back of the glass) with Auto Air Candy Rootbeer and Candy Apple Red. I backed that up with Auto Air Hot Rod Sparkle White. When dry, the entire area was covered with 1-Shot Met. Silver. The colors came out Bitchen! It looked 3 feet deep when completed!
-------------------- Mark Neurohr "Ernest" Paintin' Place 141 Sunnyside Road Kittanning, PA 16201
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Neil, congrats on your new Iwata. A fine instrument indeed.
I couldn't help but notice the reference to Auto Air and thought I should post some info regarding this line of paint.
If you get the chance, check out Airbrush.com. This site has some great information regarding paints of all brands and of course info from those that use Auto Air.
There are a number of posts that specifically deal with the use of this particular brand of paint and the way in which they mix it with a concoction of "Fantastic".
Simply put, it's a mixture of 50% water and 50% Fantastic cleaner, which is then mixed to a specific ratio with the paint. For some strange reason, this mixture seems to eliminate virtually any and all "tip dry"...which allows for an overall easier and much more consistant spraying process through the airbrush.
According to the folks on this site, it does however make a difference as to which brand of "Fantastic" you use. Here in Canada, the formulation of choice is "Fantastic - Original"...in the States, it's the "Fantastic - Heavy Duty" brand.
Either way, it seems to have garnered enough attention that "Createx" is in fact looking into why this formulation seems to be so effective.
I have yet to try this myself as my airbrush work is sporadic at best, and that I am still a firm believer in the Metal Craft line of water based enamels from Salis International. Granted, these paints have a limited colour selection, but I have been using them over the last 8 years or so and have found them to be the best in my opinion.
I have conducted my own personal tests on these as I airbrush indoors, and this line of paint is second to none in terms of water-based pigments when it comes to masking over top and toughness once dried (cured). I have also used Auto Air, and the now defunct Deka Sign Air, and still, the Metal Craft out-performs the two.
Yes, I get tip dry with these paints, but my use of the Aztec airbrush seems to overcome the similar problems that others seem to have with paints of a like nature.
In fact, I am curious to see if the same "Fantastic" concoction will work in the same manner with Metal Craft as it does with the Auto Air line of paints.
In closing, I'd also like to say hello to Bevan Finlay...I have seen your work in my locale on some of the Harleys that you have done...simply put...spectacular!!!! You are a true artisian and your control of the airbrush is one that is truly adored by any and all that get the chance to view such incredible artwork...makes me proud to be a Canadian! Fantastic Bevin!!! (Correct me if I'm wrong...you did some elegant roses on a white Harley not too long ago, right?)
Anyway, hope this info may help those involved in the airbrush line of work.
Hey Mark...would love to see a pic of your Auto Air experimentaion...sounds really great!
Thanks Kim
-------------------- Kim Vlahovich Valachi Signs 25 Ryan Avenue, North Bay, Ontario valachi@sympatico.ca Posts: 9 | From: North Bay, Ontario Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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Kim, here' my FIRST attempt to post a photo. Plexiglass, Vinyl, 1-Shot and Auto Air. I did this last weekend during Football halftimes. Some bleeds, but I didn't care. It was the colors I was shooting for.
-------------------- Mark Neurohr "Ernest" Paintin' Place 141 Sunnyside Road Kittanning, PA 16201
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It worked!! I'm no longer a virgin!! Kinda big and ya can't see the colors.
Top half of the entrance is Candy Rootbeer (Auto Air), bottom half is Candy Apple Red. Both backed by Hot Rod Sparkle White.
BTW, the Shield dealie on top is an English Project I'm helping my Amy with (my Daughter). It's the Neurohr Family Crest from Germany. Tomorrow we outline and go to guilding class.
-------------------- Mark Neurohr "Ernest" Paintin' Place 141 Sunnyside Road Kittanning, PA 16201
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Hey folks; thought I would add my two cents back in here again LOL!
First off, I would like to say to Kim, thank you very much for your wonderful comments, much appreciated. I travel to North Bay on a regular basis to visit family so maybe we could meet sometime for a little shop talk.
Your input on that mixture of fantastic and water is interesting. Might have to try that. As I said to Neil the other day, its hard to teach an ol' dog new tricks sometimes and I've been using automotive paints since the beginning of my airbrushing days at the age of sixteen.
I hope I don't sound as if I'm slamming a particular product, in this case autoair. The idea of being able to do the same type of work with a non toxic odourless paint was of great interest to me. Now to use it as Mark did, spraying a little larger surface area was probably no problem. Nice project by the way Mark!
When I try a new type of paint I put it to the test in the most difficult and demanding situation that I can. That is, I want to be able to draw the finest of faint hairlines using my most detailed airbrush at a steady and consistant pattern with the least amount of difficulty. Its hard enough to add those final touches to a small freehand image of a person's eye or a wisker on a fierce wolf without ending up with a splat of colour right where you didn't want it.
When I mix my automotive paints I usually have two or three jars of white and black at different consistencies with the most diluted one cut with intercoat clear and reduced to the point where you can hardly see much of the colour on the stir stick. This varies of course depending on the size of the image being painted. Even thinned out that much, the automotive paints still seem to have enough body and drying characterisitcs that they remain workable. When I tried this with the autoair I was spraying virtually nothing but water and still could not achieve the precission line that I wanted.
Perhaps your suggestion Kim might help make the difference and sharing ideas and experience is what this site is all about.
Also, George's input on buying those handy pour bottles is good advice. I have some of the EZ Pour ones and they work great. I was told they might not be suitable for automotive paints but I've been using them for several years, including one that is just filled with automotive lacquer thinner for cleaning, and have had no problems.
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Thanks for all the comments, and it was great talking to you on Friday Bevin. I did try a sample of black and seemed ok, but I using the real deal is probably the way to go. Now I just have to figure out what I want to do on there. that's the hardest to figure out. hmmm
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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