Airbrushing To Prime or Not to Prime - That is my question

[Mark Fussey]

Hope can help

Have to confess like Humbroll enamel , not a big fan of acrylics , however times move on and its obvious that enamel will be phased out and water based acrylics will remain .. VHS vs Betamax , so have taken plunge and bought a basic airbrush kit , now when using a primer I felt I had to almost dilute the product before I could use and the effect was very poor

So my question is do you prime using Airbrush or just wash surfaces in soapy water and let dry , or don't prime with Airbrush use bristle brush

Direction welcome

Also would anyone know where I can source 2nd hand Airbrush/Compressors

[Ratch]

Sometimes I prime, sometimes I don't bother. Some folk swear by it and see it as essential.

You don't say which primer you're using so it's hard to comment.

[peebeep]

Firstly, I don't think enamels are going to disappear any time soon, if that is your favoured media I'd say carry on using them.

Secondly, not all acrylic media is water based, some have an alcohol base, others are lacquers. I regard a primer coat as essential if you're using aqueous (water based) paints, in my experience their adhesion to bare plastic is minimal and the finished surface is not robust. I use an airbrush for just about everything these days and in any case I use Mr Surfacer for priming, a type of media that doesn't work well with bristle brushing.

[Mark Fussey]

Thank you to those that replied ref my question Prime or Not to prime , my primers are Humbrol acrylic aerosol and tin/pot and Revell pot

I have researched Airbrushes and it does seem to be down to personal experiences , being a nocive in this medium could I ask for recommendations and where could I source an air brush kit and compressor at reasonable price as new to this medium I am based in the Greater Manchester area

Appreciate any all feedback recommendations so thank you all in advance

Kind Regards and stay safe

[Ratch]

If you look through this sub-forum there are quite a few threads offering advice on airbrushes and compressors. I am a satisfied customer of Modelling Tools. I have a Sparmax compressor and an Iwata HPC+, both quite expensive, but I also have cheap clone airbrushes that perform quite adequately and I started with a Wolfair compressor from Toolstation (IIRC), noisy, but a lot cheaper. Sometimes going cheap is a false economy.