I have an old Badger air brush set with a small compressor. It all seems to work well even though there is no way to regulate the air pressure. I'm wanting to spray a camouflage finish on a plane I've been working on. I did some test sprays and I like the way I can shape the pattern but no matter what I did I found small paint spatters outside the painted area. What have I done wrong?

1. Improper mix of paint and thinner?
2. Lack of adjustable air pressure?
3. Dumb operator?
4. All of the above?

I searched for some frisket to make the pattern but the only one I found would not stay adhered to the plane.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Well, keep in mind that full scale camo was done free hand most of the time anyway, so masking often makes the camo look too "sharp", a fuzzy edge is a good thing here.

Is your airbrush single or duel action? Mine is duel action, allowing me to control the size of the line drawn easily.

When I spray, I find I get spattering if I use too much air pressure or not enough air pressure, or paint that is too thick. I also get it if some paint has partly dried inside the gun, and clogged things up. That's actually my #1 problem, keeping the thing clean and working with out any obstruction inside.

Oh, and if I screw up and go outside where I planned to, I just adjust the plan a little. Unless you're doing a competition quality scale finish and trying to match every curve and wiggle of a particular full scale plane, you can get away with a lot of "faking it" and still get a plane that 99% of the guys out there can't tell from exact scale anyway.

I believe your problem is mostly item #2. You can probably get a pressure regulator from Micro Mark, your LHS, Home Depot, Lowe's or ACE Hdwe.