Don it sounds, from your description, like you have a faulty pressure regulator. A regulator is like an adjustable obstruction in the line. Often, it looks like a one way valve with a spring behind it. Turning the adjustment knob compresses the spring and increasing the threshold pressure required to lift the seal on the obstruction. I'm guessing but I would say that you have a ruptured diaphragm or misaligned seal allowing the air to escape with little or no resistance no matter where you position the regulator knob. If it were working right, when you set the regulator at, say 15 psi, the trigger on the gun would only release 15 psi and the regulator gauge would remain steady at 15 psi. The tank gauge will drop slowly and when it gets low the compressor will kick on at a preset pressure to refill the tank. I have my compressor set to kick on at 80psi and stop at 160.

Like Campy posted earlier, you can retrofit an in-line regulator pretty cheap without buying a new compressor.

Regarding viscosity, I don't change gun pressure for thicker paint. I change the orifice of the spray tip or thin the paint further with solvent. I always prefer thinner paint because it flows and levels off leaving a flatter surface.

You adjust the pressure with the trigger pulled. Paint should have no bearing. The pressure will rise with the trigger released and go back to the pressure you set when pulled.

SunDevilPilot

One of the most under appreciated toosl in the shed is a compressor.

For general household work (which I consider modeling a part of) , I'd recommend nothing less than a 2 horse 20gal dual head capable of 6cfm. Make it a belt drive, otherwise it'll be so noisy it'll give you a headache. On the outlet, a good accurate regulator and after that a water trap. If your doing any kind of painting, & I don't care if its with a high dollar Iwata, a Badger hobby gun, or high dollar automotive set up, the best advice I can give you is DON'T SKIMP ON THE COMPRESSOR. I know some said you don't need a tank, but if your painting - you do need a tank. It keeps the micro pulse of air from screwing your painting up. The water trap is another must have.

Probably more paint jobs are ruined by not having enough compressor than anything else.

OMC

Also, you can enjoy all those cool gorgeous "fish eyes" everywhere, if you don't have a moisture/water trap.

Everything about painting is a variable. I own an aircraft painting business. It is the same as painting models, only bigger! You could stop by a library and read about auto painting for tips on set up. You will have to set the controls of the gun correctly first, then begin adjusting everything else a little at a time, one at a time.

You have set the pressure, good. set the "fan" which is the width of the pattern so that it is even with no gaps in the middle, and is even top and bottom. Next set the amount of the flow, this is one of those variables, so start in the middle. As you spray keep an even distance from the subject and an even speed. It's in the rythem! As an experienced painter, I still have problems from time to time, but practice, and small adjustments give the best results. You may find you have to thin the paint, or move slower or faster, etc, etc.

Don't give up! As a lurker I have admired yours and others fantastic work here.

Lex

I certainly appreciate everyone's good advice in this thread. It's helped me a lot. I've done test after test, however, and I still can't get anything that looks as good as just hand-brushing thin coats with a foam brush. So I think for this model I'm just going to have to live with that -- and save the spraying for the next model.

The choice seems to boil down to either speckles or brush strokes. For a WWI model I'll take brush strokes.

Abu, for a World War One fighter, it would be more accurate to do a brush on paint job than one sprayed on. Although paint spraying equipment was available to some extent, it was basically in it's infancy at that time and most finishes were hand applied. You can really see that when you examine the streaked look of the finish applied to the Fokker Dr.1. In fact, you can see that it was applied with a 3 inch brush if you look close enough. Don't be too anal about sharp lines either, some were pretty rough.

I'm not sure what you're using for paint but if it's latex, use some Floetrol in it per the instructions. If you're using dope, make sure you add a little retarder to eliminate the brush strokes a bit. You shouldn't have any issues.

John, at this point I'm in the final stages of finished a 1/6 scale Sopwith Snipe. All that remains in terms of finish is some weathering and clear coating. I've used Nelson's paints for the PC10, roundel colors, and markings and model acrylics for the grey turtledeck and metal panels.

The Nelson's paints produce a very authentic and fuel proof finish once you figure out how to use them. It's possibly the best finish I've ever had on a model. It looks very much like an authentic dope finish -- and it's water-based, which is a huge convenience. Up to this point everything's been hand-painted. The basic color was put on with dense foam brushes. The roundels and rudder numbers are essentially "freehand." This was actually much easier that I had imagined once I learned (from people here on the Scale forum) the appropriate techniques. The bars and large E's were masked and then hand-painted.

I sprayed acrylic on the metal panels and I would have liked to be able to spray on a clearcoat -- then do a bit of weathering and then spray on a second clear coat. But I haven't been able to get a good result yet with spraying either the PU or Nelson's Clear.

Wheel Pants Done....

Here is one of the pants drying on it's painting stand. Been drying for about 4 hours and I could probably take it off the stand but I am going to wait the full 8 per the data sheet for drying time before touching it.

FYI: There appears to be flaws in the paint in the photo. These are only reflections from stuff in the room. The photo does no justice to the shine from the parts. My first time with auto paint and can tell you there is no better way!

Updated, Last photo is of the pants off the painting stand and in direct sunlight. Shiny!

SunDevilPilot