Andy. I purchased a spray tin of Tamiya smoke paint and simply wafted it over the acrylic window material (for the Alvis Stalwart) in very thin coats. Worked a treat.

Same technique for using a spray gun. Very thin coats, no runs at all allowed, and dead even coverage or it will show up. I would keep the pieces flat, horizontal, that is.

Ashley

Hi Andy Yes Ashley is correct ,years ago I used Tamiya paint and it does a great job .If you spray lightly it will adhere at any angle sprayed .A soft light behind enhances the look .Watch the overspray as I found it will adhere to most things good luckMichael

oh a tin goes on for ever.

Hi Andy,

When you say "spotty and speckly" it sounds to me like you haven't been able to get sufficient atomisation of the paint.

Insufficient dilution might indeed be an important part of the problem. Although I have no direct experience of your type (external mix, single action) of airbrush (I use internal mix, double action), a frequently qouted rule-of-thumb for airbrush paint is that it should have the consistency of (semi-skimmed) milk, i.e. be pretty thin.

Also, from what range of Vallejo paints is the one you've used? Model Color or Model Air? The former is not primarily intended for airbrushing, whereas the latter is (hence the "Air" in the range name). Apart from degree of dilution straight out of the bottle, I believe there is also a difference in how finely ground the pigments are that makes these two paint series best suited for respectively brush and airbrush application.

For a very short session, canned air should work fine, so it is less likely that that is part of the problem. As for the ambient temperature, I suppose that might make the paint behave a tad more sluggishly, and thus call for yet a bit more of dilution.

Unless part of the exercise is getting to grips with your airbrush and making it behave like you tell it to, he simplest solution might perhaps otherwise be to go with the Tamiya smoke paint spray can already mentioned by Ashley Needham?!

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 14/11/2014 08:48:59

Edited By Banjoman on 14/11/2014 08:49:23