I started spraying Model Air Matt by Vallejo today and noticed as it stared to dry there were white specks randomly appearing. I tried to scrub them with a Q-tip and water, then Windex but they didn't go away. The airbrush wasn't previously used for a week or more and I have an moisture trap on my compressor. I shook the bottle before pouring it into the airbrush. The Vallejo was not thinned with anything.

I'm not sure what went wrong, any suggestions. I hope I don't have to go back and retouch numerous white specks.

Thanks,

Kyle

although it hasn't got anything to do with your water trap. The problem is with the humidity in the air. If you airbrush your matt coat, the atomized particles fly through the air and the water particles in the air stick to them causing the white spots. Unfortunately, you cannot do much about it. You'll have to wait till the humidity drops.

HTH,

Rick

I have foung that thinning Model Air paints a litte helps them spray much better with few proplems.

It has been humid here lately (Chicago area) but I still don't understand how moisture in the air could be causing white specks. If it was enamel/laquer based and something like this was happening, then I could understand. Anyway, I'll trying thinning it a little and pray it works.

Thanks,

Kyle

nt

Well,
I tried to fix those little white specks. They turned out to be what appears spots where the clear matt did not "take" to the paint. They were more or less deflated are bubbles for lack of a better description. So then i start peeling back the acrylic matt in sheets, yes SHEETS. Granted they were about 1 cm square with the biggest approaching 1 inch square. In any case I had to wind up striping both turrets and breaking parts along with it (not on purpose)

What a bunch of crap the Vallejo acrylic is. I'll never use this "model destroying" crap again. Now I need to find a real clear coat which will actually work.

Kyle

I use tamiya paints with pollyscale flat over them.I never have proplems with that combo.I only use valajo for brush painting now,they are great for that.My 2c

I've used a couple of the model air colors, and had the same experiance as you. The paint did not ever seem to "stick" to any of the three models I tried it on. One was prmed, one was not, the other was primed with a different primer. Tried thinning, not thinned, high pressure, low pressure, nothing worked. The paint would actually seem to "bubble up" kind of like you describe. Looked like rain on a freshly waxed car. I wil never try to spray them again. Baack to Testors or Tamiya paints.
I will say I love the Vallejo for brush painting, just not airbrushing.