May 4, 2012

Airbrushin'

Alright, so I'm trying this whole airbrush thing for DuraCoat.

Yes, there are single-use sprayers for applying paint, but they are fairly expensive ($6/can) for minimal use - I'm seeing numbers in the 8-12 minute range. Since I'm new to airbrushing, I expect I'll need more than ten minutes of time to figure out what I'm doing. Not to mention that I'm planning to do more than one gun - my 870 will get a coat, probably after I coat a beater single-shot 16ga for practice, and possibly a decent single-shot 20ga.

I did some quick research on airbrushes and ended up with a pretty basic model - a "single-action, external-mix" Badger 350. Online these run about $45-50, with a coupon at the local Michael's Crafts it was $35. I spent another $25 to get the air line to connect to my existing shop compressor, and then $30 at Lowe's for a desiccant and secondary regulator.

Another run through the craft store netted me a roll of heavy paper and a bottle of India Ink, which is suggested as a good analog for practicing with an airbrush - and far cheaper than DuraCoat or other suitable paints.

I'll be connecting everything together this afternoon and doing some practice, and hopefully ordering some DuraCoat in the next couple weeks. I'll post pictures as things progress!

4 comments:

Bubblehead Les. said...

Go over to YouTube and check out IragVeteran8888's episodes on what he had to do when he first started using an Air Brush and Duracoat. Might help.

ZerCool said...

Thanks for the lead, Les! I had been poking through YouTube but hadn't come across his videos yet.

Old NFO said...

Looking forward to your reports!

Carteach said...

Waiting with real interest to see how this works out. Knocked around some Dura-coat ideas myself, just not brave enough to take a shot yet.