Urgent help needed - Spray painting advice

[DiscoDave]

I'm trying to get my ex-army Series III ready for the Expo. It's all rubbed down and primed ready for the camo-green enamel to be sprayed on. Scouse was going to do the spraying as I have no experience with that. Unfortunately for me Scouse has been distracted by happy personal circumstances (congratulations mate! ) and wasn't able to do the spray job. Off I go to Supercheap and buy one of the electric spraygun things - total disaster! It would make a fair paintball gun - it just spits gobs of paint onto the surface which promptly run. I tried turning the "increase" knob but it didn't seem to make any difference either way. There was a second nozzle in the kit so I tried that - marginally better but still useless. I tipped the paint back in the can and went to flush out the nozzle with turps and after a bit the damn thing starts to spray like a proper spray gun. What's going on?
I've got a 0.8 and a 0.5 nozzle whatever that means. How much thinner should I be adding to the paint when spraying? How do I make the fracking thing work! Can anyone help me?

[100I]

I've got one of those I did the side room with, it spattered like that when I got toward the bottom of the pot or tilted it too far, I kept the pot reasonably full after that & it was ok. It did the job, but when it did muck up at least I could touch it up with the brush. I would not attempt to paint my car with it tho.

[ladas]

I'm trying to get my ex-army Series III ready for the Expo. It's all rubbed down and primed ready for the camo-green enamel to be sprayed on. Scouse was going to do the spraying as I have no experience with that. Unfortunately for me Scouse has been distracted by happy personal circumstances (congratulations mate! ) and wasn't able to do the spray job. Off I go to Supercheap and buy one of the electric spraygun things - total disaster! It would make a fair paintball gun - it just spits gobs of paint onto the surface which promptly run. I tried turning the "increase" knob but it didn't seem to make any difference either way. There was a second nozzle in the kit so I tried that - marginally better but still useless. I tipped the paint back in the can and went to flush out the nozzle with turps and after a bit the damn thing starts to spray like a proper spray gun. What's going on?
I've got a 0.8 and a 0.5 nozzle whatever that means. How much thinner should I be adding to the paint when spraying? How do I make the fracking thing work! Can anyone help me?

Now I am totally crap at spraying - but on the odd occasion I have done it, I have diluted 40 paint/ 60 thinners, and put loads of fine coats on.

[DaveS3]

Just try more thinners untill it works.
You may just need to spray more coats to get good cover.
Not much you can do - what sort of pressure are you running??

Dave.

[isuzurover]

It is very hard to do a good job first time with a spray gun - lots of practice is needed.

If you are painting it (matt) camo - maybe think about using a roller and brush - should be impossible to tell if you do a good job.

Otherwise, get a high-pressure spray gun, and hire/borrow/buy a compressor - at least 6cfm preferable 8-10. Supercheap spray guns are OK.

Get a spare panel and experiment with thinner mixtures and spray techniques. The amount of thinner you use depends on the paint, the temp and the humidity. Start with about 10% and add thinner until it doesn't look like orange peel when you spray it on - also don't spray it on too heavily or you will get runs.

When spraying enamel, it is best to use one light coat (so you can still see the undercoat) - then wait 15 mins or so and do a heavier coat (so you get full coverage - but not too much so it runs). Spray evenly, and vary between up-down and side-side.

[DiscoDave]

Thanks for the quick responses guys - I'll go out and try more thinners. It's not like I'm trying to do a classy job or anything, just aerolsol-can quality would do! If not then the brush and roller!
DaveS3 - this is one of those electric spray guns - no idea about the pressure.

[DaveS3]

With enamal I've always used about 20% thinners and on the last few coats I've used hardeners then polish.

I've always practiced on cardboard hanging up then undercoat, that way you can stuff the undercoat up then rub back and spray the good coat with a good arm/sparay action.

bens spot on about the compressor though, you will be waiting all day for the compressor to catch up

[DaveS3]

Thanks for the quick responses guys - I'll go out and try more thinners. It's not like I'm trying to do a classy job or anything, just aerolsol-can quality would do! If not then the brush and roller!
DaveS3 - this is one of those electric spray guns - no idea about the pressure.

Sorry misread your post. Electric? never seen one.
Goodluck with it then, hope you sort it out.

[Phoenix]

Yup, use a proper air compressor and spray gun (can be bought and borrowed cheaply for a quick job).

Also, I'm advised a 50/50 paint to thinners mix works well with the olive drab paint. If it's good enough for master dinty, it's good enough for me. It is quite thick paint though.

[lokka]

Sounds like your havin fun dave if i was close id come heip mate


Sounds like u need to thin the paint at least 20% thiners tho depends on the paint you are using what type and brand is it are yousing the corect thinners for it

Those electric spray guns are a bugger u will need to play with it for a while to get it to spray rite best way to set it is to increase till you get a wet pattern then back it off a bit not so it looks dry coming out u need it to be just wet lookin and keep a steady motion and even distance around 8 to 10in off the pannell tho u should get some practice in on a wall or old pannell or something first

It all comes down to the technique you use and plenty of paitence