How to do thin coats of transparent/neon paint without graininess (airbrush/waterbased)

[DrinkyTheCup]

Say I want a section to have a light color in the background with a darker shadowing/hexing/splattering effects (whichever).  A pretty common thing to see on a RC car paintjob.

 

Using Hobbynox neon blue, 0.5mm tip and 3 bar.

 

• 1.  I put the darker effects down, plenty of coats or a splats.
• 2. Then the lighter backcolour, maybe just 2 coats to keep it light, to add a bit of contrast
• 3. Then back with white

 

The problem is that with just two coats the backcolour is very grainy and when backed with white the graininess shows through horribly.

 

I have tried a smaller tip size, fiddled with the pressure and still it is grainy with just a few coats.

 

I have tried thinning the paint with reducer and not hairdrying it between each coat. This does kind of work but the paint is so runny that it runs away from the edge of the masking sometimes and pools in the nooks and crannies leaving big gaps of no paint at all.

 

So far the only way to avoid graininess is to pile on more coats, but then the colour gets darker and i lose the cool looking contrast.

 

When I look at pro painters like Basil Airbrush they seem to achieve this. What am i doing wrong?

 

Cheers,

Simon.

 

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by DrinkyTheCup
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