Help from VL owners

[cranker]

Finally got my new Paasche VL set in today and I am tickled to death.Cant wait to try it out tonight but after reading a few of the bad comments about the VL I have ran across I'm wondering if I have jumped the gun on ordering a new one.To all you VL users , is there anything special I need to know about this brush that will help me out with it or is it truly a good brush.I am trying to achieve narrow spray patterns and be able to blend my colors well without masking and I thought this was the brush of choice at the time.I know everyone has different opinions and I would just like to hear some good ones to make me feel better after hearing all the bad ones.I do have a good compressor to control air pressure and I have a pretty good handle on thinning my paints so I thought I would be just fine with this brush.

[BobP]

I've used a couple of different brushes and currently use a VL. Is it the perfect brush? Dunno. I use the medium needle and nose piece 90% of the time to spray acrylics. IMO 3 variables are important: the airbrush, the compressor and your skill level. With any equipment setup, you will do better as get experience and get comfortable with your setup. I doubt the VL as the epitomy of brushes for fine line detail painting but it's sufficient for my purposes: spraying acrylics at 35-50 psi including shading and frisketing. If I used lacquers and did fine detail work I might look at a more expensive Iwata with gravity feed and a more expensive compressor with finer pressure controls. Maybe I "don't know what I'm missing" but the VL seems fine to me.

[TBait]

It is a decent brush. I started with this set. I preferred to spray with the #1, however the #3 was more forgiving due to the consistency of acrylic paints. You will spray with a higher psi with a siphon feed. I can spray acrylics with my Iwata CS gravity feed, all the way down to 15psi. When spraying on a hard finish this helps to prevent those pressure runs, spiderwebs. Something I just realized. Kind of stupid. But I just put this together. Most baits are primed first. I only build foiled baits. When painting you are painting directly onto the clearcoat which doesnt aid in adhesion of paint, versus a primered finish. Perhaps this is why I got disgusted with my VL. Learn with it...if you dont like it. Then move up....

[RiverMan]

I bought an Iwata Eclipse and it just sits in the box over yonder. I like the Iwata but after using the single action Paasche for a number of months I just stayed with it. I use the thin needle that comes with it all of the time. I do, however, constantly fight the paints and clogging, particularly with some colors. I run at 40 PSI...I know many say this is too much but if I don't it won't spray, simple as that. Anymore pressure and you start to get alot of bounce.......paint going everywhere. Good paint helps but isn't the complete answer...I use both createx and wal-mart versions at diffent times. You will have to thin all of these paints, I use only Windex for this task.

I wish somone who was highly skilled in painting could put together a video with one topic..................."how to keep the damn brush spraying"! If you can get a brush to spray perfectly all the time it's easy to paint great lures. A brush that fights you is a constant nightmare!

Jed

[Skeeter]

cranker,

I have been using the VL for 5 yrs. It is a professional gun that will give you professional results. Air brushing is an art. It takes patience and time. If you are not getting the results that you want...... it isn't the fault of the gun.

Skeeter

[cranker]

Thanks guys, and to skeeter , if your cranks are painted with the VL I should be just fine with a little practice because your paint jobs look pretty doggone good to me.The type patterns that I like to paint are very similar to some of yours,I just use a few different color combinations.I used the brush last night and could immediately see a big difference from what i had been using which was one of the double action aztecs.The little VL seemed to perform pretty well and I will be doing allot of practicing and experementing with my viscosity and pressure combinations to dial it in good.

[KrawdadBill]

I have a doulbe action VL myself. It does a pretty good job. Be careful cleaning yours, Most problems, with the exception of paint with hard pieces that need to be strained out, come from poor cleaning and bending the needle tip or spliting the nickel platted brass cone tip. The crew here at TU have some good recipes for air brush cleaner solution. Some even add a few drops to their paint, although I haven't tried that yet. Take care of the air brush and practice.

[KrawdadBill]

I have a doulbe action VL myself. It does a pretty good job. Be careful cleaning yours, Most problems, with the exception of paint with hard pieces that need to be strained out, come from poor cleaning and bending the needle tip or spliting the nickel platted brass cone tip. The crew here at TU have some good recipes for air brush cleaner solution. Some even add a few drops to their paint, although I haven't tried that yet. Take care of the air brush and practice.