Airbrushing spray paint

[chicken45]

Howdy folks!
I haven't tried it yet, but has anyone ever tried taking a spray bomb and bombing it in to an airbrush funnel and shooting it from there?

I have some DKS crawlers that do need painted and was provided a can of official CAT Standard Performance Topcoat that will blast away the fine details of my crawler if I spray it from the can.
Thoughts?

[Lemosteam]

DO NOT TRY THIS!

Decant it into a disposable plastic cup first (do it outside and wear a mask) and then pour it into a sealing bottle let it settle and then stir, and then pour it into your cup from there.

[chicken45]

Are you telling me not to try what you are recommending?

[central.vermont]

I think John is saying to do what he suggests instead of straight out of the can and into your funnel. The best way to decant paint that I have found from a can is to take a GLASS jar with a large mouth opening like a canning jar or an empty Mayonnaise jar and put a paint stirring stick such as what you can get free from Lowes or Home Depot and spray the paint onto the stick letting the paint run down it and into the jar. This will help to minimize the blow back you will get trying to decant into a funnel or jar.
The paint you are talking about is quite thick and will need a little thinning. It should be an Enamel paint so any Enamel thinner will work just fine. Remember, several light coats is your best bet using this paint.

Hope this helps, Jon

[Lemosteam]

Good idea with the paint stick!  Josh there's no way to spray a spray bomb into a tiny cup without painting the airbrush itself.

[peteski]

I airbrush decanted paint from spray cans often. I have a large collection of nozzles and thin tubes which attach to the nozzles (like a WD40 nozzle).  I find the nozzle with a straw which is a good fit for the valve in a can I'm decanting then I simply spray the paint out through he tube into an old 2oz. Scalecoat paint bottle.  In my experience paint from spray cans is thin enough for airbrushing, but is needed, it can be thinned a bit more with lacquer thinner.

But one important warning is that the decanted paint has a lot of the propellant (usually propane) mixed in it and that propellant will be degassing for a while.  While you are decanting the liquid paint will get quite cool.  Let the bottle with decanted paint sit for a while with a loosely closed lid until it at least warms up to the room temperature.  If you swirl the paint you will see bubbles with the escaping propellant gas.  If you were to close the lid tight, that would build up the pressure in the bottle.  If you were to open the bottle at that point, the paint would squirt out all over you.  Degassing the decanted paint is especially important if you are planning on not using all of it in one session.

[chicken45]

Good idea with the paint stick!  Josh there's no way to spray a spray bomb into a tiny cup without painting the airbrush itself.

LOL guys I was just trolling about that part.  Thanks everyone for the info! I'm glad decanting paint is a thing. I'll give it a whirl in my windowless basement. 

[Lemosteam]

LOL guys I was just trolling about that part.  Thanks everyone for the info! I'm glad decanting paint is a thing. I'll give it a whirl in my windowless basement. 

Pinhead.

[peteski]

LOL guys I was just trolling about that part.  Thanks everyone for the info! I'm glad decanting paint is a thing.

Trolling or not, I do this because using an airbrush gives me so much finer control of the spray pattern.  I can control the air pressure and amount of paint.   This is especially important when painting very small objects (like N scale items) and especially when spraying some hard to reach corners or depressions.  Spray can would just flood those areas with paint.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Josh you are what we call in Oz a s**t stirrer. Very funny.
Rod.

[chicken45]

I actually do need to decant this paint. My trolling comment was just to torture John's unclear statement even though I knew what he meant.
I've got a stack of DKS D2 Crawlers to paint with official CAT paint!

[peteski]

I've got a stack of DKS D2 Crawlers to paint with official CAT paint!

But will that really be an accurate color for those li'l N scale CAT crawlers?  Have you considered the scale effect when painting small model using the 1:1 paint? 

[wazzou]

But will that really be an accurate color for those li'l N scale CAT crawlers?  Have you considered the scale effect when painting small model using the 1:1 paint? 

I really think that today's CAT color is not the same as during the D2 era but only from things I've read, no sources to cite that I can recall.

[BobRunty]

I worked at a Cat plant when they changed, I believe around '79. Still yellow but had more brown to it. FWIW

Bob

[wazzou]

I worked at a Cat plant when they changed, I believe around '79. Still yellow but had more brown to it. FWIW

Bob

That's what I remember also.  They looked a little less yellow and a little more on the brownish yellow side.