Paintbrush For Hands And Dials

[bobm12]

Has anyone used the illustrated equipment (or similar) for retouching/painting hands and dial...or anything watch in general? I need opinions before I dive into this expense. Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

Any suggestions are welcome too!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

 

PS. I space required/dimensions of equipment can be supplied it would also help greatly! :)

[Joeydwatchmaker]

Bob,

I have airbrushed before. I did cars and motorcycles for fun years ago. You can use it for a basecoat on a dial or to paint hands but definetly not worth the expense. For a cheap setup your talking around 300. for a airbrush that can paint fine lines your probably 6-700 for a iwata setup. I don't think any companies really use airbrushing for their dials, most are screen printed type where you can get fine lines as a airbrush will give you more of a feather effect.

[bobm12]

Thank you Joey,

 

That opens my eyes to this subject. My main problem at this time is restoring hands that come painted in different colors like black or red, etc. Once I sand them/clean them/de rust them, they will need to be repainted and then re lumed. If I do this with a brush they don't come out good so a different approach is indicated. In addition, some dials can use some retouching here and there, even bezels and other parts of a watch (mostly cheapo) come painted black or some other color and it would be great to be able to cover the spots with good acrylic paint. I'm not thinking about doing real art work -- therefore the Iwata is more like a maybe, $$$ -- But as you can see, I don't know anything about this technique/equipment and my space is really limited. I looked at Iwata equipment and watched some youtube videos and definitely those seem the way to go but I'm not ready and for what I want the equipment...I don't know.

 

So, for the home hobbyist that just want to re touch little things here and there in a watch, not precision of line but of spot (I can use some "shielding" to avoid painting the rest :)  ), what would you recommend? What quality am I to expect with a recommended set up?

 

In the future, I may eventually tool up for other things other than watches but not know for sure yet...I have to consider that my daughter might benefit from such an equipment for her art (she does many things including manga and miniature sculpture) but that's a future gift and once she gets the good stuff I won't be able to touch it. Nope, she won't share! :)

 

Your detailed thoughts are deeply appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[SSTEEL]

I have some hands I need to paint soon, I have the paint, and very fine brushes at the ready, I will keep you posted.  When you say that when you brush your hands, they don't come out too well, are you sure you are either using a very very fine professional brush, or ensuring the surface is completely flat?  From my earlier attempts of painting hands, I got good results applying a very thin beaded layer, allowing to dry, curing with a slight convex surface.

[Joeydwatchmaker]

The other thing you can do is to use one shot enamel paint. This is the paint that a pinstriper uses. It will lay flat and complete

[steve855]

Bob,

I have a cheap airbrush from H. Freight that is actually quite decent for an amatuer like me. Just used it today on an old chapter ring and it did everything I asked of it. I originally bought it for motorcycles and helmets. I figured it would do to learn with, then I could upgrade if it was holding me back. When I say it was cheap, I mean less than $20 for the kit. I already had a compressor and pressure regulator. I only use the airbrush a few times per year but I haven't needed to upgrade yet.

I think it would work fine for watch hands. I wouldn't use water based acrylic though, I prefer lacquer. Check a local hobby shop for modelers lacquer.

No photos yet of the chapter ring I painted earlier today, but I'll try to locate a photo of a helmet I did a few years ago.

Steve

[steve855]

Bob, here's a helmet I painted with the HF airbrush. It works fine. Can't beat it for the money in my opinion.

[bobm12]

Awesome result Steve, I hope I can do well too with the watch hands! Thank you for showing me the picture, much appreciated and also it gives me an idea of the airbrush capabilities I might be getting.

 

@joey: How well do I prepare the surface for that shot, joey? Do I do the usual super clean and smooth finish?

 

@Micky: Thanks Micky, I'd love to know what you do since, for me, no matter what brush I use -- I have a few, different qualities -- it doesn't come out right. I do prepare the surface...maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[steve855]

Here's the one I have, looks like it's over $20 now but still well worth it in my opinion.

http://www.harborfreight.com/deluxe-airbrush-kit-95810.html

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Steve