When I used to teach beginner airbrush classes, I had students spend the first few hours trying to hit a target with varying sizes of spray, and attempt to spray straight lines at various widths. They all hated every minute of it!!! But that's the basics of airbrushing: control. Yes, double action gives more control than single, but a single in experienced hands is far more precise than a double in novice hands. So try this: Make a template, computer whiz-bang fancy or hand drawn, doesn't matter. Make some simple targets (plus signs) and straight lines, and try to hit/follow them with the airbrush. You will suck at first--and that's totally cool(if you don't, you are some sort of weird savant). Give it an hour or two and you'll be amazed at how accurate you've become.
I have an old single action Badger Airbrush. You can get different needles and tips that vary the width pattern. Fine they call pencil width to 2" Medium is 1/32" to 2.5". Obviously it's not just the needles but how you position the needles in the airbrush.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Thanks Paul and thanks Joe!
CNJman721
My Paasche VL came with a booklet with various drills to do. I looked on the website and don't see it (only manuals). You will likely find good info here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=airbrush+drills&oq=airbrush+drill&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.8402j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
CNJMan
In general, the distance to the work determines the thickness of the line. The closer the tip of the airbrush is to the surface the finer the line. Take your airbrush and try spraying a piece of scrap material with the tip at various distances from the surface. There are several good Youtube videos explaining this. Google "fine lines with an airbrush" and you will find them. Experiment and have fun.
Joe
I'm fairly new to airbrushing and have a Paasche double action brush. I was fascinated by Aaron's recent video covering shading and pre-shading. What struck me was how close he holds the airbrush to the model's surface and how fine the paint line was. Could anyone explain: (a) Is he using any kind of special airbrush tip to create fine paint lines? (b) Do you need to adjust the regulator pressure to do such fine painting at close distance to the model's surface or is it just controlling the brush with the trigger?
BTW, that prshading technique was new to me and I think it's a terrific way to go, so thanks for the video!
CNJMan721