I have been doing some extensive touch up on a 1970s bike with 1 shot paint in robin's egg blue and a small brush. There does not appear to have been a clear coat originally. The paint is matching the original color VERY well, but I have so many scattered and deep nicks that they are proving difficult to wet-sand down smooth. So, I am thinking of getting an airbrush. But airbrushes are new to me, and look complicated, with lots of different choices and options, so I would appreciate recommendations on types, brand, or features to look for. I have been looking at some inexpensive sets at Harbor Freight, and from a San Diego company named TCPGlobal on ebay (couple of links below). My basic thinking is to not strip the entire frame, but just smooth it down with 600 grit paper, and then re-spray several thin coats over the old (1970s) paint, and then wet sand and polish with polishing compound, apply new decals and wax.


Again any suggestions on whether this is a viable path forward, and equipment to use, or what features to look for, would be appreciated. Thank you!

G44 0 2 Fine Detail Gravity Airbrush Air Compressor Kit Dual Action Auto Paint | eBay

G44 2 Gravity Airbrush C28 Air Compressor Set KT Dual Action Hobby Auto Paint | eBay

Can you do pictures? I have had good luck with cleaning nicks and/or scratches through the color/ primer coat, building up the paint in multiple layers to be above the existing finish and then sanding down smooth and polishing out. Lately when the damage is down to the steel I have used a couple of brands of rust reformer to remove rust and got a good result. I believe this is a common approach for small issues but not large areas. You should find pictures by searching the net for bicycle paint touch up.

Sloar does excellent work. I have his former Colnago. His experience from the Frameset Respray thread below:

"Since no one has covered the do it yourself job, i'll do it. if you have a aircompressor it can be done fairly cheap and easy. i have a sandblaster so thats what i use. but chemical stripper is easy to use and pretty cheap. once thats done i like to sand the bare frame to make sure i got everything smooth. i've used different brands of guns, but my favorite is a little detail gun from harbor frieght that was $12. primer 24.99 a quart, color 24.99 a quart and clear 24.99 a quart. i've painted outside in the cold and wind and still have gotten good results. wet sand inbetween coats and you can get a very nice look. so far i have painted 5 bikes this way and have been very happy with them. the paint has held up great and i have had no problems."

An airbrush is the wrong tool. They don't put out enough paint. A detail gun is what you want. TCP Global has them.

I agree with Grand Bois, if this is your goal:

"My basic thinking is to not strip the entire frame, but just smooth it down with 600 grit paper, and then re-spray several thin coats over the old (1970s) paint, and then wet sand and polish with polishing compound, apply new decals and wax."

But you started out talking about just touching up. For which I think an airbrush would be a great tool. But there's a strong learning curve using an airbrush.

The main problem I think you'll have, if over-spraying the entire frame, are all the nicks and dings. What you are now just touching up. If you go the complete over-spray route, and don't level those out first, you're going to see them no matter how many coats of paint you spray on. You've got to get the whole surface level first, then spray. Otherwise you're going to sanding every coat down to the original level of paint, until the divots are filled. A waste of effort, paint, and time.

Fill the chips and divots. Sand them down level with the original paint. It may take several fills. Then spray.

As far as airbrushes go, if you just want to try one for touch ups, I'd recommend as good a brush as you can afford. Like everything else, you get what you pay for. But good ones can be expensive and if you don't plan on doing a lot of this, it's hardly worth it. I own an Iwata, and it's a fantastic tool. But probably over-kill for what you're doing.

For full frame, it's hard to beat those detail guns. I own several conventional spray guns, including a detail gun, but if I were going to buy one now, I'd go for a LVLP (low volume low pressure) spray gun. Can be run on a relatively small compressor. Or, High Volume Low Pressure, if you have a compressor big enough to drive it. Which most homeowner compressors won't do. Not enough volume output. Beware of this difference if you are buying.

p.s. If you do shop for an airbrush, make sure you look for one that will handle oil-based paints, since you're using One Shot. Not all brushes will and the solvents used to thin the paint and clean the brush will eat the seals on some of them. With a detail gun, you won't have that problem since they're designed to use oil and urethane based paints.

Also, conventional spray guns, even detail guns, put out so much pressure that most of your paint blows right past something as thin as a bike frame tube. Hence, the LVLP gun, with puts out a lot of paint, but with much lower pressures. FWIW.

I have (somewhere deep in a box) a Paasche VL. It was possible to lay down enough paint for base coats on an R/C car body so it should be possible for a bike frame which is of similar scale. Also, I'm willing to bet the sort of paint would make it work better. The stuff for R/C car bodies was water-based and dried fast, making it fairly "crusty" for lack of a better description. The white was the worst, and most used. Stuff with a slicker medium and finer ground pigments should work even better.

I also had a Testors Aztec brush with the plastic nozzles and I don't think it would have worked nearly as well for large quantities. But it wasn't junk.

I ran them with propellant cans and with shop air compressors, I never had a dedicated airbrush compressor.