I have the standard 'touch up' spray gun (import special) that does a
very nice job on things like a 2' diameter end table or similar.
Looks like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...?Itemnumber=86
Holds about a half pint of paint, handles any standard sprayable paint.

I also have a Paache (sp?) airbrush left over from the kid, I never do
small enough stuff to bother digging it out. Pretty much brand new,
might consider parting with it for reasonable $$

As for the spray booth, I helped a neighbor put together a small one for
spraying pottery glazes using an air brush. Used a salvaged kitchen
stove vent fan, figured it was about 300 cfm, exhausted through a very
short and straight 4" line. Sounds like you would want something larger.
Note that these materials were NON FLAMMABLE, I would NOT want the motor
to be in the air path for flammable vapors.

One thing that will reduce your air flow requirements tremendously is to
make a full booth with wings that come out from the wall and start to
enclose the operator. You want the opening to the room as small as
reasonable. You mentioned an 80" wingspan, this would mean a 36"x96"
area, you could get by with a 36" high by 48" wide window to reach in an
spray with. That 12 square feet means an honest 300 cfm fan (really tiny
for this application) would give you 25 feet per minute air flow through
the window. A bigger fan improves things that much more.

Tim Wescott wrote:
(splatting this across multiple groups in hopes of finding someone who
knows)

The Problem:

I want to set up a small paint booth for painting model airplanes. I'm
cheap, so I want to start collecting equipment for it bit by bit as it
comes up for sale on Craigslist &c.

This will be for model airplanes, so the actual spraying will be far more
intermittent than for (say) a car -- in fact, the worst-case painting job
would be if a fender from a car project accidentally found it's way into
the booth along with some primer (I dunno how _that_ would happen :-).

I used to work at a shop with a paint booth, so I know all the
procedures. But I was just a peon, and it was a long time ago, so what I
_don't_ know are things like what capacity compressor do I need, do I
really need an HVLP gun, what sort of exhaust fan is recommended, etc.

Currently I'm only planning on using airplane dope, which is basically
butyrate lacquer that's formulated to stay flexible so it won't crack
when it's painted on fabric. I may eventually branch out to multi-part
paints, but I doubt it -- I really like dope finishes, and I don't like
the amount of hassle necessary to dodge toxicity with the fancier stuff.

I'm thinking that I want to get an automotive touch-up gun (a regular-
size automotive gun is way bigger than necessary). But what capacity
compressor? It's looking more and more like I need something
significantly bigger than what you get to go with an air nailer -- is
this correct? Do I want to look for anything special (beyond explosion
proof) in an exhaust fan (I have a room in mind, and am planning on just
poking a hole in the wall for the fan)?

Thanks.