What it looks like: A bumpy texture resembling the skin of an orange
Orange peel is a surface texture defect where the paint dries with a bumpy, dimpled surface instead of a smooth finish. It looks exactly like the skin of an orange — hence the name.
Causes:
- Air pressure too low (paint isn’t atomizing finely enough)
- Paint viscosity too high (too thick)
- Airbrush too close to the surface (paint piling up before it can level)
- Paint drying too fast before it can flow and level
Fixes:
- Increase air pressure slightly.
- Thin paint further.
- Move the airbrush farther from the surface.
- Add a small amount of retarder to slow drying and allow the paint to self-level.
On a finished surface, orange peel can sometimes be sanded smooth with very fine sandpaper (2000+ grit) and polished, but prevention is far easier.
Related: Atomization · Viscosity · PSI · Retarder