Airbrush issues

[Evan August]

Hey guys.
Trying to some paintwork last night with my Tamiya HG SF airbrush, however something was wrong. The needle seems to be stuck and will not move with the trigger. Turning the needle adjuster has no affect, I loosened it all the way and it still wouldn't move. I then unscrewed the rear end to expose the needle and chuck. Loosening the chuck enabled the needle to move some, at least so I could spray out the paint that was sitting in the paint cup.
This is a double action brush, and while the trigger would move front and back (though the needle would not) it seemed to be "tight" in the vertical movement. In fact, the trigger actually popped right out of the brush and caused a brief moment of panic while I tried to find it.
As of right now, I've partially broken it down, but I'm wondering what exactly the issue is here. I had stripped and cleaned it about 3 months ago and used it twice afterwards with no issues. I doubt anything would be worn out because I hardly ever have a chance to do any painting.
Any thoughts?

[Holeshot]

It sounds to me like your needle is stuck in the bore by some dried paint. I would maybe try swishing some lacquer thinner in there to loosen the presumably dried paint and then remove the needle, clean everything out, and put it back together.

Good luck! Airbrushes are like computers--great tools when they work, but hugely frustrating when they don't!
Curtis

[Evan August]

Well I completely stripped her down and cleaned her up. Some dried paint on the needle, wiped it down and reassembled the brush. Didn't think to run any thinner through the bore though, but it seems to be functioning now. About to spray some acrylic through it in a minute. We'll see what happens.