Mac the knife Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Brothers, While looking at the rhinos currently in my armoury in dire need of a new paint job or a first paint job for that matter the thought of purchasing an Airbrush and compressor struck me so i hopped online and eventually headed to michaels with the remainder of my christmas bonus and purchased a double action internal mix airbrush and an electric compressor. The idea struck me while looking at the horrid selection of paints offered at the store that i should seek the advice of my venerable wolf brothers on what AB paints would work the best. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beef Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Depends what you want to paint? I use vallego game colours thinned with Valejo thinner. Even Valejo model air colour seems a bit thick and needs thinning. Dont thin with water use proper thinner. DO you know how to airbrush? Practice and find airbrushing forums online or watch tutorial vids on utube Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2901988 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac the knife Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 I've been bouncing around between sites and checking youtube videos on airbrushing. The intent was to use it for base coating vehicles and squads. I did pick up a few of the airbrush paints that were available to practice and i intend to do that before i actually attempt to use it on my models. edit: I was curious what paints people were using. I'll have to check out the vallejo site when i get home from work. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2902014 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillen Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 I went to hobby lobby and got a 30 buck gun. I have a 5 gallon compressor my Ex bought me 3 or 4 years ago. I have always used airbrushes for fast starts. Even a testor airbrush will work for base coats. The one from Hobby Lobby allows me to do some detail work. Has the ability for a finer stream. I use Model master Dark Grey (F-15) and it works awesome. It's a blue-ish grey and looks awesome to me. I then got some Dark grey and light grey and boom done. If you're getting a compressor, might as well get a real one so you can do work around the house. Some of those small compressors are more expensive and do not have the durability of a working compressor used on a job site. It will be bigger, but you can use nail guns and pump up car tires and blow out dust. Way more options with a big one and it's alot cheaper too. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2902106 Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionofjudah Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 careful with a big compressor as you want to make sure you have a moisture trap on those..i picked up an airbrush compressor for CHEAP on ebay and have been using it for 3 years now...airbrush paints and thinners are good but you can use GW/vallejo/reaper etc thru them...as long as they are thinned a whole lot...the MIG dvd on airbrushing is excellent!!! I basecoat, 1st and 2nd layer with mine and it saves me weeks of painting time and has allowed me to really focus on detailing... good luck Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2902201 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beef Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 whats the moisture trap do? I use mine to basecoat, if you look at my Landraiders and in fact my whole army that i took to the tourney was undercoated and base coated using an airbrush. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2902412 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillen Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Compressors get water trapped in them. Over time they will rust. And when the pressure gets too high.....BOOM! Most have a valve on the bottom to let the water out. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2902521 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac the knife Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 Thanks for all the recommendations. I've airbrushed before but that was many winters ago back when i was in H/S Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2902990 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalaxyChief Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 I have gone the route of airbrushing as well recently.... well have been doing it with a bit more regularity in the last year anyways. I started with the compressor I use at work but due to the location of my hobby work bench, a third closet in my room, and the time I could work on it, after the babies were asleep. I sought out an alternative and now use a 20 pound CO2 bottle..... which is quite and I dont need to take back to work with me the next day... and needs no moisture trap. But since it seemed your question was more on paints that folks use.... any of the paints made by model/gaming companies can be used. Some are alcohol based, Tamiya, some are solvent based, testors and some are water based. All make thinners of their own for the respective paints. I have found there are cheaper alternatives to those thinners. Tamiya I use rubbing alcohol. The GW, reaper and vallejo paints I use destilled water. Mix to the consistency of milk and start shooting. If it comes out to thin.... it will pull up in small droplets you add a touch more paint. Too thick you will need to crank up the preasure to force it through the gun. I found that the Vallejo air paints leave a film inside my gun that needs to be cleaned out completely before I change colors. The tamiya I rinse with alcohol and the others I rinse with water and load the next color. I have found that I do not want to mix the alcohol with the other water based paints. It tunrs to curds as soon as you add air. I am not sure what compressor you purchased from micheals. If it was one of the badgers and is a diaphram model you may find it more difficult to do some of the effects you can find instructional vids on youtube. The higher preasure allows for you to "force" thicker paint through as well. Sorry if some of this seems like random thought being fired out.... and the poor spelling. I am dead tired from work and babies... ;) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2903487 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac the knife Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 I returned the compressor to micheals and bought a compressor with a dedicated air tank and outgoing PSI regulator. The micheals one cost 260 while the home depot one i bought cost 120. The cheaper one is louder when it refills the tank but it's not constantly running. Ordered some Vallejo air color from the warstore. Should get it in the next few days and i'll get crackin on my painting. (painting rhino chassis makes me want to punch puppies. Hopefully it'll make that part of my hobby less irritating.) Thanks for thall the recommendations and help. Keep an eye out in the WIP section. Planning on painting some White Scar bikers for fun before getting back to my Loganwing paintning. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2903733 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironwulf Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Compressors get water trapped in them. Over time they will rust. And when the pressure gets too high.....BOOM! Most have a valve on the bottom to let the water out. But a moisture trap doesn't compensate for THAT. As you stated, compressors get water trapped in them. That water can be transferred into the air that you are pushing through your airbrush. In particularly moist environments, that MIGHT build up enough in the air line to get pushed through your airbrush, interfering with your paint mix. (This can be really bad if you are airbrushing paints that are oil or lacquer based, because the oil and water don't mix, so your paint sits on top of a film of water instead of drying.) A moisture trap is a piece that goes on your air line, and helps remove that moisture from the air before it gets to your airbrush. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/240434-bought-a-new-setup/#findComment-2903914 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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