Taking the plunge (air brushes)

[Nova_chron]

So I am looking to add an airbrush to my set of tools and to be honest I am lost on where to start. Initially it will be for vehicles, but as I get comfortable I will used it on smaller kits. What have your experiences been and what is a good starting point to look at. Mostly cause I am dreading hand painting a storm raven and 5 tanks...

[Rik Lightstar]

The main points I've picked up are;

• Get a decent compressor with a tank,
• Don't buy a CHEAP airbrush, you don't need an expensive one, but avoid bargain basement stuff and buy a big name one (H&S, Paasche, Badger, Iwata),
• Buy some cheap kits to practice on, model cars etc when they're cheap,
• Thin your paints plenty,
• Watch lots of youtube videos for tips,
• DON'T expect it to be quicker than doing it by hand, or easier, it's not, it's just different.

Rik

[Nova_chron]

I am not after speed it is mostly I hate brush marks on vehicles because to me it is obvious, thanks for the check list I will have to see what is available

[S.k.i.t.t.l.e]

I second Rik's suggestions. Except for the speed part. Airbrushing is way faster. ;) (but of course there are all the details etc that you have to do by hand anyway)

[Lucien Eilam]

Except for the speed part. Airbrushing is way faster. ;)

The paint goes on faster and easier, and it definitely feels like less of a chore, but taking into account the extra time I spend on prep (thinning and sometimes straining the paint) and cleaning the brush, I don't think I'm saving anything overall.

[Garath]

  While AB paint needs to be thinned and all that does take some extra time, things could go slower. 

 

Here's a simple thing you can do when trying to pain a lot of models in a short period of time.

 

 Choose the colors you'll need. Let's say we need 5 colors. First thing we do is take some thick paper and try to find a good mixture of paint,thinner, flow and water.  This takes like half an hour . After that's done- we makes five mixtures ,one for each paint , and pour them into cheap 20ml dropper bottles.  

 

  The idea is to have a dropper bottle with paint in it for an AB ready to use straight from the bottle into the AB.

 

  Now from that point on - it's easy crusin' .  

 

  You can paint an army in 2 weeks that way.

[Lucien Eilam]

Here's a simple thing you can do when trying to pain a lot of models in a short period of time.

 

[…]

 

You can paint an army in 2 weeks that way.

 

Well, yeah, that's the key. I don't paint a lot of models in a short period of time, or armies in two weeks. Typically I'll only be working on half a squad or one vehicle at a time. The smaller the batch, the greater proportion of time will be spent cleaning and changing colour.

[FleshTearer5000]

 

 

Here's a simple thing you can do when trying to pain a lot of models in a short period of time.

[…]

 

You can paint an army in 2 weeks that way.

Well, yeah, that's the key. I don't paint a lot of models in a short period of time, or armies in two weeks. Typically I'll only be working on half a squad or one vehicle at a time. The smaller the batch, the greater proportion of time will be spent cleaning and changing colour.

 

Yeah that is the main point for sure. Painting 1-5 models at a time; not really much quicker. 10+ models at a time and its definetley a time saver. Either way though, the quality of finish is worth it in my opinion, no nasty brush marks. I cant imagine tackling a tank or vehicle with brush only. Can't agree more with the above mention or spending a little money on your airbrush aswell. Cheap ones will work fine for a time but you will be buying another one within a month no doubt. I've found a .02 tip is best in the brush. .03 is a little much for fine shading and .01 is a bit too small. This might seem like a minor thing but trust that is does make a difference.

[S.k.i.t.t.l.e]

While AB paint needs to be thinned and all that does take some extra time, things could go slower.

 

Here's a simple thing you can do when trying to pain a lot of models in a short period of time.

 

Choose the colors you'll need. Let's say we need 5 colors. First thing we do is take some thick paper and try to find a good mixture of paint,thinner, flow and water. This takes like half an hour . After that's done- we makes five mixtures ,one for each paint , and pour them into cheap 20ml dropper bottles.

 

The idea is to have a dropper bottle with paint in it for an AB ready to use straight from the bottle into the AB.

 

Now from that point on - it's easy crusin' .

 

You can paint an army in 2 weeks that way.

For my ETL vows I'll be doing this for ease. I got 30 20ml dropper bottles from China on ebay for £3.50 with free postage. About 1/3 the cost if I had to buy from UK sellers...

[Garath]

  Another thing I failed to mention.

 

    Once we've done the dropper bottle preparation we can paint as many , or indeed as few , models we want.  

The paint is ready, all we need to do is clean the airbrush between paint changes.  This however is only esential if we are using totally different colors (and not between say a blue and a lighter blue).

 

And it will be quicker then with a standard brush.

 

 

  The smoothnes of the finish, the final result and the time saved on just putting the basic colors on the models.

 

  The quality produced with basic AB techinques is so great it be a shame not to try it at least