Deployment of the Spectral Sicarii (homebrew RG)

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

I hear the biggest issue for newbs is thinning/cleaning/clogs/etc. I have a bunch of old models that a friend gave me that are pretty beat up. I plan on using some of them to test with. I am going to get some of the badger primer and start by priming and base coating. I think being able to spray by gray base coat will be worth the time savings alone.

 

What I'm trying to figure out right now is how do I spray two colors that are adjacent. Taking the drop pod for example I want to spray the blue because I do the recess shading. It will look a lot better with the airbrush but how to I protect the gray. Do I go blue first, then mask and spray gray? Or do I go gray, mask and spray blue? Does it depend on the model? I'm sure I have many hours of youtube ahead of me as I try and figure this stuff out.

 

As a general rule you want to paint "deeper" colors first. So in your example, you would want to prime, then paint the recessed sections (blue), then mask those off and paint the grey. Another thing to consider is tone. You want to start light and work to dark - if you can help it. In the case of Blue/Grey, I don't think you would have a coverage issue.

 

As for time saver, panels and flat area's can be a bit tricky, as its a masking tape scenario. I personally get frustrated masking off with tape quit quickly, but I am also a significant more impatient person than you I think. My masking method is to use a section of card, and lay it right up against the subject to shield the over-spray (like a template). Another fun trick for irregular/non-flat surfaces is silly putty as a mask works quite well.

 

If you had a whole batch of pods to do, I could easily see you making a mask template out of heavyweight card stock that you could bulldog clip or paperclip onto the model, then slide off and re-use (since its a simple shape)

[thewarriorhunter]

Good points. I just watched some videos on masking. Scale modelers have a ton of great info out there. I'm really excited to get this going and see what I can do.

[duz_]

Using airbrushes to prime and base coat is a good way to learn the basics such as thinning, trigger modulation and air pressure settings, as well as cleaning!
I like the Orc Painter Nerd on youtube for his vids, but theres plenty of others too.

[thewarriorhunter]

That's my plan. I'll order some of the Badger Stynylrez primers to use, I hear they're amazing.

 

I'm going to try some 'pre-shading' with priming to hopefully add some subtle shadows and depth. I'm thinking of priming the model black, then priming gray in a pseudo zenithal like manner, then spraying the base coat. I'm hoping that will give a little shading to under areas that by recess highlighting will help to accentuate. I'll have to see how it turns out and obviously I'll be posting pictures along the way.

[thewarriorhunter]

And my first work is complete. Water on corrugated card stock.

 

 

 

I am seriously very excited. My compressor arrived today but my adapter and QD piece aren't set to arrive until Friday. I decided to familiarize myself with the airbrush tonight and discovered it shipped with an adapter! I'll have a spare now which is nice. I quickly set everything up and starting spraying water since I only had a few minutes before dinner. (Pork loin seasoned with roasted herbs, mashed potatoes, and broccoli in case you're wondering, smells AMAZING.)

 

When I have more time I'll work on getting some paint through it. I have some blending medium that I can use to thin and may try giving some junk models a few coats of paint to see how it goes. I'm going to order the Badger primer set tonight.

[Dracos]

What a famiiiar shade of blue :)

[thewarriorhunter]

What a famiiiar shade of blue

 

Ha! Didn't even make that connection, but I guess it is fitting. A friend of mine has the same compressor without the tank and he really likes it. I'll probably play around with it a little more over the next few evenings to get the regulator where I want it. It's been really cold here and we've actually had snow in southern AZ (really odd weather) so I'm holding off on ordering primer because last year there were a lot of issues with Stynylrez not working right because it froze during shipping.

[thewarriorhunter]

Shot my first round of paint through my 105. I had four test models to really screw up before I figured I'd try my marines. Overall it was a tedious learning experience which is what I expected. My paint was always too thin but by the end I got closer to what I needed. The five marines I primed will probably end up getting stripped and redone but I'll use them to learn. You can see several spots on them where the paint was too thin and ran/didn't stick where I wanted it too.

 

I will say the time savings is HUGE. To hand brush these 5 guys would have probably taken me a couple hours because of the thin layers and dry time. I sprayed these five guys in about three minutes.

 

 

[thewarriorhunter]

If you listen to The Independent Characters you'll know that purchases count as hobby progress Got the last few things I need for my airbrush today.

 

 

I need to get some dropper bottles so I can really measure out my mixing ratios but I think I've spent enough this month and I can manage for now.

Edited January 8, 2019 by thewarriorhunter

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

Hey, you bought the mixer!

 

I have been debating that quite a bit. I was 1) Afraid it would cause paint to foam up, and 2) Not sure how effective it would mix.

 

Look forward to hearing your review of it!

 

Edit: I have that cleaner and blowout pot both, and love them both. The little filter inside the lid cleans out quite easily as well.

Edited January 8, 2019 by ltvyper

[thewarriorhunter]

1st - Duz, sometimes I think that you 'LIKE' my posts while I'm still in the editor...

 

2nd - Itvyper - I'll let you know. Duz said they liked it. My concern is that it might not fit into my dropper bottles, It's going to be close.

 

After handling the brushes I'm not sure if I'll like them. They have the triangle shaped handle to hold, but it's father back from the tip than I normally hold my brushes. I'll have to take them for a spin and see how I like them. It was $28 for the set and they were 5 stars on amazon with over 600 reviews (and I mean 5, not 4.3, etc.). So they're either really good or the seller has a really good bot network, we shall see.

[thewarriorhunter]

And it's too big

[duz_]

Before u go do anything too drastic

The stirrer is great for GW pots and should fit in the primer bottles too.

 

Green stuff world sells little ball bearings that you can use to agitate paints in dropper bottles. I imagine any stainless steel ball bearing would do the same job.

[thewarriorhunter]

Before u go do anything too drastic

The stirrer is great for GW pots and should fit in the primer bottles too.

 

Green stuff world sells little ball bearings that you can use to agitate paints in dropper bottles. I imagine any stainless steel ball bearing would do the same job.

 

I have exactly two pots of GW paint, Nuln Oil and Lamium Medium. I may pick up the odd pot here and there in the future but at this point I'm very attached to Vallejo since I have the large set of Model Colors. I've got ~80 bottles of Vallejo and the entire Secret Weapon Miniature line of washes which is another 31 bottles. Grinding it down a bit makes sense so I can use it with all of my paints, otherwise I'm buying a lot of ball bearings.

 

Last night I think I figured out my 'mobile' setup for air brushing. I don't have room at my desk but we've got a folding table that I can steal from the kids. It takes about 10 minutes to get everything set up and my first batch of paint mixed.

 

 

I took a look at the first five guys I base coated that were sloppy and they dried really well. The spots where coverage was bad was still there but the paint dried thin and all of the details were still very clear so I figured I'd give them another try before I shipped them off to the pigmentum removeo. Results were great and I'm very happy that these guys are ready for the next step!

 

I've learned a lot in just two sessions of brushing. I think I'm running through way too much paint so I think next session I'm going to dial the pressure on the tank back a bit. I tend to be heavy handed with fine motor skills that require fingers (I bottom my keyboard out on every stroke) so I think limiting the air pressure may help to preserve the amount of paint I use.

 

[duz_]

:tu:

Thats the nice thing with the Krome and other higher end brushes you can limit the trigger action

Although with practice you'll get used to it, rarely do I got above 50% throttle
As you said adjust air pressure can help, although make sure you thin your paints accordingly, lowering the pressure will also limit the spray area so will take incrementally longer

 

I also love using this handle when airbrushing minis

https://gameenvy.net/

[thewarriorhunter]

The 105 is double action but I wish the movement action to allow air flow was over a larger spectrum. I feel like I either go all or nothing. I'm trying out different ways to hold it to let my other fingers help apply pressure. I've looked at buying a handle but haven't done it yet. I could probably 3d print one if I ever take the time to get my printer back up and running. The cork is nice because I can rotate the model easily and get good coverage.

 

My biggest issue right now is dry tip. I've watched a few videos on hacks to prevent it but no luck. I'm going to get some of my gun oil and try coating the needle to see if that helps.

[Shadow Captain Vyper]

The 105 is double action but I wish the movement action to allow air flow was over a larger spectrum. I feel like I either go all or nothing. I'm trying out different ways to hold it to let my other fingers help apply pressure. I've looked at buying a handle but haven't done it yet. I could probably 3d print one if I ever take the time to get my printer back up and running. The cork is nice because I can rotate the model easily and get good coverage.

 

My biggest issue right now is dry tip. I've watched a few videos on hacks to prevent it but no luck. I'm going to get some of my gun oil and try coating the needle to see if that helps.

 

Ive recently started using my Hoppe's #9 Oil on the tip/threads/trigger mechanism, and I can vouch that it helps a bit.

 

As far as the action goes on the trigger, I agree and struggle with the same thing. I have also considered a grip/handle that's like silicone based that slides over the chassis to bulk up the grip a bit, as my meat-mitts struggle to hold the tiny barrel with a clean grip.

[thewarriorhunter]

My buddy added green stuff to his trigger to do exactly what you're describing and he said it helped him out. I'm not going to make any modifications just yet since i'm starting out but I won't rule out the possibility in the future.

[duz_]

Dry needle? As in paint drying on the end? 
I just use some flow improver, only a couple of drops and seems to help

[WickedApp]

Some other tricks.  BB's can works as paint stirrers.  Cheaper than ball bearings also.  Try to get the copper ones, avoid lead if possible (some metals react to chemicals altho this should not be a problem)

 

The trigger, you could apply a thin strip of tape.  Medical tape, or duct tape.  Something with some grip for your fingers to catch.

 

Also avoid using Bleach to clean the gun.  Bleach will eat Aluminum.  Alcohol & soap should be good enough.

 

 

Happy painting.

[thewarriorhunter]

Thanks for the tips. I tried thinning with flow improver my first time, second time was just water. Are you guys mixing in the cup or out? I've been using a liquid medicine cup to mix and then transfer to my brush.

 

BB's aren't a bad idea... Every time I mix I'd have to be taking the dropper top off... bb's would be a one time on/off so maybe the mixing balls are the way to go...

 

And no bleach. I've got some iwata airbrush cleaner but I honestly might just stick with 90% alcohol when it runs out. I was using 70% and it seemed to work just fine and alcohol is cheaper that branded cleaner.

 

Last night I got the recess glazing done on two Reivers. These will be for my kill team until I build up enough for an actual 5 man unit. Last night I also realized I forgot to prime and base coat a backback for my KT Intercessor Sgt. The pack was clipped and off sprue, I just forgot to pin it and prime it when I did everything else.

 

[duz_]

I mix in the cup

I usually add the thinner and improver (if using - generally only when using larger quantities of paint or thick paint) first then the paint on top

Unless I have a large quantity in the cup or I'm using something viscous like varnish or mica additive I just "back wash" / pressure my brush to have it mix. If there's a lot of paint or its viscous I might give it a quick stir first with my beat up old detail brush.

 

Looking good!

[WickedApp]

I have not used this set up in a while but I mixed in the cup.  I had spare cups to make quick changes of color.  Spray one color, change cup to thinner/cleaner spray out the gun, switch to new color spray until primed, set to go.

 

Also BB's are magnetic.

 

I mixed in spare cups with lids.  I did not use BB then.  But with a lid you could mix using BB then add a magnet to the outside to either remove the BB, or to keep it in one place while you used the paint.

 

Painting looks good so far.  What you are doing is working for you.

[thewarriorhunter]

Again, thanks for the compliments.

 

I'm more concerned about mixing bottles for when I hand brush. My Secret Weapon Miniature washes are especially bad at separating and those are the primary offenders that I want a better mixing solution for.

 

I think next time I brush I'll try a little flow improver in the cup and backflush into paint. I saw the guy from Next Level Painting do that in a priming video I watched. I'll see how that works out for me next time. I'm debating on priming my Landraider just to get Race excited  plus it would be a nice large piece to work with.

Edited January 10, 2019 by thewarriorhunter

[thewarriorhunter]

Got most of the details done on my Reiver Sgt tonight. A few highlights and other details left and he's done. I'm hoping I can get him finished up to take on Tuesday.