Airbrush Paints

[ImperialSquishiness]

I'm looking into getting my first airbrush and wanted to ask a question about paints.

Obviously there's the GW Air paints and the vallejo ranges. But if I wanted to use say regular GW paints or Army Painter paints (these are my regular "brush" paints), could I do so? Obviously they'd need thinning but is it worthwhile doing so?

[Marshal Loss]

Yes you can definitely use non-airbrush specific paints, and yes it's often worthwhile doing so. Just play around with consistency and you'll be right. Some airbrush specific ranges are spectacular but generally I thin paints a little anyway, even if they're pre-thinned, and as a result I only tend to buy airbrush specific paints if there is a colour I really want. And note that if you're trying to colour match with your past work, occasionally a brand that sells a colour in two varieties (with one being airbrush ready and the other normal) won't actually have the colours match perfectly, which can be a right pain. There are absolutely tons of videos on YouTube helping people get into airbrushing by the way, they're probably worth your time

[Bung]

Some non-airbrush paints can clog your nozzle easily cause tge pigment size is to big for the small nozzle.

Personly i would recommend colors like Scalecolor which are noted for use with brush and airbrush which you just need to thin down.

 

Personly i buy some airbrush paints when i like the color as i tend to work more with glazes and there are some airbrush colors i seem to use alot.

[ImperialSquishiness]

Additionally, is there any reason why I keep seeing people using polyurethane primers? Is there any real difference between using a primer and just spraying my base layer straight on?

[Axineton]

Additionally, is there any reason why I keep seeing people using polyurethane primers? Is there any real difference between using a primer and just spraying my base layer straight on?

Well with airbrush primer the big plus is you can do it indoors all year round mate. Other than that I don’t know. I’m new to airbrushing and that is the biggest plus for me.

[blackbabyjesus]

Yeah, the primer makes a huge difference, airbrush paints won't 'bond' with the plastic like primer, even PU primer. Rattlecans are still best IMO but if I want to do just one mini I'll often airbrush the primer on.

[Arkhanist]

Additionally, is there any reason why I keep seeing people using polyurethane primers? Is there any real difference between using a primer and just spraying my base layer straight on?

 

A good primer will dry in a smooth and even thin coat, hiding minor imperfections, stick well to the surface of the miniature and prepares the surface for the base layer of paint to grip onto. Primer is the foundation on which the rest of the paint job is built, joining polystyrene below to acrylic above, and so has to do a somewhat different job to acrylic - thus the common use of polyurethane primers, and the much longer full drying time. That it gives you a single color starting point is just a bonus.

 

You can paint directly onto the mini, but the paint will more easily rub off when dry (sometimes literally with your fingers), require more initial coats to get an even base colour, and any imperfections in the surface like minor scratches or dips will more readily show up in the final finish. I definitely recommend doing a thin primer coat first and letting it dry properly. I'm a fan of badger stynylrez primer these days, though vallejo primer is also reasonably good.

 

To add to your original question, you can definitely thin most acrylic paints to use through an airbrush, though it does depend on the nozzle size a bit. Nozzle size is the primary determination of how viscous your paint can be to spray easily, and very small nozzles designed for inks (0.2mm and below) can struggle to pass the larger physical pigment size of base paints and the like, even when fully thinned. It will take more practise to get the paint thinned right when you start from one intended for brush painting, and each paint will likely need a different ratio of thinner - it's very much an art, not a science.

 

Getting the airbrush to spray how you want is a balance between amount of air flow (PSI), paint viscosity, distance from the mini, and trigger control. Thin the paint (with water or dedicated thinner) to lower viscosity too much, and it will 'spider' and flood the mini crevices rather than stick. Don't thin enough, and it won't come out as an even spray or won't spray at all. Too high a pressure to get a thick paint to spray risks more paint than you want when you pull back on the trigger and thus go on too thick and pool, too low and it won't spray properly or at all. Too close to the mini can cause it to spider and run again, too far will increase the 'cone' of spray so you can't do smaller areas, and even further away the paint will dry in mid air and you'll get speckles. 

 

The main advantage of airbrush specific paint is that you don't need to worry so much about thinning as it's pretty much the right consistency out the bottle to spray (with finely ground pigment); then you can focus on pressure, distance from the mini and trigger control (i.e. not blasting paint everywhere) to get the effect you want. It's worth picking up a few core colours at the beginning, just so you can get a feel for roughly how thick airbrush paint needs to be - 'skimmed milk' is the usual description, but it's something you can only recognise with practise. Don't worry if you struggle with pure white, it's a sod of a colour to spray.

 

Even airbrush paints can need a little thinning though, depending upon how delicate you want your coverage to be. That's the beauty of an airbrush, a general purpose one (0.35mm to 0.5mm nozzle) can spray widely enough with a higher PSI to do priming and varnish without the overspray and waste of a spray can, right down to doing delicate work on a low PSI such as OSL glow effects on plasma weapons or jump packs.

[micahwc]

You can spray just about any paint through an airbrush as long as you can thin it enough to flow through it.

 

I just sprayed some Latex based house paint through one a few days ago. I repainted cabinets using a spray gun, and then touched up a few areas using an air brush (A Iwata Eclipse with a .3 nozzle) It was incredibly difficult, as thinning the paint enough to flow out of the airbrush made it so thin that it splattered and ran easily, but it sprayed. I'm fairly certain you could spray nail polish out of an airbrush as long as you thinned it with enough acetone first.