3 Commando Brigade

Airbrushing Models

I have just purchased and air brush for plastic model kits, and was wondering if anyone had any tips/tricks that could help me with getting started painting with an Airbrush.
Cheers


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Blimey been years since I messed me mum's wooden kitchen table up painting models.

I remember a few things. Pull the brush back will dry the paint sooner to get a matt effect or dust effect.

using doilies or Tights gets a nice German Speckle cam Appearance... that's about it apart from do somewhere you won't get busted for spraying pain

Haha cheers, I'm ganna be painting a 1/48 tonrado gr4 to start [emoji23]. And plenty of paper over our kitchen table should be fine [emoji6]...

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Can you remember how much thinner you used/amount of paint

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It totally depends on the type of paint, Gun, effect you are looking for... There must be some awesome Youtube videos I would guess - go and see what they say. 

They've probably banned the paints I was using.... Lead etc

Yea I think they are banned [emoji23]. I use acrylic s but am starting to use enanals as well now [emoji23]

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I've only recently started myself, got a cheap brush with a compressor and i've undercoated a fair few things with it already (I love the smell of the vallejo polyurethane primer!) but I hit the sales and picked up the Iwata Eclipse Hp-CS on sale and I cannot wait to get hold of it and have a blast at some stuff.

From me i'd say straight off the bat, learn how to clean it properly, there are a billion vids on YT on airbrushing so hit em up they're an absolute wealth of knowledge. don't use the metal wire cleaning things on the inside of your brush, instead use cleaners and interdental brushes, these are much less harsh and wont' scratch or deform the innards, also take good care of your needle!

• Do not remove your nozzle unless you absolutely must, the nozzle is delicate and the threads are tiny and if overtightened when put back on you will sheer off the threads from the nozzle and leave them stuck in the airbrush.

• Get the thinners for your paint brand, i.e. if you're using Tamiya, use tamiya thinners, if you're using vallejo use vallejo thinners, they're formulated specifically for the paint, don't mix them!

• Airbrush paints can go in directly but ideally any paint you put in the brush should have a consistancy of skimmed milk, so thin away. this consistancy will allow you to lay thin layers down when spraying whilst minimising blockages. The difference between airbrush paints and regular paints btw is that they grind the pigment finer to allow it to atomise properly.

• Thin layers win overall, Don't be tempted to spray loads in one area, make passes with your brush to build the layers up, you'll find that you can use this to make transitions easier too.

• Don't be afraid of happy little accidents, doesn't matter if you overspray, you can easily cover it up later on with other layers!

• Learn how to mask, this will save you time and effort later on, anything low tac, tamiya tape, cheap blue tac copies etc.

most of all, have fun, but do hit YT for the guide vids.

Brilliant thanks mate that's a lot of help, it just arrived today and I've a had a play with with it. I cleaned it out by putting some Vallejo airbrush cleaner in the pot then blowing air back into the pot and then emptying it all out then cleaning the last bit though with the cleaner. It seamed to work pretty well [emoji23]. Cheers for all the advice

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that'll do for general but every week do take it down and clean it properly, you'd be surprised how much paint stays in them!

One thing I did do right off the bat was Zenithal Priming, check out Painting 201 for the theory behind it: https://www.powerfisted.com/?p=199
it makes a world of difference in a place where you use transluscent paints!

btw, what are your main models? are you painting heroic 28mm? military? fantasy? airplanes or busts etc?

atm i've got enough warhammer/40k stuff to open my own shop (i did work for them once) but I also do others, i've got a 1:72 Halifax B.mk III i'm converting into a B.Mk IIa* she's a beauty of a plane. i've also recently got a resin bust of hellboy i'm doing up for a friend, that will be very new to me and somewhat of a challenge.
right now on the desk is the bulkhead doors and barricades for the new Necromunda game, i'll post some pics once i've figured out what colour i'm doing them in.

Okay and nice that will be cool, I do millatry models mainly in 1/72 or 1/48. I just brought a 1/48 tornado gr4 just waiting on paints to come so I'll post some pics of that when I'm done

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