shading miniatures with an airbrush

[jus]

ahem...

guess what? I went and got a bundle today! seemed like the only compressor on the shelf was the same one that all all you guys have. So its that and a double action. I'm taking it for a spin. as soon as I figure out the gist of it. Any beginner pointers master airbrushers?

[Admiral-Badruck]

Well there are some lovely apps for the iPhone that will give you step by stem instructions..

well I will give you a call and let you know what I know... it should not take too long...

[Spevna]

iIt iseems ithat iSpevna ihas ibeen itaking ispelling ilessons ifrom ithe iMadmiral iof ilate

*edit* and it's iPier, btw

You can both shove an iPier up your iRectums

And while we are pointing out spelling mistakes and typos, what's an "il t"?

[me_in_japan]

welcome to the airbrush gang, where all the cool kids are

with regards to beginner's pointers:

1) citadel paint, while usable if you thin it properly, is not really suitable for airbrushing. Use Tamiya. Its very meh for regular painting, but for the airbrush, its golden.

2) Airbrushing munches paint like theres no tomorrow. There also tends to be a lot of wastage. You'll find yourself going through a pot a day, if youre having an airbrushy kinda day. This is not such a huge problem, as its only 150yen a pot.

3) Use thinner to thin, not water. Water does wierd things to viscosity and coverage if you dilute the paint more than about 10% with it. (i.e. 9:1 paint:water ratio)

4) dont spray at full PSI of your compressor. Turn it down to about 2.5 or lower for fine details. Use the full PSI when youre cleaning your brush and blasting airbrush cleaner through it.

5) buy a bottle of thinner and a bottle of airbrush cleaner. Theyre cheap, so dinnae fret. Also, I got some ace pointy cotton buds in the 100yen shop that are ideal for cleaning inside the nozzle.

6) wash your brush between colours with water, and at the end of the session with cleaner. to clean with water, fill up the cup, and spray at full PSI into a cloth or bucket. The cleaner is much the same, but a half cup is usually fine. Then flush through with water again, as the cleaner will screw up paint if it gets into it. At the end of the session, completely disassemble your brush and clean each component.

7) practice a lot on bits of paper. Dont worry if it all goes tits up at first. Fiddle around with settings like needle draw and pressure to see what effect they have. Practice drawing fine lines and getting wide even coverage. Check the paint for blotching when it dries.

8) be patient. Its taken me a year or so to even start thinking about using stencils. Start with paper, then base coat a tank, then start masking stuff. Walk before you run, and all that.

[Admiral-Badruck]

Back to Airbrushing..

What are the good paints?

I like Mr. hobby but they are hard to use with out the Mr. Hobby thiner water will not thin or clean this stuff...

I also like the Tamaya paints.

I have heard that you can use Vallejo paints in an airbrush... but I have never tried them...

[Admiral-Badruck]

I have been using the airbrush for a year with a dust mask do I need some thing safer???

[me_in_japan]

If your mask is slowly turning black, then youre probly ok. If your mask is still pretty clean, then yeah, get a better mask.

[Admiral-Badruck]

not much black ness... more brown... guess that is because I use more brown... still it is not a very even much brown at all I guess I better get a better one...

[me_in_japan]

you should be able to get one with a replaceable filter in a hardware store. The one i use isnt for airbrushing specifically, but it seems to work. It slowly turns whatever colour im using, and my bogeys remain bogey coloured (as opposed to paint coloured, which is how they used to turn when I didnt use a mask, back in the day.)

[Admiral-Badruck]

I am going to get a military one... I figure it will be cool to look at...