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Ive been asked more than a few times for a tutorial on painting some of my models. Partially in line with said request I decided to try to fill a void Ive noticed in the miniature community. What I include here is based on my lessons and I am by no means an expert. I mainly am writing this so people will ask questions or point out problems. Afterall if I get more people to use airbrushes then they will get better and teach me a few things.

First off a few points.
1. An airbrush is just like a paint brush. It takes a lot of skill to use it well.
2. There are some things an airbrush is best for and some things a paint brush are best for(can also read faster for in both
cases). This depends on
2a. Scale of features(finest detail)
2b. Area to be covered
2c. Accessibility of surface(I usually assemble, paint, finish assembly, then add last bits of detail or repair)
2d. Relative skill with a paintbrush vs airbrush
3. A paintbrush and paints are cheap, an airbrush can be expensive or very expensive and the paint is a matter of preference.
You can get away with cheap but you often get what you pay for with both bristles and airbrushes.
4. Safety safety safety. You wouldn’t lick a brush with enamels would you? Then why would you line your lungs with any kind of
airbrush particulate.
5. Take good care of your paintbrush and take better care of your airbrush.

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Ok so what do you need

1. Airbrush:
1a. I started using a Paasche dual action for $60. it’s a good starter but I would say relative scale limit is down to 1/2cm. if your trying to paint anything finer you will start getting headaches.
1b. After a lot of research I decided to get an Harder & Steenbeck Infinity two-in-one. This means it comes with two different nozzles. I ordered from http://www.germanairbrush.com/. Im doing this free advertising because I love this airbrush. I was also able to get Mike to exchange the larger of the two included nozzles/needle sets with a smaller one at no charge since I was only interested in painting small stuff.
1c. Quick couplers. GOLD! I thought it was silly at first but these can make cleaning messes so much easier. They also make changing your airbrushes out(with different colors) such a breeze if you don’t want to have a multi-line splitter on your air supply.
1d. Nozzle size. OK this one is tricky. The smaller features require smaller nozzle-needle sets. But smaller sets usually mean your acrylics will clog the tip faster and you HAVE to use properly thinned or even filtered paints. Sometimes the answer is to go to a slightly larger nozzle size. Even though you cant paint as fine a line, its better than not being able to paint more than a second before it clogs. As you get better you can maintain painting with the fine nozzle for longer.
1e. Quick fix/quick set. Some, like the infinity come with a dial to adjust the maximum retraction of the needle for a set point. And some of these come with a button or mechanism you can pull to quickly release the preset limit. This is gold for painting acrylics as it allows you to quickly blow a high volume or clog out the tip and then get back to painting.
1f. Nozzle brush: I am not sure what others use but a tooth brush or Q-tip may be used to quickly clean accumulation from the needle. I zip-tied a handy tinny bottle brush(4cm long) to my air hose a foot from the brush so I can quickly swipe my needle and get back to painting. The brush works better wet.

1g. Paint brush. Wait WTF? I use a small cheap paintbrush to clean the cup of my airbrush because its faster when Im switching paints than to disassemble. And often there is a little paint somewhere in there you cant see but the brush will brake up. You should still do a thorough cleaning when done but this brush is fine for cleaning the cup of particulates or paint.

2. Air compressor: Most hobby compressors state they run “continuous” flow at 20-35 PSI or so. Yea bull. Some things to consider below. But first what do I use. I use a Eurotec 10-A compressor mounted on a 1gallon tank with a flow regulator out of the tank. I run 20-35PSI regulated (up to 85PSI from the eurotec in the tank) And am pleased with the result. I run in a tinny apartment so the noise is important. Had I a garage I would go for a better tank and better pressure so I can paint more continuously. I also use a fan on my eurotec to prevent overheating since it states not to run more than 15 mins continuous.
2a. Canned air: You can use canned air but seriously, why did you buy an airbrush just to keep buying canned air. And that can wont last very long
2b. Noise: you want a quiet airbrush unless you have a garage. Don’t go deaf because you got something loud. I walked into various hobby stores and had them plug in the display models so I could hear them in action. I highly recommend this. You can also mount your compressor on carpet or squishy foam to reduce noise coupling to the floor or table.
2c. Flow rate. Depends on your airbrush nozzle size and recommended flow. Be sure to check before you buy. Its very disappointing to have inconsistent airpressure.
2d. Max airpressure. This is important if your trying to fill a tank. Otherwise it’s the combination of airpressure and flow rate(yes they are related but the impedance matching parameters are often not reported accurately IMHO) If you can test it. Otherwise its better to err on the side of higher flow rates and PSI as long as you can regulate the flow down.
2e. Consistent pressure: many claim this. Ive tested quite a few and seen that their continuity for the stated nozzle diameter leaves much to be desired. I highly recommend a tank is attached to your compressor.

3. Paint: Use acrylics unless you have great ventilation. Acrylics are a lot safer in many ways but they dry on your tip faster, which can be irritating. The better you get the less this is a problem but you will have to clean your tip fairly regularly
3a. What type? I use GW and Reaper with no problems. I also use createx but these don’t seem to dry as hard (more rubbery) and thus require a top coat for table-top pieces. However their transparent and fluorescent paints are a great compliment to normal paints. Hell I handbrush with createx a lot because GW and reaper are too limited. While you can get nice semi-transparent layers with GW/reaper using a wet-pallet, its easier with actual transparent paints, and fluorescents…. Need I say more.
3b. Filtering: I add water to my GW and reaper paint bottles. Especially if they start thickening. Sometimes you cant help it and you get particulates in your paint jars. If necessary I then take 1-2 to 1cc of the desired paint, place in a little filter cup or fine mesh cloth, and run the airbrush base through to get a filtered paint while leaving particulates behind. This will be thin and very watery requiring multiple layers. But your using multiple coats anyway right…?
3c. Preparation: I usually use a dropper to add roughly 50% airbrush medium and 50% paint with a paintbrush(1 brush holds about 1 drop of paint). The mix ratio will depend on the paint-medium combination and how fine you wish to layer. This takes practice to get it right for your preference and brush-air setup.
3d. Airbrush medium/thinner. You are using acrylics right? You like your health right. Then you should probably use the thinner/medium sold for your paint. However, assuming you have better than average ventilation so you wont breath any of it… I use windex (basic ammonia D version) for volume painting and the brand stuff for detail work. The windex helps clean the brush, slightly, I think… but it dries fast, a lot faster than water and so far I haven’t had a problem with it breaking down the paint binder. My logic on the safety of using windex(ammonia D) is thus. Window washers, to my knowledge, haven’t been suing windex. They evaporate a lot of it often in a house. Calculate the volume of windex to wet a rag or spray onto a huge window. 10CC plus. Yea right guess a lot higher for big windows. Well your wearing a paint filter and working in good ventilation right? Then unless your covering a huge area(sq ft or so) you will likely use less than 1cc in half an hour if your using a fine nozzle tip. If you plan on painting large areas use water instead, it’s a large area, you can wait for it to dry.

3e. Consistency: Thin to the level of skim milk. I want to hurt whoever started this because skim milk isn’t much more than water and its hard to tell with some paints. I test my consistency in two ways.
3ei. Shake the paintcup with water in it to see at what rate it splashes around, or swirls. Get your paint to be close to this.
3eii. As you shake, if you have a metal cup relax and watch the paint run back down the cup. On the walls you will see the paint show a degree of translucency or a period of time(you have to develop a gut feeling for this) after which you stop shaking that the paint no longer covers the walls of the paint cup. When it’s the right consistency the paint sheen will be fairly transparent and will resettle pretty fast. Again you have to develop a gut feeling for it.
3eiii. Other ides: capillary tubes-measure the height or rate of filling. Dropper- measure the rate of dropping out of a small tube-bucket with a tinny hole in the bottom. Droplet flow-put a drop on a known constant surface and see if it flows at a critical angle. Just ideas ive played with.

4. Safety equipment.
4a. Goggles. I don’t think they are necessary but I use goggles for darn near everything. Ive had too many things fly into my eyes. If you don’t use goggles have an eye-safe water source near for eye was if your paint explodes. Ive been lucky so far.
4b. Respirator. DON’T BE CHEAP get a good paint respirator!
4c. Fan. I don’t care where your painting. If there are walls around you you’d better be flushing atmo at a good rate. I usually place a fan sucking air from my project and blowing it right to the window. This fan also is blowing on my compressor to keep it cool since I work the poor thing hard and it overheats within 20 mins of typical use if I dont. It doesn’t hurt to have a second fan forcing air in from a second port to force a cross flow.
4d. Acrylics. If you use acrylics you don’t need dangerous solvents. Don’t breath solvents! The ammonia is questionable as it is and when I hear about window washer lawsuits Ill reconsider.

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On to painting!
The basics

1. Scale:
a. Always ask yourself. Is the airbrush the right tool for the job. You have to push your limits to get better but sometimes its just stupid. If your skills aren’t up to it grab that paintbrush and wet pallet and get to work.

2. Lines and dots:
2a. You know those exercises most books recommend in doing a line, doing a spot/dot. I agree they suck. Do them anyway if you want to get really good. An airbrush is like a sword and it takes a lot of training to use it well.
2b. Work your way up to harder skill sets by setting simple projects to paint that use the previous sets. Ex. Try a stripped cammo for your mini’s this is a great exercise for the stripe paint. Want to practice dots. Try bullet holes, scorch marks. Want to practice general brush control. Try painting just the armor or clothing of your minis. If you do thin coats it wont be a problem. You can fix your lack of skill with a paintbrush or just dip and retry. Once you get good you can paint armor or clothing with little overspill onto adjacent pieces. Assuming you have a good brush-air combination for fine detail.

3. Stencils: The big secret/short-cut for airbrush painting. But only the first step in a great product. Don’t think you can get away from free hand.
3a. Pattern: at this scale you will have to make most of your own. This is a big time sink. I recommend a few methods
i. Draw what you want, and photo-reduce it with a digital camera and printer or photo-copier. Then cut it out with an x-acto
ii. Print a picture of what you want then see above

3b. Cleaning. Using a stencil a lot will mean it will collect paint. If paper this may limit the life span. Otherwise clean with water because your using acrylics. As you paint if the stencil is building up paint then keep a paper towel handy to dab the paint off of the stencil. Then blow a bit of air over it to dry and continue painting as normal.
3c. Material:
i. Paper: easy to pattern and cut, gets wet when painting and needs time to dry. Try sealing it first with an overcoat. This is how I do most of my lightning.
ii. Stencil plastic/transparency plastic. Can be printed on but harder to cut fine detail out of. Will last longer. I would love to know of a company that cuts stencils cheap with <2mm feature sizes given just a layout/vector file. If you know of one please share!
iii. Metal. Haven’t tried it yet. Kind of need a mill, circuit board router, or laser etcher to make any use of metal.
iv. Foam. Harder to cut(laser or hot wire can be useful) but gives dimensionality to the stencil. I’ve started using this for my lighting and fire stencils.

3d. Technique.
i. Lay the stencil over the project. Helping hands can be useful
ii. Sight along your airbrush to know your painting the part you want
iii. Spray light gentle coats. Thicker coats will build up on the stencil.
iv. Shift the stencil for shadowing
v. Dab the stencil with a paper towel as it builds up paint
vi. Use just air to help the paint dry
vii. Easy huh?

4. Depth.
4a. Just like in brush painting depth can be achieved with layers going from High to low value
4b. Paint transitioning white to color or color to black. Or even white through color to black. Then airbrush a thin layer of another color (usually the background color) over top to push its depth in. if using normal paint after a couple thin layers you will merge to the color your spraying. If using transparent colors you can apply more layers before you merge to the transparent color your using.
4c. Just like with real fire you can make a color really stand out if you first put white through black or white through your color . and then do a thin highlight coat over it.


Example hammerhead
1. Prime. I don’t care how you do it but not too thick
2. lay down the base coat. White in my case or else my favorite purple is so dark its nearly black.
3. Mask and paint. Mask with masking tape carefully to block areas you don’t want a general coat applied to. Paint a general coat then remove the mask or remask more of your project depending on your end goal. I often transition from my purple to another blue or something for some eye catching but mask off a few areas of white to paint over later(with red) or leave white. You want to leave the white area for a later color if you want that color to really stand out. Its often easier to push depths darker than lighter with an airbrush.
4. Push the base depth. This means add more layers in areas you want darker. You can always add a bit of white to your color if you pushed to far but be very careful do doing this lest you go pastel. Don’t be afraid to start over at this point.
5. stencil the pattern in
6. push the stencil deeper. I use transparent colors and paint the edges of the stenciled pattern to push the edges into the background. My hammerhead typically takes me 1-2 hours of carefully laying down transparent colors to push the lightning edges back with that aureal glow.
7. Remove any leftover masking tape
8. protective coat. The airbrush layer is so thin its easy to scratch. So I usually add a protective coat at this point
9. detail work. Either repeat above for more patterns and freehand or pull out the brush and wet pallet to finish that fine detail work that only a paintbrush can do. Proper use of stencils can push the airbrushes fine detail limit pretty small though.



Example FW
1. Prime
2. lay down a base coat color
3. use strips of paper and fine sprays to base-coat armor or clothing differently
4. touch up with a paint brush as necessary
5. highlight based on light sources with a lighter shade or with white and then reapply the base color of the light source.
6. finish all the detail work avoiding messing up your OSL or zenithal lighting. You can still push the OSL or zenithal contrast with a brush at this point.
7. seal and finish.

The osl is done by simply spraing up the rear of each FW and then detailing horizontally. All of the OSL rules apply so do it exactly as you would using a normal paint brush. The shadowing and OLS of on the guns, shields armor etc were all done with masking and iarbrushing. other than the lining and basalt these models were almost entirely painted with the AB.


As time permits Ill add quasi tutorials on other painting projects done with an airbrush like my monolith.

Other than the heads of the warriors going into the distance this thing was 100% airbrushed. That includes the fire, clouds, lightning, power crystal and rods... everything. The heads were lined with a paint brush. and quickly because I was rapidly getting sick of doing hundreds of heads all around it. the night-bringer was 90% airbrushed. I touched up his stomach muscles with a paint brush.

Edit:
The image set below shows the progression of the Monolith.(reverse order sorry)
From bottom to top:
--First the base coat. I went red on the bottom to contrast the green knowing as I painted green over it would push the background to black but with a bit more visual interest than just using black.
--I then use stencils I made to put the heads in, the lightning, and I freehanded the clouds.
--I then used more stencils I made to do the skull pile on the bottom perimeter, stencils for the nightbringer, the mountains, and then freehanded the flames, the fog and softened the lines of the nightbringer
--I then used stencils to flesh out the flames and freehand to connect them with smoother gradients and push parts of the flames back. I then layered(picture not shown) and did a second set of flames like the first. Added the eclipse and more detail to the night bringer with stencils and freehand. I used a paintbrush to touch up the stomach muscles and the necron skull lines.
--Finally used stencils to do the pulse crystals, then freehanded a lot of gradients to smooth the entire thing out including the power crystal.
--Then a lot of touch up work and "washing" in the metalic areas of the rear to make them look older.
Then I abandoned the project declaring it done.




If you have questions comments etc please let me know and hopefully we can make this a useful guide.

How to's Ill add later if people desire:
Fire
Lightning
Clouds
light and shadow
Anything else?

Amazing tutorial! Amazing models to show off your work!

Welcome to Dakka by the way.

Cheers,

Jack.

Very Nice!

Waow...just Waow.

I'm stunnd

that monolith is just amazing. As are the Tau models. Makes me want to get an airbrush...

very awsome,your skilled with the air brush....like to see other work besides small scale..like do you do cars (driveable)or anything at a much larger scale?

Wow

I thought the Monolith at first was a computer generated picture that you were planning on copying! LOL.

Reminds me of a Sandman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Sandman - an Australian famous car that was regularly airbrushed on the side panels), although I doubt that the C'Tan are getting much nookie in there!

Love the hammerhead too.

Cheers

Could you do a camo scheme?

they are amazing iv gotta learn that 10/10 on them mate

ShawnSum: Sorry, I personally cringe at doing a camo scheme as it sounds boring. But perhaps I need to take that fault as a challenge to make an interesting camo. Im going to think on that. Basic patterns typically found in camo aren't interesting but detailed pictures for camo, IE trees leaves vines mountains clouds water.... these may be workable If I find the right vehicle for them.

31rls31: the largest I have done was a picture as a background for an army display(and because I was using minis as an excuse to get the airbrush but also told my wife I planned on painting pictures when my skill level got high enough. Here is my first attempt at something larger than mini scale.

Its my first try so eh. It measures about 2-2.5ft wide and its purpose was to try to tie in the variations of paint schemes of my army with a background. Still debating adding a bolt of lightning or not but I think its at the saturation point for buisy.
Part of me would love to paint cars and such because at that scale I think the painting would go a lot faster(may be wrong).

I've been dipping my toes in the airbrush waters recently myself and would be very interested in more of your how-tos. I haven't ventured into stencil use yet, just been doing basecoats and gradients across surfaces so far.

I've been doing mine with a dual action gravity feed using GW and PP acrylics mixed with 70% rubbing alcohol at a 7 to 1 ratio alcohol to paint. It makes applying the layers really easy and the paint doesn't seem to clog much at all when it's so diluted (but still dries plenty fast on the model). All of that at around 10-15 PSI to do the tiny little surfaces I'm working with (no vehicles in warmachine!).

I'll post some of my pics shortly here. It's been a really cool experience so far and I'd love to learn more techniques.

Very nice work. You are very skilled with an airbrush. I'm really curious as to how you do all the detail work on the smaller models, seems like it'd be impossible with mine. I just did some base coating on my crisis suit with mine and even with the masking tape it still needs some touchup work with the brush. I'm also very interested in doing a camo pattern since I plan on doing that on my devilfish.

A few things I'd like to add as I've tried to use the airbrush when I can:

Isopropyl alcohol, I use this stuff all the time. I use it to thin my paints and use it at a 1:1 ratio with paint for my airbrush. I've never had a clog issue using this combination and I run it straight through the airbrush when I'm cleaning it after I'm done. In the USA it's usually a dollar for a bottle and available at any grocery or drug store. Don't have any experience using it with non acrylic paints though.

As far as settings are concerned, I always airbrush outside. I understand this is sometimes not possible depending on your living situation, but I've always had either a balcony or patio no matter how small my apartment was. Seemed like too much trouble to try to setup a both or exhaust fan to do it indoors.

BTW I'm currently using an Iwata HP-BC( http://www.iwata-medea.com/index.php/products/hp_bc_plus/ ). My air compressor is a Sprint Jet.

Those models get one million stars for painting.

Thanks for posting the WiPs on the monolith. Cool technique starting with red to follow-up with the green over it - I would not have thought of that.

WiP shots of stencils in action for the flames, crystal glows etc... would be great the next time you're putting something together.

The crystal glow was all freehand.
Start by highlighting white at the edges.
use a candy/transparent green to then push the middle in and let slight amounts over spray/diffusive spray whatever onto the edges as you go.

Try looking up Youtube (real OR realistic OR true) AND fire AND airbrush to get the basic techniques. the only difference at this scale is keeping the stupid brush flowing when its cranky(read you did a bad job mixing or cleaning) Though there are a couple tricks at this scale I may be able to convey though they arent anything big.

I will try to remember to take pictures of the painting on my next project. My biggest problem is once I get going just try to stop me to take pictures. I usually only remember when its time to go to bed so only some progress shots get taken.

Thank you very much for this.
Great work

Thanks for the update Atropos. If your looking for more how to ideas, how about something along the lines of a newbie's guide to stencils. As much reading as I've done on airbrushing and the like, I really don't know anything about stencils

A tidbit I've read recently was to avoid using Rare Earth Magnets until after airbrushing, as the paint will be affected by the magnetic field and will ruin your work near the magnet.

Moz wrote:A tidbit I've read recently was to avoid using Rare Earth Magnets until after airbrushing, as the paint will be affected by the magnetic field and will ruin your work near the magnet.

This is actually an interesting point. You have potentially ionized particles flying out of the brush interacting with a magnetic field. ooh swirly!
Ive not noticed a significant effect but Ill keep an eye out and probably do a few experiments in my infinite spare time.(while sarcasm on the time aspect I really will try to do this experiment) Do you have a link to this article? im curious how the chemistry of the paint may be a factor, IE enamels vs acrylics as an acrylic rod seems much more willing to play electron swap.

Thanks Moz.

Another effect Ive noticed lately is using purity seal mat. This stuff is horrible as it builds surface structures that collect dust. Anyone know of a good mat finish you can paint over but doesn't collect dust like mad in 2-3 coats?

Fateweaver wrote:Airbrushes, with practice, allow some amazing things to be done at ANY scale.

This Skyray and the Monolith are very good examples. I'm getting back into airbrushing myself and even for just a simple paint scheme (traditional colors, markings, etc.) the airbrush is SUCH a time saver.

Best use for an AB in Warhammer scale is basecoats. I can basecoat a LR with a single coat of paint in 3 minutes....it would be around 15 with a GW tank brush and look like crap compared to the smoothness of airbrushing.

I hear people say it's cheating. It's not cheating, it's working smart instead of working hard. I could achieve AB smoothness with super reduced paint and a brush (like the French do) and it'd probably still take 15 mins. Would look smooth as silk but for something as large and flat as a LR why put in so much effort. I'll take the time I save and use it as extra time alloted for when I do pull out the old stick and hair brush....

Fateweaver brought up an interesting point in another topic.
Is airbrushing cheating. It is indeed more expensive. Yet, in life, time is money. You spend more time on a project for cheaper or you spend more money on it to get it done faster. This doesnt always hold true but its a general rule.

Is airbrushing cheating. If the goal is to paint with a paintbrush then yes. If it is said to be cheating because it requires no skill then I challenge you to show off how easy something is with an airbrush vs a paintbrush. Ok I challenge you anyway because I want to see the cool stuff you figure out. Its an art just like a paintbrush requiring some similar and some different skills. But seriously, it is not only falsely elitist to say you have to use a paintbrush, its silly. use what your comfortable with or desire to use. If I can generate two identical products via different methods does it matter which was used?

One should be careful of Paradigms as they lead to stagnation and can limit creativity and productivity. Look at the assembly line. one of the most popular breaks in paradigm that changed a lot. Or look at communication. in the past people made plans, now they have cell phones. Without one its hard to get stuff done now days because the paradigm has shifted. It makes some things so much more efficient. I personally think it was a huge hit against our social structure to have too much on demand right now reducing our ability to plan and wait, but that's another rant.

I personally think that the goal in painting is to get a nicely painted model in the minimum time possible for minimal expense. The startup for an airbrush is high but frankly you can use the same paints as normal and I believe waste a comparable or less amount than you would using a wet pallet. Although I challenge myself not to use a paintbrush on a model I can almost never meet that goal(thus far) because some fine detail work is just too difficult for my current skill level.

Therefore what makes the most sense, if you have the resources and patience to learn, is to use each for what their strengths are to minimize time consumption and maximize product value(pleasing to my eye is my measurand) and I hate seeing brush strokes. on all but the absolute best, if you look closely you can usually see them. granted the bane for the AB is over spray and splatter.

[To be inserted into article]
How to paint glowy effects. example on a vent.

1. I paint the rest of the model first, this is a detail and so should be saved to ensure the color looks right with your base color.
2. I typically base the bit-to-be-glowy white, it needs to glow. All areas that will exhibit scattered light should have some degree of white sprayed on them. the source should be pure white while the scattering surfaces should be faint white at the level of the darkest part of the source and then going darker.
The order of the next few can be reversed depending on the thickness/transparency of your layers


3. use a mask, held by hand, tape, or the object features and spray the next darker color(bright/light pink,purple,blue,green etc) such that one side is colored but the source of the light stays white, we can push this color in later once we see the overall effect.
This image shows a mask to protect the base paint job. using either thicker layers or darker paints as you go change the angle your spraying so that the inside is brightest and the outside near the edges is darker. If you want more complicated lighting look at such an object to see where scatter and surface reflections show up and spray accordingly. Admittedly, it is equally easy to airbrush and hand brush these parts to the same effect. I just use an airbrush to challenge myself.

4. Same as three but increase the sheer angle at which you spray the next darker color so you get a transition from white through to the darker and darker colors.


This image shows both the intake but also further up you see the glowing green "energy rods" done via the same method but in reverse order.

5. Optional: If you want it to really pop beyond what your current AB skill level allows then you can adjust the magnitude of the gradient, go with nonlinear gradients, or go back with a paintbrush and make sure that white is white and the darker shadows are as dark as possible. Again use a wet pallet and layers as with normal blending lest brush strokes ruin your nice paint job.

[end later insertion]

The cheating argument doesn't seem very valid. If there's a better tool or method of doing something, it's worth looking into. You don't see people trying to hand paint in weathering and shading where a wash would work. Although money is an issue for everyone (good thing I got my airbrush before I got into 40k).

Thanks for the update, keep them coming. I'm looking forward to using this info to work on my devilfish soon enough. I'm really curious as to what you use for masking? I've used painters tape a little bit on my crisis suit, wondering what you use and what you use for stencils (and where to get some). Either way nice work, can't wait to see more.

Awesome update. Feeling empowered to try some new tricks out.

I was just thinking about this...

atropos907, have you ever considered using a liquid rubber masker when masking areas of a model? They're really good stuff. I personally use this stuff made by Humbrol called "Maskol". However, I have heard it said that CopyDex works just as well, if not better in fact. It enables you to keep things neat and tidy, and they peel straight off... In fact, Maskol is actually intended for masking areas of a model during spraying/airbrushing. I have mentioned this because it just seems really awkward cutting out masks and stuff... liquid rubber maskers would make more use for your projects than mine! (For now, that is...)

P.S. Maskol DESTROYS brushes, but rubber chisels (used when working with clays and Epoxy Putty, I think) work quite well, although they don't hold as much of the stuff. Saying that, it dries to a flexible film pretty fast. The alternative is to use really cheap brushes, so that they can be disposed of when done with. Cheers!

Silly question for you, Atropos...

My parents got me a nice airbrush(a Steener and Hardbeck Evolution, very nice) and compressor for my birthday, but I'm hesitant to use it right now as I can't get the mix to a level I'm comfortable spraying.

Just how thinned out should I have my paints for spraying?
Right now, it takes .02 seconds for the mix to run down the side of the bottles I've stored/mixed them in.

Any tips would be very much appreciated, holding off on doing my Sentinels until I get an answer from you

Check this vid out for tips on paint consistency.

It should run almost like water.

Good site for lots of airbrush tips and techniques...hours worth of video. Tony D and Ed Hubbs are very good at what they do.

http://airbrushtricks.com/start/airbrush-videos/22/437-thinning-your-paint.html

Cosmic wrote:
atropos907, have you ever considered using a liquid rubber masker when masking areas of a model? They're really good stuff. I personally use this stuff made by Humbrol called "Maskol". However, I have heard it said that CopyDex works just as well, if not better in fact. It enables you to keep things neat and tidy, and they peel straight off... In fact, Maskol is actually intended for masking areas of a model during spraying/airbrushing. I have mentioned this because it just seems really awkward cutting out masks and stuff... liquid rubber maskers would make more use for your projects than mine! (For now, that is...)

P.S. Maskol DESTROYS brushes, but rubber chisels (used when working with clays and Epoxy Putty, I think) work quite well, although they don't hold as much of the stuff. Saying that, it dries to a flexible film pretty fast. The alternative is to use really cheap brushes, so that they can be disposed of when done with. Cheers!

I have heard of it but not tried it. I havent bothered because Ive been forcing my freehand and freehand stencil practice.

This stuff seems useful for a few purposes.
1. you can mask and know your mask wont move. alignment can be a pain on multiple masks.
2. by the look of it you might be able to print off a transparency of a picture and then mask it with this stuff, cut it out and lay it up on the model transferring the intricate pattern if your careful enough. sounds incredibly useful for that but again Id rather practice my freehand stencil use as im trying to waste as little time on stencils as possible and with the right base set of stencils you can do almost anything. But I can see projects where this would be invaluable especially for huge complicated projects where your afraid of messing up your previous layers. You may want to consider a dull coat here and there to protect before applying this stuff..

Thanks for mentioning that Cosmic.

Fateweaver wrote:Check this vid out for tips on paint consistency.

It should run almost like water.

Good site for lots of airbrush tips and techniques...hours worth of video. Tony D and Ed Hubbs are very good at what they do.

http://airbrushtricks.com/start/airbrush-videos/22/437-thinning-your-paint.html

The thinning your paint video is missing.
However this brings me to an old rant. "like water' "like milk" I hate these descriptors. It took me a long time to figure out WTH. But ive used this site a few times and agree it has some great tutorials .

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Sites I visit when im stumped or want some inspiration
http://airbrushtricks.com/
http://www.airbrushtechnique.com/
http://www.howtoairbrush.com
http://theairbrushforum.com/
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Kanluwen wrote:Silly question for you, Atropos...

My parents got me a nice airbrush(a Steener and Hardbeck Evolution, very nice) and compressor for my birthday, but I'm hesitant to use it right now as I can't get the mix to a level I'm comfortable spraying.

Your right, that is silly. but not for the reason you might think. First Congratulations and happy birthday! I hope you learn to love your airbrush(but have a healthier relationship with it than I do) Its silly because
If your hesitant to ruin a model there are simple solutions.
1. Strip the model and try again. Ok I hate doing this but airbrush paint is so easy to strip. Assuming you haven't clear coated it. Then it can be harder.
2. Get your old toys or funny shaped objects you dont care about and practice on those. then see 1 and try again till you have the technique down.
3. Go to craft/toy store and buy realy cheap toys or wooden blocks/shapes at the right scale to challenge yourself.
4. Go to a hardware store and buy for sale signs(cheaper is better) for like a buck for a square foot and practice techniques on those. you can be lazy about cleaning these and scrub them with soap, water, and a sponge(not the dish sponge lest you like eating paint).
5. Go to craft store and buy construction paper or just colored paper and practice on that.

If your willing to invest the time there is no excuse for not having surfaces to paint. (other than not being able to spare 2 dollars) I recommend practicing on materials similar to what you want to paint as paint will behave a bit differently from metal to paper to plastic. primer helps to normalize this but dont waste primer on these practice pieces till you get somewhat competent.

Kanluwen wrote:
Just how thinned out should I have my paints for spraying?
Right now, it takes .02 seconds for the mix to run down the side of the bottles I've stored/mixed them in.

Any tips would be very much appreciated, holding off on doing my Sentinels until I get an answer from you

Dont hold off. Practice and experiment(with small quantities of paint) I usually use 2-5 drops of paint for any color session and equal or greater quantities of thinner.

For paint consistency my article states my "can see a bit of metal through the sheen of paint" test in the paint cup when you swirl it around. But pigmentation density plays a role and this changes on paints. basic starting point thin 50 50. if it wont spray for more than a second thin more. However it may not be that simple...

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Clogging:

To start. my wife just reminded me this and paint consistency were what I @$#%'ed about the most when I started. clogging is infuriating.
Questions for you. Ill answer anyway but im curious.
1. what is the length of your air hose and ID.
2. what is the end hose pressure
3. do you have a tank
4. what is your nozzle size
5. Im hoping its a gravity fed AB(evolution solo or one of those grav fed variants?)
6. what paints are you using
7. what are you thinning it with.


Clogging can be caused by any number of things. Here are some things to consider.
1. Paint must be of the *correct* consistency for the nozzle size and pressure used. This just takes practice to figure out. Starting thinner usually helps and thicken up to what your comfortable with. This approach helps prevent initial clogs. If your paranoid start 3:1 thinner to paint. Be warned these coats will likely have to be very thin.

2. Airflow/pressure. If you have no tank then you may be getting variations in pressure and this makes spraying fine sprays really really hard. You start spraying but pressure starts drooping even 10% and that causes a clog and it gets worse from there. Solution: Air tank. See above about overheating your compressor if it wasn't designed for an air tank. 2. airhose. adding an extra airhose of sufficient length and large enough ID will act as a cheap air tank(low volume). Pulsation can also cause clogging. Tanks help this too as do longer airhoses. However too long an airhose will cause laminar flow resistance to be so large that there will be a notable lag in pressure drop before the compressor can kick in. This lag also will cause the steady state(continual spraying) end hose pressure to be lower than what the compressor tries to hold pressure at. Ideal brush pressure Is often 15-30PSI depending on brush and nozzle size.

3. dirty needle. Be sure your CAREFULLY cleaning that needle frequently when using acrylics.

4. Bad paint. sometimes thinning isnt enough, you may have to filter for the smallest needle sizes. Dont let it sit in the gun too long. I often stir my paint in the cup every couple minutes to be sure it isn't sedimentation. Filtering reduces the need for this for cheaper paints. Buy airbrush paints to make your life easier here. Just a few colors at first. White, black, and 2 others you like.

5. damaged needle: will reduce the Venturi effect if bent and not pull the paint out as easily thus more prone to clogging. Also if the needle is left to sit in water or some chemical it may start pitting. Also if you aren't nice to it when you clean it you may scratch it. any defect will reduce the Venturi effect or the paint flow ability over the needle.

5. Once you clog it you have to do a good job of unclogging it because some solids may still be hiding in the nozzle. meaning you sometimes have to take it apart and clean it though generally just the nozzle and needle. See article for how to clean(Qtip, and IPA or water, IPA is better. Acetone if you must be be careful, some AB parts don't react well to acetone. Ahh the time Ive wasted not clearing a clog properly. again be VERY CAREFUL not to damage your needle. Ive bent two. They can be straightened but you will notice a difference in performance.

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Please answer the questions at the beginning and Ill respond if I can think of anything else that may help. But be patient. this was the biggest obstacle for me and once you figure it out things start going great from there.

Also Life is a classroom. Any lesson you fail to learn or retain will be repeated. I still occasionally have problems with not properly clearing a clog and wasting 20 minutes fighting the AB.

Great question thanks!

Braided hose complete, 9 ft. with quick coupling nd 2.7, connection 1/4 inch is the hose I'm using.

Not sure on the end hose pressure(how would I find this out?)

No tank, but I've done some tests with the compressor and it's a consistent 28-30 PSI(28 if the hose gets tangled up, 30 otherwise).

It is an Evolution 2 in 1, and I've been using the .4 mm nozzle.

For paints: I've been using a 50-50 ratio for the Games Workshop paints, but when I tried spraying them with that ratio it seemed to build up in the nozzle and when I removed it to clean the build-up, all the paint was basically just dripping from the paint cup.

What would you say is causing that?

For end pressure you would need a pressure gauge but that's not that important with short hoses. 9ft is fine.

You can tell if there is pulsation by spraying water or very thin paint in the finest smallest spray possible over paper. if its continuous then your pulsation is likely inconsequential.

Nozzle size is good.

OK, GW paints aren't great for AB'ing. Ive had some that I can thin down fine but others wouldn't spray well. I suspected it was because they were old.
On this point I suggest trying createx or badger as they are fairly cheap and flow well out of the bottle.

Removing the nozzle with paint in the cup is a no no. it will just drip out because the nozzle is no longer there to stop it. but unless you have a clog inside the nozzle the buildup on the needle just outside the nozzle can be cleaned with a wiping/rolling action of a wet or IPA'ed Qtip. roll and wipe such that the needle does not get bent. Gentle wipes will do. The same action with a very soft toothbrush works aswell.

But ultimately the use of acrylics makes airbrushing harder as it will build up on the tip faster than other paints. but its non toxic.

See, I thought like you did that it was the paint being old, but I tried it with some brand new pots that I shook up as well as I could before trying.

Just makes me very curious, as I haven't really been able to find good matches outside of their range for the specific colors I'm planning on for my Cadians.

Very good summary atropos907....

I stated more or less the same in another thread.

For basic color get the Createx paints. I use mostly the Autoair brand. Price sounds staggering at $7-9 for a 4oz bottle but thinned out (I normally go 3:1 paint to reducer) you will be able to do around 24 baneblade sized vehicles before needing to buy more.*

Also, try the Wicked series of paints from Createx. Smallest you can buy is 16oz and at around $17 isn't cheap but damned if you'll go through that much in any short time.

*Well, maybe not that much but if I had 24 baneblades lying about I'd for sure test that theory and let you all know but I'm sure it's close. My AB has a 1/3 oz cup and I can do an entire LR (single layer) before I need to refill so in theory around 17 LR's per 4oz bottle of paint.