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Going to try out my new airbrush tomorrow. I need to prime some things and am looking for some advice. I have games workshop and vallejo game color black and white, I also have a lot of Delta Cermacoat acrylic paint you get at Michael's craft store cheap: http://www.deltacreative.com/pcid/16/Default.aspx.

I have read to thin the paint to use either water or windex or a 50/50 mix of the 2 with about a 50/50 mix of the paint. I realize it will take some messing with to get right.

My new airbrush is a Paache Talon and it came with these tip sizes:
0.25mm
0.38mm
0.66mm
I think for general priming the largest one the .66mm will work.

Am I correct in my information so far? Has anyone tried the Delta Cermacoat for airbrushing primer?

I also would like to basecoat some of my Ogres with Dheneb Stone a GW foundation paint, I've been told this can be done with a bigger tip size is this correct?

Thanks for the advice.

Well I was sort of working on an AB priming tutorial... I will attach the photos. I have never heard of Delta Cermacoat though. For priming I only use Vallejo Model AIR gray primer.

As for the mixing ...the generic ratios don't really make sense. Every pot of paint is different and will require different thinning - what you need to do is get used to the correct consistency. I always mix in a separate (clear) cup... most folks like to think the consistency of milk. Since you are already shopping at Michaels do yourself a favor and get the Liquitex Airbrush Medium... it is far better than water, windex or alcohol mixtures because it does not evaporate as fast... making the entire experience significantly easier/better.

And yes for the thick foundation paints (even with proper thinning) I would use either of the larger two tip sizes.

You can see in my last photo that the paint/primer looks somewhat glossy. This was a mistake but I decide to keep the picture to explain... if the paint is going on too wet, meaning I am too close to the model, flowing too much paint, and/or staying on one area for too long - you will get this more glossy result.

Hey Gunzhard, where do you get those little cups for mixing paint? Been looking around and haven't seen anything like them.

I have zillions of them... Blick arts, michaels, AC moore... they all carry them.

Cool. Do you know what they are sold as? i.e. if I was wandering around Michaels... what part of the store would I find them in?

The package of mine say 'storage cups' and the other one says 'artists cups'... but basically I asked for clear empty paint pots... they were near the artist pallets and brush cleaner bins I believe.

Thanks the input, I was told Vallejo model air woulc be put straight into the airbrush no thinning needed. I unfortuantely cannot find anywhere near me that carries Vallejo Air.

Well Hargus, you and I are starting this "adventure" together. I should get my brush next week... luckily I have a FLGS that carries the airpaint line. I did stop by the University book store and get the Liquitex medium though... apparently everyone at the store just uses water or windex. But... I'm new at this, so I'm not leaving anything to chance. You should post your progress, would be helpful to see your learning process.

Hargus56 wrote:Thanks the input, I was told Vallejo model air woulc be put straight into the airbrush no thinning needed. I unfortuantely cannot find anywhere near me that carries Vallejo Air.

www.thewarstore.com
or
www.squadron.com

Both are VERY good places to order from with complete ranges of Vallejo Model Air paints.

As an aside, don't ever try to "prime" using an airbrush or normal paintbrush. It really doesn't give a good effect.

Now, basecoating?

That's an entirely different story.

Thanks for the tip I may just have to order some. As for priming with an airbrush I'm sure we are all familiar with the Awesome Paint Job videos and in this latest one: http://www.youtube.com/user/awesomepaintjob?blend=6&ob=4#p/u/0/4tvtgIGHPoM
He says he no longer primes any other way.

I totally disagree about priming with the ab, it works great, I do it all the time. But I only use vallejo air gray primer.

Priming is the onloy time i still emamel based product, i find it bonds too the plastic, metal, resin, greenstuff the best... Testor makes a clear primer pigmnet which you can add a color too, to give you primer a color( or a foundation coat).

THEN I just air brush my primialy colors and secondary colors and im done, until i have do detail work or design work

Hargus56 wrote:I'm sure we are all familiar with the Awesome Paint Job videos ... He says he no longer primes any other way.

Les is a Dakka member, hopefully he will chime in on this.

Much as I'm loving my airbrush, I must admit that I'm skeptical about the use of a non-aerosol primer, especially as my airbrushed colour layers seem very fragile until I have lacquer on the model.


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@Gitsplitta

If you can find them in a local art store, prepped paint will keep for ages in a dropper bottle, especially if you chuck in a suitable agitator.

I've got some GW Blood Red, thinned about 1:1 that I made up over a month ago and it's still good, even without a lid on the dropper bottle.

It does tend to separate, so I put in a 1/4" chromed ball (the type the magnet suppliers sell for magnetic scultures) as an agitator.

Give it a gentle shake and it's ready for the airbrush.

As an aside, I also put one of the balls in each of my GW paints and use magnets on the outside of the bottle to stir the paint with no waste! Damn, I'm clever!

@BloodQuest: Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I did find the cups that Gunzhard mentioned at Michaels, but since I plan on using effectively the same paint blends over and over on my marines... making & storing them in dropper bottles would undoubtedly help keep my efforts consistent over time.

I hear pebbles for aquariums work well for mixing the paint as well.

Hargus56 wrote:Thanks for the tip I may just have to order some. As for priming with an airbrush I'm sure we are all familiar with the Awesome Paint Job videos and in this latest one: http://www.youtube.com/user/awesomepaintjob?blend=6&ob=4#p/u/0/4tvtgIGHPoM
He says he no longer primes any other way.

Yeah I pretty much only prime with the AB now... it is just too easy and I can do it indoors regardless of the humidity level. I've found it too be as good if not better than aerosol. I had a primed unit that I gamed with for several months before finally painting and the primer coat never suffered the slightest scratch... I was really impressed; surprised actually.

Regarding awesomepaintjob and that one airbrush video series they did... most had a lot of bad information and it was clear that the author was fumbling through his first time with certain things. Les however is an outstanding artist and his videos (also under the awesomepaintjob umbrella) are quite excellent and informative.

For paint agitators I use glass balls... also easy to find at Michaels.

Gunzhard wrote:I had a primed unit that I gamed with for several months before finally painting and the primer coat never suffered the slightest scratch... I was really impressed; surprised actually.

Although I am, of course, scandalised by the thought of someone playing with unfinished minis, I am persuaded by your argument.

Care to recommend a supplier for Model Air Primer? I have the starter set, but my FLGS only carries a handful of sets, not individual items.

Gunzhard wrote:For paint agitators I use glass balls... also easy to find at Michaels.

Still prefer my balls of steel

LOL ...yeah I know, though most of my stuff is painted.

I bought like 6 bottles of Vallejo Air gray primer the last time I ordered... though I am not entirely sure if it was from thewarstore.com or superherogameland.com. I buy stuff from both rather frequently I'm ashamed to admit.

I was also under the impression that Model Air was pre-thinned...is thinning with airbrush medium just a personal preference or is that not true?

Also, I didn't even know Liquitex made an airbrush medium. I was just gonna use Windex since it seemed a lot of people recommended it, but I guess that's no good?

Windex will work fine. Liquitex AB medium is just better, a lot better imo.

I started with windex, then used a water:isopropyl alcohol mix because it was cheaper... now I only use the Liquitex... though the Vallejo AB medium is also very good - you just get a lot less for about the same price. It all comes down to the evaporation rate... the liquitex doesn't evaporate nearly as fast and I found myself cleaning off clogged tips much less.

Vallejo AIR is pre-thinned, but like everything else, every bottle is different from the next. If I am using a larger tip AB I don't fuss to much about it... but most of time I will add some thinner regardless.

Now here's one of the things I'm puzzled about. It seems that both Vallejo (which I do have) and Liquitex (my art store is OOS), are acrylic MEDIUM not thinner.

I assume the medium is essentially the paint without pigment, so I don't see how this would replace water/windex/whatever.

Elsewhere, I've read that people actually use a proportion of Vallejo AB Cleaner as a thinner.

Have to admit, though, that I've been meaning to try it but haven't actually got around to it yet.

I have been airbrushing my space wolves for the last two weeks. Here is what I did with GW paint.

3 parts paint to 1 part testors acrylic thinner. It gave the perfect mix. I used a medicine dropper I picked up at the pharmacy (for free to boot. CVS/Longs) to get an exact mix.

As for the reference to milk, thats definitly the mix you want.

To make a wash that I could use for tanks I mixed 1 part paint, one part dish soap and 5 parts thinner. (Found the mix on an old dakka thread)

So far everything has come out great. I just put on the base coat of another 20 space pups today.

Once extra thing to throw in; I found that using blue tack/poster putty to keep the model attached to a sheet of plastic card gave me the ability to lift/turn/flip models while using the air brush give me much needed flexibility. Once done, remove blue tack and your set. Even better, leave blue tack on plastic card sheet and flip model upside down on it and you ready to get those tough to reach areas.

The liquitex (and Golden brand) are indeed labeled as 'medium' but oh do they thin. Honestly they are likely both some sort of alcohol mix, they smell like alcohol, but whatever the recipe is they are indeed an improvement and will keep things wetter, longer.

I didn't even realize that Vallejo sold a cleaner. The bottle I have says Dilutent / Thinner.

Gunzhard wrote:I didn't even realize that Vallejo sold a cleaner. The bottle I have says Dilutent / Thinner.

Yes, I bought it at the same time I got the thinner. I'm sure it's not much different to other cleaners, just thought I might try it as a thinner which I'd read about on some military modelling forums - can't tell you which ones, I just googled airbrushing vallejo paints.

Having said that, I'd personally rather avoid solvents if I can do so and still get reasonable results.

I note that everyone stresses non-ammonia windex, but presumably even that has some sort of solvent content.


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Just noticed that while the Vallejo cleaner has warnings about solvent content (Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether), the thinner doesn't.

Oh well, I'll have to have a play one evening.

Somewhat tangential to the main discussion, but does anyone know how well Model Air Scarlet Red compares to Blood Red?