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So i've been considering picking up an airbrush, and after searching the net i still have some questions. So i look to my fellow dakkites for a little help. Ive read alot about cleaning and the difficulty of cleaning some guns over others, my question is how much of an issue is this. Are we talking full dissasembly and cleaning after every paint session or once a week ...? On that topic what do you favor for cleaning solution. Are there any tools that are needed or make the task easier. Next, ive seen alot of brushes with different needle sizes and tips what are the effects of these different parts. Also ive read alot about GW paints being extremely difficult to use with an airbrush, is this true. I currently have all GW paints and this would be a signifacant additional cost to purchase model air or another more useable line of paints. I've read that some brands brushes are much better than others and paying a few bucks more can really make a differance in your results. I plan to use this for basecoats and large models as well as terrain. I have been looking recently at the paashe talon tg-3f its fairly well priced and has plenty of extra's for me to "grow into".

Any help would be appreciated

Hey Spazz,

congrats on wanting to take the plunge into the wonderful world of airbrushing :-).

If you don't let the paint dry in the airbrush, cleanup shouldn't be much of a problem. I usually rinse with water between colors and with an airbrush cleaner at the end of the session. Just use a soft brush to get all the residue out of the paintcup and then spray to clean the tip. If your tip has dried up, just disassemble the brush, pull the needle out and use your fingernail to remove the dried up paint.

I've started out with a Rich RB-2 brush http://ik-painter.blogspot.com/2011/08/advanced-tools-iii-rich-rb-2-airbrush.html and was quite happy with it.

But I also bought a Paasche Talon TG-3F, same as you, to have more options - really loking forward to trying that badboy out, but alas, German customs only cleared it this morning - so I'll have to wait for monday to give you some impressions on it :-).

I haven't really tried GW paints for airbrushing, only Vallejo - but it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Check out my blog on thinning paints for airbrushing, maybe this will help you out: http://ik-painter.blogspot.com/2011/07/advanced-tools-ii-airbrush-paints.html

Cheers,


IK-Painter

Thanks for the reply Knight i'd really love to hear your impressions of the talon.
I'm really excited about the potential of airbrushing.

Once I'm done with the paint, I usually run some pure Windex through the airbrush until it comes out clean. I then disassemble the body (easy on most airbrushes) and run it under some running water.

Once in a while, i will totally take it apart and deep clean it.

I've had the airbrush for years and it still runs like new.

I've seen alot of references to using windex and car winshield wiper fluid seems strange, but if it works i guess...
I read through some of your blog Knight great articles thanks for the link

Windex works very well. The only downside is it is quick to dry. Airbrushing GW paints is fine, just make sure you thin them a lot. I use Windex to thin and I get the paint to about the consistency of nonfat milk. It works great. If you want to look at my results check out the latest work on my blog.

Good luck!

After every time I use my badger Velocity, I run a little airbrush cleaner through it, then I take it apart (which is super simple) and drop it into my $35 ultrasonic cleaner I got from amazon.com, filled with water. Let that run for a few minutes, put it back together and I am done. I have yet to use the brushes i bought for it. The ultrasonic cleaner is worth every penny. Less time cleaning, less time fighting clogs, etc.

i just stepped into the world of airbrushing with a 3 gallon compressor (at least i have a use for it now) and a badger 250 airbrush gun.

i know the gun isn't great, but its much better than i am at this point.

i also know that the only advice i can give on this subject is this: i can use GW paint in my airbrush, but it REALLY REALLY has to be watered down. a friend of mine taught me to use a small amount of rubbing alcohol in the mix so the paint will dry a little quicker, preventing a "waving" pattern from emerging on the models. its not an exact science, but i think i am using about 40-30% GW paint, 50-60% water and 10% alcohol.

i was in the same boat your in, i think i have every color GW puts out and am very accustomed to using those colors, so i didn't want to switch out, so i figured i would buy a cheap gun, use it and if i blew it up, i wouldn't care. come to find out, i really like the speed an airbrush can give you, especially when undercoating, and a little bit of tacking putty can give some really cool lines and details on models!

hope you enjoy it as much as i am beginning to!

as a side note, i do own 4 or 5 colors in air brush paint from AV. they are a blue as closely resembles ultramarine blue, black, purple, and white. that way i do have some undercoat colors incase i end up painting something that DOESNT march for McCragge!

my last point is make sure, or i highly recommend either a really dang good compressor, or get a tank with an output regulator on it. the compressor with a tank on it will regulate the air pressure going out, preventing any spurts or blasts from an overage or drop in pressure if the compressor has to kick on or over. i didnt think it was a big deal, but many of the best painters here have recommended it in other posts, so i bought a compressor with a tank on it, just to play it safe, and i highly recommend you do to.

good luck and have fun.

Thanks for all the great replys everyone very helpfull

As above, I'm new to this airbrush stuff too.

dont let paint dry in the airbrush, it you dont have time to wash it, just submerge it in water for the time being, be prepared to clean the crap out of it later.

Get proper airbrush cleaning brushes, pipe cleaners wont do the job, spend the 10 bucks it is worth it

dont use normal metallics, use airbrush metallics, ive had alot of difficulty with thick-as-heck vallejo gunmetal, went over to air color and its fantastic.

I'm not sure about this one but my feed cub is stained every color of the rainbow, dont worry about that it doesnt seem to matter.

Michaels has a really nice range of transparent paint for airbrushes, what I do is do the color-> black shading with the airbrush, then go overtop with these transparent paints (by brush) to get the other colors, this preserves the airbrush shading and makes everything much easier!

Grundz wrote: dont use normal metallics, use airbrush metallics, ive had alot of difficulty with thick-as-heck vallejo gunmetal, went over to air color and its fantastic.

Had the same problem with the game and model color metallics - they are so thick and dry so quickly, that the cleanup was a real nightmare - in the end I had to disassemble my whole brush to get the gunk out. Model Air metallics are the way to go. And even with them I would thin them a bit to avoid clogging

Grundz wrote: I'm not sure about this one but my feed cub is stained every color of the rainbow, dont worry about that it doesnt seem to matter.

Use the wooden back end of your brush and some strong airbrush cleaner to scrape the dried residue out of the paint cup - its difficult to get all of it out, but the sight of a clean as new paintbrush may well be worth it ;-).

If you are very serious about cleaning your airbrush, think about getting an ultrasonic cleaner to soak the whole airbrush in - it's supposed to work wonders when cleaning the brush.


Cheers,


IK-Painter

IK-Painter wrote:

Grundz wrote: dont use normal metallics, use airbrush metallics, ive had alot of difficulty with thick-as-heck vallejo gunmetal, went over to air color and its fantastic.

Had the same problem with the game and model color metallics - they are so thick and dry so quickly, that the cleanup was a real nightmare - in the end I had to disassemble my whole brush to get the gunk out. Model Air metallics are the way to go. And even with them I would thin them a bit to avoid clogging

My issue was the metallic would slowly gather up on the "claw" of the front of the brush, eventually forming a stalagmite of paint which would suddenly supprise me when it blops onto the model.

Small update on the whole Paasche Talon Situation:

Apparently, customs in Germany have had a problem with my precious and have been holding it back since it arrived in the country on saturday - although the tracking told a different story... :-(

Just sent an email to ask them to give me an update on the proceedings, or if there's anything I can do to speed matters up - I'll keep you posted on the situation.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

Sorry to hear that IK Painter, thanks for the update. Really to interested in hearing your thought on it.
I plan to order my compressor this week im still researching a brush.(and waiting for IK Painter to tell me he loves his talon....)

The compressor im looking at is the paashe d3000r its got a tank and comes with a reg. and a trap it looks really good for 125 bucks.
If anyone has some exprience with it id love to hear your thoughts. Im not sure if links are allowed but is on amazon if anyone want to have a look.

Thanks again everyone you've been a great help.


I just realized that i was refering to IK painter as "knight" and i have no idea why sorry

I got my Talon from customs today and have some quick first impressions for you.

http://ik-painter.blogspot.com/2011/08/advanced-tools-iv-paasche-talon.html

Cheers,


IK-Painter

Great review Ik painter really helpfull. Im glad to see you like the brush its was really the best one i found at this price point ,and the fact that you seem to think its a good choice makes me a little more confident that im on the right track with this whole airbrush thing.
Thanks again for the help i hope to have mine ordered next week.