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I'm thinking about getting an airbrush for painting (duh), but I don't know what's a good airbrush. Can you guys recommend any good beginner airbrushes?
Some questions:
I saw a melta styled airbrush at the GW site, is it good, and what kind of paint does it use?
Do airbrushes use acrylic/GW? Because I prefer to use acrylic or GW paints, enamels give me headaches.

Hey kmopotato,

some info to get you started: http://ik-painter.blogspot.com/2011/07/advanced-tools-i-airbrush-and.html

Oh, and I would stay clear of the GW Spraygun - the thing is dreadful and can only barely be called an "airbrush".

Cheers,


IK-Painter

The GW spraygun is fine for doing coloured base coats and/or washes, but it isn't anywhere near an airbrush.

What do you want to achieve with an airbrush? Why an airbrush and not a brush?

Do not, I repeat do not waste you money on that over priced GW spray gun. You can get a cheap spray gun, if that's what you want for $10-15 at a any hardware store.

What you want is a double action gravity feed airbrush. Just pic up a cheap one on e-bay. The Chinese clones work just as well as the expensive brand name American and Japanese brushes. I have 5 and the all spray well, although they do use softer (read cheaper) metals such as brass for some components. But for a $25-50 airbrush its a good deal. They come with 0.2-0.3 needles so they can do very fine work with the need cap removed.

Alternately, if you have a Harbor Freight near you can get a cheap $15-18, double action gravity feed airbrush. These are "good" I have two that I use for terrain, priming, and varnishing. The needles are larger some you can't get as fine a line with them.

Also don't waste you money on an hobby airbrush compressor. just buy a shop compressor with a least a 8 gallon air tank, along with a moisture trap and regulator. Again like $80-100 at Harbor Freight. A hardware compressor will give you far more control, more consistent and variable air pressure, and much longer work time before overheating. Yeah they are loud, but you can easily build a wooden box for it and line it with carpet to dampen the noise/vibration. Or put is outside and run an airline in to your shop.

Also, get a 3M breathing mask. You shouldn't breath acrylic dust anymore that you should enamel fumes. In fact either can lead to serious breathing conditions.



I hope the above helps.

Look Familiar?

The GW spray gun is junk.
For the same price you can get not junk.
http://www.amazon.com/NEO-Gravity-Feed-Action-Airbrush/dp/B004INERK4

http://www.youtube.com/user/awesomepaintjob#p/u/22/xh5Hb1hq07M

he has a specific portion of the video that talks about masking tapes and what kind of airbrush to look for, hope this helps

Oh ok, thanks guys. The reason I want an airbrush is because brushes look uneven to me, and kind of chunky. I'm also going to be painting things that are bigger than just minis, like monoliths, tanks, or non 40k stuff like Gunpla. Just any cheap-yet-effective brush is good.