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Thanks for the input 'non-arguing people', is much appreciated.

I will be using a Spray Gun/airbrush for the 1st time so: (tick box).
I intend to use it to undercoat and basecoat vehicles and entire squads of Space Marines, so:
(tick box).

To me atleast, although it may not be the best out there, but the citadel spray gun sounds perfect for what I need, yes?

Cheers again.

The thing with the Citadel Spray Gun is that it eats propellant like crazy.

It took me about 1.5 cans just to get the foundation paint to water-ratio correct. And to learn how to adjust the paintflow so it didn't flood the models. (I might be a slow learner? )

The thing with the propellant is also that it just doesn't cut it for working longer periods of time. The can cools down and you get low/no pressure which in turn ruins your (at least it did with mine) paintjob.

A day later or so I read Mistress of Minis post on airbrushes. Picked up a cheap Paasche at a local art supply store, and borrowed my dads compressor. Voila, instant success (or well, after an hour or so. The paint / water ratio took a while to dial in).

An airbrush might feel like a hassle to buy (especially when you have to get a compressor as well) but trust me. It's way less hassle once you get to the painting part compared to the Citadel Spray Gun. And the plus is that you get a tool you can use for way more stuff than you can with the CSG.

Kilkrazy wrote:Unless you are going to do insane numbers of models, you are probably better off with normal spray can paint than a cheapo airbrush/spray gun.

It comes in massive varieties of colours, needs no mixing, cleaning or extra propellant, and can even do texture effects.

You can get some amount of detailing like basic camo patterns by using stencils and masks.

The main thing is you need to spray before you assemble infantry type figures, to get into the underarms and stuff.

I did my Tyranid army with three colours in a day. 18 medium size models, 12 teenies and a Trygon. It was a 1,000 point list. I used up maybe half a can each of four different sprays including the primer.

This is also a wise thing to consider.
Look into Army Painter's line of color primers and the "Warpaint" line for Flames of War.

Kanluwen wrote:

Wikipedia Airbrush article wrote:An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink and dye, but most often paint by a process of nebulization. Spray guns developed from the airbrush and are still considered a type of airbrush.

We're both wrong, actually.

Either way, they market it as a "spray gun" and not an "airbrush" for a good reason. It's intended for nothing but basecoating and large models. Anyone wanting to do detail work with it is deluded.

How does that make what I said wrong?

Gw 'markets' it as a 'spray gun'. They also think thier products are reasonably priced. That doesnt mean they're right on either point.

Just because the GW airbrush, is a cheap crappy air brush that isnt capable of detail work, doesnt make it anything different regardless of label or packaging.

Its appetite for paint and propellant just dont make it a wise investment. For 20$ more you can get a ps900 which is an excellent brush:

http://www.buyairbrushes.com/store.php/products/air-pro-tools-ps900

And once again, it's not meant to be a high quality fine detail piece of kit.

It's meant, like pretty much any hobby tool they sell, to be something someone just getting into the hobby with no prior experience in painting/modelling would buy at the till.

If you want to stand in every GW/FLGS in the world and shout at the rooftop to enlighten people that they can get better for cheaper knock yourself out.

I have a professional air gun cost me $1200 us and it is a dream - looking at the cit gun it does look like a piece but for only $30 might as well try it out before you fork real money for a goood gun. it has all the correct parts of a normal air gun.

@ mini that gun is a lot better and i would prefer working with that then the cit but if your just using it for simple things might as well get the cheaper one i guess.

Thanks JH Eldar, that's what I was thinking, I'll look around for some other ones but the Citadel one looks like a good place to start so...

I personally used the Cidital Spray gun for about 8 months
I used it to base cots my army's but the Propellant got very expensive

at first i used the GW stuff at 12 bucks a can. I found the Testors can was more FL OZ and was at 10 dollars.
But a can only really does about 1k in chaos its gets Super cold and causes it to not be constant. So you have to swap cans very often.

Eventfully i gave up and just recently purchased a Air Brush and a 2 gallon compressor from Home depot.
Total cost was $205.00
This included a Spay gun, Compressor with regulator and 20ft hose, and a moister tap, and another regulator.
The compressor takes 4 min to charge and last for about 8 min of always on spray. (my compressor kicks on at 70, it then takes 1 min to charge)(But with a 20 foot hose I can stick it out side and not even hear it).

Hope this helps.

I'm shocked and dismayed that this thread got to 2 pages without mentioning the clearly superior and high quality 'Eavy Metal Spray Gun

That's what you should spend your money on.

That is so awesome.

It's the best invention since striped paint.

I bought the citadel gun when it originally came out. At first I was pretty disappointed, i really didn't know how to airbrush at all. I guess i got caught up in the hype.

Over the course of a few weeks i did my homework and got a smart-jet air compressor and an Iwata Airbrush. What I've learned is the compressor makes a larger difference than the actual gun itself.

This is what makes it a poor choice. Since then I've been using the Citadel gun with my smart-jet to do larger base coats and lots of Tyranids, works like a charm now. (a badger adapter fits perfectly on the citadel gun)

I cannot recommend the GW spraygun.

I can recommend the identical in function (minus the stupid looking hand flamer style) Badger 250. Will do the same job and costs less. Has about the same hunger for cans, though.

Myself, I have a Paasche VL-3 DA airbrush (and fully intend to go back to using it once I have my spraybooth reassembled - it's a 2 man job.) which I can happily recommend as well.

Moving to painting & modelling, which seems a slightly more appropriate place for this discussion...

Mistress of minis wrote:
The GW toy IS an airbrush, look at the nozzle set up. Single action siphon feed airbrush, the design has been around for years. They stuck a gimick handle on it and call it a gun. But its still an airbrush. A cheapo pistol grip doesnt change what it is.

By that definition, there is no difference between a ATV, a car, a van, and a school bus - they all carry people, have 4 wheels, and have a gasoline engine.

I think the Citadel Spray gun is accurately named and marketed. That being said, at $30 for the gun and $8 per can of propellant, it would quickly become cost-efficient to buy a cheap airbrush and compressor, as you can get both from Harbor Freight for $80 - and going that route, you can do all of the jobs of the spray gun, and some of the jobs of an airbrush.

Some folks have had good luck with it - but the bottom line is, regarding the GW whatever-you-call-it, if you search forums (this forum and others) you will find story after story after story of problems, frustration, and total disappointment with this GW product.

Just don't buy it... I like MoM's PS900 idea better.

Ouze wrote:

Mistress of minis wrote:
The GW toy IS an airbrush, look at the nozzle set up. Single action siphon feed airbrush, the design has been around for years. They stuck a gimick handle on it and call it a gun. But its still an airbrush. A cheapo pistol grip doesnt change what it is.

By that definition, there is no difference between a ATV, a car, a van, and a school bus - they all carry people, have 4 wheels, and have a gasoline engine.

Not exactly. A closer comparison would be sticking a spoiler on a 97 hyundai and calling it a race car. Sure- you could race it, but its not going to work out very well. In short- cosmetic alterations dont change what an item is (all the vehicles you mentioned do have specific roles or uses and arent mislabled for marketing hype).

Once upon a time I used air cans and a cheap plastic airbrush. I wasted alot of time and money. Im just hoping people will listen and not wind up wasting thier money too.