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So I'm having a problem with painting my tanks in metallic shades (shining gold and mithril silver primarily) and getting a "gloppy" look, regardless of the thinness of my paint, so I'm considering obtaining a Citadel spray gun (the one that looks like a flamer). I have a gift card for GW, so it really won't cost me anything, and I can't afford a nice shiny expensive one, so I guess my questions are:

1) Is it worth it to get a Citadel brand gun or just not have a spray gun at all?

2) Will metallics work in the Citadel gun or will it clog the works with metal shavings? If they work, then -

3) Has anyone worked with shining gold and/or mithril silver and what kind of results have you gotten with them in the spray gun?

Thanks, guys!

1. It is worth geting a airbrush for painting tanks and stuff, but i would sugest you save money to get a good airbrush, like a Paasche H airbrush, i got one for 50.00.

2. Metallics should work with an airbrush.

3. Never tried

Haven't tried it with an airbrush, but my GW pots usually get a 30%-50% thinning with a mixture of Luquitex medium and flow aid/water mixture. Takes a couple layers to get good opaque color but it's better than goopy details you can't see anymore. If your using water to thin your paints that's probably why it looks gloopy. Water alone reduces the viscosity but it doesn't reduce surface tension, to do that you need a flow aid as well to make the water wetter.

The other thing it could potentially be, and you don't mention it so I am, is if you are not providing a good surface for the paint to stick to. You need to be using something like primer or gesso for the paint to get a good bond.

fraggrenade wrote:It is worth geting a airbrush for painting tanks and stuff, but i would sugest you save money to get a good airbrush, like a Paasche H airbrush, i got one for 50.00.

While I appreciate the feeling that a better model spray gun, I literally don't have $50 in 'fun money' to put to the hobby, and probably won't have that kind of money for months. I *do* however have 4 tanks that need painted before they're playable, and I would very much like to play between now and then (everything else is polished and ready). So again, do you have the experience with the Citadel machine to say it would be worth it even if its a lesser machine?

drukawski wrote:The other thing it could potentially be, and you don't mention it so I am, is if you are not providing a good surface for the paint to stick to. You need to be using something like primer or gesso for the paint to get a good bond.

I have had absolutely 0% luck with spray on primer and so I have taken to use Vallejo White paint-on primer (yes, the primer and not the regular white). I've found it works awesome for infantry but it hasn't impressed me as much with the tanks, giving a 'blotchy-er' look. I'm going to be trying Tamiyo white fine surface spray-on primer (I've heard very good things) for these tanks after they get out of their simple green bath and dry off.

Yeah, I've got a wave serpent that needs a good coat of yellow over white, and the spray gun seems to be my best bet.
Should I buy it?

I've used the gw sprayer with vallejo's airbrush gold and it's quite good. I doubt the gw airbrush is good for much beyond base colors and coarse camo stripes but it's easy to learn to use.
DO get vallejo's or tamiya's airbrush cleaner for use with metallics though. The flakes have a magical ability to adhere even after repeated cleaning cycles otherwise.

Sanguinary Dan wrote:I've used the gw sprayer with vallejo's airbrush gold and it's quite good. I doubt the gw airbrush is good for much beyond base colors and coarse camo stripes but it's easy to learn to use.
DO get vallejo's or tamiya's airbrush cleaner for use with metallics though. The flakes have a magical ability to adhere even after repeated cleaning cycles otherwise.

Its comforting to hear that someone has used vallejo product in the GW sprayer - after I use up my shining gold paint pots I'm planning on moving exclusively to using Vallejo Game Color Glorious Gold - can't beat those squeeze bottles! Now on to your comments -

- How does the Vallejo Airbrush Gold Metallic compare to Shining/Glorious Gold? Negligible differences? If you were using just the normal metallic paint, how much would you water it down?

- Nah, this'd be just for basecoats - the details will come later by hand, for sure.

- I'll have to look into where I can snag Vallejo airbrush cleaner... the metallic flakes are my biggest worry - I don't mind using 30 giftcard bucks to snag this tool, but I *DO* mind perma-fething it on my first go, ya know?

Ok, from the above... are you undercoating your tanks white ? this won't help with metallics.. your better off going for a black primer, and the metallics willl show up a lot better, and will require alot less paint that way... reducing the gloopyness.. (if your not priming white, my apologies)..

Have you tried dry brushing, with a tank brush ?? small amounts of paint, painted over a few times will coat the tanks without issue, and won't obscure the details...