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anyone who owns one, what are the pros and cons to purchasing the GW paint gun for painting 40k mini's? i do alright with brushes, check out my Gallery. but basically i just want to know if purchasing the paint gun is worth while

I do not own one but surely the main advantage is getting an even thin coat of paint on your mini its basecoat-tastic

Do a search here for the gw airbrush/spray gun... you will find many tales of frustration, anger and disappointment.

You are much better simply saving your money and purchasing a legitimate airbrush setup. I've owned a GW airbrush and their build quality is just awful. All of the seals and internals are plastic with almost no lubrication (I took it apart) and the use of the propellant cans makes things even worse, since the propellant is dry, which is even worse on the internals. For less than 200 dollars you could get set up to do more than just basecoating...

The paint gun is worth while if you have to basecoat lots of mini's at once. In general the GW is considered to be mediocre quality but for base coating and mass-inking it's more than good enough. However. Do NOT use the compressed ait cans, they cost too much, last to short and provide inconsistent pressure. take the effort to buy a decent compressor off of ebay for 50-70 Euro's and that puppy will be earned back in the time you would have used up 5 cans or so (compressed air cans are not cheap, compressors are).

Something like this would be perfect http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/Airbrush-Kompressor-KAS186-C-3L-Tank-Zubehorset-NEU-/190481130558?pt=Modellbauwerkzeuge&hash=item2c598f643e

Do not buy a compressor without an air tank or moisture trap. The tank ensures constant pressure, the moisture trap keeps your airflow clean of splatters.

So in short, a single-action airbrush would actually be better than the GW gun, quality wise, but GW's gun is comfy to use due to the pistol grip, feels nice to basecoat with but do NOT consider it a replacement for a decent air brush. A good dual-action airbrush would set you back 20-30 euro's or so, a good single action airbrush 15-25 euros. But as said, the GW gun is good enough to do what it's supposed to do, provided you keep it clean, but then again, any airbrush needs to be meticulously cleaned after each session so no surprises there.

But seriously, I can stress this point enough DO NOT use compressed air cans. As you're spraying with them, the drop in pressure causes the can to cool rapidly, cool gas means compressed gas, means loss of pressure. The only safe way to keep the can warm and the pressure up is to submerge the can in a bucket of warm water. It takes little imagination to see what happens when you're holding a mini in one hand, an airbrush in the other and then somehow hold a highly buoyant can of gas under in a bucket of hot water.
The alernative is to switch on a compressor which delivers constant pressure of dry air...

Save your money you can get a thourghly workable knock-off dual action "Badger" Airbrush from Harbor Freight for $15. I have three and they all work well. For an additional $4 you can get a no questions as 2 year replace warranty. Break? Loose a part? Bend the needle? Take it back and they'll give you a new one no questions asked.

Link!

You can get the a airbrush compressor for $59 or the compressor, brush as all the fittings for $89 here.


If you want a more top of the line airbrush you can get excellent knock-off dual action "Iwata" Airbrushes, along with replacement parts, and needles here starting at a mere $50.

You can find and detailed reviews of the Air Pro PS900 Airbrush, here and here.


I hope that helps!

wow thanks guys!
i think ima go get me one of the ones Sersi mentioned.

One point of specification though, a compressor with air tank is only a little bit more expensive, 10-20euro's or so, but it will save you a lot of headaches later on, seriously.

I bought one, and maybe its just me but i found it crap, cant remember why do sorry. Something to do with weak and uneven spraying that sometimes ended up with the victim models looking like people who suffered from giant colored raindrops.

Hmm, maybe you're spraying too close then, I never had that issue. But i use it from a rather large distance, 30cm+, and use it to 'mist' the paint on rather than try to cover it in one go. Also, working in multiple, solftly applied, layers work the best. i usually basecoat my mini's with a 3 or 4 coats, gradyally building up the layers.