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Congratulations on this day, the anniversary of your escape from the imprisonment of your mothers womb. FREEDOM!

Hope you got some nice choatic prezzies.

Happy birthday Yggs! Love the minis. Can't wait to see the dp finished.

Thank you guys!!!

I didn't get any mini for my birthday, but that wasn't the point...
Here's what I got instead (it arrived today!) :



UPDATES :

As promised, a few pics of those last airbrushed minis... As you will see, I'm really strugglinf with it...


Primed white + Badab Black wash


Raptor #2


Havoc #2 (yeah, I said it was a Raptor, but I had forgotten he was supposed to have a boltgun lol)

Cheers!

What are you having issues with Yggs? Perhaps I can help. Also, is a looped pliers or clamping tweesers in that second shot? Never seen anything like it...

Joyeux anniversaire!

I can't wait to see your DP done now!

Gitsplitta wrote:What are you having issues with Yggs? Perhaps I can help. Also, is a looped pliers or clamping tweesers in that second shot? Never seen anything like it...

My issues are :
- I cannot find the good consistency with the paint. Usually I use too much water, which leads to the paint dripping over the mini with the air pressure. When I add in some paint to thicken it, it then starts to clog the airbrush itself, and a significant quantity of paint just dries at the tip of the airbrush, which in turns gets troublesome since it's "on or off", but no transition in the paint!
- I cannot seem to aim correctly the burst correctly, and to avoid the aforementioned problem (watery paint pushed by the air pressure), I have to airbrush from a quite important distance, which again leads to a lack of accuracy. On the model above, you can see a large quantity of blue over brown, and vice versa. If I get closer, the paint spreads over the mini due to the pressure, if I get farther, it just spreads far beyond the parts I want to reach...
- Those drying/clotting/clogging issues happen even when I aim at basecoating a mini. For instance, I tried to basecoat my 5 Gutter Runners with Khemri Brown, and before I could start the fourth one, I had to dismantle the airbrush, clean it, then... I got fed up with it. It seems I cannot even speed up the painting with it!

I must definitely be doing something wrong...

As for the pincers, they're indeed some surgical instruments... My GF has been in a firm that develops surgical tools for 2 years now, and she sometimes manages to bring back a few disposable ones... Quite useful for holding the minis while painting them!

Hyenajoe wrote:Joyeux anniversaire!

I can't wait to see your DP done now!

Thanks... I'm still considering the skin colour though...

Yggdrasil wrote:
My issues are :
- I cannot find the good consistency with the paint. Usually I use too much water, which leads to the paint dripping over the mini with the air pressure. When I add in some paint to thicken it, it then starts to clog the airbrush itself, and a significant quantity of paint just dries at the tip of the airbrush, which in turns gets troublesome since it's "on or off", but no transition in the paint!

Hmmm.... I would suggest getting a bottle of the "valejo air" paint. It is pre-mixed to the right consistency and will: a) give you a chance to practice with perfectly mixed paint, and b) give you an example of the consistency that the paint should be. You know if it does not work well, there's something else wrong that has nothing to do with your paint mix. If you can't find it there, let me know what color you want and I'll send you a bottle.

Also, what are you using as your diluting agent? I've seen people recommend windex, but I never have any luck with it. Distilled water seems to be a very benign diluent and works well.

- I cannot seem to aim correctly the burst correctly, and to avoid the aforementioned problem (watery paint pushed by the air pressure), I have to airbrush from a quite important distance, which again leads to a lack of accuracy. On the model above, you can see a large quantity of blue over brown, and vice versa. If I get closer, the paint spreads over the mini due to the pressure, if I get farther, it just spreads far beyond the parts I want to reach...
- Those drying/clotting/clogging issues happen even when I aim at basecoating a mini. For instance, I tried to basecoat my 5 Gutter Runners with Khemri Brown, and before I could start the fourth one, I had to dismantle the airbrush, clean it, then... I got fed up with it. It seems I cannot even speed up the painting with it!

I'll consider these together as my suggestions relate to both.

I've had the aiming issue myself from time-to-time... in my opinion it's related to the fouling of the tip of the needle at the collar, the fouling causes the paint to flow unevenly around the needle tip and causes it to go off in odd directions (my theory... take it for what it's worth.

Keep in mind that even with all of the painting I've done with my airbrush, I have yet to take it apart to clean it. I will eventually... but it's not been necessary yet. I clean it a lot... but have not disassembled it.

So, to the point...
- Check the specs on your airbrush & make sure you're running it within the recommended PSI. My Talon runs at 20-50. I can dial it down to about 15 psi which helps me with finer work, but the droplets get bigger and more obvious when I do this so it's a trade-off.

- The way I clean my brush and needle is easy and fast.
1. Run roughly 1/3 of a cup (1.5 ml) of your solvent (windex for me) through the brush, swish it a bit to clean the loose stuff off the bowl.
2. Dip the ends of a cotten swab in solvent and use them to rub the semi-dried paint off the sides of the bowl. DO NOT do this if there is liquid in the bowl as the little bits you rub off will drift down into the mechanism and mess up your needle. Make sure all the chunks come out with your swabs.
3. Pour more solvent (same amount) into the bowl and dip another cotten swab in solvent (I just dip both ends into the solvent in the now clean bowl) and spray about half of it out full blast.
4. Take the swab and gently place it over the needle. Spin it around a few times, you'll be amazed at the gunk this picks up.
5. Repeat with the other end of the swab, second swab should be pretty clean looking when done.
6. Spray out the remainder of the solution, spraying it in pulses will help knock anything left in the needle chamber loose & when done, spray air for a few seconds to dry things out inside.

Viola! You're done! It's probably a good idea to disassemble and clean your brush more often than I do... but this system has kept me spraying cleanly for quite a while now... 6 weeks at least.


Some of your issues (#2) might be related to trying to do too fine a deatil of work with too large a needle and without a fine enough touch on the trigger. I just purchased a #1 (0.25 mm) needle and tip for my brush (cost like... $11 total) to help me paint individual figures. I was able to do some finer work on Inushi with my current #2 needle (0.32 mm I think) but it took a really fine touch on the trigger and I had to dial down the pressure to 15 psi.

You could also try an an alternate brush stroke. Rather than giving a constant spray, you pull back on the trigger, then release... once per pass. I've done this when working on smaller figures and it does help control the over-spray leading to paint drip. It also lets the paint dry just a bit in between spray pulses.


Hope there's something there you can use.

Hope you had a good birthday, and goodluck with the bass

The DP is gona look amazing, can't wait.

Hope you had a Happy birthday Yggdrasil!
Can't wait to see the DP finished!


M.K

Matt, tipios : Thanks!!! Be patient, it's on its way... Well, maybe...

Gitsplitta wrote:Hmmm.... I would suggest getting a bottle of the "valejo air" paint. It is pre-mixed to the right consistency and will: a) give you a chance to practice with perfectly mixed paint, and b) give you an example of the consistency that the paint should be. You know if it does not work well, there's something else wrong that has nothing to do with your paint mix. If you can't find it there, let me know what color you want and I'll send you a bottle.

Also, what are you using as your diluting agent? I've seen people recommend windex, but I never have any luck with it. Distilled water seems to be a very benign diluent and works well.

I'm using the GW paints, but maybe they're out of their capabilities with the airbrush... Oh, also, I forgot to mention the only airbrush I have access to is one I borrowed from a friend, so it's not a long-term gear I have... So I'm not going to buy any upgrade for it, as I don't know for how long I'll be using it...

I'll maybe try to order some of Vallejo Air paints.. That's very nice of you Git, but I don't want you to go through sending me some paints... I can find them on the internet without much trouble, hopefully...

As for the diluting agent, well... Is tap water a leniency?!?

Gitsplitta wrote:
I'll consider these together as my suggestions relate to both.

I've had the aiming issue myself from time-to-time... in my opinion it's related to the fouling of the top of the needle which pushes the paint unevenly around the point or through the needle collar.

Keep in mind that even with all of the painting I've done with my airbrush, I have yet to take it apart to clean it. I will eventually... but it's not been necessary yet. I clean it a lot... but have not disassembled it.

So, to the point...
- Check the specs on your airbrush & make sure you're running it within the recommended PSI. My Talon runs at 20-50. I can dial it down to about 15 psi which helps me with finer work, but the droplets get bigger and more obvious when I do this so it's a trade-off.

- The way I clean my brush and needle is easy and fast.
1. Run roughly 1/3 of a cup (1.5 ml) of your solvent (windex for me) through the brush, swish it a bit to clean the loose stuff off the bowl.
2. Dip the ends of a cotten swab in solvent and use them to rub the semi-dried paint off the sides of the bowl. DO NOT do this if there is liquid in the bowl as the little bits you rub off will drift down into the mechanism and mess up your needle. Make sure all the chunks come out with your swabs.
3. Pour more solvent (same amount) into the bowl and dip another cotten swab in solvent (I just dip both ends into the solvent in the now clean bowl) and spray about half of it out full blast.
4. Take the swab and gently place it over the needle. Spin it around a few times, you'll be amazed at the gunk this picks up.
5. Repeat with the other end of the swab, second swab should be pretty clean looking when done.
6. Spray out the remainder of the solution, spraying it in pulses will help knock anything left in the needle chamber loose & when done, spray air for a few seconds to dry things out inside.

Viola! You're done! It's probably a good idea to disassemble and clean your brush more often than I do... but this system has kept me spraying cleanly for quite a while now... 6 weeks at least.


Some of your issues (#2) might be related to trying to do too fine a deatil of work with too large a needle and without a fine enough touch on the trigger. I just purchased a #1 (0.25 mm) needle and tip for my brush (cost like... $11 total) to help me paint individual figures. I was able to do some finer work on Inushi with my current #2 needle (0.32 mm I think) but it took a really fine touch on the trigger and I had to dial down the pressure to 15 psi.

You could also try an an alternate brush stroke. Rather than giving a constant spray, you pull back on the trigger, then release... once per pass. I've done this when working on smaller figures and it does help control the over-spray leading to paint drip. It also lets the paint dry just a bit in between spray pulses.


Hope there's something there you can use.

How can you determine the pressure on the airbrush? The compressor I use only has on/off, and I can only adjust the pressure through carefully pushing the airbrush trigger, but I'm not soft enough to reach a good, progressive burst... As I said, it's usually either stop / full ahead! Does your airbrush have a lever that allows you to regulate the pressure?

As for the cleaning, I seem to have that kind of problem only with the thickest Foundation paints : I used Necron Abyss this morning with little problem regarding the cleaning, but still many regarding the burst width & pressure...

Your advice on cleaning was really helpful, thanks! As for the rest of the airbrushing techniques... I'm about to consider myself lost for good...
Thanks for taking the time to give some insights...

Yggdrasil wrote:I'm using the GW paints, but maybe they're out of their capabilities with the airbrush...

Regular GW paints should work, but you have to be careful as the paint dries out in the pots and the chunks can fall back into the body of the pot, these chunks can then get into your spray mix and screw up your needle. Nice thing about the Valejo paints (even the normal, non-air ones) is that they come in dropper bottles... so there is no drying of paint in the container. Also, in my experience, GW washes and base colors do not work in an airbrush.

How can you determine the pressure on the airbrush? The compressor I use only has on/off, and I can only adjust the pressure through carefully pushing the airbrush trigger, but I'm not soft enough to reach a good, progressive burst... As I said, it's usually either stop / full ahead! Does your airbrush have a lever that allows you to regulate the pressure?

I suspect this is the root of your problems. I can't imagine spraying blindly when you have no control over the pressure going to the brush, or even know the pressure going to the brush! You need a gauge and valve combination with a water trap. This connects into the pipe coming out of your compressor and allows you to dial the exact pressure going to your brush as well has catching the condensation that can cause spatter of your paint. In the US you can get them for about $25.00.

As for the cleaning, I seem to have that kind of problem only with the thickest Foundation paints : I used Necron Abyss this morning with little problem regarding the cleaning, but still many regarding the burst width & pressure.

As stated earlier, foundation paints do not work well with an airbrush due to their formulation. I do not recommend it.

Your advice on cleaning was really helpful, thanks! As for the rest of the airbrushing techniques... I'm about to consider myself lost for good...
Thanks for taking the time to give some insights...

No problem. I didn't ask... to you have a single action or double action airbrush? Single actions are really only good for base coating or directional highlighting (i.e. spraying lighter shade from top) as you don't have fine enough control over the flow of paint. As to tap water vs. distilled water... I don't know. Have always seen distilled water mentioned. I assume the impurities in regular water just hasten fouling of the needle. In any case, do not judge all airbrushes by your current experience... it sounds like you are using equipment that is not well suited to the task you have for it.

Hey, a (belated) happy birthday, Yggs! Hope you have fun with the Bass, I have always wanted one.

_Tim?

Gitsplitta wrote:
Regular GW paints should work, but you have to be careful as the paint dries out in the pots and the chunks can fall back into the body of the pot, these chunks can then get into your spray mix and screw up your needle. Nice thing about the Valejo paints (even the normal, non-air ones) is that they come in dropper bottles... so there is no drying of paint in the container. Also, in my experience, GW washes and base colors do not work in an airbrush.

Ok for the paint. I just ordered half a dozen Vallejo Air off ebay, maybe it'll help... Or not!

Gitsplitta wrote:
I suspect this is the root of your problems. I can't imagine blind spraying as you have no control over what your brush is doing. You need to get a gauge and valve combination with a water trap. This connects into the pipe coming out of your compressor and allows you to dial the exact pressure going to your brush as well has catching the condensation that can cause spatter of your paint. In the US you can get them for about $25.00.

Ok, this is probably it. I was always wondering why everyone kept mentioning the "PSI" measurements while explaining their airbrushing and how did they do it, I guess I got my answer now

Gitsplitta wrote:
No problem. I didn't ask... to you have a single action or double action airbrush? Single actions are really only good for base coating or directional highlighting (i.e. spraying lighter shade from top) as you don't have fine enough control over the flow of paint.

That's a double-action, but as I said... I cannot seem to control it in a good way, even in one direction, so the combination of the 2 axes makes me crazy!!!

Gitsplitta wrote: In any case, do not judge all airbrushes by your current experience... it sounds like you are using equipment that is not well suited to the task you have for it.

Actually, I thought it was a bit easy to blame the equipment rather than questioning my own skills, but your gauge/valve regulation thing probably proves me wrong... I hope that's all there is to get, and that when I get one, the results will be better!

Thanks again for the efforts Git...


@ _Tim? : Thanks!!! That was the same for me, and now, at 27, I finally have one!!! You can never be too late!

See if you can get a used Iwata, Badger, or Paasche airbrush, and get a diaphragm air compresser that goes up to about a continuous 30psi during operation. For thinning I use a misture of Distilled water and Liquitex Flow-Aid at a 10:1 ratio. When it comes to spraying the foundations, I have had mixed success, primarily using Iyanden Darksun, but then again yellows are already miserably thin in the pigment department.

Also If you manage to get a used airbrush make sure to buy some replacement parts for it, nozzles seem to suffer metal fatigue fairly easy, and a bent needle is useless.

Thanks for the help, btemple! I think I'll consider "gearing up" when I come back from my deployment, at the end of the year... Until then, I'll just use the borrowed airbrush as a basecoater.

Not much work on the WIP guys, it seems motivation has quite waned these last days.

But I've been doing some kitbashing for an Ironclad Dread, and it was the first time I tried to magnetize a model... I think I didn't spoil the efforts, they should work alright!

Don't get excited though, as it was my first attempt, I didn't go insane : just the right arm (Hurricane Boltguns vs DCCW) and the 2 HK missiles (just the missiles, not the whole cell, in order to show whether they've been fired or not).

I haven't planned any pics, but it might be possible if asked for...

Good evening!

Also see about investing in some vallejo air primer, it works pretty well from the tutorials I have seen.

btemple0 wrote:Also see about investing in some vallejo air primer, it works pretty well from the tutorials I have seen.

Wow, too late... Maybe later, I guess...

UPDATE :

I've finally given in to Gitsplitta's forceful demand about an OSL tutorial...

I'll be working on it these next days as I'm away from home for two weeks, but with a limited access to internet...

I don't want to leave you with nothing to see, so I'll share these as teasers...





I took the PIP pics on the backpack only, which seems wasn't maybe the best choice, as the OSL on the chest looks better IMHO... But before starting, I thought the left arm would hinder both the painting & the picturing, so concentrated instead on the backpack... I hope it will show nevertheless...

Also, I usually disable the voting on the WIP pics, but I made an exception about the 2 ones on the right... So if you have little time writing a comment, please at least vote on them, it will be a nice indicator!!!

In addition, a quick pick of the other Raptor, who saw his claw painted today as well...


Blending on the claw
Cheers,

Yggdrasil.

Wonderful Yggs, very excited to see the tutorial and that marine is looking just awesome! Good luck on your trip!

That's a cool look so far.

Awesome as always Yggs, btw I like your new avatar. (at least I think its new) When do we get to see an entire unit of your Reavers?

Amazing, you definitely deserve your place on 'the list'

p.s, nice Fender Jazz, I preferred that style neck too, and so it was the one I got . You will quickly outgrow the lil'amp though, it will be fine while you jam on your own, but if you start playing with other people you will need something that will rumble a few more plates in the kitchen

When that happens, I recommend Ampeg, and if you want to fiddle with effects to go for that Muse type vibe, Akai peddles are the best for that kind of sound.

Looks very promising, Yggs. Looking forward to watching the new CSM take shape. And to your OSL tutorial.

Gitsplitta wrote:Wonderful Yggs, very excited to see the tutorial and that marine is looking just awesome! Good luck on your trip!

Yeah, don't expect wonders uh...

PsychosisPC wrote:That's a cool look so far.

Thanks!

IceAngel wrote:Awesome as always Yggs, btw I like your new avatar. (at least I think its new) When do we get to see an entire unit of your Reavers?

Thanks, IceAngel, coming from you it's a great compliment!! Yeah, I changed the avatar yesterday evening, for a change... As for the Revaers... I hope I could be able to get 1 squad before I leave in April, but I'm not optimistic...

MajorTom11 wrote:Amazing, you definitely deserve your place on 'the list'

p.s, nice Fender Jazz, I preferred that style neck too, and so it was the one I got . You will quickly outgrow the lil'amp though, it will be fine while you jam on your own, but if you start playing with other people you will need something that will rumble a few more plates in the kitchen

When that happens, I recommend Ampeg, and if you want to fiddle with effects to go for that Muse type vibe, Akai peddles are the best for that kind of sound.

As for the bass, it's going to be for solo, house playing only, so no worries about the amp... It's already strong enough for my GF's ears !! (but she doesn't care much about the plates lol)
Thanks for the advice though...

tinfoil wrote:Looks very promising, Yggs. Looking forward to watching the new CSM take shape. And to your OSL tutorial.

He's supposed to wield a boltgun, but I may change that to a meltagun... Not so sure... I think boltgun will be fine (and I cannot equip my 9 Havocs with special weapons anyway!!! ) Thanks!

Thank you Gitsplitta for convincing Yggs to make a tutorial

OSL is tempting but I still fear my attemps would end in a dirty mess.

Yggdrasil, your second raptor looks fething good, and I really can't wait to see the full squad done

Great work. Beautiful colors and OSL.

P.S. Enjoy that bass. I know I thoroughly enjoyed mine, though I haven't picked it up in over 3 years. Man do I miss it. Days are too short I tells ya.

Hyenajoe wrote:Thank you Gitsplitta for convincing Yggs to make a tutorial

OSL is tempting but I still fear my attemps would end in a dirty mess.

Yggdrasil, your second raptor looks fething good, and I really can't wait to see the full squad done

OSL (Object Source Lighting) tutorial is almost over... Along with some help & advice from fellow DCMs... It might be online this weekend, who knows...

bunnygurl wrote:Great work. Beautiful colors and OSL.

P.S. Enjoy that bass. I know I thoroughly enjoyed mine, though I haven't picked it up in over 3 years. Man do I miss it. Days are too short I tells ya.

Thank you miss. Days are short indeed...

"Tempus Fugit" (Time is fleeing)

yey I need that OSL TUT for my sorcerer lightning

i found the OSL tutorial very helpful mate thanks... oh and nice guitar!

Glad some people find it useful...

As I said, feel free to post some pics in the OSL tutorial thread, it might turn more interesting than those basics!