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So, I have a huge SW army,(that I'm happy I didn't have to end up selling! But has to be painted now!) and I realized I can paint to a good standard by hand,

but base coating with Celestra grey, then going back with SW grey takes a LOT of time by hand.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for spray guns, and the amount of thinner you use,

etc. Any tips on brands, and other accessories would be greatly appreciated.

Hi !

As I mentioned in another topic, I recommend you Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. It is consistency of water, but it after thinning your paint, it won't loose it covering power. What is more that thinner lengthen paint drying time so it is perfect for Airbrush.

For thick paints as Vallejo Model Color or Game Color I use thinner in ration 1:1 (1 part of paint to 1 part of thinner).

For Vallejo Model Air I use ratio 4-5:1 (dependent of how thick the paint is)

I never used it with GW paints after they released new paints.

Buy one of the many ranges of spray paint matched to GW colours or by an airbrush (any cheap Chinese knock off will do if it's just for Basecoating).

Avoid GWs spraygun it will eat your paint while burning your money on more cans of air.

Gutor wrote:
Hi !

As I mentioned in another topic, I recommend you Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. It is consistency of water, but it after thinning your paint, it won't loose it covering power. What is more that thinner lengthen paint drying time so it is perfect for Airbrush.

For thick paints as Vallejo Model Color or Game Color I use thinner in ration 1:1 (1 part of paint to 1 part of thinner).

For Vallejo Model Air I use ratio 4-5:1 (dependent of how thick the paint is)

I never used it with GW paints after they released new paints.

Awesome, now then, which airbrush/compressor setup would you recommend?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 notprop wrote:
Buy one of the many ranges of spray paint matched to GW colours or by an airbrush (any cheap Chinese knock off will do if it's just for Basecoating).

Avoid GWs spraygun it will eat your paint while burning your money on more cans of air.

I agree, I've always heard that their gun sucked the big one. I'll be going with something else for sure.

I was using 2 cheap airbrushes but there was problem with cleaning them. After month of using it was broken. Then I spend some money to buy nice airbrush - Harder & Steenbeck Evolution.

Compressor which I use is Atlantis PT350 mini compressor.

Sorry for error in my last post I meant that I dilute paint in ration 2:1 (2 part of paint to 1 part of thinner).

My personal favorite airbrush is the Iwata HPCS. However there are so many companies and airbrushes you kind of have to find your own niche. I personnally like gravity fed airbrushes. it also depends on your hand size, and how you hold the thing. There are side fed. and cyphon fed ones too. cyphon fed are good for using a lot of paint and swapping colors with minimal work. but i dont like them for blending as you have to unscrew the whole thing to get any paint in there. there are even airbrushes you can swap between the different types of feed. SO, its all up to you and your style. i suggest you get one and just see how you like it.

With the amount of painting you are looking at, you might want to investigate zenial highlighting with an airbrush.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Zenithal_Airbrushing%2C_OSL_and_Snow_and_Ice_Tutorial%2C_subject_-_Grey_Knight

there is a lot of airbrushes and compressors to consider, The most versitle are double action airbrushes (they have varying spray width) but a good single action can work well too. Badger and Iwata are generally considered good brands and can be found and Michael's and Hobby lobby respectively.

Paint mixtures take practice. How much to thin depends on your airbrush, paint and air pressure. Lower pressures are required for thinner sprays and thus a thinner paint combo must be used. You just have to pratice. Some people thin with just water but to be effective and get a good spray consistancy, you really need to use/also use something to break the surface tension of the water/flows easier.

You would not even need a compressor:

There are large bottles you can fill at any tire fill-up stations and slap a pressure regulator and dryer and you are good to go. Best part is no "pulsing" caused by piston pumps. Bottled Nitrogen is a great clean kind of air to get as well.

Try these methods out before you commit to the big money of a compressor.

If all you are doing is basecoating an army, then maybe you should look into Army Painter's colored primers.
On top of that, Zenithal highlighting with a slightly lighter color spray primer is easy and looks great. That is what I do with my Dark Angels.

If you still want to try airbrushing, stay away from GW's spray gun. I wasted so much paint with that thing.

I'm not to experianced on real airbrushes, so I'll let others answer that for you.

There are LITERALLY dozens and dozens of threads on this; do a search on airbrush.

Sersiouly, we get a "what kind of airbrush should I get" about every other week.

There is a ton of great details in those posts, more than I could sum up here.

However, if you want an executive summary:

You want a cheap double action gravity feed brush.
Any will do.
A cheap harbor freight compressor will work fine.
Get real airbrush paints, its easier (vallejo model air rocks).

Best of luck.

Thanks everyone for the advice everyone, I'll look up prices, and brands, and go from there, Ebay will be my next stop.