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Hey folks, so....a few months back, I came back to 40k and started building my new Ork Army. This is the first army I've really taken the time and pride to paint and have been really enjoying the painting aspect as much or more than the playing aspect. It's been a ton of fun, and I have been painting a ton of Boyz, because that is what I envision when I think of an Ork Army, but now I am coming into a bunch of vehicles I need to paint, including a couple conversions and scratchbuilds and the more I think about it, the more I think I need an Air Brush. Here is the thing though, I know nothing about air brushes. I'd prefer to not get some cheap one that breaks in a month or is just crappy in general (Boy have I learned the value of a nice brush over a cheap brush). That being said, I don't have a million dollars to spend on a custom air brush that makes coffee and gives back rubs while it paints your minis.

So, I figure I've got somewhere between $150-500 bucks to throw at this problem right now, given that I have a $500 order to go put in at my store for more Orks and my wife's Eldar. I'd probably like to be somewhere around $300 on the airbrush, but like I said, I won't buy a piece of junk just because of cost. What I need is help from the guys out there who use an airbrush, because I can look at them on Hobby Lobby's website all day, but I have no idea the specs I am looking for. Some of them appear to use a compressor, which I'd prefer, while some seem to be powered by some sort of compressed air cartridge. Honestly, I'm a bit lost on this one, because I've never used one. A buddy of mine swears by them for his vehicles and it would be nice to be able to basecoat models with an airbrush primer, because (complete different topic) I am at my wits end with primers, I hate every single one I've bought from all the hobby/hardware stores around here.


My rambling aside, can anyone recommend a good airbrush or maybe, just explain what qualities you look for in an airbrush when it comes to painting minis?

This comes up here a lot.. so have a search and a read around

But to get you started, Theres a few types of airbrush;

Single action
and
Dual action

You want Dual. This means the trigger pushes down for activating the airflow, and pulls back to release paint, and its variable mid use.

Single action ones just have a on / off type trigger with preset air and paint levels.


Next theres gravity feed and siphon feed types.

You want graity for painting mini's generally, They operate at lower pressures, with thinner paints, and can get more detail because of this. Our 'job' is a very small piece as far as items to spray usually go so a 'detail' airbrush is what we want, and its not really going to do details easily at our scale. Theyre very very good for basecoats, blending colours, varnishing, preshading and the likes.
Skilled hands can get in there and pick out tiny details but tis really very hard to do at first, so dont expect to replace your paint brushes.

You want a tank on your airsource really, it helps with even airflow and is more on demand than operating without.
A little hobby compressor with a couple of litre tank is plenty. Airbrushes dont use huge amounts of air, your looking at 10-20psi for most jobs really.

Nozzle size affects how thick a paint you cna spray through it, and how much detail you can get.
Really small ones are fussy about having good paint going through them (pigment particle sizing and paint medium viscosity)
Go for medium... 0.3 to 0.4 mm should be a happy medium place.

Your going to need a cleaning agent for this airbrush, dont use anything with vinegar in (read household glass cleaner - use automotive glass cleaner if you want) it as it will strip chrome in no time. I use 99.9% Isopropyl alcohol mostly.

Your also going to need a thinner, I reccomend Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. Its the bees knees!
Another good one is Liquitex Airbrush Medium. It was the bees knees untill I tried the vallejo one! (still not bad though)

Also... read around and research. Theres some amazing airbrushers on youtubte. Most of them dont paint models. So check other applications for good usage tips.
e.g cleaning your airbrush is the exact same procedure in any application.

Couldn't have asked for a more complete response on the first try. I really appreciate that you took the time to answer. It helps a ton.

Its really a very deep topic.. with a lot of preference and different ways to do things
So some people will probably chime in with a lot of alternative suggestions.

The thinner is a widely discussed one. Les at awesome paint job recommends matte medium, water and flow aid mixed up, he's got a vid on it.

One thing I can promise you is that just water alone isnt really enough, itle spray, but it wont be good quality paint that sticks or covers well in thin coats.
Reason is chemistry; acrylic polymer needs a certain % in the mix to form decent polymer chain lengths in the curing process. Diluting the paint with water tot he paint that it sprays nice is too much water to paint usually. And results in patchy, no coverage paint that takes an age to dry.

Some swear by windex, ammonia based glass cleaner (automotive kind) I've tried it, it thins really well tbh. I felt the blue colour might affect my paint colour even a tiuny amount and went for artist brand solutions personally. But it does work pretty well. And is dirt cheap. - good cleaner if nothing else.

... I could probably ramble all day about airbrushes and their use :/ (lol how sad! )
Might be better for you to pose some specific questions once youve had a read and a looksy and actually got some specific things to wanna know
Hit me up a pm if you need to, you wouldnt be the first here to pm me about airbrushes.

This does come up a bunch.

Here are a few great websites to get you started.

https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/home Don's Airbrushtips is an amazing resorce from product reviews to troubleshooting.


Here is Introduction to Airbrushing with Ken Schlotfeldt (the owner of Badger Airbrush Company).





I also have a good amount of stuff on my blog about things that you will need to purchase besides just the airbrush and compressor.

Here is a good list to get you started.

1. An airbrush (duh) they range from $20 - $400+. Do some research and find one or two that fit your needs. Right now I am using a Master G22 that I got for $39.00 and it works well. I am saving up for a Badger Krome so we will see how much more I love that when I finally have one.

2. Air Compressor. Again these range from $50-$400+. I have a Harbor Freight desktop version and it works well, its quiet and steady and cost $80.

3. Paint. This is a whole blog post or ten all by its self.

4. Airbrush Cleaner. Some type of solvent lots of companies make them and there are tons of tutorials out there on how to make your own. I use Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner and dilute it 1:1 with water.

5. Airbrush Thinner. Again lots of companies make it, you can make your own.

6. Pipe Cleaners and Q-Tips. For cleaning your shiny new airbrush.

7. Spray Booth. Just bite the bullet and get one, they come in at $70 from TCP Global and its worth every penny.

Here are things that I use that are not needs but definitely help.

1. Small plastic cups for mixing. I use medicine cups and get them on amazon they are $4 for 100.

2. Gloves. The plastic ones, for holding your models when you spray.

3. Respirator. For protection when shooting anything more than acrylics.

4. Gater clips and Cork, this gives you something to hold on to so you are not touching the model its self while spraying.