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I have lots of big things to paint, so I think it’s finally time to get an airbrush thanks to my xmas bonus.

Any recommendations for good ones, both a brush and a compressor?

And as far as paints go, is the valejo airbrush paint the best way to go, or can I just water down my usual mix of gw, vallejo & army painter paints?

What I mostly need it for is painting my secret weapon table tiles, plus some a bunch of laser cut wood buildings and stuff like that. I probably wouldn’t be using it on big models for a while, till I get used to it… but I want a brush that will be able to do finer details and things, as well as spraying big areas.

Please check with search for airbrush and compressor, since there are so many threads on this already.

For the paint, I would really suggest Vallejo Polyurethane Acrylic Primer, in the really huge size if you are doing terrain. Also, when you prime it, there's two ways you can make your life easier for terrain:

If it's natural terrain, use a Vallejo tinted primer that's colored similarly to the what you want to end up with, but darker. This way, a light wash, and you're done your "basecoat", and you can go right into drybrushing (in my opinion, drybrushing with a really large flat, like 1.5"+, is the way to go).

If it's city terrain, and it's concrete-looking, prime it black, and then drybrush grey; or prime it grey, and wash black.

Although it takes less time to prime grey and wash black, personally, I find this takes much more resources (because wash is more diluted, you use more).

If there is a color match, Golden is an inexpensive pigment too. Just expect, you'll use a lot of paint, if you're doing a 6x4 worth of tiles.

Make sure you don't spray too much paint/primer on the model

My recommendation for a good overall airbrush has always been the Iwata Eclipse. It handles large and small projects very well. It's a well made brush and I've been using one for a couple of decades, so I think I have the experience to know.

For compressors, there's a lot of ways you can go. It can be the most expensive part of the equation. Especially if you need the compressor to run silently. I always recommend getting the most compressor that you can afford because you really don't want to have to upgrade later if you can avoid it. I'm fond of the Iwata Studio series compresors but they do tend to be on the expensive side. You'd probably do equally well with the Badger Aspire and save $100. Of course, if you're really on a budget then you might want to look at getting something like this. Just make sure to get one with a tank rather than just the pump by itself.

I need to paint my SWM Tablescape as well. I got myself a Grex Tritium with a 0.2mm needle for small suff and the 0.7mm for the larger pieces.

The Grex is my second airbrush for specialized tasks my main one is an H&S Infinity.

Have not tried the Grex yet, still waiting for my new compressor to arrive.

As Talys mentioned, many, many posts on this (one authored by me when I was starting out) and a lot of good advice in some of those earlier threads. Check em out!

 Dullspork wrote:
My recommendation for a good overall airbrush has always been the Iwata Eclipse. It handles large and small projects very well. It's a well made brush and I've been using one for a couple of decades, so I think I have the experience to know.

I second this. My first airbrush was the Eclipse and it is very easy to use and maintain.

For your primary concerns...I wouldn't get a detail brush.

Yes, you can paint a 4x8 table with an Eclipse or an Infinity (or my favorite detail brush the Sotar). You could even paint it with hobby paints if you wanted to like Vallejo...

...but, it is like digging a trench with a teaspoon. Can be done, much better tools for the job. A Grex TS5 gives you a 1 ounce paint cup and a 2" spray pattern (compare that to around 3/4" for an Eclipse with a 1/3 ounce cup) or even better for terrain painting (IMO) a bottom feeder like a Badger 155 or an Eclipse BCS or even better (again IMO) a Paasche H or Bader 350. If you do a lot of terrain - you might skip the airbrush entirely and just look at a small spray gun like an Iwata G6 or Devilbiss touch up gun.

When painting terrain - you want to be able to actually cover the board, building or other item fast. You also need to maintain a wet edge while you work. You will also be using a lot of paint.

For the first - you want a large spray pattern, and a large paint cup. For the second, you want economy...which generally means, not paints that come in 1/2 ounce bottles. Most airbrushes - even airbrushes with the largest needle that they make for it fall a bit short on several counts.

First, you will have a hard time spraying economical paints through your average double action, internal mix, gravity feed brush. Even thinned down, things like emulsion paints (regular house paint sold by the gallon, half gallon and quart) are a bit on the thick side. They also tend to have a larger pigment grind for better coverage on walls and what not - something that can clog up small brushes. External mix brushes and spray guns can handle much thicker paint without issue. That means you can prime with Glidden Primer at a cost of $10 for 930ml versus $13 for 200ml. You can then have them mix up a quart of grey, green, brown or whatever other color for your base color for an even bigger savings. You can even have the paint store tint the primer for you to match.

Second, the color cup. While it will vary based on color, time of day and phase of the moon - you will normally need 12 ounces of paint to do a single coat of paint on a 4x8 board. If you are using a relatively large gravity feed paint cup - this means that you will need to refill it 30+ times for your primer, 30+ times for your base color, 30+ times for your second coat of the base color, maybe a dozen or more times for each additional detail color... When I use my 350, I still have to refill, but the 2 ounce bottle gets me through about a half dozen tiles before I have to refill (where I can just barely paint one tile with my regular airbrush).

Third is the time involved. Again, spray pattern size. I can cover about 6" in a single pass with my spray gun. 3" with my 350. 3/4" with my Sotar with the big needle in it. That means painting a 1x1 tile takes me significantly less time with the gun or external mix brush (honestly more time setting up than actually painting). When I use my little brush, by the time I get up the board than back down - the paint is often dry as well. This makes the bond worse, and leads to a visible paint line.

Finally there is the cup itself. Painting lots of terrain requires a fair amount of space. I have a couple of sheets of plywood that I used to create giant easels for setting up things like terrain tiles on. Most people don't have that luxury. Even with my setup though - I often have to paint a couple dozen tiles, let them dry and paint a couple dozen more in the same color scheme. Premixing your paints and having large color cups that you can pop on and off the brush make repeat work simple stuff. Not that big of an issue for the things like primer and your base coat that you may have a quart or more of paint to work with, but when you are dealing with various detail colors - you may want a couple ounces of a half dozen different colors. To cycle through those, I just pop the cup on - spray - pop the cup off and switch to a different color. Paint stays in the cup till the next painting session when I need it again. If it is a color I am looking to blend with, I can switch back and forth willy nilly to mix them as I go. Add a bit more here and there. With a gravity feed - well, switch colors is a bit more of a pain. I can premix the paints, and fill the cup. When done, I could pour the left over back in the bottle...repeat often.

The good thing is that brushes like the 350 or the Paasche H are dirt cheap. The money you save on cheaper paints almost pays for the brush itself. The time saved more than makes up the difference.

After that - buy a regular brush. Lots of threads go into various pros and cons of different brushes from cheap China builts to high dollar brushes. You can still use the external mix for doing things like primer and clear coats (nothing is faster to clean and easier to maintain than an external mix brush - which means you will be more likely to use it). The detail brush can then be used for what it is meant to do...paint details.