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Hi dakka,

probably a stupid question.
unfortunately i dont have an airbrush yet, because i lack the space to fit safety precautions like a booth and also the compressor into my hobby/bedroom (GF gonna kill me) and its not gonna change in the near future.

Still i would like to do color blend/gradient on vehicles, 40k Harlequin starweaver, to be specific. Simply a different color in the front than in the back of the vehicle, similar but simpler than he does here at around 5:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=widvw_IAb4k with just 2-3 colors

Does someone has tried to achieve this by using rattle can primers from army painter for example?
Any ideas how to get this to work and how to finish the model after the "rattle can blend"? I thought of glazing over the primer colors because they usually look very dull and grainy (it has to be because it is supposed to be a primer!)

Any other ideas how to achieve similar results without an airbrush? I dont think it is possible for me to create a blend on such a big smooth surface with a brush... i already struggle in power sword brush blends.

Recommendations are greatly appreciated! thanks.

Colour blends at the scale of our minis are really airbrush territory. You might use a crappy sorry excuse for an airbrush, but a rattle can doesn't give you the control you need.

As happy airbrush owner I have a bunch of friends who are happy to take advantage of my tools and skills for their models.

Where in Germany are you based? Most likely not around the corner from me in Aachen, but you should have hobby clubs around you unless you live on a north sea island or somewhere similar remote ;-]

Test it out on a brick or something and see.

It would be a challenge to do well, but give it a shot.

Also, you don't need a spray booth - put down some newspapers, open the window - and put a fan in it (in the open window).

I would not recommend doing that with a rattle can since they're all designed for the same pressure, so it's very hard to get a consistent gradient like that. The best you can probably hope for is a "dusting" of color that you will need to touch up later anyways.

However, if you want the diamond pattern with the gradient effect, there is a way to cheat it. Just choose your colors and hand paint each row of diamonds, changing the color ever so slightly with each row. It's not a true gradient (since each diamond would be one solid hue), but you can trick the eye into thinking it is.

davethepak wrote:Test it out on a brick or something and see.

It would be a challenge to do well, but give it a shot.

Also, you don't need a spray booth - put down some newspapers, open the window - and put a fan in it (in the open window).

I tried it yesterday on a dummy.. of 5 tries i received 1 result that was.. decent, and it was just luck. It is really unreliable as expected^^

Also, i appreciate the hint to use fans an newspaper, but if i would upload a pic of my available so called "hobby space" you would understand

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:I would not recommend doing that with a rattle can since they're all designed for the same pressure, so it's very hard to get a consistent gradient like that. The best you can probably hope for is a "dusting" of color that you will need to touch up later anyways.

However, if you want the diamond pattern with the gradient effect, there is a way to cheat it. Just choose your colors and hand paint each row of diamonds, changing the color ever so slightly with each row. It's not a true gradient (since each diamond would be one solid hue), but you can trick the eye into thinking it is.

This might be a great idea, i will probably just do some kind of dusting effect on the base colour(this gave a nice effect on the dummy brick with a complementary colour) and cheat the gradient on the pattern with hand painted diamonds. Probably more smaller diamonds...
smaller diamonds=more slightly changed colours = eyes might be tricked easier

Thanks for the input so far.