Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I’ve been thinking about picking up airbrushing to get better paint jobs on my models and maybe make it a bit easier hopefully. So I had some questions. Bad news is I know nothing about it.


What should a good entry level starter airbrush?
how hard vs time consuming?
Can I dilute my paints or do I need to buy airbrush paints?
What are good brands of paint for airbrushing? Is gw’s paint worth spending the money
Anyone on YouTube worth watching and maybe will answer all my questions?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mods can you move this to painting and tutorials didn’t realize that sub group existed

First bit of advice I'd give anyone looking to get into airbrushing is get yourself a decent compressor, that's a good investment no matter what, but start with a cheap airbrush.

My first one was like $40, and I'm glad because I trashed the hell out of it while learning, and slowly worked my way up to the really fancy one I have now.
For mini painting I'd always suggest a gravity fed (pot on the top and paint rolls down rather than put under with a hose up), and I personally always use dual action triggers (pushing down increases airflow, pulling back releases paint, so you can control the air to paint ratio) but for a beginner a single action would be fine to start learning (pulling the trigger gives you air and paint at the same time).

Airbrush paints can be nice, though even they might need diluting depending on how you work with it, but yes any paints you have should work fine.
I personally prefer Scale 75 paints, Vellajo work well too, I occasionally use GW paints but never through the airbrush because I find them a bit thick and it's so much easier to use dropper bottles with an airbrush.

I wouldn't call airbrushing hard or time consuming really, but perhaps intimidating to learn and you do need to maintain it. Totally worth it though.
Another huge bit of advice everyone getting an airbrush needs to hear is the very first thing you do once you get your hands on one disassemble it and rebuild it two or three times. You don't want to paint with it, pull it apart to clean it, and then not know how it goes back together.

Agreed about cheap starter brush. I too managed to get first one damaged fairly well at first. I got for ~40 one with dual action so don't think you should skip on that one. Dual action is really nice.

I like vallejo airbrush colours but GW ones seems pain in the ass to clean even with their airbrush colours.

As for time I find airbrush is slower with small amount of painting but faster when you have bulk. Issue is cleanup time. If you do only model or two(and infantry at that) the cleanup time eats up a lot of time. Do like 20 and hey presto it speeds up.

 jonolikespie wrote:
Another huge bit of advice everyone getting an airbrush needs to hear is the very first thing you do once you get your hands on one disassemble it and rebuild it two or three times. You don't want to paint with it, pull it apart to clean it, and then not know how it goes back together.

Good piece of advice!

The airbrush I recommend for beginners is the Badger Anthem 155. It's the one I used to learn and it's very friendly for people just getting used to these things.

I call it the "large format" airbrush, because all the internal parts are several times the size of those of other Badger models. Cleaning it is a lot easier than the other brushes I own.

Most of the kits I've seen come with .22 and .30 mm tips, which means you can do detail and general work just fine.

I think an airbrush is a great tool to have, wither you are doing a lot of models or just one. I'm not a pro with a airbrush, still new really, but its a tool that helps make your models better looking. So well worth getting.

I would get a decent airbrush, noting to cheap, but not extensive. I bought a Badger Patriot 105, so anything in that price range you should be fine as a beginner, but still can grow and improve with it as you use it. If you treat it right and clean it it will last you for a long time.

It will be time comsuming at first, till you are used to it. Then its not so bad. Cleaning is the longest part, but even then once you have it down, doesn't take to long.

Paint dilution is up to personal preference, most will need to be diluted, even the airbrush specific paints. Vallejo and Reaper are good choices, pretty much anything in a dropper bottle. So much easier then GW paints.

I'm sure anyone you find on YouTube will answer questions. A few I watch on Twitch, will for sure answer your questions. Brandon on Frontline Gaming is a good one as well as Slow Fuse Gaming, both use an airbrush and will answer questions.

Hopefully this will help you decide. Its worth getting it and I'm sure your painting will improve over time.

Airbrushing is a bit difficult at first, because you'll have wonky and inconsistent results and don't really know why. Since you have to manage paint dilution, pressure, amount of paint, distance etc., it's often difficult to isolate a specific problem.
That being said, once you get the basis covered, it's a blast. I really like airbrushing, and it's a nice complement to normal hair-brushing (both in terms of usage and in terms of variety for you).
Most has been covered by the others already, I'll just second the fact that you have to clean the thing pretty well. Dried-up paint in the brush caused me many issues when I started, and realizing that you have some residues to clean after you've loaded your paint (meaning a lot of additional cleaning) is always frustrating.

I transfered all my GW paints to dropper bottle, it's easier for hair-brushing, and much much easier with an airbrush.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/756008.page

I am looking into trying my hand at airbrushing and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for airbrush kits, preferably with the gun/hose/compressor all together, but I'm not opposed to them being separate. I am an absolute beginner...never touched an airbrush before, but I am very interested in it and would like to start out with something that is decent enough for an amateur but not something that's going to break on me a few months from now. Can anyone suggest any equipment in the sub-$200 price range, or not much higher, that would fit the bill? Thanks!