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Is there anyway to use an airbrush as a gentle sand blaster? Or another way to achieve this?

I'm fairly sure sand won't go through an airbrush. Can you not achieve your aim with sandpaper?

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I'm fairly sure sand won't go through an airbrush. Can you not achieve your aim with sandpaper?

I have no idea haha

I was thinking a very fine “sand”

Sandblasters have replaceable ceramic nozzles which wear out very quickly. If you put sand through your airbrush, it will ruin the airbrush.

I'm assuming you're after a weathering technique. You might be able to make your own light sandblaster with an airbed pump and some hose, which would be substantially less expensive when it wears out than an airbrush! Introduce the sand after the pump, so the sand drops into the airstream. You can also buy sandblasting nozzles to fit to compressors - my dad got one from Lidls.

Would something like this be too powerful for minis?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pneumatic-Sandblaster-Abrasive-Professional-Blasting/dp/B07W125KQV/ref=asc_df_B07W125KQV/?tag=bingshoppinga-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=&hvpos=&hvnetw=o&hvrand=&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584482461190322&psc=1

For the record, Paasche made/makes a "Air Eraser" type of device. While some might question the wisdom of using one <g> They can be quite useful. For example, instead of using "Grit" which IIRC is a form of Aluminum Oxide ? You can use a Powder that closely resembles Talcum Powder (It's not really because it's not perfumed <LOL&gt That powder can remove writing from paper.

Indispensable for Painting Brass and other metals. Ie: Brass Railway items. But I've used it on plastic models (powder) with no ill effects.

NOTE: I'm not employed by Paasche. Just love their Airbrushes.

mrFickle wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I'm fairly sure sand won't go through an airbrush. Can you not achieve your aim with sandpaper?

I have no idea haha

I was thinking a very fine “sand”

If you tell us the result you're trying to achieve, I'm sure someone here could suggest a more conventional way of doing it

The objective of abrasive blasting is two fold;

1) To remove coating, rust, scale, etc. to achevie a certain level of surface cleanliness.
2) To create a surface profile so that whatever is being applied over the blasted surface, in most cases paint of some kind, will adhere well.

Keep in mind that the pressure that is required to get the abrasive to a velocity needed to actually remove coating on impact is very high realitive to what is required to drive paint through an airbrush.

As a person who works with abrasive blasting on a regular basis, you DO NOT want to use abrasive blasting on your minintures as it will at the very least remove a lot of detail if not outright destroy the miniture. Nevermind the safety hazards and mess that you would have to account for in attempting to sand (silica) blast or blast with any blast abrasive, e.g. walnut, garnet, steel, etc.

mrFickle wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I'm fairly sure sand won't go through an airbrush. Can you not achieve your aim with sandpaper?

I have no idea haha

I was thinking a very fine “sand”

If you tell us the result you're trying to achieve, I'm sure someone here could suggest a more conventional way of doing it

I have some chipping medium and I am think of how I want to use it. I’m considering it for my indomitus box, either the necrons or the space marines, attempting some sort of sand storm effect. So heavy chipping but lots of small ones.

I will never do this with a paintbrush, I know some people can do details like that but I’m not that guy

You could probably get the same effect using a brush with stiff bristles if you are using chipping medium.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Or dont use.chipping medium.amd use a roughly torn sponge.

mrFickle wrote:
I have some chipping medium and I am think of how I want to use it. I’m considering it for my indomitus box, either the necrons or the space marines, attempting some sort of sand storm effect. So heavy chipping but lots of small ones.

I will never do this with a paintbrush, I know some people can do details like that but I’m not that guy

So typically with any chipping fluid you would apply your base layers, then gloss varnish over that. Once dry, apply the chipping fluid and let that dry completely. Then you airbrush your final top layers of paint, and using water and some sort of abrasive - a toothbrush, toothpicks, etc - you very lightly scrape at the mini to get the chipping effect.

Base coats ----> gloss varnish ----> chipping fluid ----> top coats

There are several different types of chipping fluid available. I know that AK Interactive at least makes Light, Medium, and Heavy chipping fluid, which I believe indicate the size of the "chips" you get. In theory, you might be able to achieve your sandstorm effect using light chipping fluid(for very small chips of paint coming off) and just going pretty heavily with your scrubbing tool.

Yup,or you could use hairspray, or the salt technique
.

 Lord of Deeds wrote:
The objective of abrasive blasting is two fold;

1) To remove coating, rust, scale, etc. to achevie a certain level of surface cleanliness.
2) To create a surface profile so that whatever is being applied over the blasted surface, in most cases paint of some kind, will adhere well.

Keep in mind that the pressure that is required to get the abrasive to a velocity needed to actually remove coating on impact is very high realitive to what is required to drive paint through an airbrush.

As a person who works with abrasive blasting on a regular basis, you DO NOT want to use abrasive blasting on your minintures as it will at the very least remove a lot of detail if not outright destroy the miniture. Nevermind the safety hazards and mess that you would have to account for in attempting to sand (silica) blast or blast with any blast abrasive, e.g. walnut, garnet, steel, etc.

Hobby blasters can be used on models without destroying them. I have absolutely no experience in it and I don't own one, but there's videos on youtube of someone using one to strip an army.

It's quite different to industrial type sand blasting (we had a floor sandblasted in order to texture it, argh, that stuff was horrible).

But absolutely regardless of whether it's industrial or for hobby purposes safety is a big issue. When I looked into getting a sand blaster for myself (for automotive reasons) I got put off by the safety hazards and never ended up getting one.

But from the sounds of the it, the hairspray method with a stiff bristled brush will maybe create the desired effect.

What’s the hairspray technique?

http://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Salt+and+hairspray+technique

You stick salt to the model, use hairspray to keep it in place then spray over the salt. When its dry you rub the salt off and it takes the top layer of paint off leaving lots of tiny chips.

You don't need to use salt with hairspray either.. that's a new one to me, although they are often used together so that may be why.

You can use hairspray on its own. You basecoat your under layer, whether it's bare metal, rusted metal etc. Varnish. Apply a layer of hairspray, then apply your outer layers. When you're ready to weather, wet the surface slightly with some water, in the areas you wish to weather. This will activate the hairspray, and allow you to scrape off small bits of your outer layers and give a nice chipped effect.

For the salt method which is different but often combined with the hairspray, you stick random sprinkles of salt over your underlayer, spray your outer layers, then brush away the salt. Hairspray is not required for this technique. I usually just use water. (Let it dry and evaporate away before painting) although hairspray maybe does work instead of water, I don't know.