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.

@shaso, I've had the airbrush, a gift from dsteingass a ways back. But my compressor was a small commercial one that never worked right.
@dsteingass, I took the cover off as suggested by RITides, I made sense originally, but I think my fat fingers can fit in to the off switch, so it might go back on.

Terrible night at school, test was nothing I was prepared for, neither was my one else. But my last test was great, so here's hoping the curve will be generous. Spent a little family Time when I got home, now the kids are asleep, just trying to think if I wan to tackle the brush tonight o sleep .

Put it on one of those anti-fatigue mats the DIY stores sell. They do a nice job of keeping a compressor quiet.

Also try a great thinner called Paint Easy from the DIY store. It is meant for thinning housepaint so you can shoot it through an HVLP sprayer, but it works fine for any acrylic paint. And it is cheap.

Please don't use Windex as a thinner.

Finally, for a homebrew extractor, use a 20" box fan and place a 20"x20"x1" HEPA filter against the intake side, and set it in front of the airbrushing station. It'll suck the air, and paint particles into the HEPA filter. Works like a charm.

No, not Windex as a thinner, just Windex as an in-between cleaner.

it, I'm going to buy airbrush paint. Tried working with what I had, four tries, four disasters. At least hey were only mantic orcs . Off to get the bent shelf replaced then to work. Might get a little overtime tonight, just depends on how things go.

if you say disaster...does this mean you clogged your AB? that would qualify in my book as a disaster...(here is hoping it didn´t came to this...)

Clogged, but easily cleaned out each time. Some of my paints are just thick. I tried to dilute them enough, but hasn't worked out. Still running fine, just not getting the consistency I want. Also I must locate my other needles, I think I have the finest tip on it right now which might be a problem.

 dsteingass wrote:
No, not Windex as a thinner, just Windex as an in-between cleaner.

Soap and water, like liquid dish soap, followed by a thorough rinse through, are the best in-between cleaner for acrylics, and are much cheaper than windex. Never causes the paint to get 'gummy'. Plus no residue problems. But there are knuckleheads out there who use Windex as a thinner. One would hope that people would take a few minutes to learn a bit about the chemical and physical properties of the medium in which they are working.

Anyway, Theo, which airbrush paints are you looking to try? I was wondering how well the new Badger paints would do. I know the Vallejo stuff is pretty good.

well... hopefully you´ll get the right paints soon... I wanna see these orks^^

The Badger paints are excellent, as are the Vallejo. Don't be a brand-loyal person.

Well I was told at the flgs that Vallejo is redoing their airbrush line and won't be available till October/September. I'll swing by hobby lobby this weekend or possibly miniature market and see what is available at those places. I've decided not to be brand loyal anymore, last brand I supported really well turned from being a great miniature company into the company that brought us the taurox .

The orcs will get painted eventually, but I'm having a hankering for marines again, or at least servo skulls pretending to be marines . Also I must revisit the "when servo skulls attack" stories again.

Edit got home and quickly grew some paint on a gore(Orc pig in mantic universe)

Ham and eggs go good together so why not , just blocked in quickly, I'll see what I think in the morning.
I'm thinking yellow for my army color as the brother in law took red for his undead.

I see a brutal version of pumba...lol

Well Saturday was a full celebration of my oldest s 11th birthday, multiple family get togethers, lunch and dinner out, time at the park to play yadda yadda. Not painting or paint shopping really, did look at an art store, their airbrush paints seamed expensive, but at 4 times the volume of GW and 5 times the price it might be reasonable. It was called Golden airbrush paint, and seams to be the artist choice. Might revisit it later. Hobby lobby had some basic airbrush paint too, but nothing that jumped out at me. Sunday was church and more family time. My weekend off, so most is taken up by family as they don't see me during the week.

My first look at the pig on Saturday made me think it was. Possible to "fix" it, I like the idea of yellow, but the colors were not working for me. Hence I busted out the delvan miracle mud . And finished the rider this morning. Here's version 1.0, give me the honest opinion. Nothing too fancy with him as I have 50 of them to paint up . And 200-300 foot troops to do as well.




I'll redo a foot trooper now in similar fashion to see how that turns out.

I like it. It is bold, and an army full will look awesome.

Will you vary the Boar colour?

Happy Birthday to the wee one.(Belated.)

Didn't think of varying the gore color . Guess I was lazy about that, maybe all the not brown ones get eaten as the brown ones go fasta in mantic land (mantica , stupid name).

so in the meantime



first of the foot troops done. there may be some slight changes in the future, but I think this will work as a basis to work off of.

I tried metal and black visors on him, I'm leaning towards the black though

Brand loyalty... pshaw I go for what works. But I haven't heard much about the Badger paints yet, so, asking is good.

Nice work on the orc, or are they orx?

I apologize for my preachy tone in my previous post. I've had some 'interesting' experiences helping people learning to use airbrushes.

happy belated birthday to your oldest... !

yellow seems to be the favourite colour choice of yours... bold but striking!...and looking very good... tho I have to say...colours look a tad flat to me... drybrushing and wash I think would help?...or since this is for a considerable horde army you might want skip on that and call it a day for that mini. especially I like the freehand you did on both models...

as for the black vs metall... black..as it is the better colour combination against the yellow...

Theo has yellow down pat! I hate dealing with yellow. =/

@shas, thanks, but I didn't even do a highlight or anything.
@vik, they are supposed to be grimy dull warriors with armor to match.

I wanted something bright and not seen often. I would have done red to go with my bloodbowl orcs, but my brother in law did red for his main color and I wanted different. Blue wasn't feeling right and I detest orange, so yellow again. As these guys will rank up 20, 30 or 40 to a unit I'm not troubling myself with highlights. They got the delv an mud wash, and they'll get flocked, but that's gonna be about it.

Hopefully a little paint time in the morning. I checked the local hobby sore and they had testors airbrush paint, but I didn't like the colors. I think I'm going to have to just suck it up and learn to thin properly .

Or use the Internet!!

You won't find Vallejo or Badger AB paints at any chain stores that I know of. Michaels sells the primary color opaques, you probably don't want translucent colors for miniatures.

You can thin GW paint, but it is a pain. I've thinned the foundation paints and sprayed them already, you want mostly thinner with a bit of paint. Vigorous mixing is the key..no lumps..never ever. Experiment on paper or something first of course.

Thanks again dave, the airbrushing guru .

I thought about ordering from chicagoairbrushsupply.com where I got the compressor, but just don't know what colors to get. I'll probably get black as I want to do a special project . But I could just try out the local shops for that, just the one I went to today didn't have black, and only a couple opaques, none of which struck me as the yellow was really bright . The Aztec by testors looked neat, but twice the price per volume.

I just need to break down and get going on something.

How much are you wanting to spend?

Badger sells small sets and their entire line. Vallejo has small sets too. http://www.thewarstore.com/VallejoAirbrushSets.html I'm fortunate enough to have my local hobby shop really close to my house that carries Vallejo Air individually on the rack,

Think I might swing by lowes on my way in and check out that paint easy that red harvest suggested. I kept playing around with black only to get super frustrated . Gave out grabbed bits, glue and brushes.

Arise my legion of servo skulls...or at least proto type legionnaire.



I think it needs additional spot color, but not sure which to go with....maybe yellow??? NO! been there too often recently.

So I put it up to you guys, what spot color, GW please as that's what I mostly have.

What are you thinning with?

I actually prefer Artist airbrush black paint (Schmincke Aerocolour) over all the other brand blacks...but you're talking to a guy who has driven all over town on a saturday shopping for the "right shade of black" before

it definitely needs some more colour ...I had it mistaken for a bare metal conversion at first glance
I'd probably go for red as a spot colour ...tho yellow could be a good choice too... hazard stripes and all that... plus you could go a lil chaos and call it an iron hands that got...haha..out of hand...

You need a daylight bulb (Harsh flourescent shop-light glare going on in those pics) and also need to play with the macro setting on that camera (the table is nicely in focus though) .

(the table is nicely in focus though) *sniggers*

The one thing I've found with the Paint Easy is that it thins anything... I've even used regular housepaint in the airbrush to paint some birdhouses at one point... just don't don't overdue it or it will take for ever to dry, and will be sticky for a while. By anything I mean including paints that most hobbyists don't use for miniatures, like the artists acrylics --Golden or Liquitex for example-- or some of the craft paints.

Try using a diffuser for the lighting, even a piece of white fabric in front of the light. I saw a photo, here. Photographer is using a plastic container for a lightbox.



I'm going to try this myself.

I should be able to swing the plastic container as a light box, I'm in the basement after all where everything gets thrown in a box for later, when it should just go to the trash bin . Also no fancy camera here , I just grab my iPad which is usually right next to me playing a Netflix movie or show and take a quick snapshot. Much easier to upload than getting a computer involved. My fluorescent bulbs are daylight bulbs as well as the light coming in through my window on the right. I think the biggest problem was the iPad focusing on the desk, I will grab some more plasticard and put it underneath next time, its worked before for me.

Last night was brutal at work. Got my stuff done quickly, did some special projects, then had to help the overwhelmed trash guy out. We also had a department dinner because of our great scores we recieved again this month , that was the only time I got to slow down. Walked 20+ miles according to the pedometer. Probably going back to bed as I'm bone tired right now.

Thanks for the comments guys, keeps me motivated.

What browser do you use on the ipad that makes Dakka usable?

I just use safari that came with the pad, its an older model, and I run the orange/black dakka theme.