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I have recently been thinking about buying an airbrush set up. My question is whether it's worth it for orks/ork boys?

Either airbrushing or aerosol sprays are definately the way to go for primers and one main colour.

Apart from primer I use either a green to give me a head start on the skins, a black to give me a head start on the clothes/boots (I paint a grimy/goth scheme) or a metallic black for walkers and vehicles.

I haven't yet got to the skill level where I can do detail but as a way of starting lots of boyz, spraying is the way to go, especially if you are going to have lots of models with large surface areas.

Good luck!

to answer your question...yes and no.

Yes the shading on the skin will look awesome

and no because of armor and all of that most of what you airbrush you will be painting over. and if your wanting your models to look good (which im assuming you are because you're talking about an airbrush) then you wont want the base coat for all of your colors to be green.. Unless your willling to buy a VERY expensive airbrush which i would not suggest for a beginner then it would be more work than its worth.

HAHAHA that being said I highly suggest anyone in this hobby that paint to get an airbrush. even if its just for priming and sealing. Are there any parts of the paint jobs for orks that are giving you trouble maybe i could help. Whats paints are you using? what brush?

The Nobz in my gallery were painted using an airbrush for the skin and yellow armor. Detail and weathering done by brush. It can be done with a bit of masking and trigger control but expect some touch-ups later. It takes practice. Don't expect instant results.

For orcs, I might suggest painting the dark areas black and highlights areas white. A green wash or two over this sort of base coat can turn out great and you don't need to buy an airbrush.

If you are doing a large amount of models. Like a 100 model piece airbrushing the base and large parts of colour will make your like easy as pie, I think I can 1/10 my painting time with airbrushing.

i38steelrain wrote:
to answer your question...yes and no.

Yes the shading on the skin will look awesome

and no because of armor and all of that most of what you airbrush you will be painting over. and if your wanting your models to look good (which im assuming you are because you're talking about an airbrush) then you wont want the base coat for all of your colors to be green.. Unless your willling to buy a VERY expensive airbrush which i would not suggest for a beginner then it would be more work than its worth.

HAHAHA that being said I highly suggest anyone in this hobby that paint to get an airbrush. even if its just for priming and sealing. Are there any parts of the paint jobs for orks that are giving you trouble maybe i could help. Whats paints are you using? what brush?

I am currently using small brushes and regular GW paint. I recently ordered 60 more boyz, so I was just curious if it was overwhelmingly better to use an airbrush.

Personally, for Orks, I tend to think airbrushing isn't really worth it unless you're going for an awesome show piece army. To get the full effect of airbrushing, you'll end up doing a crap load of masking. You could just do a simple zenithal grey basecoat and then do thinned coats by hairy brush on top of it, but that's a very specific style of painting that you may not want to get in to.

 elStrages wrote:
If you are doing a large amount of models. Like a 100 model piece airbrushing the base and large parts of colour will make your like easy as pie, I think I can 1/10 my painting time with airbrushing.

For me, personally, the base colour is the easiest part. I don't care about how neat it is so I just slop it on a few minutes per model. Because of that, I don't think the airbrush saves me a LOT of time. A bit, yeah, a lot, no. Especially when you consider the additional set up and packing up time.

You could also get the same benefit of speed by just buying some coloured sprays for your basecoat. Several companies sell coloured sprays you can use, they will save you even more time than an airbrush at a fraction of the cost.

I do like my airbrush and think it's a good addition to my painting arsenal, but if the first army you want to do with them is Orks, I'm not sure I'd bother.

federali619 wrote:

i38steelrain wrote:
to answer your question...yes and no.

Yes the shading on the skin will look awesome

and no because of armor and all of that most of what you airbrush you will be painting over. and if your wanting your models to look good (which im assuming you are because you're talking about an airbrush) then you wont want the base coat for all of your colors to be green.. Unless your willling to buy a VERY expensive airbrush which i would not suggest for a beginner then it would be more work than its worth.

HAHAHA that being said I highly suggest anyone in this hobby that paint to get an airbrush. even if its just for priming and sealing. Are there any parts of the paint jobs for orks that are giving you trouble maybe i could help. Whats paints are you using? what brush?

I am currently using small brushes and regular GW paint. I recently ordered 60 more boyz, so I was just curious if it was overwhelmingly better to use an airbrush.

Ok so I still use alot of gw also. Make sure you are thinning down to make transitions easier. as far as your brush is concernerd think about getting a koinskl sable brush size 00 for the fine detail and some shading. DONT BU A CRAZY expensive one online. go to your local craft/hobby store and get one. it willmake a world of difference. as far as how long it takes. I hae paining infantry also. I never try to do huge batches just 5 or so at a time that way i can get through it in an afternoon.