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Hi,

For those of you that airbrush outside, how do you do it? I used to airbrush inside but now we have a baby I don’t feel it’s safe due to dust etc. I live in the uk so the weather sucks most of the time. Can you airbrush in wind? What about temperature? Do you use a booth or other object

I haven't done it, but can't imagine it'd be too good a result. Stray wind blowing dust and crap onto your freshly airbrushed mini?

 Valkyrie wrote:
I haven't done it, but can't imagine it'd be too good a result. Stray wind blowing dust and crap onto your freshly airbrushed mini?

That’s what I thought but I have seen people on this forum declaring that they airbrush al fresco


Automatically Appended Next Post:
They probably live in nice warm countries

I haven't seen it being done but if you had a calm enough day, it would be doable. You do have dust to contend with as Valk mentioned, and you wouldn't have proper lighting to see the mini.

The arrival of children made me re-evaluate my airbrushing, too.

I satisfied my concerns with a vented spray booth.

I've always had the geek room for painting and airbrushing anyway, but sucking most of the airborne paint particles out of the window seemed like a good idea. I can remember doing a thorough clean of the room prior to getting the spray booth and being surprised at the previously unnoticed paint dust all over the place. No such problems nowadays, so that fan has to be doing some good.

I only do it if I'm airbrush priming a LOT of pieces (like 10 rock terrain pieces) in one sitting that necessitates having open air to help ventilate.

When I choose to airbrush outside, there are very VERY specific conditions that I need to have met:

No or low humidity. Just like priming with a rattle can, if you have a lot of moisture in the air, it's going to mess with your spraying. If it feels moist, you're gonna have a bad time.

No wind. Even a slight breeze is going to mess with your spray pattern, and also contribute to dust and debris being blown onto your models.

Slightly overcast. You actually want to avoid a bright sunny day, because the strong harsh light of the sun creates really dramatic shadows and messes with what you can and can't see on the model. You want clouds to help diffuse the sunlight and give you a more uniform light overall.

Warm. If it's too cold or hot, it's going to mess with your paint and primer application, and affects how it dries. I usually aim for the 15-20C range. Any lower or higher and it's a no bueno from me. Also a creature comfort thing, if I can't sit outside in sweatpants and a t-shirt slamming paint onto a model, why bother at all?

I used to airbrush outside (but my compressor was like the hammer of god and the spraybooth was 4' wide, 2' deep and 3' tall with an industrial filter/blower off the back.

Strong winds were a bugbear. Direct sun in high summer meant you had to work VERY quickly (paint dried very quickly) so I had to wait for the 'cooler' days when it wasn't too windy or humid.


Then my compressor killed itself, and my spraybooth was dismantled because I moved house. It's still in the in-laws garage.

I started out in 2014ish, with a Badger 250 and compressed air can. I "airbrushed" outside with that, it's more like a spray gun. Worked OK, but I was spraying a 1/48 scale Huey and I was in a relatively sheltered area of the garden and wasn't sat down - didn't need to be as it was a quick spray. Like others have said, wind is your enemy. Same principle as using a rattle can really.