Twyg's Thursday Thought - Airbrushin' Ain't Easy

Airbrushin!

All-free-download.com had this airbrush image. No, I don't paint my thumbnail pink.

Back for another Thursday, this time talking about Airbrushing. It makes painting minis an absolute pleasure, however there's a lot to consider. There's tons of tutorials out there, so I won't go into much of the how-to, more so what I go through when I airbrush.

First and foremost know that there's a cost of entry for airbrushing.
You're going to spend around $200-$400 to get setup right, so keep that in mind. There's a compressor, (get one with a tank) cleanup gear, and other accessories to make life easier. Why would you spend so much? Frankly it's all about how much time you want to save and if there's a specific style that you're going for.

For example do blends with a brush stymie you? Do you hate seeing brush lines on your model tank flat spaces? Do you hate dealing with difficult advance concepts like Object Source Lighting? Do you not want to know any of these things, and just want to shoot paint droplets out a piece of equipment at speeds high enough to pierce concrete? An airbrush is worth it in all cases. Of course, the concrete thing may require a significantly larger investment like a hadron collider, but that's neither here nor there.

Second, once you settle in on an airbrush, you'll want to be safe. Consider a ready made airbrush hood, or have one made by hand. On safety, and perhaps the biggest thing, is that you're going to want to get a good respirator. Think about it, you're atomizing acrylic glue with pigment suspended in it. Glue - with paint... It's just plain dumb to inhale it.

Third, you're going to want to get some practice. The first time you hit that button, air flows and paint starts shooting you'll have butterflies in your tummy and probably a giant splat of paint on a very expensive model. Start with paper. Seriously, just scrap paper. Do fundamentals for an hour a day and keep at it. You'll learn your equipment and your fine motor skills, which will just make things from nervous anxiety to smooth as a criminal...

Ok, those three things in mind, here's a quick photo clip set and a WIP on a model being commissioned. Captions from here on out, with info between.

Keeping the Dark Side of the Force strong! About a $30 respirator.

Here's the usual setup, get the respirator, put on my glasses to protect my eyes as well and get the brush prepped. The compressor is on by now, the hood pulling air out of the room.

As with brush painting I have water on hand a dropper for paint pots and a "dumping" pot ready.

 The caption says a lot, however you should have water on hand, a dropper and a dumping pot for changing colors quickly. You can empty the airbrush into this dumping pot, flush with some water, then go back to the base color if you need to later.

A brush, and the glove

Something I forgot to mention, but have gloves and a brush on hand. You really don't want to shoot this paint on your skin in general. The brush makes a complete mix in the reservoir a lot easier all around. Just keep it in the water, and remember that it will add water to the mix of paint!

Nice belt

Masking can be done with ready tac from your local pharmacy. They're your cheapest place generally to get that tacky stuff you hung your posters with in college. Just roll it into a ball and shoot away! Anything missed due to the mask can be back filled by brush later.

Paper shots

Keep some paper in your hood/booth as you work. You can see the dots and the lines made in the background. As you work your paint is in a state of change when you start adding a drop or two of water, thinner, or a little white to go lighter in shade. In any case, hitting the paper is a lot better of an idea.

Drying time

One of the more annoying parts, though infinitely faster than standard, is drying time. Make sure you don't lose your paint from a surface when laying down the model. With an airbrush you're generally not laying down as much paint as a brush, so you'll want to be careful on those metal models.

Cleaning pot with solution

A cleaning pot is just a good investment straight up. You put a bunch of solvent in the reservoir and shoot it through cleaning the whole brush from the pot forward. I start with water and the brush I used for mixing to gently clean the whole reservoir, then dump it out. After about six or seven emptying of the pots you should be ready for the solvent. Like the paint this isn't something you want to breathe (notice the little holes on the top, there's a filter there too.)

Break it down

And finally when you're completely done for the night it's good practice to disassemble, clean, oil and reassemble the airbrush. Don't mess with the seals! If you've worked on firearms this is not a challenge. If you haven't worked with firearms, don't worry. Know this, there's a "wipe down" there's a "field strip" and then there's a "full disassemble and rebuild" stage to cleaning. For a wipe down you'd do the reservoir and pretty much be done. In this case it's a field strip. You're pulling apart the basic components, wiping them down and putting them together again. A full disassemble and rebuild is what it sounds like. Believe it or not there's about eight more pieces to the airbrush in the picture, washers, o-rings and the like. Don't go there unless you know what you're doing.

So I hope that I didn't scare you away from airbrushing with all the gear and steps, since it seems so complicated. You should know that you're going to be doing more than grabbing a brush and slapping it around. Like anything that's convenient - There is a cost for the convenience. A little more money than brushes, a little more time than them as well. I would encourage you to stop in at a buddies house and try one, take a class at the local hobby shop, or just take the plunge. It's been worth it for me.

Do share if you have tips, more links about the subject or any questions!

Twyg