Deadlifts Airbrush experiences. [Archive] - BoLS Lounge : Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures Forum

Deadlift

11-04-2013, 11:56 AM

As promised I'm going to post my experiences of painting with an airbrush over the last 18 months. I hope I'm able to pass on a little bit of help to those who are thinking about giving airbrushing a go, and give a little confidence to anyone who (like I was) maybe a little daunted about having a stab at an alternative way of painting our minitures.

CHOOSING AN AIRBRUSH.

1st off let me stress, whilst some armies and models really lend themselves to being airbrushed not all do. You can get some really nice results but I find a mix of airbrushing and painting by hand is what gives me the best results I can achieve at the moment. Also before I go any further I would like to stress I'm no expert either. I'm a novice but just decided to give airbrushing a go.

Right then, 1st thing we need to start airbrushing is of course an Airbrush and an air source. 1st the airbrush.
I have tried 2 types of airbrush. Gravity feed and bottle feed. A gravity fed airbrush has a little pot on the top or side of the airbrush where you pour your paint directly into. Here's a picture
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/a587ab08130ce7fa9f5be862e0ca98c8.jpg
This one as you can see is also a double action airbrush. I will explain later what this means and why it's best for us in our hobby.

The second type of airbrush you generally see is a bottle feed airbrush. You place the paint your going to use in a glass jar that's then attached to the airbrush underneath. As you pull back the trigger the airbrush sucks paint fron the jar.
They generally look like this one.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/d02e412e4159c147f966cc308426e447.jpg

Now I have tried both and I can honestly say for us a gravity fed airbrush is the best choice. The cup in the top is easy to fill and there is much less wastage of paint. Also I have found this type of brush doesn't clog up as easily. Also having an underslung bottle is a pain and can really get in the way when your painting. However some airbrush starter kits do come with one of each type of airbrush. I used to use the bottle fed one for priming and the gravity fed one for actual painting. Me now I use just a gravity one for everything.

Another thing to look for when choosing an airbrush is needle size, most are either 0.4mm (great for priming or large stuff) of 0.2mm (better for more detailed painting). Starting out I suggest sticking with a 0.4mm. Sure your not going to get anything fancy done but you will be able to do some blending and get a few overspray effects. I will explain more as I go along. The reason I say go for a 0.4mm 1st is to practice with the larger size.This won't clog as much and it will give you a "feel" for how the paints you use and your airbrush work. Some airbrushes actually allow to switch sizes of needle very easily. Whatever you choose though, please go out and buy some cheap paper or card to practice on before you start on any expensive models. Take your time and get a feel for your airbrush.

Earlier I mentioned 2 other options to our airbrushes. Single action and Double action (sometimes called dual action). Single action is basically you push down the button, pull back and paint comes out. Basically it's the same result you would get from a can of spray paint. Ok for priming but not enough control for what we want. The second and better option is a double action airbrush. What this means is more control. The further back you pull the trigger on these types of airbrush, the more paint will come out. This is great for extra control and allows us to paint with more confidence, knowing we're less likely to accidentally cover our models with loads of paint.

So to recap on what kind of airbrush I think is best for us. Gravity feed double action. That gives us an airbrush with nice control, no jars getting in the way and easy to clean.

That's it for now, don't rush out and buy anything yet though because in my next post I'm going to talk about my experiences with different air sources and what deals we can find thst give us the best flexibility.

One last thing, those of you who have the GW air gun thingy. That's not an airbrush, it's ok for priming and base coats. But that's about it really. It's got its uses but it's not an airbrush.

If anybody has anything to ask or add (I'm no expert so please if you spot a mistake don't be afraid to jump in) fire away.

I would also like to add, I'm not looking to plug my blog (I don't have one) or a painting service (I'm far to busy).

Until next time.

energongoodie

11-04-2013, 12:09 PM

I look forward to more knowledge :)

Lukas The Trickster

11-04-2013, 01:21 PM

Just out of interest, what make/model airbrush do you 'roll with' Joe?

Deadlift

11-04-2013, 01:54 PM

Just out of interest, what make/model airbrush do you 'roll with' Joe?

I started out with two generic Chinese airbrushes, 1 of each type and really not too bad. But then I plumbed for a Harder and Steenbeck Evolution 2 in 1. I love it. It comes with 2 needle sizes with matching nozzles. A 0.4mm and a 0.2mm and unlike other makes of airbrush I can change needles in about 30 seconds. It's a German brand and comparing it to my Chinese brushes it's like a Mercedes compared to a Hyundai.
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/b0472aacb1f90acbd119ea8206cd85fc.jpg

DWest

11-04-2013, 02:41 PM

Deadlift

11-04-2013, 02:57 PM

Here's a question that has been confounding me for months- I have an airbrush of the dual-action gravity-feed type (Iwata Revolution) and it seems every time I go to stop the feed, as I push the trigger forward it causes a big cough of paint to come out. What am I doing wrong?

Could be few things. Maybe your psi is too high, maybe you have a small blockage that's not enough to prevent you painting but enough to cause this "coughing" effect as you release the trigger.
I haven't used an Iwata brush, but I have read they are very good. It maybe your airbrush just needs a good clean.
95% of any issues I have had are down to my airbrush needing a damn good clean. Day to day cleaning with warm slightly soapy (dish soap ) is ok but sometimes you just need to strip the airbrush down and give it a really good clean using a proper airbrush cleaner and cleaning brushes. I bet if you give it a good clean and then try it on some paper you will be good to go.
I will go into some detail on cleaning and maintainance at some point, one piece of kit that's good is an ultrasonic cleaner. I bought mine for £20. I strip my brush down put it in the cleaner with warm water and a little soap and run it for about 10 minutes. It basically vibrates any hard to get to crap out of your brush.

If your brush is clean, then my guess is your psi is too high and your paints too thin.

Let me know how you get on.

Deadlift

11-04-2013, 03:31 PM

AIR SOURCES.

Right then let's talk about our compressed air supply. There's quite a number of ways of getting air into your airbrush. Canned pressurised air is one option, Badger do various sized cans and whilst starting out to begin with this option may look cheaper than buying a compressor, it's not. When you start out airbrushing and really start enjoying the results your getting, what can be worse than running out of air. This will happen if your using canned air. And if your planning on doing lots of airbrushing (it's addictive) you will spend a lot of cash on canned air. Don't do it.

Other options I have heard of are air tanks and even air filled tyres, I don't know about you guys but me that all sounds like a pain in the bum. If your really serious about airbrushing get a compressor.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/8775098c555bcb19e84598208de52023.jpg

This is a pic of an Airbrush starter kit from eBay, it's what I started with and cost me about £65. With that I got a compressor with a tank and 2 airbrushes and all the air hoses I would need. Not the best brushes in the world but good enough to start with. Ones a gravity feed and ones a bottle feed, both are dual action.

Now be careful when choosing a compressor. You want one like this that has a tank, the reason being you will have a steady stream of air coming though your brush. What happens when you turn on the compressor is that it will fill the tank with air. As you use your brush and the pressure starts to drop your compressor will kick in and start adding air to the tank. Giving you uninterrupted painting with a constant flow of air. If you buy a compressor without a tank your airbrush will "pulse" as the air pressure drops and rises as you paint. I'm sure you can imagine the problems this can cause with painting.

Another thing to note is that with too much use, compressors can overheat. When they do they will switch themselves off. The 1st time this happened to me I thought I'd broken my compressor. 5 minutes of cool down time I was ready to go again. "Phew". So if this happens to you don't worry just be warned that your compressor needs a rest. Also take care it will be very hot to the touch.

All compressors (that we should be using) will come with a pressure valve, this is where we adjust our PSI. The higher the PSI, the more high pressured air and paint will come out of your airbrush, too high and you will explode paint everywhere you don't want it, too low and the paint will pool on your models and may even run. 20psi is good to start with, but play about with it to see what suits you.

So basically my advice when starting to airbrush is to get a kit like this one. It's cheaper than a wraithknight and you will be well on the road to getting started.

Next post I will cover setting up your painting area, paints and some safety tips. Talking of safety do please make sure when airbrushing your in a well ventilating area and your wearing a mask. I will cover this too in my next post.

TTFN.

euansmith

11-04-2013, 04:18 PM

Bravo. This is shaping up to be a good series of articles. How come these are in the Lounge rather than on the front page?

Pauly Addams

11-04-2013, 09:25 PM

Awesome, thanks for this. I'm new to airbrushing myself and I'm looking forward to your parts on painting techniques.

Deadlift

11-05-2013, 03:32 AM

Paint

Right then I've talked about airbrushes and compressors, next we need to think about our paint options, where we're going to paint and other bits and pieces we could use to make our airbrushing easier and fun. Here I will talk about paint

Now we really can use any of the paints we already use when we paint by hand.

GW paints can work in your airbrush but do need to be thinned. The problem I have found with GW paints is the pot and getting the paint from the pot into the airbrush. It's messy and a pain in the bum. I have seen some tip paint from the GW pots straight into the airbrush, add water (50/50) mix with a brush and start painting. Didn't work for me. If you insist on using GW paints I would buy some of these

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/1527cb53277fa6f1a4d2c8a9a7ebf330.jpg

You can add the paint into these dropper bottles, add your thinner (water or even a proper airbrush thinner) mix it in the bottle and the squirt your paint into your airbrush. Mess free and ready to go. You can even make enough to last some time and if your mixing your own colours this is a great way to do that too. I bought mine off of eBay and they are very cheap.

But there are 2 brands of paint I really like for airbrushing. Vallejo Model Air and Minitaire by Badger. Both are ready to go straight into your airbrush and don't require any thinning. They also come in dropper style bottles which is an even bigger bonus.

The Vallejo model air
This is really geared towards the scale modeller. The colours reflect this and so if your looking for bright purples or really vivid colours you won't find them in this range. Realism is what you get with this range of paints. I would think for an Imperial Guard player they would be fantastic. Some space marine chapters like Raptors or any of the black armoured chapters could be painted with this range very well. I should also add that if your looking for metallic airbrush paints, these are the very best. Very fine paint. Here's a chart of the colours available

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/01559fc41bdb9f26ed39315545107e21.jpg

Badgers Minitaire paints.
This range is quite new and again come in dropper bottles. I think I discovered them around march time and they are really very good. Geared more towards the fantasy / sci if market this is where you will find some very bold colours. The names are really fun too. Bloodstained mud as an example. I really enjoy these paints and they fill a gap Vallejo's model air paints can't. Bright yellows, purples, reds and blues. Really any colour you could need is here. I don't rate their metallics though. The Vallejo ones are far better. But generally these are the paints I use primarily and the Vallejo model air paints are my back up paints.
Minitaire also do "Ghost" paints and these are a bit different than standard paint. Ghost paints are also referred to as "Candy" paints. We don't use these in the normal way for painting models and I will cover these in a later post as they really deserve their own section.
Here's the Minitaire chart

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/f6c7b7c3d4a0159245c0d7fcaecd1da5.jpg

So that's paint, if your thinking of using GW paints then you will need to thin them, people say "consistency of milk" but I found that rather confusing. I found 50/50 is usually good enough as long as your paint hasn't begun to dry out. Don't mess about with old paint though, you will curse yourself silly after you clog your airbrush up and have to strip and clean it.

Last but not least we need primer. If you have an airbrush, why bother with expensive cans of paint, Vallejo airbrush primer is fantastic, I use white, black and grey. It's about £10 a bottle on eBay and I have managed to prime 4000 pts of Necrons and 2000 pts of eldar without going halfway though the bottle.

I repeat what I said before though, if your priming with an airbrush, up your psi a bit (30 is what I use) and remember you don't have to absolutely flood the model with the primer, a light coat is good enough for your paint to adhere to.

Any questions on paint don't be afraid to ask here or PM me.

I will cover our painting area next and some safety tips we should all follow.

Deadlift

11-05-2013, 01:03 PM

Painting Area.

So now I've talked a bit about Airbrushes and the different types available, different air sources and paint choices. I'm now going to talk about where we're going to paint and some of the things that will make our airbrushing that much easier.

1st off if your going to airbrush inside your home, it has to be very close to a window. You need ventilation when airbrushing and please no kiddies or pets nearby when you do. My set up is a desk directly under a window which gives two advantages. Great natural light and ventilation. Never airbrush with the window shut, it's bad for your health. You can buy airbrush booths, with extractors. I don't have one. Open windows good enough for me. Obviously you want to be facing said window.
So we have decided where our painting area will be, what else could we use to make things go easier and safer for us.

1. Paper, this is to test your airbrush on as you paint. Whenever your painting away you will get used to having to give your brush a quick blast on the paper to make sure your paintings flowing nicely out of your brush. I always test my airbrush on paper before painting anything.

2. Airbrush stand or cleaning pot. When your not holding your airbrush, where are you going to put it ? You don't want to just lay it down as any paint still in the airbrush will pour out and make a mess. Some compressors even come with a place to put your airbrush when your not painting. Some don't. Get a stand or even better an airbrush cleaning pot. They look like this.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/5235066fe2010117769b337e06e9dd46.jpg

As you can see you can stick your airbrush securely in the rubber ringed hole nice and safe, and if you need to flush out your airbrush you can use this pot too. Just add water to your airbrush insert your airbrush into the hole and spray out any paint and water before switching colours.

3. Latex Gloves, not really necessary but handy to have. I wear one to hold the piece I'm painting on its cork (see below). Airbrushing does produce overspray and your hand will end up getting paint on it, I call it Goth hand, especially if your painting black. Fortunately the paints we use are easy to wash off but these gloves are good.

4. Cork caps like this, http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/e3ad612ad0e8f55c5fc9c916c46fca55.jpg
and some blu-tac. I use these to put models on when painting. Use anything really, old paint pots or anything you have to hand. I use these because you can also stick paper clips in them. If your airbrushing say a space marine bolter. You can stick one end of the paper clip in the cork, the other to the bolter and airbrush it without getting your fingers in the way.

I should add that if you embrace airbrushing as I have you will start clipping your smaller model parts like heads and guns out of the sprue thinking about how you can leave it partially attached to some sprue for you to hold whilst painting.

Here's a picture of how I used cork caps to paint parts of my Wraith Knight
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/60a56e9d94ee400c491d4421c113301f.jpg

5. Desk lamp, self explanatory for any miniature painter really.

6. Clean water, to flush out your airbrush when switching colours. Not difficult. Just pour the water into the airbrush, place in your cleaning pot and squirt until clean.

7. Face mask, this is a must. Breathing in all that paint is bad for you. Wear a mask. Plus they look cool and you won't get multicoloured bogies or snot.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/1d9fb54ee0d23aad2d6360a5f7a54e32.jpg

Doesn't have to be a fancy one like this, but get one.

8. Cotton buds (q-tips) and paper towel. You will find as you airbrush you will accumulate rather quickly a build up of paint around your needle tip. This can cause paint to splatter onto whatever your painting. Keep an eye on your needle and give it a wipe every now and then to prevent this.

9. Obviously your paint of choice.

Other things like masking tape, airbrush cleaner and lube, patterned templates and more come later. They aren't 100% important to have yet. We're just starting out.

Next post, were going to talk about actually using our airbrush connecting to the compressor and having some fun.

Psychosplodge

11-05-2013, 04:49 PM

Has this made the front page yet?

If not, why not?

Deadlift

11-06-2013, 03:05 AM

energongoodie

11-06-2013, 03:20 AM

Great idea :D

Deadlift

11-06-2013, 04:23 AM

Let's Paint

Right then all the previous posts have been leading up to this. The fun bit.

Before we start painting we will need to connect the airbrush to your compressor. What ever type you bought it should come with instructions on how to do this. If you can tie your shoes then you can do this. One end of the hose screws onto the compressor, the other to underneath your airbrush.
It will look something like this.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/2c0db8161d1cf4e5580ac4b08e190e93.jpg

Now sit down at your painting area and lay out you paper in front of you, have some paper towel, cotton buds, water, maybe a brush, airbrush holder or cleaning pot nearby and of course some paint. Stick on your mask and open that window.
Switch on your compressor and you will hear it start to pump air into the tank. Look at the gauge on the top of your compressor and set it to 30 to 25 psi. Wait for the compressor to stop ticking away and your tank is full.
Right then 1st I would flush your airbrush out. It's new and it's best to do this and it takes no time at all. Pour a little bit of water into the airbrush and either spray the water out onto some paper towel, or into your cleaning pot. Once you stop seeing or hearing the water come out, lower your psi to 20ish and grab your paint or primer, give it a good shake then add to your airbrush, 2-3 drops will do.
Grab that paper and practice on it.
Just play with it, draw lines and patterns and see how the airbrush works for you.
Something like this.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/39328776298259f0d5b843bbc731bd27.jpg

If you bought a dual action airbrush you will see the further back you pull the trigger, the more paint will come out and the thicker the lines. We don't want to go mad, less is more. Remember just like normal painting, thinner multiple coats of paint are better than one thick one. Some of the practice numbers and letters on this paper have a "spider" effect around the edges. We don't want this. This is caused usually by having your paint too thin and or water still in the airbrush from the previous clean or flush out. If this happens to you don't worry just spray out the remaining paint in your brush and start again. This is where having paints already premixed for airbrushes is a distinct advantage, they won't be too thin. If you start to notice a splatter effect in your paint, have a quick look at the needle of your airbrush. Your most likely to see a build up of paint. Cotton bud in water, give it a wipe to get rid of the build up and your good to carry on.

As your playing don't be surprised if you hear the compressor come back on again, that's normal. It's just topping up your tank to keep your psi at your set level.

If it switches off entirely then you've been painting for ages and overheated your compressor. Don't worry it will sort itself out. Go make a cup of tea or cup of coffee, have a biscuit and wait for it to cool down. To be honest this rarely happens. But always good to take a break every now and then.

Congratulations, your airbrushing.

Next post were going to actually paint a model :)

Deadlift

11-06-2013, 05:15 AM

Painting a model.

We're going to start off with something large and flat with this. We all know painting tanks is a pain in the bum. Not with an airbrush. Something that could take you hours will take far less time, when you have practiced airbrushing you can do the main bodywork of a tank to a good tabletop standard in minutes. No I'm not joking either.

We're going to be using various colours here so between colour changes, a quick drop or 3 of water into the airbrush, spray onto kitchen towel until clear then add your next colour. Always test on paper 1st to make sure your paints running nice and smoothly. Always give your paints a good shake too.

If you've read my Iyanden painting posts you will have seen these pictures before. I think they are good to demonstrate painting a tank, and also a technique called pre-shading.

You will notice I didn't completely build these wave serpents before painting, sub assembling your models when airbrushing is crucial really and makes life a whole lot easier.

Right then, these 3 Iyanden wave serpents were primed in Vallejo grey airbrush primer. I then grabbed a colour darker than the yellow I would be using to "pre-shade" or paint the areas I wanted to appear, where shadows would be or recesses in the lines of the armour plates. You could use black or dark grey but I felt with yellow a dark brown red would be better. In this case bloodstained earth by Minitaire.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/9baf0b77d06163e9b8785a317c18c06d.jpg

Once that was done, I then grabbed some white paint and airbrushed the areas I wanted to appear slightly lighter. Some of the edges on the top of the wave erpents. "Pre-highlighting" it's subtle but the hulls then looked like this.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/d840237a94d194378aaa7893ebbb590c.jpg

Now the yellow, called Craven by Minitaire. Airbrush your paint in smooth even lines all over your tanks surface, don't paint in one place for any length of time or you will get a build up of paint, we don't want that. We want a nice smooth even coat. Imagine your watching car sprayers and how they go back and forth. Do the same with your airbrush. Also keep checking for build up of paint on your needle and occasionally give it a test on some paper. Once you have done some nice even coats you will end up with something like this.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/807c0ba34bae539fc0c693477bf20d2e.jpg

I should add never, never spray over a wet layer of paint, it gets nasty and you will lose you smooth finish. If your in a rush and can't wait for your model to dry between coats, a hair dryer will help speed drying time up. However to be honest airbrush paint usually drys so quickly it won't be an issue for you.

Once your models dry you could start to use masking tape and airbrush templates to create stripes and patterns on your models, masks areas off and have some fun. Don't forget that airbrush over spray though, make sure you cover anywhere you don't want getting contaminated with other colours. I use a low tack masking tape by tamiya. It comes in various widths and won't peel paint of your models. Just make sure the areas your sticking the tape to are completely dry. Have fun with it and see what you can create. I should add as with any painting, if your trying to paint lighter paint over a dark base it will effect your colours. Like painting yellow over blue will get you green etc etc.

Eventually my Waveserpants ended up like this. Still need a little work but here they are 95% done.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/886df12e757d7b377900a06d22250f7c.jpg

I sub assembled all three, painted parts as I went along and then used humbrol clear red to tint the glass. I even masked off the gems and airbrushed those too. All in all from start to finish these 3 took a morning. Sure they aren't golden daemon or anything like that but as gaming pieces they do the job.

Maybe I shouldn't tell you this but I have sold tanks painted to a similar standard on eBay for a £100. Not bad don't you think. Oh and don't ask me for commissions, get airbrushing and you will have cool looking minis too.

Next up, Cleaning and maintaining our Airbrush.

ACE01

11-06-2013, 07:45 AM

Just a quick one before my next post. I have a spare box of tactical marines that haven't been painted (old style ones) if any of you guys and gals have a specific colour scheme or chapter you would like an airbrush recipe for then send me a PM or post it here. I will then post a step by step painting guide on here with pictures of the asked for schemes after I have finished with my mini tutorials. For those who aren't marine players don't worry, send your colour requests anyway and I will use the marines as an example for you to transfer to your own models.

Seriously considering the same compressor you have, and a decent airbrush to make some real headway into my goal of completing a full chapter of Blood Angels.

Painting detail I love, and by hand is satisfying for single mini's, but with the sheer volume I need, I'd be really interested to see if you can do a bright enough red for my taste using the model air range (which I have easy access to). In my head, I can imagine a grey primer, white 'pre highlight', and the scarlet red (is this the brightest model air?) would probably give me the bright, clean look I'm after, but if you're able to test this, I'd love to see how it comes out!

Thanks for all the info in this thread so far, Larry needs to see this and get it on the frontpage!

Deadlift

11-06-2013, 08:04 AM

Thanks for the feedback, Blood Angels will be added to the list of models I will paint examples of. As for this little series making the front page, don't worry BigReds been in touch.

Blood Angels certainly would be best with a light grey or white primer. I would still look at doing some preshading in the darker areas. Leaving the heads off of models that will have yellow, gold or blue helmets as some Blood Angels do would make airbrushing the helmets nice and easy too. I will likely be showing how to airbrush faces too. I am moving house at the moment so please be patient with me.

Psychosplodge

11-06-2013, 08:25 AM

Do us a Blood wolf :D

http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=2891&d=1348684568

Bored Lyron

11-06-2013, 10:24 AM

Deadlift

11-06-2013, 03:03 PM

Airbrushing Infantry.

I was going to get into cleaning an airbrush next but I have just had this question sent to me via PM. I thought it would be good to share with you guys how I airbrush infantry models and answer the question at the same time. Here's the question and my reply.

Hello!

I have been following your airbrushing tutorial with more than a little interest. I bought an airbrush a couple years ago (Badger I think?) but then burned out before I got a chance to start trying it.

I have been an Eldar player since 91ish and seeing someone airbrushing Eldar has given me a bit of a spark again because I have LOTS of unpainted models hehe...

So I guess my question is this, have you airbrushed the infantry at all? How does that work? I definitely want to use it on my new Wraithknight, Crimson Hunter, and my plethora of Serpents and Fire Prisms that I never painted.. but I have lots of unpainted foot troops also and was wondering how I might be able to "catch up".

My answer is this.

It sounds like you have a little experience with you airbrush but your just a little rusty. Painting foot troops is not different than painting tanks really, it's just a bit more fiddly. I've painted space marines of all sorts of chapters with my airbrush and I have recently just painted my Iyanden Wraithguard with my airbrush too. It's not too difficult at all.

Using my Wraithguard as an example. I used a similar technique to how I painted my Waveserpants. 1st you need to decide if your going to fully build your guys or gals 1st or if like these models the helmets a different colour then it's best to paint those separately.
With marines I usually leave off shoulder pads, guns and heads as these are usually different colours. If not then leave them on.
If your models are fully assembled then it's no big deal, but your really better off painting the bits that are different colours by hand.

I follow these basic rules when airbrushing anything, infantry is no different.

1. What colours going to be the dominant colour your painting. Once you decide this you then want to pick a darker shade as your preshade. It can be a different darker colour but personally I go for a darker shade.

2. Grab your model and if it's already based, blu-tac the base to a cork or if it's not then you can blu-tac the feet of the model to the cork instead. I sometimes go with this second method as I usually airbrush my bases separately.

3. If your painting a lighter coloured model then your best priming in light grey or white, I prefer light grey. However if your painting a dark model like a Dark Angel then prime in black and forget about any pre shading. You won't need to (kind of).

4a If you've primed in grey or white, now it's pre shading time. In this case my Iyanden are pre-shaded using Minitaires bloodstained mud. Try and be careful and paint anywhere you think would be darker or in shadow. Between the legs, under armpits, the gap between a back pack and the back of the armour. Anywhere you think your armour should appear darker. It does take a bit of trial and error but keep at it. Then switch to your main colour and paint your model. Once dry you can then go ahead and hand paint any details you need to. Mine looked like this

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/4b83010a8544a36d6247e13aea68d698.jpg

And once the arms had been painted on corks in the same fashion, the guns painted by hand and attached they ended up like this. Obviously the heads were painted separately then attached.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/9ac29bd70970923a152f985c624dfbe6.jpg

4b If you've gone for a black undercoat then now you need your pre shading colour, for example if your wanting a deep rich red colour. Prime black, then go for either a darker red than your final colour or even a dark brown. This should be painted using a technique called "Zenithal highlighting"
What this means is your going to spray your next coat of paint down onto the model from above and at an angle which paints most of the model but leaves areas like under the arms and between the legs still dark. This will lighten the upper areas of the model mimicking a light source. The final colour will then be sprayed on once the second colour is dry. You need to paint from an even higher angel above the model leaving some of your "pre-shade in the darker areas.

You will have something looking like this.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/354c517252037481eb9e2bc67ccd7d0f.jpg

Which once finished off being painted by hand will look like this.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/0507e6fe5b3384283e8d1d21dbd162d2.jpg

This technique works with all colours and even metallics. I use a wash by a company called secret weapon called "soft body black" and I paint this into the recesses of the armour and joints. I don't slap it on but go carefully.

This technique works on all colours. Just experiment with some duff or old models 1st.

I hope this helps you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will go into shoulder pads, guns and heads and faces at a later date but I hope this gives you some idea on how to tackle airbrushing infantry.

Deadlift

11-06-2013, 03:15 PM

I've been playing with an airbrush for about a year now myself and have had a lot of fun with it. However one thing I still haven't worked out: is there a good way to paint black using airbrush? I've tried a couple of different approaches, but so far none of them has worked to my satisfaction. Any ideas? My own custom marine chapter is mostly black and while I have most of the minis for the whole chapter (some rhinos and scouts are still missing), painting all that black by hand isn't very tempting.

I wish very very much that when I started building my chapter back in the Rogue Trader days, I'd come up with a main colour that was anything other than black. Now, with multiple companies already painted, it's a bit late to change it...

Blacks one of those colours that bothers me too, now you can just go with airbrushing the model black and edge highlighting it.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1193.jpg
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1191.jpg
However I think there are other options. Minitaire make a colour called Raven Black, it has a very subtle blue tinge to it which I think is really nice. It's still black but far more natural than pure black primer. Another option is to use a colour called German Grey by Vallejo in its model air range. It's a very very dark grey and once dry you can wash it with badab black. This too will give you a very natural looking black armour on your men. Hope this helps.

Darren Richardson

11-07-2013, 04:04 AM

Deadlift your airbrush work looks amazing, it's making me consider digging out my old airbrush and the compressor my Grandparents brought me earlier this year....

I just hope I can get results as good as yours....

One quick question, I'm looking to base my Spacemarines on a sand coloured scheme, any advice on how to go about using such a light colour?

Deadlift

11-07-2013, 09:45 AM

Recommended viewing.

Just a quick post to really give you guys some more reference on airbrushing your models. All the links below are from YouTube channels that I have been following over the past few years. They have helped me so much and I think for anyone looking to get into airbrushing they could help you too.

Schnauzerfaceminis
http://m.youtube.com/channel/UCPtFEqSumWcgmmLsF6cyFhA

Ichibanpainting
http://m.youtube.com/channel/UCdu8ZvFzRlCGSq1OU6FFmpw

Awesomepaintjob
http://m.youtube.com/channel/UC0vYyCks8CDWZBHz-qtZhbA

Buypainted
http://m.youtube.com/channel/UCsVtZ8SRClYf4tPzy8HjNtA

Once you get to grips with your airbrushing and surpass some of the basics I have written about, these guys and their videos will I hope inspire you as much as they have me.

There are of course many other guys out there with airbrushing tutorials but I think these 4 channels are the some of the best.

Psyberwolfe

11-07-2013, 06:05 PM

AIR SOURCES.
If you buy a compressor without a tank your airbrush will "pulse" as the air pressure drops and rises as you paint.

This is only true if you're using a non diaphragm compressor with a short hose. With a 6'/180cm hose this becomes non existent. This is a problem of older compressors or compressors not designed for airbrush work. Tanks are nice mostly because they give the compressor a break and act as a primary moisture trap.

Deadlift

11-08-2013, 08:30 AM

Cleaning our Airbrush Part 1

Right then, we have done some painting and were finished for the day. We obviously shouldn't just plonk our airbrush down and leave the paint inside to render it useless for us next time. We need to give it a good clean. Takes about 10 or 20 mins maximum and its well worth the effort.

1st we need to flush any remaining paint out of our airbrush, I poor some water into the brush and turn up the psi to about 35. give it a good blast into your cleaning pot or onto some paper towel. I always go with my pot.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1922.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1922.jpg.html)

Next I take my airbrush out and dismantle it. whichever brand you buy your airbrush should come with instructions on how to do this. Some are easier than others but none are that hard. Heres my Harder and Steenbeck Evo stripped down. I have left the spring and trigger assemble in for this clean. its no issue to take it out and you only really need to if you need to lubricate it.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1924.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1924.jpg.html)

Now the next part can be done in one of two ways, you could get some clean water with a little dish soap and clean the individual parts by hand using a couple of airbrush cleaning tools like these.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1927.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1927.jpg.html)

I do this as well, but whilst I am cleaning each individual part I also have the other parts vibrating away in an “ultrasonic cleaner” sounds expensive right ? Wrong mine cost £20 and its brilliant. If you have a partner who moans at just how much you spend on your hobby you can easily justify this expense as its great for cleaning jewelry too.
I just drop a little dish soap or washing up liquid in the machine then top it up with warm water. Carefully place your dismantled airbrush parts in and switch it on. Most have a run cycle of 3 or 4 minutes. I give mine 3 or 4 cycles as I am removing parts cleaning them by hand and plonking them back in. This is how I do it and its worked for me every time.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1926.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1926.jpg.html)

Its hypnotic to watch and basically the machine vibrates all the hard to reach bits of paint out of your airbrush.

Deadlift

11-08-2013, 08:33 AM

Cleaning our Airbrush Part 2

So our airbrush has been cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner and we have scrubbed carefully with out little cleaning brush to get any flakes of paint out of our airbrush. Sometimes some areas of paint especially in the paint cap and nozzle area are a bit stubborn. If thats the case we could use some airbrush cleaner thats helps break down bits that are a pain.
In the top right hand corner you can see the Airbrush cleaner I am using at the moment. They are all really quite good. Vallejo do one that I would use again.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1930.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1930.jpg.html)

The Airbrush is now all clean and ready to put back together again.

1st we put the nozzle assemble together and screw that back onto the airbrush

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1931.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1931.jpg.html)

Then I reinsert the needle being very careful as its sharp.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1933.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1933.jpg.html)

Then I screw the paint cap back on and the rear body or the airbrush. If the trigger is getting a little stiff the put a little drop of airbrush lube onto it.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1934.jpg (http://s844.photobucket.com/user/joenortonjones/media/IMG_1934.jpg.html)

Then put your Airbrush away ready for next time. As I have said before I always flush mine out with water before use every time I go back to airbrushing.

Right then, I think I have covered all the basics. I will be back with some more “techniques” such as OSL, Zenithal Highlights and Ghost tints (Candy Paints) but for now thats it.

I would lastly like to say that there are many great brands of Airbrush once you feel you have outgrown your chinese generic. When you do it will cost you a bit more money, but look after your airbrush and its a great hobby tool. You will notice a huge difference in your painting too with a better brush.

Me I went with a Harder and Steenbeck after watching the Buypainted videos. Its splendid, very versatile and easy to maintain. I recommend it to anyone. The type I use is called the Evolution 2 in 1 and comes with 2 sizes of needle. 0.4mm and a 0.2mm and all the nozzles and caps too. Its £130 but really very very good. If I ever bought another this would be my choice again. You can buy spares for this airbrush too(as with others I am sure), so if you lose a nozzle or bend a needle it wont cost a fortune to replace.

Good luck with your painting and if just one of you guys gives it a go because of my posts then I am a happy man. I will be back with some demo marines and whatnot too. But for now with my impending house move and having to pack my hobby stuff, brains fried.

Cheers

Deadlift

Lemon

11-08-2013, 02:18 PM

very inspiring stuff cant wait for you to carry on.... ive created an account on here to follow this especially. I have been using an Iwata Neo but havent found the brush too good as it seems to clog very very quickly so ive bought a HS Evolution silverline 2 in 1 today. What compressor are you using? im using the one from amazon currently but feel like this could need updating to a better model as it seems to overheat quite quickly

Deadlift

11-08-2013, 05:37 PM

Welcome to the forums :). The compressor I use is an AS186. Cheap as chips Chinese one but it's kept me going for the last 18 months without any problems. I think it's over heated on me maybe once or twice. Sorry to hear your having problems with your Iwata. I don't know the brand at all but it could be your paint needed to be thinned a bit more or had "lumps" in it. I found with my own brush that any problems I had were either solved with a damn good clean or as happened to me last week, my nozzle had a split in it.
Once again welcome to BoLs, it's a great community we have here.

Pauly Addams

11-08-2013, 09:59 PM

Is this stickied yet?

Would like some thoughts and feedback on sealing models with an airbrush, during painting (for washes) and sealing when complete. I'm using Tamiya atm and feel like there has to be a better brand/less fiddly option.

I also brought the whole Minitaire line and it came with varnishes too, I'm wondering what you thought of them and how you mix/clean using them?

Also, this thread rocks, thanks for all your efforts here Deadlift :)

Deadlift

11-09-2013, 01:57 AM

Thanks for your kind comments Pauly. Just for you let's talk about oil washes and airbrush varnishes.

Oil Washes.

Ok let's talk about using our airbrush to varnish our models and then make our very own washes using oil paints.

Here's what we need.

1.Airbrush Varnish, Gloss.
Minitaire and Vallajo makes are both great. They don't need to be thinned. Use straight from the bottle and straight into your airbrush.

2.Oil Paint.
Loads of colours obviously available. But Ivory Black and Vandyke Brown are two colours I use a lot. I use Windsor and Newton but any brand will do.

3.Paint Brush (not your best ones)

4. Artist grade white spirit or mineral spirits. Windsor and Newton again for me.

5. Paper Towel

6. Q-tips / Cotton buds

7. Plastic disposable cup or tin foil.

1.
we want to varnish our mini with the airbrush varnish (Gloss). Please make sure your airbrush is really clean, we don't want any paint getting into the varnish. Add your varnish to your airbrush, check it's spraying clear on some paper towel, and varnish your miniature. Let it dry. You should clean your airbrush really quite soon after spraying varnish with it for obvious reasons. Nothing special needed, just a good clean.

2.
Make the oil wash, a bit of trial and error here but you want to get the same consistency as your normal washes. I mix mine in cheap disposable cups but you could cover you paint pallet with tin foil and make your wash up on that. Either way it makes cleaning up after yourself a lot easier.

3.
Use the paper towel to test your wash on 1st to check its consistency. You want the paper towel to suck the wash into it (capillary action).

4.
Apply to your model, you can either slap it on all over or paint it on into the areas you want the wash. Take your time, unlike acrylic washes the drying time with oils washes is very long. Hours.

5.
Take a cotton bud or q-tip and dip it into the white spirit and use this to wipe away any of your wash where you don't want it. Sometimes if using cheap buds you may get strands of cotton sticking to your model. Grab your tweezers and pull them off.

6.
Repeat if necessary, you have loads of time. That's the great thing about oil washes. Very flexible.

7. Let it dry and then revarnish with satin or matt varnish.

Oil washes are also great for doing weathering effects as they "streak" really well.

Here is a picture of my Dakka Jet, Airbushed, oil washed and weathered using all the techniques I have described over my little series of articles.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1174.jpg

This Riptide too was oil washed, but not slapped all over. Painted into the crevices I wanted it.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_6812.jpg

Extreme weathering on this Chaos model using oil washes.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/joenortonjones/IMG_1183.jpg

That's oil washes, they really are easy to make and use. 1 tube of oil paint will literally last you for years too. I would have loved to have taken pictures of the process but unfortunately my hobby gears all packed away for my house move.

Pauly Addams

11-09-2013, 10:45 PM

That's brilliant, thanks so much :)

What kind of time period would you recommend leaving the oil wash before sealing it on?

I'm doing a Baal predator atm for a friend, I'll post results here if you'd like or a link to my Addams Factory log? (I don't want to threadjack)

And good luck with your move, I've done 2 in the last 12 months +_+

Deadlift

11-10-2013, 01:38 AM

Hi Pauly.
Just let it dry for about 30 mins or so then seal the model with your satin or Matt varnish.
Post some pictures, that would be great :).

Build

11-10-2013, 03:10 AM

Looks so many shades of awesome,

Really nice to see so much info and well explained, keep the good work coming mate!

ServvsUmbrarum

11-10-2013, 04:09 AM

Hey Deadlift, what colors did you use for the marine? I thought someone said he was a Blood Angel but he looks more like a Blood Raven?!

Deadlift

11-10-2013, 02:09 PM

Hey Deadlift, what colors did you use for the marine? I thought someone said he was a Blood Angel but he looks more like a Blood Raven?!

No my friend you are correct, these marines are indeed Blood Ravens. If I were to do Blood Angels, I would prime with light grey or white and not black as these guys were. Then go for lighter, brighter reds. Minitaires scorching red and angelic red would both be great.

ServvsUmbrarum

11-11-2013, 02:23 AM

No my friend you are correct, these marines are indeed Blood Ravens. If I were to do Blood Angels, I would prime with light grey or white and not black as these guys were. Then go for lighter, brighter reds. Minitaires scorching red and angelic red would both be great.

The orange/brownish red looks spot on for Blood Ravens, what colors did you use?

Deadlift

11-11-2013, 10:40 AM

The orange/brownish red looks spot on for Blood Ravens, what colors did you use?

Primed them black, then used "innards" , " nebula red" and final highlight was "scorching red". :) I think the black primer and innards as the base gives them that real earth tone red. Glad you like it.

Pauly Addams

11-14-2013, 01:14 AM

Here is the Baal Predator I'm working on for a friend. When I received it, it was already built (not to my standards +__+) and primed black so the finish is very dark and he's okay with that, but I would have preferred starting from a grey/pre-shaded primer.

Anyway, here are a few snaps to show you the results of the oil wash and my progress in general. It's also very shiny, I sealed it with Tamiya Flat and it went cloudy from humidity, so I needed to reseal it with Minitaire satin to correct it (It was Minitaire Flat coat which actually finishes like a Satin finish). Sorry about the horrid lighting.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/Usiel-40K/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalOutsideShoot4.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/Usiel-40K/media/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalOutsideShoot4.jpg.html)
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/Usiel-40K/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalOutsideShoot9.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/Usiel-40K/media/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalOutsideShoot9.jpg.html)

The full set will be up in my log

Thanks again Deadlift

Deadlift

11-14-2013, 01:59 AM

You airbrushed this too. The colour transition is awesome (colour modulation if you want to get fancy :) )and the oils give the tank a really nice grimy look. The oil around the rivets looks good too. How did you find the "wash" to use ? I personally love it as the capillary action is usually a lot better than normal washes.

Keep the pictures coming, in fact anyone who's gained anything from these little posts of mine, feel free to post any pics here or in your own post. I'd love to see them.

Pauly Addams

11-14-2013, 02:11 AM

For large scale I think I'll choose Oil washes every time, the citadel washes seem to mottle horribly on big flat areas and of course the 'coffee ring' staining etc. with over lapping coats and the like.

I still like the citadel ones a lot, but the oil wash is very very useful. Just make sure you're well ventilated and wear something over your face. I got dizzy and a little queasy last time I used them, white spirit is strong.

Edit: Deadlift, yeah I was totally going for a colour modulation style when I sprayed up this one. It's about 6 layers of Minitaire mixes. Starting with red-brown/dark aqua blue for the base/shading, then mid tone reds, then fluro yellow/bright red on the focal points (but those coats seemed to barely show up, I assumed this was the black primer and previous red coats absorbing them).

Here's a shot of some of the masking I did

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/Usiel-40K/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalTankMasking1.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/Usiel-40K/media/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalTankMasking1.jpg.html)
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/Usiel-40K/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalTankMasking3.jpg (http://s235.photobucket.com/user/Usiel-40K/media/Angels%20of%20Baal/BaalTankMasking3.jpg.html)

DocSavage

11-14-2013, 03:27 PM

Thanks for all the info in this thread. I bought an airbrush but no compressor a while back so never used it. I just bought a compressor last week so I'm thinking of giving it a go this weekend.

Deadlift

11-15-2013, 12:17 AM

Thanks for all the info in this thread. I bought an airbrush but no compressor a while back so never used it. I just bought a compressor last week so I'm thinking of giving it a go this weekend.

Brilliant, it gets easier the more you practice and it's a lot of fun. Don't forget ventilation and your mask ;)

DarkLink

12-31-2013, 10:41 AM

Just got an airbrush for christmas, waiting on the compressor in the mail, and I'll need to drop by harbor freight to pick up the accessories like the cleaning kit and mask.

I also went to a class that a competition painter held on airbrushing, and he had a lot of good advice particularly for keeping them clean. He does the following:

Put a little lube on it when you first get it. Maybe not super important, but it certainly won't hurt.

Thin paint, depending on the type of paint, but for most stuff he uses a water/alcohol mix about 9:1, so mostly water with a little alcohol to make it evaporate more quickly. The paint/thinner is roughly 50:50.

While painting, he frequently points the airbrush to the side and blows a bit of air through it, to blast out any particulates that might be building up. He does it habitually, basically every spray.

When he's swapping colors or cleaning up for the day, he puts a little of the water alcohol mix and sprays it to wash out any remaining paint. Then he sprays it into a paper towel to wet the towel, puts the wet area over the nozzle, and blasts air until the thinner mix in the gravity feed pot bubbles. That backblast takes care of any stubborn bits of paint sticking around. Then he sprays out the remainder of the thinner mix, and runs a little pure water through to wash out the alcohol.

He says with those little tips, he virtually never clogs. There are a few more tips he had, for specific types of paints and stuff like that, but those were the main points.