Airbrush fine line skills

[Geoffers]

Hello chaps,

Just watched this on YouTube and thought it may be of interest :smiling4:

Cheers,

Geoff.

[Ian M]

Interesting.
Funny though. He kept saying its not the airbrush and how much it costs that make you good, it is practice and technique. But the airbrush he uses 95% of the time is the most expensive one he owns. The tells us that expensive airbrushes are a luxury.... I'm confused.

[Andy T]

Trying to paint fine lines is the reason I bend so many needles!

Good tip to leave the crown cap on and use it like a spacer, I'll give that a try, although I'm not sure it'll work as well on a model as you haven't usually got that flat surface you have with artwork.

[Guest]

He kept saying its not the airbrush and how much it costs that make you good, it is practice and technique. But the airbrush he uses 95% of the time is the most expensive one he owns. The tells us that expensive airbrushes are a luxury.... I'm confused.

I think he forgot that it’s both. If you don’t have much skill, your tools don’t really matter that much, as long as they’re appropriate to the job — but as your skill rises, you will run into the limits of your current tools, and it helps to get more specialised and/or expensive ones that will work or perform better so you can actually use the skills you’ve learned. This applies even with very basic ones like, say, a hammer: if you can barely hammer in a nail without hitting your fingers half the time, it doesn’t really matter which kind of hammer you use, you’ll bend nails with any of them. By the time you can hit the nail almost every time, you’ll see the advantage in having a few different sizes of hammer. Airbrushes are not really any different, IMHO, and chances are this fellow suffers a little from the thing where people who have a skill at a reasonable level, find it hard to put themselves into the shoes of someone who doesn’t (I think that has a name, but I can’t remember what it is).

[stillp]

He did explain some of the advantages of the better-made airbrushes, such as repeatability and the ability to work at lower pressures than the cheapo.
That did make me feel guilty for not practising enough, if at all. I still tend to use the airbrush as a spraygun rather than a brush.
Pete

[Scratchbuilder]

Trying to paint fine lines is the reason I bend so many needles!

Good tip to leave the crown cap on and use it like a spacer, I'll give that a try, although I'm not sure it'll work as well on a model as you haven't usually got that flat surface you have with artwork.

Or tape a length of plastic card or stretched sprue to the airbrush and cut it to the length you want.

[Scratchbuilder]

I think he forgot that it’s both. If you don’t have much skill, your tools don’t really matter that much, as long as they’re appropriate to the job — but as your skill rises, you will run into the limits of your current tools, and it helps to get more specialised and/or expensive ones that will work or perform better so you can actually use the skills you’ve learned. This applies even with very basic ones like, say, a hammer: if you can barely hammer in a nail without hitting your fingers half the time, it doesn’t really matter which kind of hammer you use, you’ll bend nails with any of them. By the time you can hit the nail almost every time, you’ll see the advantage in having a few different sizes of hammer. Airbrushes are not really any different, IMHO, and chances are this fellow suffers a little from the thing where people who have a skill at a reasonable level, find it hard to put themselves into the shoes of someone who doesn’t (I think that has a name, but I can’t remember what it is).

Yes the hammer.... used that a few times in my model making years, and the foot up the rear :tears-of-joy: when things have driven you to dispair.....

[Gern]

find it hard to put themselves into the shoes of someone who doesn’t (I think that has a name, but I can’t remember what it is).

I do! It's me! I'm the one without the skills.

[Scratchbuilder]

Interesting.
Funny though. He kept saying its not the airbrush and how much it costs that make you good, it is practice and technique. But the airbrush he uses 95% of the time is the most expensive one he owns. The tells us that expensive airbrushes are a luxury.... I'm confused.

True, you can have a Roll Royce and still be a bad driver. Plus if you struggle with the medium you are using sometimes it is better to change. I remember spending over two hours cleaning out the airbrushes, no matter how much I thinned or did not thin the acrylics they just would not perform - then changed over to enamel and not a problem, then the following day went back to acrylics and not a problem - me or the airbrush...

[David Lovell]

Tough one ,agree with the practice practice practice ,but but if your paint isn't thinned correctly, and your air pressure isn't set right doesn't matter who's air brush you use you won't get the result you were hoping to achieve, practice when was the last time anyone here me included got out a cupboard queen and spent Saturday afternoon practicing trying diffrent things on something where it doesn't matter I never have , I've always had a quick couple of squirts on a piece of printer paper just to make make sure I've got what I want before letting loose on my model any left overs never go back in the pot ,there used up on the sheet of printer paper so I suppose that could be classed as practicing ,airbrushes ive got a posh one yes its a pleasure to use but my go to at the moment is a sixty quid sparmax with a 3 needle no bells or whistles just a good honest work horse easy to use and abuse easy to clean wish I'd got one years ago.

Using up whats in the cup ,I dont consider my self very good with the air brush but I have become confident with it im sure thats half the battle with em. Dave