Introductory airbrushing

[Guest]

Hello does anyone know of a good book about airbrushing please? I have been airbrushing for about three months but it's a pain - I never seem to get it right. So many basic questions - how thin to make threpaint, what primer to use and why - how close to hold the airbrush from the work etc.

Thanks

Aidan

[Guest]

The best way to airbrush is good old fashioned practice, use paper or old models to spray with, Not a very concise or informative answer but its like learning to drive, cant be done from a book. But Im sure the good guys here will give you as many tips as you need to get you going. I can offer you some tips on what I use, but you will find the folks here may do it different to me:

Tamiya paint 50:50 mix ( consistancy of semi skimmed milk)

18 psi

6 inches or so from the model ( light passes, try not to place the paint in one blast )

Point your airbrush away when you release the paint and head towards your model

I dont prime to heavy, I like to see a faint trace of the plastic under the primer.

quick rule of thumb when airbrushing, air first,air last.

[Guest]

I think the best resource you have is the internet. Youtube has many videos on how people do their airbrushing. However, you have to remember that no matter what source you use, it is an opinion and not everyone works the same way.

When I started airbrushing, I believed it was an exact science. Since I have realised that it isn't, I have relaxed and got on with it without too many disasters. When I say it is not an exact science, I refer to my experience and my own findings. I use acrylic paint 99% of the time. Depending on the paint, Tamiya and Xtracrylix i tend to thin, using alcohol based thinners such as Xtracrylix own. I don't use Tamiya thinners as it is expensive and not always available in the UK. Water can certainly be used with Xtracrylix in much the same way but I personally prefer to use an alcohol based one.

I usually thin at approximately 50/50. I say approximately because I do not measure it at all, I guessed it until I got the results I liked and stuck to the same rough guesswork. I always put thinners into the cup first and then add paint which I then stir up with a cocktail stick until it is mixed thoroughly. By putting thinners in first, it helps to prevent a paint blockage at the first spray as it will be thinners that runs up to the needle. The first test spray to check if the flow is ok will blow any thinners out the way before you spray on the model.

As far as air pressure is concerned, again, I personally do not treat it too seriously. The main reason for this is that my basic compressor, although it has a gauge, it does not really function. As soon as I start spraying the gauge drops to around 20psi and hovers around that point so I guess I spray at 20 psi all the time.

Distance from tip to model varies with how much paint I am throwing at it. If I am going for a small area or fine line, I get in close but don't pull back the trigger too far so I limit the amount of paint coming out. If I am spraying a large area, I spray from about 8 to 10 inches away but pull right back to increase the paint flow. With acrylics in particular, especially using an alcohol thinner, the paint is drying very fast as it gets atomised at the tip. If you get too far back you will get what is almost paint dust sticking to the model giving you a rough finish, get too close with too much paint flow and it will hit the surface hard and wet which results in flooding and spidering, a blob of wet paint with the air blowing out thin spidery legs away from the blob.

If you don't want the hassle of thinning, there is always Valejo Model Air which is about right for spraying straight from the bottle. I always use it like that although I know some thin it ver slightly, as I said, it is not an exact science. I think the biggest thing you need with airbrushing is confidence. Just have a go with something that isn't important, a plastic milk bottle works well or old CDs and or their cases.

Primer is a good thing. I don't use a special primer, I tend to use whatever grey I have the most of at the time. An even, smooth coat of primer does help in two ways. One, it gives a nice even surface for the finish colour. Bust secondly, and most important to me, is that once primed, you will see much better if the seams and joints are as good as you thought they were. If not, sort them out now and re prime the corrected area until you are satisfied with it. Then you have a blank canvas to start you top coating.

At the end of the day you can read as much as you can and see as many videos as you can find but the set up they use is not the setup that you have. The only way forward is to fire up the compressor and practice.

As an end note, as with all modelling tools, make sure you clean it after use and put it away out of harms way. if you have specific problems then let us know and we may be able to advise on what may be causing it.

[Guest]

I wish I could get straight to the point like you Ray, while I was waffling on, you typed the answer and probably had a cup of tea....

[Guest]

lol, but your answer is more scientific fenlander

[Guest]

Thanks to all who answered WOW! Much to learn- I bought and am constructing the Revell Samba Bus - bought Revell paints too. The white and black are realy thick but I've tried various ratios of thinning. My airbrush keeps blocking - even when I have the paint really thin. The brush is spotless - of that I'm certain.

I take your points though and will experiment and will consult YouTube.

Thanks again

[Ian M]

I agree with both Ray and Graham. Rays tips are consise and to the point. Also quite specific!

Grahams are deeper explanations with the undertones being suck it and see!!!

My two bobs worth are:

It all depends on what you are spraying. How big you are spraying and the medium you are using.

I tend to use acrylic. Mostly Vallejo and some Xtracryliks. with the odd bit of Humbrol and White Ensigns Enamles. My prefered Primer is for acrylic Vallejos own primer. Ready to use and self leveling. Humbrol Primer for the enamels.

The general rule of thumb is thin the paint to a milky like thickness, You know, runs down the glass but leaves a film on the sides. Some Like it thicker, others thinner.

Air pressure is normally tuned to the thinnes of the paint. Very thin paint needs less pressure to blow it out the airbrush. The thicker the paint the more you will need to turn up the air. This is great if you are painting a wall but not so good if painting a tiny little car or airplane. Thin paint at low pressure it easyer to control. If it dont cover you just need to build it up gradually. If it all comes out in one mad rush you are to say it direct, well on the way to a nasty mess thats going to be a pig to clear up!

Some things we use in this wonderfull hobby are water thin, Like the infamous Klear. or Inks for washes, to much air for those and you will be world champ at painting spiders and millipedes. (any one thats started airbrushing will know what I mean).

As Graham and Ray said. Get on with it. You can learn a lot from the net, and DVDs and reading books BUT Nothing beats getting the airbrush in you sticky hand and getting on with it. After a week of playing you should have gotten to know you weapon of choice.

Ian M

[Ian M]

Thanks to all who answered WOW! Much to learn- I bought and am constructing the Revell Samba Bus - bought Revell paints too. The white and black are realy thick but I've tried various ratios of thinning. My airbrush keeps blocking - even when I have the paint really thin. The brush is spotless - of that I'm certain.I take your points though and will experiment and will consult YouTube.

Thanks again

Sounds like you might either have particulates (lumps) in the paint. Or you might need to play with the air pressure a bit. Have you tried turning up the air abit and seing if that helps. Some times, even with a solvent paint they can dry in the tip if you are being to carfull. Does it help if you point it away from the model and give it full blast?

Ian M

[Guest]

Just to add another opinion to the mix, I previously used a cheapie badger single action and mixed precisely 50:50 in the jar and stirred thoroughly, it worked but what a faff, I then bought my first cheapie chinese double action and my lovely wife bought me a DVD on airbrushing by a guy called Geoff Illsley, I hadn't heard of him but it was highly recommended and he's done some stunning models and Dio's, he covers pretty much every aspect of the airbrush down to stripping and cleaning.

One thing in particular he shows that I always now use is his method of mixing and depositing paint in the cup.

You decant the chosen paint with a thick sable (or decent) brush into a mixing pallette then using a dropper decant thinners into the paint stirring it with the brush until the desired consistency is reached, this is then decanted into the cup of the airbrush again using the brush.

I know it sounds fiddly but it's really quick and straightforward and does away with trying to mix in the cup where you have virtually no wiggle room and the mixed paint is all at the proper consistency.

The same brush can be used afterwards for a quick swish around the bowl with thinners before blowing back then out and prior to strpping and cleaning.

Heres a link to a couple of them, it's the first I've got but i plan on getting the other one also.

Compendium Book Store - Online Sales Of Non-Fiction Titles

Heres an (unfortunately) too brief clip on youtube, (i would upload a bit but undoubtedly get jumped on by the copyright monsters).

As others have said, theres only so much you can pick up from books and such so get using and practising, I used to look for anything to paint, toy cars, (a wilkinson staysharp twin knife block once in a lovely deep blue) etc

Best thing to do is deliberately mess up on some practise pieces to get a feel for the point at which things go wrong, the most common is trying to lay down too much paint at once.

[Ian M]

I have that One, good in it!

I just could not remember his name!

Point on interest Vallejo are puting a DVD out around now with tricks and tips. Cant se no reason why it can not be used with other types of paint.

Ian M

[Guest]

It is indeed, I don't suppose you have the realistic WWII aircraft finishing tech one?

[Guest]

Ahhh, Revell paints. They are really amazing paints. The Revell Anthracite is one of my favourite colours. I think my FW190 for the last GB was done with Revell paints. Trouble is they are so thick. What I tend to do with them is to put a few ml of thinners in the cup and then add the paint using and stirring with a big brush. It is just too thick to do any other way. I would think, again guessing that it may be 20%paint to 80% thinners with Revell maybe a tad less but somewhere around that. The thing is though that they need to be really well shaken in the pot before you use them, they have a very heavy, solid pigment and they cover and spray beautifully, superb smooth finish. Sadly, they lack in the range of colours I use. Oh, by the way, it is the Aqua range I use, in the square tubs.

[Guest]

Thanks for all of these replies and for the time you have given in sharing your expertise. Can someone please advise me on how thick the paint should be between coats? How do I get a really deep acrylic gloss? Roughly how many applications are we talking about please? I know that sounds like a dumb question but I've never been sure.

Thanks

[Guest]

Simple, you don't get a deep acrylic gloss. The way to go for any acrylic paint finish is varnish. Build up the thin layers of colour until you have a solid good colour,two to three coats normally will do depending on the paint and colour. White and yellow are the worst and for both of these use a very light grey or matt white primer. To get a rich red, use a yellow primer. I don't know why, I just bow to the experience of what I have seen.

To get the high gloss finish you need a gloss varnish. There are lots of them about including Xtracrylix gloss, Tamiya clear and others. Varnishes need to be very well shaken and only thinned enough to spray, they need to go on 'wet, not dusted and can, if not used correctly, have a white dusty look. Once really dry and hard, these varnishes can be polished very lightly wit car polish starting with polishing compound to get the high gloss you want. Warning. Do not try your first attempt at this on a finished model.....

[Ian M]

It is indeed, I don't suppose you have the realistic WWII aircraft finishing tech one?

Thats cheating! You added a bit after I had replied!! LoL

The one I have is the first one (I'm affraid), I am assuming that you want to get hold of the one you mention here...

Ian M