July 8, 2010

First
Airbrush
Experiences

Since I started with modelling in winter 2008/2009, I wanted to have an airbrush gun because it would make the painting of models much easier especially camouflage paintings. One day I got an old airbrush gun and an almost empty bottle of Revell airbrush gas. But the gun was broken and landed in the trashcan.
I kept the gas to use it in the future and last week I got suddenly a new gun.Today it's so sticky and hot outside, that I decided to stay at home and share my first airbrush experiences with you.


The tools are ready.

The following stuff was used for it:
- my new Revell Starter class airbrush gun,
- an old bottle of Revell airbrush gas,
- color, I use Revell Aquacolor acrylics,
- alcohol as paint thinner,
- syringes to mix the color,
- a "third hand" tool to hold the model (like this),
- a newspaper for covering,

- a cool drink (it's summer),
and, of course, the model that will be painted.


The color is ready.

For this first try I made a mix of 2 parts paint and 1 part alcohol as thinner. I had no idea how to thin it until I found in some internet forums some infos about using Revell Aquacolor for airbrushing. Most of the users there said that Aquacolor matte paints should be mixed with 30 to 40 percent thinner.


The model is prepared.

For the first test I used a model of the WW1 Mk1 tank by Airfix, it came with a lot from ebay but the tracks were broken. But I builded it to use it for some painting experiments like this.
I fixed an small screwdriver with some hotglue on the ground of the tank where it won't be seen when it is finished an found its way to a diorama or something like that. When the glue is taken away this small spot will be painted with a brush.


The model after the first layers of color.

As you can see on the picture above my first attempt does not look too bad, I was positive surprised about the result, it looks good. But I ran out of color and the gas bottle is now total empty. The gun is very good for giving a base coat to models but I do not think that it can be used for camo pattern, maybe with masking tape and/or stencils. But that will come later.


A closer look at the result

The picture above shows a enlarged view of the picture before. The color is still wet and some places got no paint but I am satisfied with the result of my first try. Sure it could be better, but you have to remember that I used low budget gear to get this result.



The color is dried.

Airbrushing is great. It does not cost as much time as painting with brushes and the paint is applied uniformly. I got a new bottle of gas and when it is empty and I made some progress in airbrushing, I should think about new equipment.


The only contra that I found was that it is a big waste of paint, I used 3 ml paint (+ 1,5 ml thinner) for this one, I think I could paint up to 3 tanks with the same amount of color, but with an other (better) airbrush gun the rate of consumption will sink.

5 comments:

Pablo J. Álvarez said...

A primitive airbrush for a first class work

-Warren Zoell said...

If in the future you are looking for a decent airbrush thats not to expensive might I recommend the VL Paasche. At around $140 CDN (I don't know how many Euro's)it's a great deal. It's duel action and it can handle heavy mediums and you can go down to a two mm line ( if the paint is thinned enough even smaller). Plus you can abuse the hell out of it and it will keep working. As for your air supply get away from canned air as soon as possible it's a rip off. You can buy a good economical airbrush compressor for around $150 to $200 CDN. Or you can go real cheap and adapt a propane tank or a car tire. Both work reasonably well.

Anonymous said...

It is paint-hungry, airbrushing.
But as you've said, there are significant benefits in other areas.
I'm too lazy to airbrush, spend all my time mixing everything together and then using it...plus I can't easily get the right paints!

GEM Team said...

GR8. Keep going

Captain said...

Thanks to all of you, at the moment I think that I will use it only for base coating and the application of a varnish coat to finally seal the models. I got a small bottle of masking liquid that I will try for makinf camo pattern, we will see if and how it works in the future.
Cheers,
Cpt.