Educate me on air-brushing!

I have been toying with the idea of buying one for a while now but have never got around to it. I have been working on scenery projects and large model projects lately and really do not see them getting painted without using an air-brush. I have no knowledge on them what so ever, so just let me know anything you think I should know! Brands, sizes, where to buy?

I know most of the big names online say to buy the best out the gate that way you can grow into the brush, but it's been my experience that if you do that you'll end up not using it for much and wonder why you spend over 500 bucks (compressor and brush plus extras).

When your first starting out, just go to harbor freight and pick up their 29 dollar brush and their top of the line airbrush compressor (like 100 bucks i think.) This brush will let you learn as much as a few of the top of the lines, but at a fraction of the cost. Also since your wanting to use it on models and large displays / terrain then you wont need the finite controls that you need for say airbrush shading that you see on paintings (though you can once you get enough practice).

The first thing you'll want to do once you have your setup is to hook everything up and learn to mix down your paint for it. When you thin your paint your looking for a milk like consistency when you mix it with an solvent. If you use GW basic paints, you can use Windex or Plain Tap Water for this. If your wanting to work with a metallic paint you'll want to experiment with rubbing alcohol. The thing about using alcohol is that it will eat the o-rings inside the brush so be sure to clean it thoroughly after spraying.

Once you have figured out how to thin your paint you can start spraying models. I'd recommend still priming them before spraying a base color just to make sure you get a surface for the paint to stick to. From here you can experiment with spraying details (tough), or spraying washes (if thinned just right it will work better than thinning and brushing on.)


This is just a quick over view of what you can do, from here I'd say go hit youtube and search for awesomepaintjob and WGConsortium‬‏ for more info. They both actually have great guides for stuff.

Iwata revolution. 89.99 at most places... well as of 3 or 4 years ago. Start with that for a brush. I have about 4 of those laying around and then I have an Iwata Micro. (you'll never need this working on models) I would also buy an instructional dvd to get you started unless you know a custom painter in your area. All in all I would say look at about a 250 dollar investment. If you take care of your equipment you'll never have to buy anything else except for the occasional needle. (the needle lasts you'll just bend the tip on accident) Get the Iwata rev that is gravity fed with the cup attached to the brush body. (1 piece)

If your only goal for the airbrush is to base coat I wouldn't bother as quality model sprays, most notably Taymaias, Testors, Mr. Hobby, will do the job just fine.

I may be a jobless, hippyish, philosofag but by profession when I was working I built hot rods and did custom paint at car shows and such. Normal gear head Shizer. Take that for what its worth.

P.S. I agree with everything Haren said except starting with a crappy brush. Start with a good brand name dual action brush. Other airbrushes are just fancy spray paint cans.

If you get an airbrush practice making lines as then and straight and as long as you can. Just on a piece of paper and practice getting to close and too far and making gradients. This is why I would recommend like a house of kolor painting instructional dvd or something. And actually practice all that boring crap. When if comes you airbrushes you need to do it right or never get one at all. Half assing it will not improve the paint quality of your models at all.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/airbrushdepot/irevo.aspx#IWA4247

first one on the page while scrolling down. Only 70 bucks those bastards!

Actually the brush they sell at harbor isn't really crappy. Is it an Iwata? No, but for 15 bucks you get a nice entry level dual action siphon feed airbrush. If you have the money to spend, I'd say go with the Iwata, but for what it's worth the Central Pneumatic isn't bad.

I will retract what I said about the compressor. If you already have a large tank (2 - 100 gallon), just buy a regulator and a moister trap. If not, then you'll want to look at some of the compressors on the link that LBB posted. Personally my next compressor will be the paasche D3000R.

All I have ever used my airbrush for has been basecoating guys and spraying on wash. I have been spraying minis for about three years and have had really good luck with the el cheapo setup. I started with a $20 badger single action using canned air. I thought it was awesome. I then moved to a small cheap airbrush compressor and a cheap dual action and was absolutely blown away at how much better it was.

I absolutely wore that airbrush out. I sprayed alcohol, water, wash, foundation paints, regular paints, windex, paint thinner, and just about anything else you could run through it. I rebuilt it a few times with rebuild kits about $15 - $20 a pop but it never worked right after the first rebuild. I finally broke down and bought a harbor freight brush on sale for about $25 and have been happy with it ever since. It was actually the exact same brush that I had with a different name.


My cheap airbrush has done everything I have wanted it to do so far, so I probably wont be upgrading anytime soon. That said, I would LOVE to try a nicer setup to see what I am missing so I would have something to compare my setup with.