So, here’s the gig: a year or so ago I jumped into a Kickstarter that was worth its weight in gold. For $150, I must have gotten $500 in stuff, to include 30 miniatures (no kidding!). I thought to myself, “Self, I ought to invest in an introductory airbrush kit and learn to use it for some serious nerd fun!”
That between-the-ears discussion was 14 months ago. My airbrush compressor and “guns” are still in the closet. 75% of that is due to work, travel, household repairs . . . “Adulting” just gets in the way of too much. The 25% remaining is trepidation, 'cause I haven’t airbrushed anything in 35 years. Young teenage Tripler made an absolute mess, and I think his use of 60 psi air was a culprit.
Anyway, I’m looking for advice . . . any of you Dopers airbrush your minis?
Tripler
I’ve grown up since then . . . but not by much.
When i was a teenage i painted a lot of miniatures, but i did all of them with a brush. Including a really really fine brush that i used to paint the pupils. I’ve never used an airbrush for anything like that, and wonder about the accuracy you get with one.
I have been painting minis for decades, going back to my teen years, so (doing the math) over 30 years (ugh).
Never used an airbrush though. I typically do the classic set of primer, then base coat, then wash (for shadows), then a dry brush for highlights, and then details like trim and eyes and stuff with a very fine point brush (and sometimes an extremely fine point felt tip pen which is perfect for something like the pupil of an eye).
I don’t even know how you can airbrush something so small. Is an airbrush even viable for teeny tiny details? I guess maybe it could work for highlighting instead of a dry brush.
I purchased an airbrush back in 2020 when COVID left me with no place to go and a lot of extra time on my hands. What advice are you looking for?
I’ve found the airbrush most useful for larger projects. It takes a lot less time to airbrush colors onto large surfaces than it does to use a traditional brush. For this model, I used masking tape for the checkerboard pattern and the camo using masking putty. There’s still some good old fashioned brush work done as well. This was one of my earlier models from about two years ago.
My airbrushin’ days are long in the past, but here’s a photo of a much younger me painting a Navy sheet in the 1980s:
Make sure you have a moisture filter in your line, and you may wish to use a tank, otherwise delicate operations will show a little bit of sputter with each stroke of the compressor. Not a big deal, but something to be aware of. I never let that nuance bother me. Moisture filter, on the other hand…that’s essential.
