@here We have a related thread about airbrushing, if any of you fantastic people know much about that: Miniature paintin' & airbrushin' questions (for tabletop games)
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 didn’t do the wash, but otherwise did just that. Primers, base cost, details, tiny details.
Nowadays, don’t you typically work with more like 3000 PSI?
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.
Holy crap, that’s gorgeous.
Hey, I think you’re the one that put me onto quickshade years ago, and since then I’ve bought a ton of Army Painter products. Thanks for that.
Oooo oooh ooh!
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.
Yes, and my models are typically flash-melted. 
@Odesio that is fantastic! I was just at a party where a friend recommended doing bigger projects!
Some questions though: how did you thin your paint–water? Where can I find some of this putty you speak of? And were the engines on your model airbrushed or handbrushed?
Tripler
Ya know, I’m thinking of asking to have these two threads merged…
I don’t use water to thin my airbrush paints, I use an airbrush medium. You can find airbrush medium made by Army Painter, Vallejo, and some other companies. I typically use Army Painter or Vallejo and I can’t really tell the difference between the two. For the engines, I used a Vallejo metallic, though I can’t remember exactly which one. I used red and white paints for the checkers, though I think they were Army Painter colors.
You can look for AK Plastic Putty for the airbrush on Amazon. There are other companies that make similar products. Some people just use silly putty, but I didn’t like the way it felt on the model.
I think this was another problem I was having years ago–I just didn’t know it existed.
Tripler
Yep, I think I’m gonna merge threads.
I’m solidly of the opinion that the Army Painter speed paints–after they fixed some of the issues of the initial formulation–are better than the GW ones. I think the dropper bottles have fewer issues and in my experience they work better on a variety of primers than the GW stuff is, which really does seem to be formulated more for using the two specific primer types in their line. I have entire armies painted in what is mostly nothing but Army Painter speed paints (plus some stuff like TurboDork for effects) and while they’ll never win a best painted contest they’re more than good enough for the table.
Also that the Army Painter spray white is better (and much cheaper) than the GW stuff as well, though there are several other brands of spray out there that are really quite good and well priced and you get a good color range. I picked up a peach from Monument I think it is that is perfect for doing a miniature building with sort of that pink stucco look, for example. No other manufacturer has something like it.
Regarding airbrushing, I picked up a small cordless one from Spray Gunner, their in-house “No-Name” line. I still need to really try it. I gave it a shot at their demo at Nova earlier this year, which is what got me to pull the trigger. Plus, the entire thing was under $100 and doesn’t require an external compressor or anything, so it’s good for what I’d be more interested in using it for, like priming or basing models or using it for stenciling terrain.