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Author Topic: For Sale In Lidl 24.08.15  (Read 3895 times)

Offline Major_Gilbear

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3153
  • God-Emperor of Dune
Re: For Sale In Lidl 24.08.15
« Reply #15 on: August 25, 2015, 09:44:52 AM »
Blimey! It's complicated!  o_o o_o

i've been wanting to buy an airbrush for a long time for painting 1/56 and 1/48 tanks and plains etc but have never had the courage to take the leap as I really don't know what to look for. I guess it's a learning curve but it could be a steep one (in more ways than one!). :)

Darrell.

Yeah, it does seem expensive/complicated!

The following should help though:

1) Air compressor. It needs the following features:

- Motor - couple of horsepower at least if you can!

- Air tank - AKA a reservoir. This gives you a smooth flow of air rather than the "pulses" that you sometimes get from a compressor without.

- Pressure gauge, air regulator, and moisture trap. So that you know what pressure you're getting, you can adjust/control it, and the trap... should be obvious! You can get these from Amazon for cheap enough, and screw them onto a compressor if it doesn't come with them - normally it looks like this.

A couple of quick compressor examples from Amazon here and here.

I would be wary of spending a lot on a compressor, as unless you are mechanically-handy, they're a nuisance to fix once out of warranty (and you're better of just buying a new one IMO). Probably better to accept that you'll spend £80 every couple of years on one rather than spending £250 and hoping it'll last 6-7 years!

2) Air brush. It needs the following features:

- Gravity feed. Suction feed is fine for large volumes of paint. Since most 28mm models don't require a whole bottle of paint (normally), suction-feed is overkill and wasteful. I'd probably try and get a model with a larger gravity feed cup though - you don't have to fill it, but if you're doing something bigger/lots of models, it can save faffing about.

- Dual action. This means that the trigger has two controls - pull back for the amount of paint released, and push down for the amount of air released. This is essential (and frankly worth learning early-on) for better control of your spraying.

- A fine nozzle. A 0.35mm is reasonably fine and often the starter airbrushes will manage this. You can get finer nozzles for smaller detail work, but this takes more practice to get right. Some (many?) airbrushes have replaceable nozzles, but I would really save this for your second-plus airbrush and start with something simple.

It's often recommended that your first airbrush is a cheap non-brand one that will probably break soon-ish. This may seem daft, but as long as you get a couple of months from it, it will teach you what you need to know for a modest outlay. That includes learning the maintenance required.

A couple of quick examples from Amazon again here and here.

Like the compressor above, I'd be wary of spending a lot on your first airbrush. You will need to learn how it works, how to use it, how to clean it, and whether you like it. If you like it and learn, and find that you're ready for something more refined as your next purchase - great. However, if it's not for you or breaks quickly... well, you've only lost £9. (which is probably still cheaper overall than replacing the just needle on a more expensive brush!).

I know you can get smaller and cheaper compressors or sets (like this one for example), and that they are tempting, but the differences the features I've outlined above make are big enough that you won't really be able to assess the airbrush correctly. In other words, below a certain price point, you are more likely to just be wasting your money without gaining much actual experience from what you've bought.

A couple more final thoughts then...

- You may need to buy some hoses and adaptors. Should be cheap enough, but be aware that your setup may not be quite ready out-of-the box, and that you may need to see what comes first so that you can get the right sizes.

- You will need some cleaning equipment too. Probably airbrush cleaner and a little brush to start with, but there's a lot out there to tempt you! Worth reading around a little, and then seeing what you can access on your cheap starter brush before you go wild buying lots of stuff.

- Learning how to thin your paints is it's own trick! Lots of guidelines out there, but you will need to practice a little. Isopropyl alcohol very cheap if you buy a couple of litres, so do play around and see what works for you.

- Some interesting thoughts here and here from Dr Faust's Painting Clinic. I like the videos this guy does as they are "hobbyist", but at the same time are not amateur or dictatorial as others I've seen. These two reviews of his own kit are quite interesting in that it's clear that just throwing money at fancy products doesn't necessarily mean you're really buying anything better, but that sometimes good design is worth paying a little more for. And, there are lots of reviews on YouTube that you can dig up for further advice and demonstrations.


There's at least one thread on the forum that's very comprehensive about airbrushes, just type in 'airbrush' in the search bar...

Good advice!

Offline 6milPhil

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4789
    • Slug Industries
Re: For Sale In Lidl 24.08.15
« Reply #16 on: August 25, 2015, 10:43:13 AM »
I cannot imagine using even the finest, most expensive airbrush successfully on 28mm miniatures, except maybe on (relatively) large, flattish areas like horses' flanks.

Imagine, or not imagine, no more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu5Iu1kto30

 

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