Torment Launcher (or woes with my new airbrush)

Hi folks

I was lucky enough to be gifted an airbrush for Christmas (hoorah!). So far I've just been undercoating and base coating individual figures to work out the action of the brush, but below is my first attempt on a Raider. I sprayed it in sub assemblies, masked the metallics which I'd already painted by hand. Post spray I also removed the chain from the front (hence the marks and lack of paint where it sat) - moving forward I'll leave these details off until after the main body is complete.



The painting process I used was:

1. Black undercoat (citadel spray - pre airbrush)
2. Basecoat: Vallejo Game Air Warlock Purple (closest to GW Screamer Pink I found in a premix airbrush paint)
3. Shade/Contrast with Badger Minitaire Ghost Tint Blue
4. Touch up with Warlock Purple
5. Highlight with a mix of Warlock Purple and Minitaire Snow White (I also added water and a few drops of airbrush thinner to this mix).

The compressor was set to approx 35psi. My brush is a Badger Renegade Krome.

A couple of observations/questions from this process that I would appreciate some advice on.

1) When I was highlighting with a final mix, I got splattering from the brush (see the front of the raider, lots of little pink dots). Any idea on what went wrong here? Mix too thin/think or psi not right?

2) I found the Minitaire paint clogged in the brush almost instantly when not thinned further. How have other people found this range of paints? What is the best way to thin them?

3) I'm not a 100% sold on the actual colour I have here... it's a bit brighter than I'd like for my army. If I was to use GW paints, what is the best way to thin them to make them airbrush ready (water/thinner mix and ratios?).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

K

Can only comment on 1)


Sounds like you got condensed water in the airbrush. Disassemble and dry - should stop the spitting.
If your compressor does not have a drain the water might also be in the hose.

Klaive wrote:

The compressor was set to approx 35psi. My brush is a Badger Renegade Krome.K

I don't know that this was the problem. I tend to spray at 25-30psi, but I have a Testors Aztek. No experience with the Badger, though I know people that use it and are VERY happy with it.

Klaive wrote:

1) When I was highlighting with a final mix, I got splattering from the brush (see the front of the raider, lots of little pink dots). Any idea on what went wrong here? Mix too thin/think or psi not right?K

You want to clean the needle tip from time to time when airbrushing. They make brushes for this, though I must admit that I am a lazy and cheap person-I use a soft toothbrush! Acrylics have pretty heavy pigments, even when thinned, and tend to clog the needle as you spray. Some colors are worse than others. White is the worst!

Klaive wrote:

2) I found the Minitaire paint clogged in the brush almost instantly when not thinned further. How have other people found this range of paints? What is the best way to thin them?K

You can find mixtures that people use all over the internet (water and alcohol), but definitely DO NOT use tap water. Distilled water works better, though I must admit that I just use Testors Acrylic thinner. I use a lot of the Minitaire paints and find that they still need to be thinned. Look for videos in Youtube showing the consistency that you want. Everybody says to thin it to the consistency of milk, though I don't drink that stuff and had to just watch the video

Klaive wrote:

3) I'm not a 100% sold on the actual colour I have here... it's a bit brighter than I'd like for my army. If I was to use GW paints, what is the best way to thin them to make them airbrush ready (water/thinner mix and ratios?).K

Usually GW paints require a 50/50 mixture of paint/thinner. I premix most of my basecoating colors in small glass jars with screw on caps from the art store.

Shoot a me a PM later if you are having more problems and I'd be glad to help. I know that magenta can be a bit of a bear to spray because of the pigment load.

Quote :

1. Black undercoat (citadel spray - pre airbrush)
2. Basecoat: Vallejo Game Air Warlock Purple (closest to GW Screamer Pink I found in a premix airbrush paint)
3. Shade/Contrast with Badger Minitaire Ghost Tint Blue
4. Touch up with Warlock Purple
5. Highlight with a mix of Warlock Purple and Minitaire Snow White (I also added water and a few drops of airbrush thinner to this mix).

It is way more easier to go darker colors over lighter colors, since all the layers will be transparent. Try this, you wont come back.

Quote :

1) When I was highlighting with a final mix, I got splattering from the brush (see the front of the raider, lots of little pink dots). Any idea on what went wrong here? Mix too thin/think or psi not right?

Either too much pressure in the compressor for paint thickness or clogging in the airbrush.

Quote :

Mix too thin/think or psi not right?

Those are directly tied, you should play with both. I paint with 3.6 atomsphere. I almost always thin paint with Valejo Diluter.

Quote :

2) I found the Minitaire paint clogged in the brush almost instantly when not thinned further. How have other people found this range of paints? What is the best way to thin them?

You should thin paint, its easier to paint this way. But remember about pressure. Goal is to have transparent layer and not clog needle exit right away. And dont thin with water, buy specialized thinner. Acrylic pigments wont distribute themselfes by themselves in water.

Quote :

3) I'm not a 100% sold on the actual colour I have here... it's a bit brighter than I'd like for my army. If I was to use GW paints, what is the best way to thin them to make them airbrush ready (water/thinner mix and ratios?).

It is not about color, it is about transparency of layers. Basically airbrushing starts with a base layer on which you will be aplying transparent layers. Only base layer is not transparent fully. On your raider highlight layer is not transparent at all, hiding all the previous work.

Mix is 1:1 ratio or more to the thinner side. For base layer mix is 5:1 paint to thinner.

I do it like this:

Preshading Phase:
1) Shade Layer. Light grey in my case.
2) Zenital (from the source of light, above ) base layer. Light Color. Pure white in my case.

Main coloration phase
3) Darker main color, transparent layer.
Spray from below to have darker shade effect. The longer you hold, the darker the color. Must be done with thin paint. Must put right pressure to not have water splatters instead of paint.
Raider and Venoms are ideal for this technique. Kabalites also.

Glazing phase.
4) Paint super bright contrasty areas with chosen glaze from chosen angle, glaze is a very thinned down paint with some glazing medium. I use Valejo.

Point is - never paint with not transparent layers, there is just no reason too. If a layer is transparent you can make it however thick you want, and transition will always be smooth.

Quote :

1. Black undercoat (citadel spray - pre airbrush)

I see no reason to ever use citadel spray cans. They will never give you smooth surface like good airbrush do. Always undercoat with airbrush.

Come to think of it, i have unpainted Raider. Il probably make step by step with photos.

Thanks for all the great advice!

@ Klaivex Charondyr - thanks. I just familiarised myself with the drain valve on my compressor. I live in a pretty humid area so this could have been a factor.

@ Evil - I now have a 4ltr bottle of demineralised water sitting under my desk! I had been using tapwater so that may have definitely contributed. I'll also try using straight acrylic thinner, I have a bottle of vallejo which I'll try.

@ Azdrubael - wow, you have just blown my mind. I approached this just like I would have a single mini with a paintbrush, but what you say makes a lot of sense. I would love to see a step by step if you have the time and inclination (and I'll scour the interwebway for vids of this technique in the meantime). I have 2 more raiders, 2 venoms, 2 ravagers and a razorwing to perfect this on!

Thanks again all, I'll post an update once I've had a chance to put some of this in practice.