My first day of action with an airbrush

[Waynio]

Basics I am ok at
can do dots from small to big no problem & can colour in areas.

Learned to disassemble and reassemble to clean airbrush & mix & change colours.

Basics I'm bad on
Straight consistent lines or "daggers" & going from thin to wide.
Used a cd to get an outline of it and oversprayed so need to improve my handling of the airbrush.

Going to develop better technique by focusing on 1 basic thing at a time until I improve on the basics, if I fail at each particular technique keep woring on it until I have it nailed :D.

However I tried something I had in mind for a while, camoflage, wasn't snow camo it was urban camo I was thinking of for the air cube, not awesome but not terrible either for a first attempt, I think it's a little over crowded, would have been better if I had some stencil film sheets instead of thick paper, but the paper will help keep costs low while I make an ideal stencil set.

Would be great if there was an optional laser pointer attachment for better guidance on airbrushes, I find it pretty tricky to paint exactly where I want to, but hopefully I'll get to grips with that over time :).

Also found it easier to use like a control pad using my thumb for air/paint rather than like a pen, I know it isn't the correct way but it seems to work better for me.

LOL this was my first doodle with the airbrush, as you can see I need to improve technique very much.
http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq59/waynio_2008/100_0131.jpg

A quick drawing of stencils to be cut out with a xacto knife.
http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq59/waynio_2008/Untitled1-27.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq59/waynio_2008/Untitled2-27.jpg

http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq59/waynio_2008/Untitled3-22.jpg

On another note I bought a second sheet metal folder as I slightly damaged my first when I got it by using it very wrong, but I'm going to put my first to good use by bolting the moving bending part to my new folder to really increase it's bending capacity, have also cut the heavy steal flat bar into custom sized pieces (took ages with a hacksaw) so I will also be able to make my own pci back pieces, I'm hoping to be able to bend 760mm long by 2mm thick sheet and if it works that would be a very cheap but quality bending tool @ £80 for both combined, I'll post a mini project log of the mod once I receive the second one and have it done :).

[artoodeeto]

Would be great if there was an optional laser pointer attachment for better guidance on airbrushes, I find it pretty tricky to paint exactly where I want to, but hopefully I'll get to grips with that over time :).

You could pretty easily get a laser sight (check out any airsoft store online, I forget how much they usually go for but they're easily available), and strap it to the side of the airbrush using zipties or something. It may not line up quite perfectly with where the brush sprays, but you'd quickly become accustomed to where it sprays in relation to the red dot. that's not a bad idea, actually, and is something I may do myself. When I was airbrusing my crawler, I definitely had a few instances where I sprayed a different direction from where I thought I was pointing.

Also, one thing I found in airbrushing the 'crawler - when doing large surface areas where you're spraying for awhile, it might be necessary to strip down the airbrush a couple of times and clean out the needle and tip. Otherwise a gradual buildup of paint on the tip and around the nozzle will eventually result in much reduced spray volume, if not an outright clog. Still, I love airbrushing, it's a lot of fun :D

[billygoat333]

thats a really good idea on the laser sight. could also just get a cheapo laser pointer and tape the button ;) (i'm cheap lol)

[Waynio]

:) Yeah the nozzle got clogged pretty easily but was easy to clear it, the acrylic paint I'm trying dries up pretty fast, haven't looked at your crawler since the rodsnmods do, I'll have to check it out :).

A gun scope would be too big I think, had a look around and you can get keychain sized laser pointers & pen sized pointers but the pen size will be too big, might order a keychain sized one and see what I can do with it, I'm thinking a mix of bluetack and sticky tape attached to the paint cup to get it aligned close to perfect but does have to be small and lightweight. Has anyone ever tried doing this before? seems a good idea :).

Compared to aerosols it seems far less hazardous and the control is far far superior barely waste any paint too, nonetheless though I'll use a respirator just to be safe, so I am going to put some effort in at getting good at airbrushing, it will be worth it when I look back in a year I'm sure :), kinda why I put my first airbrush doodle up so I can laugh at it in the future like my first fabricated case lol :D.

[billygoat333]

ledshoppe.com has their laser pointers with a built in LED light keychain as well for 3.99 and you get 2 free if you buy one. takes forever for shipping though, comes from hong kong. but if you are ordering LEDs, why not? (thats what I did, ordered some blue leds and bought some led keychains. one for me, and two for my parents. not bad for 4 bucks.)

[artoodeeto]

:) Yeah the nozzle got clogged pretty easily but was easy to clear it, the acrylic paint I'm trying dries up pretty fast, haven't looked at your crawler since the rodsnmods do, I'll have to check it out :).

A gun scope would be too big I think, had a look around and you can get keychain sized laser pointers & pen sized pointers but the pen size will be too big, might order a keychain sized one and see what I can do with it, I'm thinking a mix of bluetack and sticky tape attached to the paint cup to get it aligned close to perfect but does have to be small and lightweight. Has anyone ever tried doing this before? seems a good idea :).

Compared to aerosols it seems far less hazardous and the control is far far superior barely waste any paint too, nonetheless though I'll use a respirator just to be safe, so I am going to put some effort in at getting good at airbrushing, it will be worth it when I look back in a year I'm sure :), kinda why I put my first airbrush doodle up so I can laugh at it in the future like my first fabricated case lol :D.

Yeah, a respirator is a good idea. And yes, airbrushes are FAR more directional than the rattle cans, that's what I love about them. I was thinking on the laser things, you can get ones designed for pistols - advantage is that they're small and typically have a wire with a push-pad style switch. Put pressure on it and it's on, release it and it turns off. So you could strap the sight to say the right side of the brush and wrap the wire around it so that the switch is on the opposite side; if you're right-handed the switch will be easily pressable with the thumb.
and definitely go check out my worklog LOL - the mod's changed a bit in appearance even since the show. I think page 12 or 11 has the paint-job pics, and I've added updates about my PSU dismantling experience.

[SgtM]

Very cool. Which airbrush did you get? You'll find that with further use, you'll know where the paint will be spraying. Though, for modding sake, I do like the idea of a laser pointer. Here's my latest lines from this weekend. The darker ones are pencil, the rest are paint. A mask is a good idea, but I find it kinda pointless if you aren't spraying a really big area with tons of overspray (just my personal opinion). Keep practicing! Airbrushing is a ton of fun. I just wish I had more time to do it.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f186/sgtm_usmc/f57c0e5d.jpg

[Waynio]

Got 2 brushes with the kit that seem to be generic ones, 1 gravity, 1 suction, I mostly went for a kit so I could have my own small cheap quiet compressor so the brushes were mostly a bonus :).
This is all I could find on the gravity one I'm using
AB-130 Professional Precision Double Action Airbrush (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AB-130-PRECISION-AIRBRUSH-KIT-FREE-HOSE-NEW-IN-BOX_W0QQitemZ260550836437QQihZ016QQcategoryZ28111Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

DeVilbiss DAGR looks great for detail work I wouldn't mind getting 1 once my skill has risen, the lines look ultra fine, but much practice ahead of me before I get a premium one :), still going to try a laser pointer for a laugh & who knows it may turn out highly useful for practicing newbies like me :).

For covering bigger areas also I've been looking at:
Iwata RG-3 Spray Gun 0.6mm Nozzle for doing primer, base, other, clear --- £150 with cup, not sure if expensive spray guns offer a big advantage over budget ones though.

Would have liked to go for the devilbiss range of spray guns but I'm confused as they have 1 for priming, 1 for base, 1 for clear & they are all expensive & would amount to about £700 ouch, so would only be worth getting those if I was in business or simply loaded lol :D.

I have seen similar looking spray guns for like £10 to £60, I doubt they will be anywhere near as good quality, but at the price I might try 1 out to see if I'd be satisfied with it, the compressor is not a problem as my dad has a huge one capable of using all kinds of air tools :).

[msmrx57]

For covering bigger areas also I've been looking at:
Iwata RG-3 Spray Gun 0.6mm Nozzle for doing primer, base, other, clear --- £150 with cup, not sure if expensive spray guns offer a big advantage over budget ones though.


It really depends on the design and manufacturer. I've got a "cheapo" automotive spray gun that is so close in design to a high end Sata I can use the Sata replacement parts on it. Having worked in a shop that used expensive guns, I can't tell any difference in quality. Admittedly I'm not ever using it to get a show quality finish but it srays great and is very consistant. On the other end of things I've had a couple of chep airbrushes in the past and I emphisise the had. Currently have an old Pasche single action that is great, and a Testors dual action which is okay (got a great deal on it with a compressor). Practice is the key as with most things. I've seen some guys get great results with crappy equipment and just wondered what they could do with good stuff, and people with money but no patience to practice compain about good tools. Just my rambling two bits. :alien:

[Waynio]

Appreciate your view msmrx57 thanks :), true, practice, and then perhaps go for the better tools if it turns out I can do good stuff with cheap tools, I'll try a cheaper spray gun when I get around to doing a new project.

Patience, learning all I can from tutorials & practice, get frustrated but don't quit and practice another day until I have the basics :).

I'll have another go at some basics tomorrow, but I'll only post pictures when I think I'm actually making ok progress, I'll make some time a few times or more a week for practice :).

[artoodeeto]

I will say this about cheap vs. expensive. It *can* be worth it to go expensive. I don't know where Badger airbrushes stack up these days, but I know when I bought mine probably 15 years ago now, to replace a cheapie Testors brush that had died on me, Badger was a good one. All metal, fully dismantleable, etc etc. And the thing is still in very good condition, and works FAR better than the cheap Testors brush ever did. So keep that in mind. Of course, I also knew I'd be using it for model airplane paint jobs...alot...so I knew going in it'd be worth it.
Also, if you want to do actual artwork on your cases or anything else, consider taking art/drawing classes if you haven't already. Some of brush/pencil/airbrush skill is technique, but a large amount is training and developing eye-hand coordination so you can evaluate what your eyes are telling you and translate it from 3 dimensions to 2. Drawing from your imagination is a little different, but good artistic training is invaluable if you want to get really good.
That being said, yes I have artistic training, but I lack the desire to draw except when I need to (design drawings and such), so I never got all that good at it. :)