Air brush vs paint & brush

[jefferyt]

I am fairly new building wooden ship models with only one prior project. In my younger days (and a few more recently since  retired) a built a wide variety of models, primarily plastic. I usually relied on spray cans and paint and brush when working on these kits. About a year and half ago I purchased Billings Smit Rotterdam for my first wooden ship kit. I should state that this wasn't my effort at working in wood; I used to build rc planes at one time. 

While the Smit Rotterdam turned out ok (for a beginner I think it turned out good) it could have been better in a few ways. I have acquired a few tools to improve the build itself but I am pondering about investing in an airbrush setup and I'm sure of its value on large scale kits. I am awaiting the arrival of Billings HMS Victory (BB498). From what I have read, many would consider this to be a bit more than I could chew, but I like a challenge. 

I digress, in short, is the investment of a few hundred dollars towards an airbrush setup worth it?

[kurtvd19]

Do a search here as there are several discussions on airbrush use where your questions will most likely be answered.  If you then have specific questions go ahead and ask for clarification or more data.

[Bob Cleek]

What Kurt, the air brush guru, said. 

 

It depends upon the level of your modeling skill. There's little point in putting lipstick on a pig. When you're ready for an air brush, you'll know it. If you aren't an accomplished brush painter, that will be sooner, rather than later, as your skill grows. Most of the masterpiece models displayed in museums were build before air brushes were invented, but they knew how to paint with brushes in the old days. The learning curve is much less steep with an air brush.

 

That said, don't throw out your brushes just yet. A brush in the hand of an experienced painter can do just about anything an air brush can, and then some, while the same can be said about airbrushes. Each have their unique capabilities. I'd expect most serious modelers use both with equal ability.

[wefalck]

Well, many of the museum-modells were and are built by workshops in which there are people with specialist skills, such as painting. Some hobby model-builders become skilled in almost all trades and others struggle with certain skills ... that normal. Both spray- and brush-painting require practice (and knowledge) the latter probably more than the former.

 

However, I think that you can probably get a reasonably good airbrushing kit for less than a couple of hundred quid, rather than 'hundreds'. It also depends on the size you require, which in turn depends on the size of the model(s) you want to paint.

[vaddoc]

Do a search, many discussions and lots of good info on painting.

With modern paints and thinners and good brushes, you can get fantastic results hand painting. 

But I assume that consistency is much easier with spraying.

[Seems ok to me]

100% worth it. The time saved in painting many parts at once with out the spray can tidal wave of paint, the accuracy, and the smooth coverage are all worth it. I’m an not a good painter but my airbrush makes me look good at times. Also check out lots of posts here and good old YouTube for tips. I’ve also gotten into using oil paints and acrylic washes to good effect (at least I like to think so). I just wish I had paid more attention in art class years ago. 

[Mercator]

I have done many types of models, medieval figures , WWI airplanes, horses, and of course many types of naval subjects. Both paint brushes and airbrushes have their use and I use both. You buy a single action airbrush (a good one) for less than $100, the expensive side is the compressor. For wood models (only 2 so far) I have not needed an airbrush. Tamiya paints in spray cans are amazing, make sure you keep the can warm, put the can in a cup with warm water over one of those cup warmer, makes the paint flow better.

Just like the Seems ok to me (cute cat, I like those orange boys) you van achieve amazing results with oil paints and acrylic washes. There is another technique by which you change the hue bu over painting with a very diluted color (10% paint 90% thinner).

[Nirvana]

May I chime in?

Here's my take on airbrushing - it's very well worth getting the skills involved, at the end it boils down to quality of "brush-gun" and quality of paint.

I work exclusively with the Vallejo brand (not saying it's the best or worst), it's a brand I am comfortable with.

Using their regular brush paint and getting a nice coating requires again good quality of brushes and patience.

My conclusion: investing in a double tank compressor and high quality "brushes" are all worth it.
Here is my comparison of my compressors and go to posting 2813.

[mikegr]

I built dozens of 1/700 ship models using paintbrush long time ago. In this scale airbrush is not a must , my thought. But if you enter the world of dioramas an airbrush is a great tool for creating different shades of the sea water, making your work looking very real.

Now I am scratchbuilding large projects about 1 meter long using spray cans. Although I get the job done, for painting smaller parts airbrush is essential as it can regulate the amount of paint and prevent overflow. However its still a big machine with a considerable cost. So I am about to buy a starter kit with dual action airbrush to see how it goes before I opt for a big set of airbrush+compressor.

[Etcher]

I just don’t really enjoy the experience of painting with an airbrush. From wearing a mask to getting the correct airflow and the cleaning up etc. And they’re just too… detached(?) Not tactile enough maybe. I’ve tried them mainly on plastic kits and I think it actually put me off plastic kits because it almost seems like you need to use them or you’re handicapping yourself!

[mikegr]

On 5/19/2021 at 8:39 PM, jefferyt said:

I am fairly new building wooden ship models with only one prior project. In my younger days (and a few more recently since  retired) a built a wide variety of models, primarily plastic.

Obviously is hard to get enough experience to build a fine wooden model before you turn into retirement age. Unless you are into this for many years.

 

Back to the airbrush matter, there are many videos on youtube. From few minutes to hours. It is a lot different world and need a lot of learning and experimentation.

I bought a kit with mini compressor mostly for general painting and making wave effects on sea dioramas. For detail painting like miniatures an advanced set is required.

[Cleat]

I'm learning how to air brush.  I spent $90 for an airbrush, $100 for a compressor (with tank), and $25 for a 6-pack of paint and cleaning fluid.  It takes a lot of time to learn and there are a number of variables to figure out.  It takes time to clean which is a chore.  I'm still getting used to it; I've only mastered full on and I'm still practicing the art of small finger movements to adjust the amount of paint.  I use my airbrush more like a can of spray paint.  I decided to get an airbrush with a pistol style trigger because I prefer that feel over the top button.  I'm getting a lot of practice cleaning the airbrush and I still practice dots and daggers (beginner exercises).

 

I see how useful an airbrush can be but it is a skill that takes a lot of time to learn.  While I'm learning I have gotten good results on projects that didn't require precision.

[Bob Cleek]

30 minutes ago, Cleat said:

It takes time to clean which is a chore.  I'm still getting used to it; I've only mastered full on and I'm still practicing the art of small finger movements to adjust the amount of paint.  I use my airbrush more like a can of spray paint.  I decided to get an airbrush with a pistol style trigger because I prefer that feel over the top button.  I'm getting a lot of practice cleaning the airbrush and I still practice dots and daggers (beginner exercises).

Just a tip if you haven't tried it as yet: You can practice technique using water as a medium on absorbent paper, perhaps with a touch of watercolor or food coloring mixed in if your paper doesn't show much wet/dry contrast. Often, just plain water will show up quite well. Brown paper bag paper works well because it gets dark when wet. In this way, There's really no clean-up after practicing that needs to be done unless you've run some colored water through your gun and even then, all that's required is to just rinse it out. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Bob Cleek

[michael mott]

7 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Just a tip if you haven't tried it as yet: You can practice technique using water as a medium on absorbent paper,

That is a really great bit of advice, I wish I had though of it Bob. There you go one learns something new every day.

 

Michael

[druxey]

Yes, surgically cleaning out airbrushes is a drag, but essential. Bob: that is a great tip!

[Old Collingwood]

I am still quite new to Airbrush painting   and agree  there are Two sides to it   1)The cleaning and preperation  of the  airbrush/spraybooth  and 2)The actual  using  of it  and practice getting used to the feel of it and the flow of paint   out of it.

 

But like all things  its  practice  - practice - practice   that  make all the difference.

 

One last  thing  - Airbrushes  make it possible  to  put down  thinner layers of paint  than a brush  -   making surface details  really stand out  more than a thicker brush painted  layer.

 

OC.

[Bob Cleek]

6 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

One last  thing  - Airbrushes  make it possible  to  put down  thinner layers of paint  than a brush  -   making surface details  really stand out  more than a thicker brush painted  layer.

Absolutely! That's one of the biggest advantages of an airbrush.  Also, if you are airbrushing with acrylics and you thin them with denatured alcohol , they will dry much faster because alcohol evaporates much more quickly than water. 

[wefalck]

I have been spray-painting now since the early 1980s, though for me it is a rather intermittent activity that comes close to the end of a building project and I certainly do not have that many hours of experience under my belt as many colleagues from the plastic fraternity.

 

When diluting acrylic paint, one has to be sure, as whith other paints, that the chosen solvent does not disturb the paint formulation. Acrylics are dispersions and dispersions are prone to breakdown and coagulation, if the wrong solvent is used. So not all acrylics can be thinned with alcohol.

 

As my projects are small size-wise I do not need large quantities of paint and in fact am still working from most of the bottles that I originally purchased. I prefer acrylics diluted ready for airbrushing. You pay a lot for cheap solvent, but you are sure that you get the right consistency and do not have to worry too much about shaking up the paint well enough. Diluting acrylics from a tube is a pain, has to be done very carefully, and therefore takes a long time. Also, in order to work well, the quantities of paint used cannot be too small, leading to waste. I found that homemade dilutions are not as stable, as the factory ones.

 

As I don't have a spray-booth with extraction fan, I do not use paints with organic solvents in the airbrush. Also, cleaning of acrylics is much easier as it involves only water and you do not need to manage waste solvents.

 

Normally, I only use the airbrush for a few minutes at a time and then immediately proceed to clean it under running water, dismantling it as much as is possible without tools. This really takes only five minutes or so. Also make sure that paint never dries in any boreholes, as it is difficult to remove from there.

[kurtvd19]

On 5/19/2021 at 2:32 PM, Bob Cleek said:

A brush in the hand of an experienced painter can do just about anything an air brush can,

I belong to a local IPMS chapter though I seldom build plastic models.  We just had one of the founding members of our chapter pass away.  He built airplanes and never used an airbrush.  He won many awards at IPMS contests and when people found out he didn't use an airbrush they didn't believe it.  His models stood up under close scrutiny at these contests so he was competing against expert airbrush users.

A brush in the hands of an expert can produce a great finish just as an airbrush can produce a bad paint job in the hands of somebody who never practices.  Both depend on the skill of the user to produce a great paint job.  In my opinion it is easier to accomplish with an airbrush but only after a lot of practice - but a lot less than with a brush.

[Etcher]

Okay, having expressed misgivings about using airbrushes above I’ve decided to give it another go and get mine out of the box. I bought an Evolution Cr plus to to replace the cheaper passche I had previously. I still have the same compressor though, which probably isn’t up to the job. One problem I have is that the part that connects the airbrush to the tube(?) is jammed in. It happened first time I tried to use it. Here’s what I mean. The red line shows the parts stuck together. 

 

 

Apart from that I had trouble getting the hang of the double action but didn’t really persevere.

[wefalck]

I looks to me that the nozzle is missing - the exposed needle is strange - the nozzle forms the spray cone.

 

The double-action just requires some discipline: pushing the button down for airflow and the backwards to add paint.

[Etcher]

Yes the nozzle is in the box. I haven’t used it for over a year.

[wefalck]

Always keep it on, so that you do not accidentally damage the needle ...

[Etcher]

Actually that is how it is meant to be. That is the way the nozzle is.

 

 

Anyway the issue is with the adapter being stuck in the tube.

[Tim Moore]

Hi Darren I use a paasche so thought I’d try and help. 
Firstly yes the nozzle is all there, this is a good higher end brush. The knurled bit is part of the air supply hose and stays put there on its swivel fitting. The airbrush starts at the top of your red line. You should be able to lock the knurled end of the hose and screw off the fitting counterclockwise, wrapping some tape around fitting and gently using two pairs of small pliers if you have to. Don’t damage the rubber o ring in doing this. A touch of wd-40 on the thread will resolve matters if it’s really stuck tight. 
Forgive me if I’ve misunderstood your issue but I think that’s what you are asking about.

[Etcher]

Thanks Tim, yes you seem to have understood the problem. My explanation probably lacked clarity! I’ll try to do as you say. Thanks!

[Nirvana]

In the latest issue of the Nautical Research Journal, Kurt Van Dahm has a very nice article when it comes to maintaining your airbrush, sure this is written with his experience of the Badger brand.

But what he writes is applicable to any brand. Well worth reading.

Thank you Kurt, this will help me.