I want to start this article by saying that I do not consider myself an airbrush expert by any means. I consider myself a very middle-of-the-road modeler, more skilled than the beginner, but falling short of someone who has been making models for decades. All that being said, I think that the majority of mid-level model makers have made many of these mistakes, so this is more aimed at the novice who is getting into the hobby and is looking for some solid advice.
This is not an exclusive list, there may be tips I am missing, or I have chosen to ignore, but I firmly believe that these tips will touch most of the major skills associated with airbrushing.
So let’s begin with some simple ones:
1 – Good tools aren’t cheap, and cheap tools aren’t good!
Now I am not telling you to go out and get the most expensive airbrush on the market as your first brush, but I am advising you not to buy a knockoff or poorly made airbrush as your first. Knock-offs are usually poorly made, with their fit and finish suffering from a lack of advanced or precision tooling.
Look for an airbrush that is well priced and can grow with you. My first airbrush was a Badger 105 Patriot. It was inexpensive compared to high-end brands, but was well made and was able to accept several different-sized needles. On top of that, parts were cheap, so if I bent a needle or nozzle, it wasn’t the end of the world.
The advantage of having a decent starter brush is that you are not fighting against the shortcomings of the brush, rather the brush can do more than you are able to. That’s a good place to be because eventually, you will be able to make that brush sing for you!
2 – Thin your paints!
I know that a lot of people gravitate towards the shake and shoot paints – Vallejo Air, Ammo by Mig, etc., but even those paints should be thinned. I know that seems counterintuitive, after all, the manufacturer made them be “pre-thinned”, but I have yet to find one that shoots perfectly without some thinning.
For me, I thin my paints till they are thin enough that they run down the walls of my airbrush paint cup easily. That’s usually a 50/50 ratio, but I have learned from each brand why works best for me.
By thinning your paints you are forced to build up layers, but that’s a good thing. It will mean a more consistent layer, the pigments will tend not to clump and speckle your layers.
3 – Learn your paint/airbrush idiosyncrasies
I generally paint with Ammo, Vallejo, and Tamiya (acrylic and lacquer) and I have found that each lays down slightly differently and has its place in the process. Tamiya, because it is solvent-based, generally lays down flatter and dries quicker, and will cure much more quickly than water-based acrylics. Ammo and Vallejo have more color variety, are more vibrant, and are easier to clean up, but they require a lot more time to fully cure before handling.
All this means is that I have learned what paints are best for base colors, which work best for accents, and what work best for weathering. It took me a while to figure it out, but now I don’t frustrate myself by using the wrong paint on the wrong parts.
Same for my airbrushes. My Patriot is far more forgiving than my Infinity and I can spray longer, with higher pressure, and with less cleaning between color changes. But what I can’t do with the Patriot is get the fine trigger control and feathering that I can from my Infinity. It took me a long time to figure out how far I can push each airbrush and what it was best at, in terms of painting. It even goes as far as knowing what paints spray best through each brush. My Infinity loves Tamiya LP but doesn’t like Vallejo Model Color (no matter how much I thin it!) Knowing this allows me to avoid the frustration of messing up a paint job because I know I will struggle with a certain paint.
4 – Use primer!
Ok – so this will be controversial because some people have claimed they have never used a primer and have never had an issue. While that may be true for some solvent-based paints that tend to “bite into” plastics to bond with the (Mr. Color is a good example), some of the water-based acrylics need a good base to grab onto.
Primers also have the added benefit of revealing flaws on a model that needs to be corrected, as well as making the surface consistent.
5 – Let your paint cure before handling or moving to the next stage
This seems like a no-brainer, but I am sure that every single model maker has a model with their fingerprint etched into the paint, or has peeled paint off the surface, just to have the paint peel off with it.
Sure, there are tricks to speed up the curing process – a hairdryer, a toaster oven set very low – but those are not a guarantee that the solvent or water has evaporated and that the paint has bonded with your surface. Do you know what is almost 100% successful? Giving it a full day to cure! Someone once told me – “let the glue dry for 24 hours before paint, let the paint dry for 24 hours before glue”. It’s simple, but it works and since I have adopted that, I have not left a fingerprint or stripped paint with masking tape.
6 – Use the branded thinner for your paint!
I know that I will get some hate for this, but I have yet to find an “all in one” homebrew thinner that will work with all brands of paint.
Tamiya acrylic and lacquer are solvent-based and have a solvent-based thinner that will turn Vallejo into a goopy mess.
Save yourself the headache of wondering why it won’t spray properly, and start with the known way to thin that paint! I have been painting consistently for 3 or 4 years and have used maybe 2 large bottles of Tamiya thinner over that time – hardly a deal-breaker.
7 – clean your airbrush after you use it
This seems like common sense, but I have pulled apart more airbrushes that were “broken” only to find that they were clogged with paint.
You can’t expect your gear to perform at the top level if you don’t clean it. Take the 10 minutes after a long spray session to pull the brush apart and give it a good detail cleaning. It will be difficult to clean (and take much longer) if you allow the paint to dry and set! Trust me – I made that mistake a few times.
8 – Build up your color with many thin layers
One of the major beginner mistakes I made was trying to completely cover the model in 1 very wet first coat of paint. The result was pooling, cracking, drips and runs and I very u even and poor paint job.
It’s time-consuming to paint in thin layers, but not as much as you would expect. One thin layer will dry much quicker than 1 thick layer, and you can address any issues quickly and fix them with the next layer. I find that when spraying white or other very pigment-heavy paints, the more layers I build up, the less likely it will be that I will have blotchy sections.
9 – Mask any area you don’t want overspray to get on
I know it is a pain to mask off large sections of your model, but consider how much more time it would take to touch up an area that receives some overspray.
I have learned that when it comes to atomized airbrush paints, they have a huge distance they can cover, and they will always be in the hardest places to touch up.
I have 2 tapes I use for masking. Thin Tamiya tape for precise lines and masking, and then thick, wide, and fairly inexpensive tape for masking off large areas.
10 – Lastly, but most importantly – safety first!
Use a respirator and a spray booth when you spray and protect your hands with gloves if you are going to be holding parts when spraying.
You only have one set of lungs and despite the labels saying the paint is water-based, you do not want to be breathing in atomized paint for hours.
I cleaned the filter on my spray booth and was absolutely astonished by how much spray was sucked into that. Imagine if I didn’t have it going and use my respirator?
Conclusion
As I said at the beginning, this is hardly an exhaustive list, but these are the most common mistakes I see people make when they begin to use an airbrush for the first time.
My best advice? Practice! Make mistakes, learn from them, and try not to make them again. Most of all, have fun and don’t get discouraged. When I look back to my first airbrushes models I am very aware of all the mistakes I made, but I had fun, I learned a lot and now I am very confident with my skills.
Fantastic entry Andrew. Very well put and very informative as well. Thanks for sharing this.
I was already missing you amigo.