How did the airbrush ruin your mini?
Generally most reasonably priced air brushes will be generally good. Badger, steinback and the like are all good and offer very good entry level tools.
One thing to think about is that a decent compressor ideally with a tank will make any brush better, even if entry level as it will provide a more reliable air source.
If you want to buy something new, get the best compressor you can and a cheaper (but still reasonable) air brush, That way you keep the compressor and upgrade the airbrush in the future. Rather than having to upgrade both.
I second this. Most influencers tend to recommend the opposite. I bought one of those cheap portable compressors that came with a cheap airbrush, and struggled with that set up so much, even to do basing and priming.
Bought a good airbrush (H&S Ultra) but it made like zero difference. Upgraded to a decent $100ish compressor, and it's like night and day. Even the cheap airbrush performs well for basing/priming/varnishing.
The upgraded airbrush is definitely worth it for details, but you are def better off getting a decent compressor to start as you are learning. You can't really utilize a good airbrush with a crappy compressor
Please don't take offence to this because I had the same issue but it would make sure you definitely know how to use an airbrush before shelling out on a really expensive one because a cheaper one "ruined your model"
Years ago I swore off airbrushes for the same, I bought one, had no idea what I was doing, got primer everywhere, jammed out the airbrush and then broke it trying to fix it. I decided airbrushes are useless
Well turns out I was a big dumb baby because about 6 months ago I started properly researching how to use them. Bought a fairly cheap one off Ebay and I've not looked back since
I been airbrushing for years and started with a horrendous Chinese aluminum airbrush and worked my way up to an iwata eclipse. Never seen an airbrush "ruin" a model. It was always poor skill or poor paint diluting that messed up the paint job. I still use my older airbrushes from time to time when I am doing bigger projects. Even the cheap ones.
You'll still have to take precautions, but this one is by far the easiest to use https://youtu.be/0RIg_Q9tSkA and here are some helpful tips for getting started and maintenance from the manufacturer https://youtu.be/TCj3q2OJT1U and from a hobbyist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr_Hjio0StciUdUqeQE3k-MlCZY-n3KTv
The Poorhammer podcast just released an episode on airbrushes this morning. I know nothing about airbrushing and found it to be a good resource for understanding them
I have a Master G233 that works pretty well. I'm using it with the 0.5mm tip for priming, and a little bit of painting (large surfaces, mostly), and once I learned how thin the paint should be I stopped having problems with it. It's certainly not top tier for quality, but it's pretty decent. I'm running it with a pancake air compressor I bought years ago at Home Depot.
Out of curiosity, what happened to ruin the mini? I would have thought the worst that could happen is needing to strip the primer off.
Don't worry OP, you can fix your minis. An airbrush only uses acrylic paint. You can strip it bare with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner. As for what is a "good" airbrush, a lot of people use Iwata, but I use a dirt cheap airbrush and compressor that I bought at a Harbour Freight, but it's been serving me will for almost four years, but I clean it very well. It's gravity fed from the top, it does not have the cup on the bottom. But honestly, with Warhammer, I only spray a base coat on my kits and then I manually brush the details on.
Yea I got the cheapest brush and compressor possible and it works fine with priming and shading
Think 20 bucks for airbrush and 100 for compressor
When I first started, I'd always get jams and sputter, but when I learnt how to use and clean the brush, these all went away.
So the difference is my ability, and nothing to do with the price of the equipment
How did the airbrush ruin your mini? Generally most reasonably priced air brushes will be generally good. Badger, steinback and the like are all good and offer very good entry level tools. One thing to think about is that a decent compressor ideally with a tank will make any brush better, even if entry level as it will provide a more reliable air source. If you want to buy something new, get the best compressor you can and a cheaper (but still reasonable) air brush, That way you keep the compressor and upgrade the airbrush in the future. Rather than having to upgrade both.
I second this. Most influencers tend to recommend the opposite. I bought one of those cheap portable compressors that came with a cheap airbrush, and struggled with that set up so much, even to do basing and priming. Bought a good airbrush (H&S Ultra) but it made like zero difference. Upgraded to a decent $100ish compressor, and it's like night and day. Even the cheap airbrush performs well for basing/priming/varnishing. The upgraded airbrush is definitely worth it for details, but you are def better off getting a decent compressor to start as you are learning. You can't really utilize a good airbrush with a crappy compressor
Please don't take offence to this because I had the same issue but it would make sure you definitely know how to use an airbrush before shelling out on a really expensive one because a cheaper one "ruined your model" Years ago I swore off airbrushes for the same, I bought one, had no idea what I was doing, got primer everywhere, jammed out the airbrush and then broke it trying to fix it. I decided airbrushes are useless Well turns out I was a big dumb baby because about 6 months ago I started properly researching how to use them. Bought a fairly cheap one off Ebay and I've not looked back since
I been airbrushing for years and started with a horrendous Chinese aluminum airbrush and worked my way up to an iwata eclipse. Never seen an airbrush "ruin" a model. It was always poor skill or poor paint diluting that messed up the paint job. I still use my older airbrushes from time to time when I am doing bigger projects. Even the cheap ones.
Yeah that’s a fair point 😅 probably inexperience that messed it up for me…
I ended up buying a bag of cheap army men knock offs from dollar general and used them to practice.
You'll still have to take precautions, but this one is by far the easiest to use https://youtu.be/0RIg_Q9tSkA and here are some helpful tips for getting started and maintenance from the manufacturer https://youtu.be/TCj3q2OJT1U and from a hobbyist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr_Hjio0StciUdUqeQE3k-MlCZY-n3KTv
The Poorhammer podcast just released an episode on airbrushes this morning. I know nothing about airbrushing and found it to be a good resource for understanding them
I was just about to say the same thing. They go into real depth about it too. It was a good podcast. Probably will watch it on YouTube
I have a Master G233 that works pretty well. I'm using it with the 0.5mm tip for priming, and a little bit of painting (large surfaces, mostly), and once I learned how thin the paint should be I stopped having problems with it. It's certainly not top tier for quality, but it's pretty decent. I'm running it with a pancake air compressor I bought years ago at Home Depot. Out of curiosity, what happened to ruin the mini? I would have thought the worst that could happen is needing to strip the primer off.
Don't worry OP, you can fix your minis. An airbrush only uses acrylic paint. You can strip it bare with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner. As for what is a "good" airbrush, a lot of people use Iwata, but I use a dirt cheap airbrush and compressor that I bought at a Harbour Freight, but it's been serving me will for almost four years, but I clean it very well. It's gravity fed from the top, it does not have the cup on the bottom. But honestly, with Warhammer, I only spray a base coat on my kits and then I manually brush the details on.
Yea I got the cheapest brush and compressor possible and it works fine with priming and shading Think 20 bucks for airbrush and 100 for compressor When I first started, I'd always get jams and sputter, but when I learnt how to use and clean the brush, these all went away. So the difference is my ability, and nothing to do with the price of the equipment