Airbrushing question

[Flop]

Good moring everyone. How much of your typical model do you airbrush? I'm not talking about the skin of the aircraft but the cockpit, weapons ect. I am working on 1/32 sidewinders and weapons and was wondering if most people airbrush or stroke paint those size items.

Also in your AB room how do you store your paint? Do you keep bottles of certain colors mixed and ready to spray or do you just mix as much as you need and clean the glass bottles out after each spraying?

Thanks: John

[Guest RocketDog]

For me the jury is still out on that one. I think that if I was doing something as large as 1:32 I would be tempted to airbrush the cockpit and then pick out the detail/wash with brushes etc. As for storing paint, I mix it up as I need it, paint that has already been thinned doesn't keep well as the pigment and thinner separate more easily (at least that is what I have found). Whether I clean out or spray through between colours will depend on the similarity and strength of the colours i.e if I have been spraying red and switch to white I will clean the AB to avoid getting a pink tint to the white. If I have been spraying a metallic colour I will give it a damned good clean because I have had a bad experience where 'flecks' of the metallic colour were visible in the dark matt grey that I followed up with.

[Flop]

Thanks Rocket. I'm setting up to spray the missles now I am going to try and do the base coat from the bruch and then brush the details and fins.

On the bottle question I have 24 of the small glass bottles. 10 filled with common colors that I use a-lot (black, white, Gunship Grey ect), 2 filled with thinner (used for cleaning the brush) and the other 12 I rotate colors through. I was just wondering if this was standard or I am just an idiot.

John

[MikeV]

Good moring everyone. How much of your typical model do you airbrush? I'm not talking about the skin of the aircraft but the cockpit, weapons ect. I am working on 1/32 sidewinders and weapons and was wondering if most people airbrush or stroke paint those size items.

I airbrush everything I can. The only things that are not airbrushed are the very small things like knobs, gauges, etc.

Also in your AB room how do you store your paint?  Do you keep bottles of certain colors mixed and ready to spray or do you just mix as much as you need and clean the glass bottles out after each spraying?

I keep all paints in their original containers as mixing them with thinner upsets the balance of the paint and causes them to not last near as long. I mix what I need in small plastic 1 oz cups and pour it into my gravity-feed airbrush color cup.

If I use a siphon-feed airbrush then I use the 1/4 oz metal cups as they are much easier to use and clean than the glass and plastic jars. I just use the plastic jars for T-shirt paints when I airbrush those.

Mike

[AndrewL]

I do exactly what Mike V said as well.

AndrewL