airbrush woes

well ive had a chance to try out the airbrush and, ive come to the conclusion that buying cheap is not always good. as is often the case with me, i tend to buy first and do research later (something im learning the hard way is not the right thing to do, as though that needed elaborating). it seems as though the airbrush i got is an unbranded one.

when spraying, the colours are always powdery and i can see the individual spots of paint. after spraying for a few minutes, it starts spitting and the flow of paint becomes very random indeed. after taking the thing apart, cleaning it (as far as i know, properly) with airbrush cleaner and reassembling it seems to be ok (ish) though very quickly starts spluttering, with the flow appearing to decrease steadily with the same amount of pressure onthe compressor producing a thinner spray.

im wondering if the paints make much of a difference. i have ordered quite a few vallejo air colours for use specifically with the airbrush though for the time being im using normal GW paints. a lot of them have been around for years and are pretty... jelly-like (thats the best way of describing them). ive thinned them down with water to a milky consistency. i dont know if thats good or bad though ive read that thats the consistency to aim for. ill try again once the vallejo colours arrive and will post my results then.

in the meanwhile im thinking of buying another one - probably badger or iwata, though i am put off by the prices on most of them. i want a dual action which seem to be more expensive than others and considering that im never permanently in the hobby (i tend to model/paint for about a year then stop for a year and so on) i dont know if its 'worth it.' having said that ive already spent 150 euro on a compressor and the current airbrush set i have so its not like i havent spent a bit on it already.

ill see how i work with the vallejo paints and then see from there...

meanwhile the Howling Griffons are undercoated (they seem ok though one thing ive noticed is the paint (GW skull white) is very delicate - a slight rub removed the paint. not sure if thats always the case or a result of the way theyve been sprayed

some new stuff

so, a slight update.

ordered an airbrush: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=370455752491

ive been meaning to order one for ages and, when i went to prime the 5 done Howling Griffons i had a problem with my primer so decided to order one. im pretty sure its nothing special though im only really interested in it for priming, basecoating and general simple highlighting (and, whe  the time comes for it, vehicle painting which alone makes it worth it!). unfortunately as the first marines ill be painting with it are quartered and im not going to be masking them up, i doubt ill get much use out of it on these - most likely priming and basecoating the yellow and maybe doing some subtle directio lighting etc.

anyway. the ebay store has a 100% feedback rating on 10,000+ sales so shouldnt be a problem receiving the item. ill update with my exploits once it arrives. so, pending my receiving the airbrush i doubt ill be doing any painting on these until the airbrush arrives so any updates will be modelling ones and random musings.


Angels of Censure
as i said above, the angels of censure are awaiting the airbrush, so no paint progres on the terminators as of yet. instead i finished off a 9-man unit of stern guard veterans with a weird assortment of weapons

models are mostly done, barring some GS work on the shins. ill be painting them the same as the other power armoured models ive posted so far.

Howling Griffons
the first 5 models are done, and are awaiting the airbrush to arrive before i start work on them.

In the meanwhile ive started work on another 5 models. pretty boring stuff for now - just GS work on the terminator legs to get them the right size/shape. so far ive decided on assembling a Howling Griffon librarian; a Mentor Legionnaire special ops guy (who will be in command of a 5-man IG veteran squad), and an ultramarine tyrannic war veteran. That leaves 2 models for which i have no idea what to do.  ideas welcome :)