Short4ATrooper
Hunter
I thought I’d post my airbrushing process and some tips in the hopes of helping anyone who is new to all this. I don’t claim to be an authority on the subject - far from it - this is intended to cover all bases for someone who has never airbrushed before and is using one to paint a Boba Fett Helmet. I see a lot of similar questions about paint amounts and thinner ratios, air pressure, e.t.c so hopefully this’ll help.
Firstly, this all relates to enamel paint. I’ve never used acrylic so I couldn’t talk about the differences.
My airbrush is an Iwata Eclipse:
My compressor is a Fengda FD-186 which I highly recommend if space or noise is an issue as it is very small and very quiet:
There’s 3 main things that will cause your airbrush to behave badly.
1) a dirty or clogged airbrush.
Flushing it through with white spirit after use has generally been good for me but every so often you will have to dismantle it for cleaning.
2) incorrectly thinned paint.
I’ll talk about ratios and mixing in a bit but if it’s too thick, you’ll get spluttery, inconsistent spraying. If it’s too thin, it’ll be very runny and you run the risk of it sleeping under any masking tape.
3) incorrect air pressure.
It’s tempting to think that a higher air pressure will fix a ‘spitty’ spray but if you set 15-20 as your default and it’s coming out spitty then the air pressure is not the issue.
I keep my air pressure at 18psi and have never had to change it. As far as thinning paint, I’d advise staying away from branded thinners like Humbrol. It’s perfectly fine as far as quality goes but it’s expensive. Amazon sells the little 28ml jars for around £12. For half that, you can get a 600ml bottle of white spirit which I’ve had a better experience with and you can use it to flush the airbrush after painting.
For measuring out paint and thinner, I use these:
They’re disposable syringes. They come in boxes of 100 and that’ll last a long time - certainly enough to do a whole helmet. They have 1ml capacity. Do you need to be this precise? Probably not, a lot of people will tell you to thin your paint until it has the consistency of milk but for beginners this can be a little vague. The other benefit of being precise is that between this and keeping the air pressure consistent - anytime you get a spitty output, there’s a 99% chance the problem is that the airbrush needs cleaning. It takes all the guesswork out of solving the problem. If/when your airbrush does need a dismantle, be sure to look up a how to video on YouTube for that make & model. So this is my process:
I use a 1:1 ratio of white spirit to paint. This is another positive of white spirit because when I used the humbrol thinners, I had to do 2:1 thinners to paint. So, not only are you paying £12 for a 28ml jar but you’re using twice as much every time.
So, draw 1ml of white spirit first and ‘squirt’ it (slowly) into the airbrush cup. I put the white spirit in first to avoid the paint settling at the bottom of the cup and potentially clogging the needle.
Then, draw 1ml of paint - make sure you mix the paint in the tinlet first, a toothpick in small circles works good - squirt that in the cup.
Use the toothpick to stir the paint and thinner in the cup. Next, cover the nozzle carefully with your finger making sure not to touch the needle itself. Slowly draw back on the button until you get small bubbles in the cup. Don’t go too far or it’ll bubble out of the cup.
Give it a few test sprays on some card and you’re good to go.
Always paint in several coats instead of trying to get it all done in one. The first pass I call my ‘coverage layer’. I put the airbrush relatively close to the area I’m spraying and barely pull back on the lever to get the paint flowing. For this pass, I’m just looking to see the colour change on the helmet.
The second pass, I move the brush a little further away and pull a little further back to spray more paint and you just want to look to cover the area a little more thoroughly with each coat. Keep doing this until you’re happy. Keep in mind that you’ll be rubbing it down once it’s dry with wire wool which will dull the colour so don’t be afraid of ending up with a fully covered and bright paint job, but get there slowly.
Once you’re done, you’ll want to ‘flush’ the airbrush so it’s relatively clean for the next time you use it. Firstly, one of these is essential:
You will need your hands free when doing most of the above and flushing the airbrush involves spraying raw white spirit - something you’ll want to limit having to breathe in and this’ll help.
Basically, you’re repeating the steps for painting but just using white spirit. 0.5ml or so stirred in the cup, backwashed, and then sprayed into the pot. Once you’re done with that, give the inside of cup a wipe around with a rag.
To sum up:
• paint / white spirit at a 1:1 ratio
• air pressure at 18psi
• several thin coats.
I hope this helps someone!
Firstly, this all relates to enamel paint. I’ve never used acrylic so I couldn’t talk about the differences.
My airbrush is an Iwata Eclipse:
My compressor is a Fengda FD-186 which I highly recommend if space or noise is an issue as it is very small and very quiet:
There’s 3 main things that will cause your airbrush to behave badly.
1) a dirty or clogged airbrush.
Flushing it through with white spirit after use has generally been good for me but every so often you will have to dismantle it for cleaning.
2) incorrectly thinned paint.
I’ll talk about ratios and mixing in a bit but if it’s too thick, you’ll get spluttery, inconsistent spraying. If it’s too thin, it’ll be very runny and you run the risk of it sleeping under any masking tape.
3) incorrect air pressure.
It’s tempting to think that a higher air pressure will fix a ‘spitty’ spray but if you set 15-20 as your default and it’s coming out spitty then the air pressure is not the issue.
I keep my air pressure at 18psi and have never had to change it. As far as thinning paint, I’d advise staying away from branded thinners like Humbrol. It’s perfectly fine as far as quality goes but it’s expensive. Amazon sells the little 28ml jars for around £12. For half that, you can get a 600ml bottle of white spirit which I’ve had a better experience with and you can use it to flush the airbrush after painting.
For measuring out paint and thinner, I use these:
They’re disposable syringes. They come in boxes of 100 and that’ll last a long time - certainly enough to do a whole helmet. They have 1ml capacity. Do you need to be this precise? Probably not, a lot of people will tell you to thin your paint until it has the consistency of milk but for beginners this can be a little vague. The other benefit of being precise is that between this and keeping the air pressure consistent - anytime you get a spitty output, there’s a 99% chance the problem is that the airbrush needs cleaning. It takes all the guesswork out of solving the problem. If/when your airbrush does need a dismantle, be sure to look up a how to video on YouTube for that make & model. So this is my process:
I use a 1:1 ratio of white spirit to paint. This is another positive of white spirit because when I used the humbrol thinners, I had to do 2:1 thinners to paint. So, not only are you paying £12 for a 28ml jar but you’re using twice as much every time.
So, draw 1ml of white spirit first and ‘squirt’ it (slowly) into the airbrush cup. I put the white spirit in first to avoid the paint settling at the bottom of the cup and potentially clogging the needle.
Then, draw 1ml of paint - make sure you mix the paint in the tinlet first, a toothpick in small circles works good - squirt that in the cup.
Use the toothpick to stir the paint and thinner in the cup. Next, cover the nozzle carefully with your finger making sure not to touch the needle itself. Slowly draw back on the button until you get small bubbles in the cup. Don’t go too far or it’ll bubble out of the cup.
Give it a few test sprays on some card and you’re good to go.
Always paint in several coats instead of trying to get it all done in one. The first pass I call my ‘coverage layer’. I put the airbrush relatively close to the area I’m spraying and barely pull back on the lever to get the paint flowing. For this pass, I’m just looking to see the colour change on the helmet.
The second pass, I move the brush a little further away and pull a little further back to spray more paint and you just want to look to cover the area a little more thoroughly with each coat. Keep doing this until you’re happy. Keep in mind that you’ll be rubbing it down once it’s dry with wire wool which will dull the colour so don’t be afraid of ending up with a fully covered and bright paint job, but get there slowly.
Once you’re done, you’ll want to ‘flush’ the airbrush so it’s relatively clean for the next time you use it. Firstly, one of these is essential:
You will need your hands free when doing most of the above and flushing the airbrush involves spraying raw white spirit - something you’ll want to limit having to breathe in and this’ll help.
Basically, you’re repeating the steps for painting but just using white spirit. 0.5ml or so stirred in the cup, backwashed, and then sprayed into the pot. Once you’re done with that, give the inside of cup a wipe around with a rag.
To sum up:
• paint / white spirit at a 1:1 ratio
• air pressure at 18psi
• several thin coats.
I hope this helps someone!
