Spray n' Pray: Learning to Airbrush

I have been thinking about getting an airbrush for years. I've thought about it so much I had a concocted an entire plan on how I would slowly easy my way into airbrushing by buying a cheap one to practice and learn with before upgrading to a intermediate than professional airbrush. Without making a large investment, this would allow me to see if I even enjoyed airbrushing, teach me how to use them and most importantly, how to maintain/clean them. Its the way many before me have gone about learning the airbrush and its probably how most people would recommend one learn. Its a solid plan and I had been daydreaming about finally going through with it for years.

Unfortunately, the other day I ended up throwing that entire idea out the window when a friend and fellow wargamer offered to sell me 2 of his old expensive Iwata airbrushes for a third what they were worth. So no more getting some cheap intro airbrush to practice on and dip my toes, I guess I'm just diving right in.

There's a tiny little problem though, I now suddenly have all this high end airbrush stuff, but no clue about even the most basic thing about setting up, using, or maintaining one.

So I did a lot of research, and joined a lot of forums, and after going through a bunch of tutorials and asking a lot of questions, I felt like I had figured out how to get started. I assembled a bunch of extra supplies I would need, reorganized my room a bit, stole a folding table from the garage, set up an airbrush station by the window, and grabbed one of my spare test minis. Now I was 99% ready to start air brushing. But I was a bit nervous, I've never done this and I've been told by so many people that if you do something a bit wrong you can clog or even brick your airbrush, and that would be so frustrating to do something wrong and immediately destroy this high end gear. 

 

It took a while to psyche myself up and do it but I got around to it eventually. First I would use the HP-C and try priming and base coating a miniature.

And it turned out all my apprehension was for nothing, this was actually very simple to use. Just load the cup with thinner, than paint, mix the two a bit by backflowing the airbrush, and then start spraying. These 2 minis were primed in seconds and used only a few drops of paint. Very efficient compared to brush priming or rattle cans. I'm already really pleased with this tool so far. Now to try base coating.

 It went okay. Its a bit messy. My fault though, was just new to the tool and didn't know how to precisely control the brush or the air flow so I got some overspray on parts of the miniature I wasn't trying to paint. But look at that smooth coat of paint! I'd never be able to accomplish that with a brush. 

Overall I'm really pleased with this investment. The HP-C is designed for basecoating and priming and I'm very satisfied with the results. The other airbrush I got, the HP-SB, is designed for detail work, but I'm clearly not skilled enough with airbrushes yet to give that a try so I'll keep practicing with the HP-C. For now, I'll put together some of my Napoleonic or Samurai minis for my new army projects, and then get to base coating them with the airbrush. I can't wait!