Airbrushing

I was asked by martini in my Avetek Tiger Moth thread which airbrush book I used, so I thought it might be worthwhile starting a separate airbrush thread here. Feel free to add any snippets on techniques, etc as you see fit.

I bought my first Airbrush second hand in 1995 when I started building competitive scale indoor models. It was a Badger 150 dual action siphon feed model:

(I put an eBay link to one in here, but for some reason it's not posting!)

The new price at the time was £150! I still have it, it still works and all I've replaced is one of the needles and one of the nozzles. I've also bought several spare bottles of different sizes!

Not having a clue what to do with the airbrush, I went to my local art shop in search of a book. I ended up with Creative Airbrushing by Graham Puckett, which proved very useful. A few years later, I supplemented it with Step-by-Step Airbrushing by Peter West:



Peter West's book describes several useful practice exercises:





While Graham Puckett's book has pages on servicing the airbrush, masking, faultfinding and various techniques. I've copied a few of the pages here:
















I'm not sure where this thread will now go, I'll leave it to see what the response is........ But I can describe some airbrush techniques for models if the readership deems it appropriate....

Thanks Andy

I think I need to get into this. I now have a compressor, regulator, water trap and cheapo airbrush to practice with. Just need to have a practice and then decide to buy a better airbrush

Would appreciate any tips and techniques for total newbies from any of the more experienced contributors (as well as yourself).

Well Martyn, the first and best tip I can give you is 'just go do it!' The best way to learn is to screw it up on your own!

I had a lot of fun using ink on cartridge paper in my initial stages. If you do go that route, though, it may be worth considering a facemask as the infernal things do create a lot of fumes...

If you decide to use paint, then thin it to the consistency of single cream. You can experiment beyond that as you get more experience.

Oh...and don't do what a mate of mine did a few years ago and pick up a bottle of cyano instead of a bottle of airbrush cleaner....he now has a new airbrush!