Model Airbrushing Techniques

Okay, let's talk about painting, and specifically, painting with an airbrush. Let's go over again the reasons that you really want to paint your model. Number one, you want to get rid of that plastic sheen. You want to get that shine off the model and make it look a little bit more realistic and let it blend into the scenery that you're putting it on. Secondly, you don't want that model to look like it just came out of the box and you popped it onto the layout. You want to make it look like you put a little bit of work into it. And third, you don't want to have that model look like everybody else's model of that same building, because they also popped it out of the box and put it onto the layout. And last, it really helps you make a nice outstanding structure. Now, specifically, painting with an airbrush. What are the advantages there? Number one, you'll get a nice thin coat of paint with your airbrush. It won't obscure any of the details the way a rattle can paint can or brush painting can. Secondly, painting with an airbrush actually uses less paint, because in many cases you dilute the paint before you use it through the airbrush, and because that coat of paint is so nice and thin, you'll use less paint on it. Number three, painting with an airbrush will give you a nice even coat of paint if you do it properly. Now, there are two things, two very important things to consider when you're painting with an airbrush. One is ventilation, two is lighting. Ventilation is absolutely critical, because after all, when you're painting with your airbrush, don't forget it is putting out minute particles of paint into the air, and what you don't want to do is breathe those in, even if it's an acrylic paint. So you either need to use a respirator when you paint with an airbrush, or have a spray booth that has a good ventilating fan in it to draw those particles away from you and out into the air, or bring your model outside to the garage or to the yard and paint it out there. Now, as you can see here, I'm using a spray booth, and this is a homemade spray booth that uses what's called a squirrel cage fan in it. And that's a fan where the motor is actually isolated from the fan portion of the mechanism so that there's absolutely no way any kind of flammable fumes can possibly get ignited by the sparks in the motor of the fan. Really good lighting is important when you're using an airbrush too, and try to use the same kind of lighting as you're painting with your airbrush as you have on your layout. As you probably know, colors can absolutely change their hues under different kinds of lighting. So under fluorescent lighting, things may look a little bit more green, or under incandescent lighting, they may look a little bit more yellow or orange. So if you can use the same kind of lighting when you're airbrushing, when you're spraying your model, as you have on your layout, the model will look pretty much exactly the same. Now, when you're airbrushing, it's important to start the flow of the paint before you get to the model itself. So you start your flow of paint going, then you cross over and start painting the model, and let it go past the other side of the model before you either turn it off or before you turn it around. That way, you won't have the airbrush doubling the paint as you stop and double back on it. And make sure you put a light coat of paint on first, that'll give the model walls a bit of a tooth, which means it gives later coats of paint a little bit of something to grab onto. So that light coat will hit the walls, it'll dry, and then again, subsequent coats have something to hold onto. They won't just run off the model. And remember, many short passes with your airbrush are much more preferable to one long pass. The problem is when you do a long pass and you're lingering in front of the model, you have much more of a tendency to put a lot of paint on the model. The paint could sag, it could drip, and at that point you really got a problem, because you're really gonna have to go in there and either blot up that paint right away, let the paint dry and try scraping it off, and one way or the other, you've got a model that is not gonna have the paint finish that you really want on it. So those are some tips for painting and painting with an airbrush.