Airbrush Starter kits

[Steve M]

That was my thinking with the Vallejo ready mixed paints as well - I knew they would work straight from the box.

A tip: there are at least a couple of weathering 'collections' available from Vallejo and on the whole they are quite expensive. But it's easy to work out which colours are included in each set and put together the same set in individual bottles from the suppliers on eBay - it ends up about half the price.
Look for Coulsdon Models on eBay - found them to be very reasonable with quick postage.

[Steve M]

I indicated in an earlier post that I had ordered one of the ridiculously cheap (£6.97) Chinese airbrushes to try. It arrived over the weekend along with a couple of quick release couplings (£1.99) so tonight I tested it on an old static model.
First thing I found was that it has a air volume adjuster under the cup and a trigger adjuster towards the rear which means it can be adjusted to give a fine spray without the fear of pulling too hard and getting too heavy with the paint.
It has proved to be very easy to use and clean up although I must admit that so far all I have done is a light coat of the underframes.

20181203_191916 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[davey60]

Keep us updated please looking forward to see where this goes.

[Steve M]

Did some more work with this cheapo today. It really is quite easy to use, although I haven’t found the right technique for a very fine touch of paint- that’s probably more down to me than the airbrush.
Clean up was very straightforward with all the major parts being easily removed - more importantly, they are simple to get back together again afterwards.
A good and very inexpensive way to get into airbrushing - now if only compressors were a better price.

[unklehomer]

So I got the kit I linked to earlier, thought I'd bob on and give some feedback.

I only really got the chance to start playing over Christmas. Of course I'd nothing to compare it to, but that's probably something in its favour, because so far I'm pretty happy with it.

The compresser seems to give a very even air supply, isn't overly loud and is smaller than I was expecting so it can actually live semipermanently on my desk. I also got a cleaning pot (any newby reading this, these are simply a must.)

The airbrush is adjustable and while low level painting can be a littl eunreleable when you pull, back, mostly its giving me the results I want. Only doing wagons so far, and a really old loco I'm weathering a scrap to use up various paints.

I would absolutely recommend one of these sets, and the airbrush ready paint linked above. I also got thinner and matt varnish from the same supplier and I'm find those to also be really good.

I'd made one of my dapol kits before I got the air brush, and painted it so I get a pretty good like-for-like comparison, and my findings are... there is no comparison. Its home paint finish vs retail finish. I was amazed at how good the dapol trucks looked when the paint was applied. Once you've had a play and got used to your kits there's a lot to be said for painting some parts before assembly (to help avoid overspray etc). I am still using a thick black acrylic paint for the chassis, with a brush because I like that look on the metal work.

I've now started on upcycling some of my older Hornby coaches (probably now being sold as railroad) and getting some good results.

I'll try and get some pics up too.

[mijj]

Thanks for the info. It makes essential reading at this end as the next thing for me is the back scene which will be sprayed (clouds) and brushed blue sky. I do have two back-scenes for sticking on.
When peeps say "cheap art acrylics" do they mean the "Windsor and Newton type? I have a range of them and see it as expensive to get additional kinds.
Jim

[unklehomer]

Thought I would swing back in and just give an update this.

nearly a year on, I bloody love my airbrush set up, and have spent many happy evenings doing various little jobs, many of which escalate, becasue they can.

I think i am beginning to find some limits in the airbrush that came with the kit, so am now looking at upgrading that, but I expected that to happen. I find it can be a bit splatty on high flow, and also in part i think it is a .4mm so not great for fine work, I also find it a bit unpredictable so nervewracking for loco weathering.

I now only rarely use non-airbrushready paints, and find the Valejo stuff to be excellent and very quick and easy to use (even metalic paints and varnishes etc).

If you are looking to get started I think a starter kit like I linked is pretty good, the compressor is really good and while it works hard during larger jobs I have not noticed any problem with airflow.

tbc...

[mijj]

I am interested in the paint sets but only found 'air' sets etc. No model railway, is the air sets what you had?
Jim

[unklehomer]

Hi JIm

Yeah the Air refers to Airbrush, not the transport mode. They don't do a colour match as such, so colours have to be picked or mixed. Camo Grey is a good wagon roof colour, and I mix 'brown' and burnt umber 50:50 for a good bauxite that matches my bachmann stuff.

Black grey is a good dirty black, you can add a little earth to mucky it up a bit more etc. On ebay you can get 10 paints for £20 delivered, just a shame the colour charts are really in no particluar order whatsoever!

[Steve M]

I am interested in the paint sets but only found 'air' sets etc. No model railway, is the air sets what you had?
Jim

I suspect you are looking at Vallejo Air colours - these are pre-thinned to suit airbrush use. A very good place to start.