Not sure how well I'm basecoating miniatures.

[Supernaut]

So I'm VERY new to airbrushing. I have managed to prime and undercoat a few Citadel Orc miniatures as practice and I've primed a small metal elf miniature. I'm just not 100% sure I'm doing it as well as I could.

I'm finding that when I first paint them its still fairly wet on the miniature. Doesn't look too bad when it dries but how wet should it be when it first lands on the miniature? It didn't help that I was trying to thin down a citadel base paint for the undercoat and I'm still very new at getting that consistency correct. I'll put up a few pictures of the dried models here:

Orc primed with mig oneshot white, then Citadel Waagh! Flesh undercoat:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rly175c3osqv819/IMG_20190818_114138.jpg?dl=0

Orc primed with vallejo black primer, then Citadel Waagh! Flesh undercoat:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j85meqgb354pe96/IMG_20190818_115356.jpg?dl=0


Elf miniature primed with mig oneshot grey primer:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fvm3sia8369rfoq/IMG_20190818_115433.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rwyelcamp1td2qc/IMG_20190818_115444.jpg?dl=0

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[musicmacd]

They look fine, keep the coats lights and you can’t go wrong

 

[basepaint]

They look fine to me it sounds like your putting the paint on to thick? Use light passes so it's dry about as fast as you spray it

 

[Supernaut]

They look fine to me it sounds like your putting the paint on to thick? Use light passes so it's dry about as fast as you spray it

How would I do that? Pull the trigger back less? Or move the airbrush further away? Or am I misunderstanding completely? Haha

 

[JackEb]

The more you pull the trigger back the more paint you’ll blast - resulting in thick coats.
As stated above, thin layers are the way to go.
Only pull the trigger back far enough to get some paint coming through. Practise on plain printer paper to see how much is to much. You will need several light passes to attain the saturation of colour that you need. Make sure each layer properly dry before adding more paint

 

[Supernaut]

Awesome. Thanks! I noticed theres an adjustment I can use to limit how far the trigger goes back so I think I'll find the sweet spot and use that so I don't go too hard.

 

[JackEb]

Try and do it without using the trigger limiter, it will help train yourself as to the distance you need to travel to get your result.
The limiter is handy when doing repetitive strokes that require consistency- like hair

 

[SiRoxx]

They’re looking good to me. The whole “light layers” trick is a great one to learn as most paints like to be put on in this way. How much paint is applied usually comes down to how far the trigger is being pulled back and how quickly you’re moving the airbrush. A small trigger pull and fast sweep over the model would usually result in a small amount of paint hitting the model which gives a light layer. A tiny trigger pull and slower sweep can also give a light layer. Pulling the trigger a long way back and moving slowly allows a lot of paint to hit the surface and will be a much wetter, thicker layer.
I hope that makes some sense. Check out orc painter nerd on YouTube, he has some good videos on using an airbrush to paint miniatures.
https://www.youtube.com/user/OrcPainterNerd


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[jord001]

They look fine to me too, I think you were just putting too much paint on but now you know what you have to do. So when you have done some more let us know and show us how you got on.

Lee

 

[Supernaut]

So it's been a little white but I had a chance to have another go today.

Here is a black prime: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bq2dieu3mvkilio/IMG_20190824_124422.jpg?dl=0 & https://www.dropbox.com/s/qfnmlwbl2nwa0h0/IMG_20190824_124418.jpg?dl=0

I feel like I did a lot better with this one. Hardly any wetness at all and it came out well.

The white was a bit problematic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oe12u9gz0vt1utb/IMG_20190824_135144.jpg?dl=0 & https://www.dropbox.com/s/qlmh1i2yh9lfset/IMG_20190824_135202.jpg?dl=0

I have discovered getting a solid coat is a lot harder with the white but it still looks better than the last time I used a white spray can. I turned psi down for the white because it's a bit thinner and I wish I hadn't as I got a bit of speckling when I tried zenithal priming the swordsman. Pics for that are here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u08i73gfh15durd/IMG_20190824_132822.jpg?dl=0 & https://www.dropbox.com/s/zptw59t3fwkyt84/IMG_20190824_132516.jpg?dl=0

Overall though I'm happy with the zenithal prime and how easy it was. Changing out colours is always a chore though so I'd prefer to do batches next time.

 

[SiRoxx]

They’re looking good. Possibly the pressure was turned down a little too much, but that’s what practice is all about. If you’re spraying for coverage rather than tighter detail, you probably won’t need to drop the pressure for a slightly thinner white mix. Just ease off the trigger to avoid flooding an area. It’s something to experiment with any how.


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[Supernaut]

They’re looking good. Possibly the pressure was turned down a little too much, but that’s what practice is all about. If you’re spraying for coverage rather than tighter detail, you probably won’t need to drop the pressure for a slightly thinner white mix. Just ease off the trigger to avoid flooding an area. It’s something to experiment with any how.


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Good to know. Thanks for the advice. Also I'm using a cheap no-name airbrush from ebay. Would I notice any difference moving up to an Iwata Neo or am I still too new to notice the difference?

 

[SiRoxx]

Good to know. Thanks for the advice. Also I'm using a cheap no-name airbrush from ebay. Would I notice any difference moving up to an Iwata Neo or am I still too new to notice the difference?

Honestly, you may well feel a difference in the smoothness of the action and how everything goes together. I started on a super cheap set and moved to an Iwata Eclipse pretty quickly. The difference was astonishing even to me. Obviously it doesn’t make anybody a better painter unfortunately . But as I was enjoying the hobby so much, I figured it was worth spending the money for a nice brush. Very glad I did.


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