Daz's Airbrush Learning Curve - I

Been quiet for a bit so I thought I might share my fun and games with the airbrush.

On my first run I used some VGC Scab red and mixed it roughly (probably more than 1-1) in a plastic cup and tipped it into the brush (only about to a third of the cup on the brush). No problems except for running out of paint quick smart and mixing again to finish one half of those modular hills.

Fast forward to Monday... I got all prepped to base coat two Rhinos and spent a good 40 minutes masking up the tracks (next time I won’t bother...I think I will just use some paper to have a moving mask and re-brush the over spray).

I extracted 7ml of Necron Abyss and 3.5ml of the Tamiya Acrylic Thinners using some oral syringes and put the mix into an empty Vallejo bottle. Mixed it up and finished prepping my work area. When I went to put some paint into the cup of the brush it came out OK for about two drops then it came out like a solidified clump mess. Basically like grease. I wasn't impressed - *Sad Panda*.

Anyway, I tried again using Isocol (rubbing alcohol) into a plastic cup at about 1:1 (another 3 ml of Necron Abyss) and the mix still quite thick and had little 'clumps' and chucks of Necron abyss. The GW Foundation really didn't like Isocol.

I got pretty annoyed at this and proceed to pack up and rip the masking tape off the tracks, just in case it got stuck (and taking off the undercoat to boot).

I have since found out that Tamiya Thinners reacts with GW Foundation by forming it into a solid. Apparently water and Windex is the go here. I am really feeling bummed out about the whole exercise right now and nearly just took to the tanks with a brush instead. However, I picked up two more pots of Necron Abyss and will give it another go on the coming weekend.

I will keep everyone posted.

More fun with Magnets - Landspeeder

Hi guys,

Just another little post on what I have been working on over the Easter weekend. There are plenty of articles around the net on various ways of going ahead with this, however, one thing they have in common is building up the inside wall of the speeder.



One problem I encountered is that the side panels would slide up slightly so I added another little block of plasicard at the top of the interior mount to stop the sides sliding up too far.







Another little think I did differently is I magnetised the mount with the spot light as opposed to the entire assembly. The way I figure it, the spot light could stay even if there isn't another weapon mounted on it at the time. Hopefully it doesn't look too silly to people (feedback please...)



I decided to glue in a pin (from a paper clip) into the hips/chest of the marines so I can still get into the cockpit to paint the interior up. I know most people tend to paint it up then glue it all together, but in my experience that always ends in tears and I have to re-work bits due to glue and the like. Perhaps I am all thumbs or something.

When I start on Landspeeder No. 2 I will take more photos of the construction and put something together. I think my next one will be a lot better and no doubt I will find slightly better ways of doing things (much as I found with my predators).

If you have any tips or "lessons learned" I would love to hear them.