Experiments into Airbrushing - A Novice's Reflection

 

   The Harder and Steenbeck Ultra 2024 Airbrush - and very nice it is too!

I have noticed for a couple of years how my Facebook feed seems to be showing more posts from model aircraft and model vehicle groups.  This caught my interest, as from the ages of about 7 to 17 I was a prolific model kit maker.  I could never say 'great' but having still got all my models in the loft, I recently viewed them all again, and the progress and skills learned can be seen.

In fact, what amazed me is that I built kits that I would find absolutely daunting today. 1/24th scale aircraft with all of the engines and so many parts.  I also had a couple of books on kit building and actually tried the weathering techniques.  This was all in the days of turpentine washes and being as high as a kite on white spirit - none of this safe acrylic paint malarky and weathering inks etc.

One thing that I have noticed as my interest has been rekindled (and I did join several of the Facebook groups too), is how many of us are going back into model kit making again - Airfix are purposely re-tooling and re-issuing many old favourites, but also I have noticed how air brushes seem to be used for the majority (or so it seems) of painting work.  The effects of which appear absolutely outstanding.

The booth set up on my very busy painting table

With that long introduction in mind, I had a discussion with a friend on the topic of model making who showed me photos of his newly built Tamiya Merkava tank. I was amazed.  He used an airbrush in the painting of it and it looked magnificent.  I quickly purchased a Tamiya Cromwell tank, and so the process began...but my dilemma was...'where is the beginning?'

The airbrush stripped into component parts for deep cleaning - an easy process

It was basically research...a lot of research. I wanted to buy something that was going to fit my needs, not top of the range, but still as good as I could happily afford.  My research led me to the Harder & Steenbeck Ultra 2024.  This airbrush is designed for novices and experts alike. The trigger mechanism ensures airflow before the paint is released - otherwise it is so easy to splatter paint rather than get controlled releases of paint.  The company has some excellent tuition videos online so I made the purchase and ordered an air compressor too, as it was on offer online from a UK hobby seller.

The inner sanctum of the airbrush booth. I try to keep it clean and so far it's working!

Further discussions with a Warhammer player at my workplace led me to research a painting booth. I do a few hobbies which are probably not great for my health, so I mitigate the risks as far as possible (flint knapping, lead bullet casting etc), so a spray booth sounded like a good idea for airbrushing.

Robbie the Robot reaching in through the window!

The booth pulls air out through the blue filter screen and down the length of concertina piping (resembling Robbie the Robot's arm for those old enough to remember!).  This goes out of the window.

The booth has a turntable and LED lighting and folds down into quite a nice small unit (I found it easier to hold the figures with a latex glove to get beneath the figure too).  The airbrush and booth takes about 15 minutes to fully set up but this will be sure to get quicker as I get more used to it.  I have only set it up three times so far.

 

Do not attempt to play your favourite Jim Reeves records on here!

I decided not to get carried away and start trying to assemble and airbrush expensive model kits yet. Instead, mass undercoating and base coating wargames figures would be the means of learning.  This has proved to be the right thing to do!  

Initially I seemed to get as much paint over me and my hands and the whole thing was pretty frustrating. The airbrush needle would clog constantly and then get inside the body of the airbrush...and I wondered if I would ever get to understand it. 

The booth collapsed down and ready to be stored

By the third use, I was remaining paint free, the clogging was still occurring but with far less frequency and freed in seconds with the paint was going on in a very controlled manner.

The air compressor - actually a remarkably quiet bit of kit. It only comes on when the pressure gets low so it is not intrusive at all, despite appearances. Bottle of Vallejo paint in foreground for scale

I was very impressed at how smoothly the paint goes on to the figures (you veterans of airbrushing will not be in the least surprised at this or indeed at most of my rambles here on this page!).  

A good undercoating session

As I was painting Dark Age and Medieval figures, I decided to got for a black undercoat which would then stay in recesses and in the links of mail armour.  It took no time to spray these figures.  There must be a couple of hundred 28mm figures and it took just over an hour.

Shiny happy people?

I think I made an error though. As you can see in the pics here, the figures are quite shiny.  I think I must have had airbrush cleaner instead of airbrush thinner go into the hopper on the airbrush at some point.  Whatever I did, the figures are quite glossy.  

I did commence painting some Fyrd straight over this undercoat but found it was hard to see the detail and I also wondered if my technique really benefitted from a black undercoat (I am changing my mind on undercoat colours constantly).  The black was so overpowering that the colours I applied on top had a problem with coverage. The black kept showing through.  I use base colours of the main colours and washes for the lowlights before moving on to highlighting. This really makes a black undercoat rather redundant.

Super shiny spikey creatures but where has the detail gone?

The Bloodbowl Orcs have a wealth of detail, much of which I don't understand what it actually even is, but the black undercoat killed it stone dead. I could make nothing out at all.  One thing I have been experimenting with recently is black undercoating and then white dry brushing.  I decided to apply a Vallejo grey over the upper parts of the figure to enable a matt surface to return and to show me where the detail once was.

Above and below: Improvements!

This brought about an immediate improvement.  I had an issue judging how much thinner to use with standard Vallejo non-airbrush paint but with some experimentation this went on quite well, though the needle clogging was constant initially.  I didn't leave much black in the lowlights after all, but I'm happy with this. The washes will do the work for me there.

Above and below you will see some examples of the grey applied.  I do like how smoothly the paint went on. I have a bad habit of being a bit too heavy handed with brushed paint - applying it slightly too thickly.  No issues with brush marks or an undercoat being too thick with an airbrush and a careful application.

I guess none of this will be new to anyone experienced with air brushes. 

I wanted to write my experiences into my blog so that I can return to them and remind myself of the reasons why I have done things the way I have. These are notes which act as a learning journal.

Airbrushing is a real skill and the improvements really are noticeable though there are many lessons along the way.  

I feel more confident to start work on a kit soon (perhaps a British tank of one basic colour - the Cromwell tank comes to mind), before I start work on the four model aircraft I have got since!

If anyone does have any handy tips to share, then please do share them. Airbrushing is such a skill and I am keen to learn all that I can.

Best wishes for a Happy 2025. May all your dice throws be good ones (unless you are playing me when a few blunder rolls would be useful too!) ;-) 

28mm - Anglo Saxon Fyrd - Early Medieval (Dark Ages)

 

It was a welcome change to go to simple painting styles after painting a number of Napoleonic troops of late.

Here we have the 28mm Dark Age Warriors set from Gripping Beast painted up Anglo Saxon Fyrd of the 1066 period.  You might notice some interlopers among these. There are a few Wargames Factory heads which I added for interest.

The Gripping beast figures go together really well, are of mercifully few parts, which means a lot less faff and makes them less fragile than some other figures which seem to have more parts than a Tamiya plane kit.

The shield designs are from Little Big Man Studios and these also went on really easily. No wastage from messed up transfer application.  The designs are simple yet effective.  I go around each design with a black Pigma Micron pen which nicely hides any gaps between shield or boss edge and transfer and gives a fine definition.

The static grass and camera were playing tricks on me today. I had spent some time yesterday diligently brushing off static grass from the figures to prepare them for the photo opportunity. On looking at these pics on the big screen it seems they have been in battle on a field of freshly mown grass! I shall have to brush the figures again!

I'm using a new camera and getting used to the settings. These were actually my 3rd attempt at taking snaps of the troops - slowly I'm understanding what works best but it's taking time.  I have had my old camera since 2006 but a sharp steel pike gouged the lens on a close up shot of ECW pikemen and a white smear appears on shots which I have to try to cut out/disguise etc.

Nothing too dramatic with these figures, but they provide the mass behind the Housecarls and look perfectly good providing the weight and numbers. The poses are nice - getting stuck in and doing their best to fend off Normans/Bretons/Vikings.  

I undercoated and primed these figures using an airbrush - my first real use of one.  It did make the job easier and I was impressed by the smooth even layers.  I did apply some colour too with the airbrush, more as a learning experience, but my brush lowlighting and highlighting means that I can't remember which colours I applied by that means.  The main thing was the undercoating and priming, which the airbrush made into a relatively simple task and gave a very satisfactory base (airbrush is the Harder & Steenbeck Ultra 2024 - much recommended by others and I can see why).

I'm not quite sure what to paint next.  I do still require some more Fyrd in my Anglo Saxon army to avoid using Ancient Celts to discretely fill the rear ranks!). I think another 3 stands will do it. I also need some casualty bases painted up. This should be a quick win if I do those.

On the other hand, I still feel the draw of Napoleonics.  Complicating this fun dilemma further is my recent reading of the first two books of Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy set in Arthur's time.  These books have really given me inspiration.  I think these are the best Bernard Cornwell books I have read - I just hope the 3rd one doesn't let them down!  

I have just built the Victrix Early Saxon Unarmoured Warriors and have just ordered the Early Saxon Armoured Warriors.  Building these is something I can do in hotels in the evenings when I'm away working.  Large Late Roman/British and Early Saxon armies are a new project for me!

 

I do have one rather bizarre project that I'm toying with and that's a fantasy army using the new Midgard rules - the 'Loki and the Frost Giants' army just looks so much fun!  I have never owned a fantasy army in my life and never thought I would ever have one...but they look great to paint and a game with them would be very entertaining.  I wouldn't rule it out!

I wish you all a fabulous Christmas and I hope you receive many enjoyable additions for your projects.

Best wishes.

Jason

Epic (15mm) Scale - Napoleonic - Prussian Fusilier Battalion 25th Infantry Regiment

 

I know it's total madness, but one that afflicts many of us. This being the covering of the same period of history, but in several different scales!

My recent posts were of my 28mm Peninsular troops but there is something appealing about the massed ranks of close order infantry that are the Warlord Games Epic scale troops.

I do have quite a number of the old Minifigs 15mm figures and they do have that wonderful classic look to them, but they would still require individually gluing very close together to achieve anything like as good as the look of the close order Epic figures and even then I don't think they would pull it off.

The other great bonus of these troops is their comparatively low purchase price and also the speed of painting that their pre-cast formation lends itself to.

I was able to base airbrush the entire Prussian Brigade box set with some care and paint top ups, in about 10 to 15 minutes.

I took about 3 extended evenings to paint these plus one more for basing.  As it's not the whole figure being painted, doing 80 of these is not too tedious a job.

The casting is very crisp and the detail nicely prominent.  This lent itself to painting very well, but also encouraged me to put more detail in than I intended!

I have a particular project in mind with these and that is the recreation of the Plancenoit battle.  This scale should mean I that I can get most of the battlefield on my 8 x 4 table (I hope).

For my first Prussian unit, I really fancied painting one with red cuffs and collars. There seemed to be a variety of red shades used, so there seemed to me to be a good chance of finding one in IV Corps who was there at Plancenoit.  I merrily applied base colours and continued my research.

To my surprise no units in IV Corps had red collars and cuffs that I could find! However I did find that the 25 Infantry Regiment of 5 Brigade in II Corps were heavily engaged at Plancenoit also.  I thought this was my answer so continued to paint whilst still researching.  Then I found that it appears that only the 3rd (Fusilier) Battalion of that Regiment wore the blue tunic, the remainder (the 1st and 2nd Battalions) appear in the sources that I found, to be wearing the long black coats and black trousers.

This left me with a hard choice - Do I now go back and change the red to another colour and change the regiment? Or do I cut down the flag staff, turn it into a musket and continue down the Fusilier route?

I chose the latter.  One thing I didn't do was replace the drum with a home made bugle.  That would have involved more carving skill (and time) than I possess. They will have to be happy with the drum.

Hopefully the converted flagpole, now a musket with bayonet, is not too obvious a conversion.  I cut down a 28mm sword to make the bayonet for it and re-shaped it.  

These were fun to paint. I think if I had stopped or been interrupted for long I would have lost interest in completing them, as I do find figures smaller than 28mm a lot less rewarding to paint.  However, I am pleased with these and will continue to do units every so often.

Now to get back to the Anglo-Saxon warriors who have been sat patiently on my desk whilst I did my 'Epic' try out!