Friday, March 8, 2013

Painting the Fortifications (and an experiment)



Back to terrain!  This was the big experiment with the airbrush.  The idea was to see if using the airbrush could create some time saving aspects for painting.  Nothing fancy, just getting the primer on more quickly, as well as the initial layers of paint.

Since several forms of hardboard and foam core can warp a little when you paint them with regular brushes, I was hoping to avoid that.  The airbrush would use little or no water, and thus less warping!

I knew that the experiment could be compromised by the age of the equipment I was using.  When I first thought of using this, I thought it had been 10 years since I last used my airbrush stuff.  Actually, it was more like 13 years!  One of the hoses had completely disintegrated.  I cobbled together what I could find, and set out to test things out.


It  began well enough, with the primer going on pretty easily.  The first layers of paint did as well, but I could tell that the compressor was acting a little crazy.  This was my nice compressor with the pedal control.  The remaining hoses seemed to have leaks, and all the ancient airbrushes started to jam.

It went downhill from there, so I abandoned the idea.



This is as far as I got with the airbrush...


It's not so bad, as I began to realize that the airbrush also had a big 'footprint' and the only area where it could have gone is now occupied by the new video filming area!


There is also a lot of pre and post airbrush stuff that has to be done, taking away too much of the anticipated time savings.


So, I proceeded to go ahead with the standard brushes.


Here's what I did with some rust colors and other shading.


The next post will show the rest of what I did with the brushes.



2 comments:

  1. LMAO!!! Ok Yea I guess its Like you said. For Me using an airbrush is time saving, but my stuff is not in storage so its in good repair. Sorry it didnt work out for you, but if your wanting to give it a go when things calm down (you have more time to futz with stuff) you can hit me up on Facebook or drop me an email. Im always happy to help out!!
    PS I have to use an airbrush to get gradient like you do with a brush.... This is how the rest of us feel when we are brushpainting.... LOL ;)

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    1. I used to do a lot of my 2D art with the airbrush, but determined early on that I would not be using it with the minis. It went unused all these years, with obvious side effects. :-)

      It's pretty clear that I would have to get all new stuff, and that will definitely not be happening! So, back to the hairy sticks!!!!

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