Blending/fading effect with an airbrush

[Karnstein]

Hi folks, I hope I didn't missed a similar topic (I tried the search function, before I hit the "new thread" button. )

I want to achieve the following effect with my airbrush:

Revs skimmer tank and Scottdsp748 serpent [SIZE=-1]

I already send Rev a PN (at warseer) and he was so kind to give me some answers, but he also said that he would consider himself a airbrush amateur (his words, not mine!) and told me to ask around here at CMON for further advice.

Regarding the effect: I want to replicate the fade effect on my own eldar tanks, but using a violet to black fade instead of a red to black one. Starting with at the front with a bright tone of violet, which first slowly fades over into a darker shade of violet in the middle of the tank and then turns into black at the rear. So basically the tanks breaks down in 3 section: The wings in the front, center/middle and rear, with a fade effect at the borders between the sections.

I own a harder&steenbeck Evolution silverline 2in1 airbrush gun, but if Rev calls himself an amateur, I'm ranking on the level of a newbie (only got my airbrush 2 weeks ago). So neither do I have anything more than a vague guess how to achieve that fade (decreasing paint:air ratio and increasing distance between the gun and the tank), nor am I sure which colors I should pick. I only know that I want to start with VMC 70811 Blue violet, which is the primary color of my army, but what would be the wiser choice for the darker shade of violet in the center section? A different color from the vallejo range like VMC 70810 royal purple? A toned down 70811 with black or a mixture of 70810 and 70811? Basically I want to find a good compromise between having a smooth transition in the fade from bright violet to black on the one hand and keeping down the amount of time needed to achieve that at reasonable level. That's because I need to paint 10-11 tanks with that kind of effect and I don't aim for something like 9.0 CMON rating or getting best painted at a local tournament. I only want to have painted army on the table, with a clean paintjob and a effect you don't see that often around here.

Thanks a lot,

Karnstein
[/SIZE]

 

[Rab]

Hi Karnstein, I can't help with colour choice, but a few tips for a smooth transition.

1) Don't try to do it all in one pass, multiple light coats are the way to go.
2) Don't pull the airbrush away from the model to get a lighter coat, the paint dries before it hits the model and leaves a really rough finish, use the trigger to reduce the amount of paint.
3) Always start spraying off the model, spray down to the transition point and back up off the model before stopping the spray, otherwise you'll get a horrible splatter at the start & finish points.
4) With each coat of black, make the transition earlier and earlier so that the paint automatically builds up a faded effect.

Practice on a sheet of paper at first until you can build up a smooth transition, if you're careful, you won't need an intermediate colour, just the purple base coat and black.

Cheers - Rab.

 

[Chrome]

This guy has very nice videos on how he does it:

AwesomePaintjob.com

 

[Einion]

Hey there, welcome to CMON.

Practice on paper first, that would be my primary bit of advice prior to starting.

Smooth grads are one of the things that airbrushes are practically purpose built to do and smallish ones like this are actually dead easy - assuming you don't run into any technical problems with your airbrush I'm sure if you just play around for half an hour you'll get something like what you want without much trouble; first thing I ever airbrushed was a full 1/16 figure or a bust and it turned out fine. But ending up with the transition 'line' where you want it to be and getting the graduation of colour just the way you envisage it does take practice.

Basically I want to find a good compromise between having a smooth transition in the fade from bright violet to black on the one hand and keeping down the amount of time needed to achieve that at reasonable level.

Good to know. I would production-line this then instead of painting each one in isolation, it's probably the best way to get them consistent if that's the way you want them.

Just as general advice I was going to suggest you use as least three colours for the spraying. Sometimes you could get away with only two - especially if at least one intermediate shade is mixed from them - but here that wouldn't give the effect I think you're looking for.

I'm not familiar with VMCs so I've just had a quick look at the colour chart and I'm sure you won't want to use a mix of 70811 with black for the intermediate colour since this is likely to be very grey. In terms of which to pick from between 70810 Royal Purple or 70960 Violet no way to tell from the swatches so I would recommend you check their colours by eye, see which you think matches Blue Violet best.

I would suggest basecoating with the darker violet, then doing the light end, then doing the dark end. You could spray the light violet at the end only, fading to about the halfway mark, then do the dark violet roughly in the middle and then the black. You could also start at the dark end and work the other way. Try all three if you want to be thorough, see what you think yourself.

Einion

 

[Karnstein]

Woah, that really helps! Thanks a lot... let me reply to your postings and recap some things:

@chrome: Which one do you mean? The "how to paint a SW"? Watched that in the past and also send Les a mail, but according to his blog he's kind of busy at the moment, settling in after moving and setting up a store, so I don't expect he has the time to reply right away.

@Rab: So basically your advice for the transition effect would be to practice a lot with the dual action feature, keeping the paints thinned down and the paint:air mixture low. Thus resulting into more transparent colors. A slightly transparent color means more coats until I get an opaque layer, allowing me to build up a smooth and clean transition effect that way. For example: If I basecoat the tank with a dark tone of violet and start at the front of the tank with the light color, I decrease the depth of each layer. The first ones stretching over roughly 1/3 of the tank, while the following border more toward 1/4 or or 1/5 of the overall length. That way I end up with very opaque light violet at the tip, which gets more and more transparent the nearer it gets to the center of the tank. Then do the same with pure black, starting at the rear. Right?

@Einion: Well, my idea for a practising target is a old 1:35 M110A2 self-propelled howitzer. I already used it for basic practice like applying primer with the airbrush. I really don't need it anymore (and the model was a steal anyway) so I don't mind of details may get lost after 10+ layers of paint. :curl-lip:

And yes production-line style was something I had in mind. Doing one step at a time on a batch of ~5-6 vehicles, which also means that I don't need to change colors that much. The focus really lies on getting it done in a reasonable amount of time, with a result that looks decent at a player/spectator range. I don't aim for a showcase standard, neither at the tournament nor at my own home. So no display cabinet, if not used they will be sitting in either an army case or some cushioned boxes.

Summing it up your advice would be to use 3 colors (black+2 shades of violet), instead of trying to tone down the primary color with black or grey. Plus of course some more colors like a even brighter shade of violet and grey or black-grey for the highlights on the edges, but that's something that requires some work with the good old brush. Well, as long as I don't start masking off parts of the tank with either masking tape or a precut piece of paper. Got that right?

The prime black->basecoat with a dark violet->light violet transition->black transition looks sound to me, because that way I don't start with the transition area.


Okay, another question which came up after watching the "AFV acrylic techniques" DVD from Mig Jimenez:

Mig mixes ~25% of satin varnish into his airbrush colors, before he starts applying them on the model, but he doesn't give why he does that. I saw the same technique used in some video tutorials hosted at the blog vallejo runs and I only have more or less rough guess, why those guys do it.

Would be nice if someone could either bust or validate my theory: Except for the slightly shining effect the varnish creates, it also makes the layer more durable. So if they start either masking off parts of the tank with tape, or correct the flow of washes with alcohol solutions (or cleaner), the color won't get damaged that easily. Right?

 

[Chrome]

.../@chrome: Which one do you mean? The "how to paint a SW"? Watched that in the past and also send Les a mail, but according to his blog he's kind of busy at the moment, settling in after moving and setting up a store, so I don't expect he has the time to reply right away. /...

That was the one I had in mind when I linked it but I think most of those videos are good examples of easy ways to get a good transition between different colours, just watching them repeatedly will teach you more on how to use the airbrush in a way that no amount of text can.

 

[Karnstein]

Okay, I gave it a try and run into some minor problems:

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/6482/foto0004g.jpg

That's the test tank. I primed it black with the airbrush last weekend. For the two violet colors I grabbed some empty bottles, added paint, distilled water and the thinner from the vallejo range. The ratio was 1:1:1, so basicaly a 1:2 (paint to thinning solution).

I started with royal purple (which is the darker tone) and loaded the gun with a 0,2mm needle (the kit came with a 0,2 and a 0,4mm needle). Followed the advice and started spraying off the model, then went over 2/3 of the tank with the royal purple, trying to keep the coats thin and aiming for a more opaque layer on upper half. I then cleaned the gun, switched the color and repeated the same process with the blue violet. This time starting form the bottom.

The picture may look okay, but in reality there isn't a real transition effect. I got a hint of a transition on the fenders, but not on the main hull itself. I also had the feeling that the gun chocked on the paint. After a short amount of passes with the trigger in a high air:low paint position, only air came out. When I pulled back the trigger for max paint mixture (off the model of course) the gun cleaned itself, but it clogged again fast. With a higher paint:air ratio I didn't had those problems, but of course that won't net me the transparent layer effect.

I'm not really sure where the problem steems from. The paint itself (in the bottle) is rather thick, highly pigmented compared to other vallejo colors. The 1:2 dilution ratio follows the advice on the vallejo blog and some other sources i found, but I admit that didn't do the "skimmed milk" comparison.

So my next (that makes it the third one) question would be:

Does that sound like a dilution problem, or should I rather use the 0,4mm needle, because I'm basicaly doing some kind of basecoating stuff, we are not talking about spraying details, fine lines or things like that.

 

[Rab]

Hi Karnstein.

It sounds like you're paint could be too thick and the 0.2mm nozzle is rather small for spraying basecoats, especially with acrylic paint.

Are you stopping the paint flow before stopping the air? If you just release the trigger, paint will build up inside the nozzle, you should always start the air first then the paint and when you're done, stop the paint and keep the air going until no paint is coming out.

The other thing to try is adding some acrylic retarder to the paint, acrylics do dry quite quickly and can clog quite easily.

Another suggestion would be to vary the paint/air ratio as you move the brush, high paint ratio to start, reducing as you move towards the transition area and increasing again as you move back to the start.

Airbrushes can be the most frustrating things in the world but, like any other painting technique, it's all a question of practice.

Rab.

 

[airhead]

What pressure are you shooting at?

I'd use the .4 mm needle.

Hold back about 6 inches.

Guessing 6 -15 psi. (each gun is different).

Get a sheet of notebook paper.
or glossy magazine paper.

Spray a layer of your lighter color on it.
If you are getting runs, turn the pressure down or back up an inch.
You want enough pressure to fully atomize the paint without blowing it out.
***
Turn it up to 25 psi and get about 4 inches away to feel what a blow out is. (spiders, centipedes, orange peel - all pressure / paint issues)
***
Let the page dry.
Load up with your darker color.
Get back to your working pressure.
Push the button all the way down. (you can do this whole exercise without shutting off the air.)

As you near the gradation line - about a third of the way down the paper - pull back on the button just a bit to start letting paint shoot. Just a ghost of a color.

Paint the rest of the page.

Repeat, but start an inch further back.

Repeat, but start an inch further back.

Repeat until the end of the page is solid to your darker color.

***

As was said earlier. Start painting before you get there, keep painting past the subject.

***
You have a nice soft line there. Too much paint in the first pass or not enough distance between your starts.

***
I generally paint from light to dark.
1. It is the way I was taught - use the white of the canvas / T-shirt for the highlights.
2. it is easier to reload the gun with darker paints if it is not perfectly clean than the reverse.

 

[Karnstein]

@rab

Hm... I did a second run, but I agree with you, that for that effect on a tank 0,2mm may be overkill. I used the 0,4mm needle back when I primed it black. That worked like a charm, except for the fact that the paint rushed through it rather quickly (compared to my first test, where I used the stock setup with the small needle for applying a coat of violet on a old spare model). So yeah, maybe I should to the tanks with the bigger needle. ^^

I steel need to solve that clogging problem, because in the near future I want do go a step further and start adding details on models (monster, tanks or even infantry) with the airbrush.

During the second run I thinned down both violet colors with some extra drops of the thinner:water solution and also did a test with VMA grey primer. The grey primer worked like a charm with the 0.2mm needle, the royal purple still led to some clogging and the blue violet worked okay. Not as unproblematic like the VMA color. I got a clean result, which you can't say about all areas I sprayed with royal purple.

I can't guarantee that I stopped the paint, before I stopped the air everytime. I think that I tried to do it most times, but I can't say that for sure. At least I can say that I started with the air, then hit a spot on the DIY painting board with the paint, before I went on moving the airbrush over the model. ^^

Paint/Flow retarder is something I ordered from my store yesterday, but I won't get my hands on it until next week, unless I search for a art&hobby store in my city and hunt for some liquitex products. So I guess my best try would be to use the time until then with a bigger needle and some basic practice. And after getting my hands on the retarder, mix up a new solution incl. some drops of retarder and try something like a 1:3 dilution for my VMC paint.

@airhead:

I only own a cheap compressor I got from a ebay kit people recommended to me. It doesn't come with an airtank and has a ~50pound pricetag at ebay.uk, if you're trying to get only the compressor (the guns are collecting dust in my shelf). I'm thinking about replacing it, but thanks to my living conditions a loud DIY compressor is a no-go. Getting dedicated airbrush compressor with a 2-3 litre air tank from a german airbrush-store would cost me 200€(~250$). And unless I bankrupt myself (being a student) that isn't something I can afford now until christmas. So it will be done, but it is nothing I can change in the next one or two month.

The pressure gouge shows 3bar/40psi after starting up. If I press down the trigger and start to spray, it sinks down to 2bar/29psi.

The manual for my gun says:

Max air pressure: 4bar/58psi
recommended air pressure (depending on paint/background): 14,5-43,5psi (29psi) / 1,5-3 bar (2,0 bar)

Unless I botched it up, the working pressure matches the average number from the manual.

So you recommend to spare the time and figure out the pressure on a paper sheet, with roughly hand-length of distance between the tip of the gun and the paper? Plus of course using a paper for the transition test runs, giving me more space to practice on, compared to that 1:35 tank.

I generally paint from light to dark.
1. It is the way I was taught - use the white of the canvas / T-shirt for the highlights.
2. it is easier to reload the gun with darker paints if it is not perfectly clean than the reverse.

Wait wait, I don't get that. Do you want to say, that using a white primer beats using black, because in my opinion using a black primed tank has two advantages. First it dampens the colors, giving the vehicle a darker touch. On top of that I don't need that much work with the third section (the dark violet to black transition).

Or do you only refer to the steps after priming it black? So basically starting with the bright violet, dragging it down from the top to more or less 3/5 of the page (or tank), then changing color to the medium violet, working my way down from the near the bottom (starting at 1/3) with a thin layer, repeating that process but cutting down the length I travel by roughly an inch. Then reload the gun with black, starting right at the lower edge and travel up 1/3, then repeat the process while shortening the distance.

Instead of for example using some kind of zenital highlight technique, where you would prime the tank/paper black, then apply dark violet upon 2/3 only leaving the bottom black, then switching to brighter violet and paint something between 1/3 and 2/5 down from the top, relying on the dual action feature of the airbrush for a transition effect. My only grip with your approach (which looks sound to me) is that the tank itself is rather small for 1inch steps, or is that just a random number for the paper practice session?

Sorry for all the question, but I rather ask twice to get rid of possible misunderstanding. After all I'm an airbrush novice and English is not my native tongue. ^^

 

[airhead]

No problem with the questions. The only bad one is the one not asked.

Sounds like you need a regulator. $10-$20 over here at a home center.
Regulator with moisture trap would be even better.

Something like this:

A bit of plumbing, a few fittings and some Teflon tape and you will be in business.

***

I learned on canvas and T-shirts. The white of the gessoed canvas or the white of the t-shirt is the light from which you painted - making the areas progressively darker as you go away from the light. Two reasons. Black t-shirts are a pain to paint on and airbrush paint by it's nature is semi-transparent. This makes covering black with a light color require much more paint than painting over white. You might want to try a white primer.

***
Spitting / clogging... I'd bet a lunch that you either are not reduced enough (more thinner, less paint) or you area getting bits of hardened paint into the mix. 0.2 or 0.4 mm is pretty small considering my fine lead pencil uses a 0.5 mm lead. That 0.4 mm opening would be if you had no needle in the cone at all. Add the needle and the tolerances get even smaller. Gotta shake the heck out of that VMC paint. Check the tips of the dropper bottles and your mixing stuff carefully to see where the problem is coming from. What type of gun are you using? Top feed cup? bottom feed bottle/cup? How are you mixing the paint and reducer? Separate bottle? Stirring with a brush?

 

[Karnstein]

Wait wait, I do have a regulator on my compressor. *Click* <= thats is the set I bought at ebay.uk ~half a year ago, but I swapped the two guns from the kit for the following : H&S Evolution Silverline 2in1.

So we talk about a good quality gravity feed dual action. After buying that gun I took a look into the manual and then adjusted the compressor using the regulator, that the needle stops at ~29psi. So when I switch it on, the needle moves up to ~40psi, but when I start airbrushing it drops down to 29 and only moves back to ~40, when I release the trigger. Thats also the reason why I think about replacing that compressor in the future. It overheats fast (15 minutes) and with a air tank I should not only prevent that from happening (too fast), it -at least that's my rough guess- should also leads to a more constant pressure/air flow. I could have got the same airbrush with a pressure regulator underneath the gun, but that kit had a 0,15mm needle and that just looked too small for my opinion.

How do I mix my colors? For the two shades of violet I grapped to clean eyedropper bottles from the vallejo range, took a measure tap and marked of 0,5/1/1,5 centimeter with a pen. I then took a bottle of distilled water from the local drug store, a bottle of VMA thinner and bottle of VMC color. Poured 0,5cm of each into the bottle (=rough 1:2 mixture), dropped in a agitator ball and screwed the cap back on. I also dropped a agitator ball or two (depending on paint consistency) into each of my VMC,VGC and VMA bottles.

So basically I give each bottle a good shake, until I hear the ball hit against the wall and the paint looks nicely mixed, before I use them. Use means either pouring the thinned (or VMA) colors into the airbrush or mixing up new colors for airbrush use in another clean&empty eyedropper bottle.

Okay, giving that white primer a try won't kill, me so will order one tomorrow. That allows me to replicate some primer effects I saw on a DVD from Mig Jimenez, so it is not a waste anyway.

Regarding the clogging airbrush: The fact that I found small chunks of paint on the 1:35 tank, where I applied the royal purple (checked that a minute ago) makes your theory very likely.

So let me rephrase it again: Your approach for that effect would be to go for a white undercoat/primer, then start with the lightest color and end with black.

The only thing I really didn't fully understand: Where do your start?Let's make it a bit easier and say we talk about a vehicle, which has a tip, a rear and a center. So roughly each of those make up 1/3 of the vehicle, regardless of it being a tank or a car (or something else). That way it is easier for me to describe what I mean w/o fooling around with paint or another drawing software.

The paintjob we want to achieve uses black and 2 shades of the same color (in my case that would be violet), starting with the brightest color in the tip area, blending over gradually into a darker shade, which dominates the center and then blend smootly into black.

If I didn't get your wrong, you would apply a white basecoat, then spray am opaque layer of the brighter shade over the whole vehicle. What I don't really get is where you start with next color? Do you press down start at the border between the tip and the centre, applying a transparent layer right down to the rear (or at least into the rear section), then start again but this time a litte bit lower, rinse & repeat. Or would you start at or near the rear and work up towards the border between tip&center?

 

[airhead]

...If I didn't get your wrong, you would apply a white basecoat, then spray am opaque layer of the brighter shade over the whole vehicle. ...you press down start at the border between the tip and the centre,About 1/3 of the way back - or wherever you want the fade to start applying a transparent layer right down to the rear (or at least into the rear section), then start again but this time a litte bit lower about brush cone - if you are shooting a 2 CM cone, start back 2 CM so you have a CM of the lightest, now you've just made a CM with the next layer - VERY LIGHT LAYERS- You should take about 5 layers to build a solid color, rinse & repeat.

And you've got it done.
Don't pull the trigger all the way back. If you can see paint, you may be putting on too much in the fade area.
Try some and see if it works.


****
One thing that might help that small compressor is an add-on air tank. Like the kind carried for inflating tires.
It should be rated at least twice your compressor. A safety blow off valve is not a bad idea.
Hose from the compressor to a "T" fitting on the tank.
Other side of the "T" has your regulator/moisture trap, then your airbrush hose.
The compressor can fill up the tank and smooth out the air.
Be sure to drain the tank when you are done. Moisture is the killer.

 

[neonjfd]

Ok, I am no expert but I have had a ton of problems with airbrushes and paint mixtures and all that good stuff. Practice and time are really the only solution until you find something that works for you. Everybody will be slightly different and have different preferences. I like a bith higher pressure and thinner paint. I build up slowly.
First I don't think you should be spraying at 40 psi in any case. Normally for most modeling purposes 15 to 25 is enough, a max of 30 but rarely. If you have too much pressure, the paint will dry before it get to the model giving you a rough finish.
As far as why the compresor dropping from 40 to 29 psi. Well that is normal since the type of compressor you have blows air straight through, it has no reservoir tank. So Airhead's idea on using an air tank could help a bit. I just adjust the pressure while holding down the trigger on the airbrush, that way I know what will be coming out pressurewise.
Hope this helps a bit
Jose

 

[Karnstein]

@Airhead:

Okay, I guess I get how that technique works and I now understand why practicing on a sheet of paper is so important. I mean it stands and falls with keeping the layer thin and the cone even. More practice = getting a feeling for measuring the distance needed the cone size you want to achieve. Also with starting off the model you realize if your cone size is wrong, before you ruin your previous efforts.

Regarding the compressor: Searching the web for information on what a good compressor is, what you really need (except for the pressure gouge and the moisture tap) and how to find the right size is creating more confusion with each page I read, instead of making things clear.

I mean there must be some reasons why most people tell you not to be too stingy (for example not buying random china stuff from ebay). But I also don't think you need to spend something like 500$ if you only want to airbrush for 1-4h in your freetime, with short breaks for changing paints.

Sure, if someone has 3-4 guns and wants to make money with airbrushed stuff, having an compressor which allows him to work for hours w/o needing to give it some rest of fear putting too much strain on it, may be a sound thing.

Let's call break it down into 3 set of features/gadgets and hobbyist vs Pro compressors: Resilience, quality and convenient features.

In my personal definition resilience stands for how long a compressor can run in more or less constant use, w/o risking to damage it. So a hobbyist like me would want a compressor, which doesn't run into problems if you paint for 1-4h in your free time. You wouldn't pay for 24h/7d resilience features, because your not some kind of automotive shop, where people work in shifts using the same compressor for spraying logos and freehands on cars or bikes. On the other hand you wouldn't be happy as a hobbyist if your compressor shuts down after 15 minutes of constant use on a summer day, when you're trying to prime or basecoat a whole army in one go.

Quality features include those, who prevent you from ruining 2h of work (like pulsating air or moisture in the flow), and those, who allow you to run a wide range of popular needle sizes for modelling purposes with a single compressor. My search came up with the fact, that different guns need different air/minute values and upping the needle size also changes those numbers. So while a hobbyist don't want to ruin his model and only runs something between 0,2-0,5mm needle size and 1-2 guns, a Pro maybe runs 3+, including those with large needles, or wants to attach regular sprayguns to that compressor to.

Convenient features are those who either are convenient, like having a holder on the compressor, or cut down time (second gun attached).

Sadly I'm not experienced or "educated" enough, to group all those features companies and shops use in their commercials or product descriptions. I also can't say what technical numbers divide a cheap compressor from a good one for hobbyist one, and what numbers (except for a huge price tag) are an indicator for professional equipment.


But I got you right that getting a air tank would be a cheap way to somehow improve that ebay compressor I run? So the best way to deal with it would be to first get an air tank (what size are we talking about anyway? ~1gallon or more?) and then save some money for replacing the no-name compressor with one from a quality brand, which doesn't come with a air tank either and attach the tank on that too? And what does you mean with "should be rated twice your compressor"? Are you talking about the max pressure it can withstand?

Regarding the dual action feature: Would it be wise to use the paint regulator screw on the end of the handle, to prevent myself from pulling back the trigger too far? Or is that only hurting me in the long run, because I don't learn to get a good feeling for the gun?

@neonjfd:

So basically you're talking about those numbers like auto-start and auto stop? So a value of 3bar for auto start tells me, that the compressor will build up 3bar of pressure each time I either switch it on or release the trigger, regardless of the pressure value set at the gouge. And 4bar for auto stop means that for safety reasons it stops at 4bar, regardless of the set value?

 

[airhead]

I could make a whole new thread on compressors.

Auto start/auto stop.
My little compressor auto stops at about 150 psi (10 bar).
My regulator has me spraying at a set pressure of 12 psi. (0.8 bar).
I will use the compressed air out of the tank until it drops to 50 psi (3.5 bar).
At which time, the compressor will kick in again and start making noise.

Types of compressors:

Diaphragm: Generally loud. General duty. Run one first if you can to see if you can stand the noise. My large compressor is in the garage because it is LOUD when it runs. My little Badger is an old rubber diaphragm compressor that you can set at your feet and it will run all day without hardly a sound.

Piston: Generally, industrial. These are the ones you find at the local garage on top of a large tank and are used for impact wrenches and air lifts. Smaller piston compressors can be quieter than diaphragms.

Rotary: Only common in professional airbrush users (that I'm aware of). These are built on the same compressor that is in the bottom of your fridge. Very quiet. Take some maintenance. Very expensive.

***
Tanks:
Sausage (generally under the compressor.) Long tube. Vertical or horizontal.
Donut (also generally under the compressor.) round squashed tank. Tend to be very portable.
Tank-less (cheap) You'll end up adding a tank eventually. You won't have the auto off or auto on capabilities. So once your tank is 'full' you compressor is working very hard trying to pack more air into the tank. It may stall and burn up. My little one won't restart if the tank has any pressure in it, so I have to bleed it down to near zero to restart the compressor. Not bad once I'm painting, because I'm taking air out as it is putting air in. One of the cheapest 'tanks' you can add to a small airbrush compressor is a large industrial moisture trap. This will hold enough air to take some of the pulse out of the air, then regulator behind that.

***
Things to look for:
Name brand: I had one of those no-name compressors that ran for 30 minutes - then died - no way to return it.
Noise: See if they will let you plug it in at the store. Can you stand to work with it under your feet? Will it keep the neighbors up?
Cost: You tend to get what you pay for.
CFM: (volume of air at a pressure) You only need about 0.5 CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute - not sure of the metric equivalent) for an airbrush. If you want to shoot larger guns or run air tools, you need to check their needs. Almost any compressor will run an airbrush.

***
What I use:
I have an old Badger diaphragm tank-less airbrush compressor. Bought it at a flea market (boot sale) 30 years ago and it is still going strong.

This one sets in the bottom of my face painting kit. Runs all day and rarely overheats with my added tank.

I have one around the house compressor:
Similar to this one only at 0.5 HP

It is enough to run an airbrush or a finish nailer. Takes a while to inflate a tire. Wouldn't try to use it for a larger paint gun. At 1 HP, that one should do just about all you need except maybe sandblast or sustained impact wrench.

Personal favorite is the donut tank. Just seem to be more portable. If I can ever kill either of these two compressors, that will be next.

 

[Einion]

Man this is turning into the airbrushing reference thread, must get the link added to the Sticky Thread.

Einion

 

[Meph]

Well, I bought something like this off Ebay on a bidding, for 70 EUR.

Not noisy, pretty small size, good pressure, and works like a charm.
I only had to buy an adaptor 'screw' thingamajig to fit the diameter of the hose for my airbrush but those things are cheap and plentiful.

http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/AIRBRUSH-CO.../350364268673?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH

 

[airhead]

Meph, does that have an auto off/on feature?
Looks like a nice 1/4 hp diaphragm. Should work most of your airbrush issues.
If you get serious into t-shirts, you may have to upgrade.

 

[Karnstein]

@airhead: thanks again for all the good advice.

I spend my the first two days of the week, browsing the web for cheap air tanks and calling three different german airbrush stores. I started yesterday with calling the store where I bought my gun, but the owner sounded a bit stressed, so I wasn't that satisfied (but he gave me a good service back when I called and asked some questions regarding the different airbrush brands). The I called a store, which sponsors one of the bigger german airbrush boards. I also had a topic running there, getting some nice answers, but I wanted to double check. The guy on the phone was really helpful and answered all my stupid questions.

After that called it a day and went to my part-time job. Found a kit including a 3 litre air-tank, sold by a german airbrush store for a decent price. That tank also comes with a safety blow off valve and a draining vent.

View attachment 3397


I called the store and the owner was also really nice too, telling me a lot of things. Like how compressors have evolved in the last years and that you mostly want such a tank for catching moisture and cooling down the air. He also gave me some advice on a good pressure ratio for my evolution gun, saying that the 2,0 bar number from the manual is hogwash and that something around 1,5bar is a nice value to start at. He also sells those guns and runs airbrush courses and that 1,5bar is the pressure they use with most guns incl. the Evolution series.

Ordered that tank, a cheap airbrush holder and a fast-change adapter incl. a pressure vent (like the fpc vent H&S sells for the gun) a couple of minutes ago and it should arrive at the end of the week.

So will try to fix my compressor with the tank and depending on how it works out, I will either keep it (and spend my money on something else) or get a decent compressor in the near future.

@meph: that's basically the compressor I own minus the tank. Got it from the same seller, but used ebay.uk for the deal. So it should be the same brand (and basic parts), since the technical details are the same. Heck, I could have even got that one with the other kit he runs, but back then I didn't realized how much difference such tank can do and went for the cheaper deal (see my link somewhere in the topic).

Well, at least I learned a lot and that way I may keep the tank if I upgrade to a powerful compressor from a good brand like saturn/sparmax.

@topic and all the folks participating: Thanks again for all the good advice so far.

So my last and final question for the next days is: Thinning paint?

We already talked a little bit about that topic, but I can't remember seeing a good number popping up. I tried both the 1p:2w ratio and the unthinned VMA paint and I have the slight feeling, that it may be still to thick for a transition approach based on multiple transparent layers.