Model Forum / General / Models / October 2005

The precision depends on which airbrush you have purchased.
Some have adjustable nozzles. Some of which are "adjustable on the fly"
and others are "adjust then paint". The "Adjust and paint" models
usually come with different size needles and nozzles. In other words,
Yes you can do some pretty nice work. However, from experience it takes
practice and sometimes lots of it to get it just right. Also, will you
be using a Pressure can or a compressor? If Using a Pressure can you may
have to place the can in a pail of hot water if it gets to cold to keep
it from causing any condensation in the can. You would not want any
water to come out of you airbrush.

Have fun

If you have trouble "staying inside the lines" with a hand brush, your
control isn't going to be any better with an airbrush.  In fact, if you've
never used one before, your control will probably be a lot worse.  The only
way to get accurate control with a hand brush or airbrush is to practice.

Nor will an airbrush make nice sharp lines by itself.  A good airbrush can
be adjusted so it'll spray very narrow lines, but those lines will still
have fuzzy edges.  To get sharp edges, you have to use a mask to cover
areas you don't want painted.

Advice:  Before you try painting a good model do some practice on some
old plastic soda bottles. This gives you a feel for the brush and is a
good cheap learning subject.

                            Bill Shuey

An airbrush will not give any improvement in control.  When painting
freehand your lines will be just as wobbly, only with feathered edges
(which is hard to do with a brush).  Accurate freehand painting of small
spots is one of the hardest things to do with an airbrush.

That said, you can use masking to define the edges of your paint areas
and that way have great control.

One thing that an airbrush does well is surface finish - it is much
easier to get a smooth solid finish.

What model of Badger do you have?  There is at least one, the model 250,
that is really only good for covering large areas, but the others are
all good for modelling, the 200, 150 and 100 able to give progressively
finer lines at their limits.

The airbrush was invented so that water-colour artists could lay down
one colour over another without smearing.  Water colours, or even
washable fountain-pen ink, are good to practice with, onto paper or
card.  Badger used to include a booklet with some practice exercises
along with their airbrushes, which might help. Things like doing a grid
of small spots, then joining them up with straight fine lines, even and
graded finishes, masking etc.