Airbrushes and Paints

Someone asked me what kind of airbrush and paint I used, so I thought I would write a post about it.

For paints, I only use non-toxic water-based acrylics, which also do not have any strong odors/fumes. I have used two brands so far - PolyScale floquil and Delta ceramcoat. The PolyScale is good for detail and shading and the Delta is good for base coating (it is an inexpensive craft acrylic found at Walmart or Michaels). I have intermixed them for custom colors with no problems - in fact, I have very few colors of each and just mix the proper color when needed.

For airbrushes, I started with a MAS G44 (ABD-180) found at tcpglobal.com. I think this is a near perfect brush for painting kits of this size. I'm told it is a .2mm clone of the Iwata CMC-plus, but for these kits, you don't really need the pro precision at 6x the cost. On recommendation, I recently bought the Iwata Eclipse as a second brush. A bit more expensive than the G44, the Iwata is clearly a better made instrument - the chrome surface is impeccable versus a few nicks on the G44. That said, I think the G44 actually sprays better for kit building.

I'd been asked how I get the painted surface so smooth on my figures. I don't really have an answer, since I don't really do anything special when painting. However, I've been trying to paint my current kit with the Eclipse, but each time I end up stripping it and going back to the G44. Using the same thinned paint, I will say the G44 atomizes much finer. It takes longer since I have to paint in more layers, but the finished part looks much better to me and in the end that's all that matters.

One nice thing is, I've found the needle cap from the Eclipse will fit the G44, instead of using the crown cap, which makes backflowing possible. It's easier to clean this way, and can also be used to mix the paint, though I usually paint without any cap on - just be extra careful with the tip.