What I’ve Been Up To

Aside from wishing my order of BAM miniatures would get here, of course. A long way back I purchased a second-hand airbrush but never really used it. I found a 650 sqft apartment too small to be spraying in, hence my current preference for brush-on primers and varnish. Recently I pulled the airbrush out of its box to see if I can get it working. I discovered that my hose had a leak. Today I purchased a new hose and tried out my airbrush.

I had a Games Workshop Ork Nob that came with an issue of White Dwarf that I’d assembled. I decided to try priming it. As recommended on Awesome Paintjob I used Windex to thin my Vallejo paint. I added a bit of Liquitex Slow-Dri because when I had tried the brush before (leaky hose and all) I found the paint dried quickly in the brush. About half-way through the priming the brush stopped spraying paint. The needle moved in the nozzle but no paint. I thoroughly cleaned the airbrush and decided to try again later.

This time I used my normal thinning mixture of Liquitex Flow-Aid water. I also added some Slow-Dri directly to the paint to try to slow the drying down. This time the brush worked much better and I was happy to get a good result. I used the largest nozzle and needle I had, which may have been too big. Really, I should be practicing on a flat surface so I learn how the paint is spraying. With models it’s a little harder to see what’s happening. Still, I’m happy with the test. I have a couple of projects on the back-burner waiting for this airbrush. Plus it should make painting tanks for Flames of War easier.

I’ve also been painting the last two miniatures for my Wargames Factory reviews. I’ll leave any comments about them for the actual review, but I will talk about painting. I basically basecoated and “dipped” the miniatures. The idea was simply to give the miniatures a good look with the brush before reviewing without getting caught up in a complicated painting project. I also wanted to try some washing techniques. Unfortunately it was a bit of a bust. I tried mixing up the wash suggested by Awesome Paintjob but it didn’t really work. I’ve never been a fan of washing but I want to have the technique in my repertoire.

When I was out this weekend I picked up a number of little squeeze bottles from Wallacks. Some I would use to mix-up washes, and some I would use for decanting various mediums. I even bought an extra bottle when I went to pick up a replacement airhose to keep Windex in. This time I really followed the Awesome Paintjob recipe in nearly every detail except two.

I didn’t bother trying to match the inks exactly. Instead I used the Liquitex Acrylic Inks I already had. I also added a good amount of Slow-Dri to each bottle. I noticed the last batch dried with a crackled texture which tells me that too much liquid is drying too quickly. I made a batch of soft Black and a batch of Burnt Umber, because those are the two colours I had. I tested them on an old primed Rafm Heavy Gear miniature to see how they looked. It’s not completely dry as I write this but I’m much happier with the result than previous attempts. Now if I need washes I should have no trouble.

Tomorrow is the last month of my WWII Canadians project and I hope that my miniatures arrive soon enough that I can complete it in time. Please Mr. Postman, look and see if there’s a package in your bag for me.

Tyler