Starting Out With An Airbrush

[SlinginPaint12]

I got an Iwata Neo airbrush for Christmas. I have my compressor, regulator and moisture trap and hose. My next questions:

Best paint to start with? I have some Createx, basic colors, and a bottle of flourescent yellow.

Is white the best basecoat?

what clear should I use?

What is the best way to make scales?

Any info is greatly appreciated, can't wait to start painting!

Thanks

Seth

[Richard Prager]

I use moslty white and some black. Some colors show up better over white and some black. For scales, different types of netting. Whether it be fabric, from the produce dept. or those bath thingys. The best two suggestions I can give you is to

#1 start playing around with your new toy.

#2 put your reading glasses on and read every thread in the hard baits section and b. start using the search feature. There is a wealth of information there and the answers to all of your questions at your disposal. I have read every thread in every section here a couple of times. If I have a question, I usually just go to the search feature and try a couple of key words. I don't have the patience to ask a question and just sit back and wait for an answer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling not to ask questions. This is just what works for me. Welcome, have fun and start painting!

Edited January 5, 2012 by 152nd Street Baits

[gordon]

I got a Badger 150 for Christmas. Used it for the first time last night, it was great. My wife is an Artist and has a gold mine of acryllic colors which I used with some acryllic airbrush base. I have not used createx yet, but I believe it is an acryllic base too.

I need to get a compressor next, used an aerosol propellant can last night - not very good at all, thing kept freezing up.

[crankpaint]

i've used acryllics from the art store and createx both work the art store paint is thicker so you have to reduce it there are home made reducer posted on here mix till it looks

like milk in thickness and spray away and have fun

[MaxRV]

I got an Iwata Neo airbrush for Christmas. I have my compressor, regulator and moisture trap and hose. My next questions:

Best paint to start with? I have some Createx, basic colors, and a bottle of flourescent yellow.

Is white the best basecoat?

what clear should I use?

What is the best way to make scales?

Any info is greatly appreciated, can't wait to start painting!

Thanks

Seth

Seth, I recently started my self, and the folks here in the forum have been a great help. Experimenting on my own, I have also learned a few things of value.

1. Go to your local fabrics/arts and crafts store to buy vail netting for your scale patterns, and acrylic paints. I go to Joann Fabrics because they have a great selection of acrylics. The best thing is their paints cost between .69 - $2.50 a bottle, so they significantly cheaper that Createx (which is nice when you are learning and going through a lot of paint. I started with all the basics: Dark Metallic Blue, Red, Yellow, Orange, Gold, Pearlized Transparent, etc.

2. The best base coat: standard white Rustolium Primer

3. Clear Coat: DEVCON. Devcon dries clear instead of yellow. However, I have seen videos where people are dipping their baits. I am trying to run this down.

4. Scales: definitely vail netting from your local fabric store

5. To practice, I just ordered 15 blank baits from Bustinbassbaits.com. The baits were .75 each and were very high quality, and arrived quickly.

6. One of the best pieces of advice I received is simply to experiment. Try different types of combs, fabrics, screens, etc and spray them on paper and see what happens. Don't be afraid to also experiment with things like Candy Foil (available at your local Arts and Crafts store. This is a very thin foil that comes in various colors and is great for making metallic bodies.

Lastly, attached is my 3rd and 4th cranks I just finished.

Enjoy,

MaxRV