A blog about my Warmachine and Malifaux forces,
and all other painting and hobby related subjects.
Enjoy and have fun, comments and criticism are always welcome!
Showing posts with label Tools of the Trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tools of the Trade. Show all posts
meet the newest addition to my toolbox: The Dremel. I've been eyeing one of these for quite a while and last week I took the plunge and bought myself the Dremel 3000.
I found that using a pin-vice to pin my miniatures, especially the metal ones, was getting to be quite a chore. I recently ordered a bunch of Malifaux miniatures, which are almost exclusively metal, and I wasn't really looking forward pinning them by hand. Because of that, the Dremel rotary tool will will help me quite a lot. The first lesson I learned using this tool, was only to use the lower settings as the metal miniature would get quite hot if I used any of the higher settings. Also, this would give me much more control when pinning delicate parts.
I'll keep you posted on my experiences with this tool as I learn to use it myself. But so far it was a tremendous help in putting together the Coppelius figure, which was a real pain to assemble. If any of you have had any experience in using a rotary tool, I'm looking forward to hearing about it.
One of the more recent trends in our wargame hobby is using oil paints to wash and weather our models. This technique has been around for much longer in the scale modelling community, but Les from Awesomepaintjob really has made many people try their hands at this technique.
You'll need:
Oil Paint (Black or Dark Brown is preferred for most uses)
Thinner (White Spirits, which you can get in Germany under the name "Waschbenzin")
Something to mix the wash in
Synthetic Brushes (White Spirit is very harsh to the bristles and you don't want to kill your good brushes for this)
Make-Up Applicator or cotton buds (For clean up)
Gloss or Satin Varnish
SAFETY TIP: Open a window when using White Spirits as thinner. This stuff is really nasty and will give you a monstrous headache (or worse) when you use it in an enclosed space. Also, be very careful of open flames, as the stuff is highly inflammable.
today I wanted to show you, how I clean and maintain my Iwata HP-C Plus. For this, I differentiate between two cleaning processes: Basic and Thorough. Also quite important is the part about proper maintenance, so your airbrush will perform correctly.
I even edited my first Youtube video for this post, because the process is easier to show then to explain: enjoy:
1. Basic Airbrush Cleaning
If you use a brush to wipe down the paint cup, be careful not to press to hard, as the metal ferule of the brush can scratch the inside of the paintcup.
2. Thorough Airbrush Cleaning
But what to do, when your brush really is gunked up and needs special attention? You basically have two options here, both of which include disassembling your airbrush.
My airbrush completely dis-assembled
You either can clean all the parts by hand, or use an ultrasonic cleaner. This thing really is something else. After a 7 minute cleaning cycle you can see all the tiny paint particles, which where deep inside your brush.
The ultrasonic cleaner at work
After the cleaning is done, rinse all the parts with clean water, so any residue of paint or cleaning solution will be gone. Just be careful, not to lose any of the parts, especially the nozzle.
When you're finished, just put all the parts on a piece of kitchen roll, so they can dry completely.
Drying out and ready for maintenance
3. Airbrush Maintenance
An airbrush is a precision tool. You'll need to take good care of it, if you're expecting it to perform perfectly every time you use it.
I've noticed, that the trigger mechanism of my airbrush was getting a bit harder to pull, after I used the ultrasonic cleaner for the first time. This is because the cleaner removes not only the leftover paint, but also the lube inside of the airbrush. So you'll need to get a replacement lube, if you plan on using an airbrush. My choice was Ballistol, a German brand of cleaning oil, famous for it's use in gun-maintenance. I just sprayed a few tiny bursts of oil onto all the moving parts prior to assembly. For a final touch, I used the piece of kitchen towel which had some of the oil left on it, to carefully lube the needle, so that the whole mechanism was ready.
All the moving parts of the airbrush.
And it worked like a charm. The trigger was moving beautifully and all the little hitches were gone. Now you just need to re-assemble the airbrush and you are good to go.
The airbrush after cleaning and maintenance - good as new!
after reading on DakkaDakka, that some of you have had some problems with Vallejos Polyurethane Surface Primer, I wanted to share my experiences with the product.
For this, I wanted to talk about the Primer itself, how to use it and most important, how to clean your airbrush afterwards.
After using my first compressor for a while now, I decided it would be time to upgrade, as the old one got a bit long in the tooth. I checked around and found a fantastic airbrush retailer, Air-Craft.net, which had top of the line products and sold them for much less than they were here in Germany. The customer service should be mentioned too, as it was top-notch, and all my questions where answered in a quick and friendly manner. Full marks across the board!
As my new compressor, I chose the Euro-Tec 60A from Harder & Steenbeck.
a few weeks back I posted my thoughts on the uses of Weathering Powders. Since then I had the chance to experiment further with them and I found three different fixers for applying them wet and the pros and cons of using them.
I recently have gotten some weathering powders for my minis and wanted to share how I use them. They can add a lot to your mini and you don't need much to try them out. There are many different brands of pigments on the market, but they all can be used the same way. All you need are the pigments and something to fix them with.
I just rescued my new Paasche Talon 3G airbrush from the cold and dark German customs place and wanted to give you my first impressions on it. The brush comes in a nice set, including 3 different sizes of nozzles and needles and aircaps, an air hose, a flat spray aircap and an airbrush holder, which can be installed onto your desk.
Airbrushing is becoming more important to our hobby. If you check the channels on Youtube, or the forums at DakkaDakka, you will soon realize, that the community is embracing this tool with open arms. For me personally, Les' Awesomepaintjob Videos on Youtube have been an eye-opener and convinced me to get a brush in the first place. After I had the chance to get comfortable with it, I just wanted to give you my impressions on the Rich RB-2 Airbrush.
in this ongoing series about airbrushing I wanted to talk a little about what paints to use when airbrushing and how to best thin and mix these paints.
varnishing your models or not, seems to be a question wargamers often ask themselves. If you do varnish, you can protect your precious paintjob from the wear and tear of your grueling gaming regime. On the other hand, if you botch the varnishing process, you could ruin your mini afer all the hard work you put into it.
Hey Guys,
today I wanted to give you some advice about one of the hot topics in wargaming: Selecting and using an Airbrush. This will be the first part in a series of articles concerning all things airbrushing.
This article will cover:
The Airbrush itself
Compressor
These are the two most basic things you'll need. Following entries will cover things like:
There are a myriad of different options for priming miniatures - but why should you take this step?
Priming is the foundation for any paintjob you want to apply to your model. It acts as the canvass for the beautiful work of art you want to create. As the primer is the basis of your mini, the color makes a huge difference in the tone of the figure.
A few years back the choice of paint for use in miniature painting was pretty limited. Most people used the GW colours, because that was, what they could get their hands on. Today almost every gamer or painter has a FLGS or a website from which he orders his minis and hobby supplies. And because of that, the choice has exploded in the last few years. Now companys like Vallejo, Reaper and Privateer Press have started to gain on GW´s lead, and boy are they gaining.
