I have a Badger airbrush,& haven't used it yet,i'm doing hand brushing with crappy results,over painting an area is the big problem.Do these spray real accurate?,onto a small space?,I think using a mask of some would help,i'm impatient with painting part! any guidence sure would help!,Thanks.
I bought a Badger airbrush last month,havent used it yet,been hand brushing with shitty results,going out of the areas,bumping one color onto another.does the airbrush give a good accurate control for small areas?.I'd like to use the hand brush for touch ups if possible,thanks for any imput.
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
And, in an effort to save a bit of paint money, use colored water on a some card stock. This will get you through the (re)learning curve a bit cheaper.
-- Chuck Ryan Springfield OH
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.
The Paasche VL is a good double-action brush. However I don't think it is the answer to your particular problem, unless you are prepared to mask off those parts you want to remain unpainted, for each colour you apply.
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