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Airbrushing for the Miniatures Hobby – Airbrush Compressors & Hardware

Hobby Tradecraft, News and Info, Tabletop Gaming 3 Responses »

Feb 112015

Information and recommendations on Airbrush Compressors

Picking up from the last article on airbrush basics I’d like to talk about the other big decision when it comes to entering the airbrush hobby – what to use as an air source. For most of you this will mean some sort of compressor but even with that decision made there are still some considerations on what kind of compressor you should get. Outside of airbrush compressors there are a few other options that include canned air, air tanks and even a spare tire. Lets dive right in and talk about alternate air sources first and then we’ll cover various types of compressors and hardware that goes with them.

Other than an Airbrush Compressor What Can Be Used as an Air Source?

There are lots of questions about airbrush compressors. Lets try and get to the bottom of this!

You have a few options if you just can’t swing an airbrush compressor due to funds or your living situation. The least expensive thing is to get an adapter that will attach to the valve stem on a spare tire. These cost a few bucks and with a fully inflated tire from a pickup truck or passenger car you’ll have enough air to last a lengthy painting session. The caveat of course is that if you decide to use the spare from your car or your spouses car and then don’t have that with you when you need it the cost of dealing with that mistake will likely be greater than if you had just bought a compressor in the first place. Really think about this and weigh the consequences before deciding to go this route. Also consider that tires are generally smelly and dirty and you’ll have to take it somewhere to fill it up occasionally so if you’re planning on having this in your house you may be in for some trouble.

Another solution is the use of canned air like Badger Propel. To be honest this is probably the worst alternative to an airbrush compressor. These cans cost about $12 to $14 each and are a hassle to use. As you use air from these cans they get very cold and the pressure drops. This means you’ll either have to have multiple cans and keep switching them in order to keep airbrushing or you’ll have to warm them up in a bucket of water or come up with some other scheme to keep the cans warm enough so that pressure doesn’t become an issue. At some point with canned air you’ll realize that you’ve spent enough money to have bought an actual airbrush compressor and that’s going to make you angry and frustrated.

Another problem with both of these solutions is that the “regulator” is really just an on/off valve like a water tap. There’s no gauge so you have no way of actually knowing what pressure you’re dialing in and no real control of the air pressure.

One other thing to consider, and this is the best of the three non-compressor solutions in my opinion, is a portable air tank. These are usually available at hardware and auto parts stores but will be less expensive online, particularly if you can get one with free shipping. Portable air tanks vary in size from three to ten gallons typically and online prices for those range from $40 to $60. You’ll need to take this somewhere to fill it just like you would a tire but it’s a lot easier to handle and have around. They hold quite a bit of air and the larger tanks will keep you supplied for several airbrushing sessions. This is a good alternative choice for an airbrush compressor if you need something quiet or if you have a regular shop compressor in your garage to fill it. I recommend getting a regulator for this though as you won’t want to directly connect it to your airbrush.

What Kind of Compressors Can You Use With An Airbrush?

There are several kinds of compressors that are suitable for use with an airbrush. If you have access to a regular shop compressor this will work. You probably won’t want this in the house though because they are very loud so it’s only a good solution in terms of environment if you’re working in a space where you don’t mind the noise, like a garage or dedicated workshop. If you use this kind of compressor you’ll need a manifold and a combination regulator and moisture trap as part of your setup. The manifold is just a splitter so that you can run a dedicated line for your regular high pressure shop air and a line for your airbrush regulator which will allow you to dial down the high pressure your compressor supplies to a manageable range for airbrushing. (Your compressor probably supplies air at 90 to 125 PSI or more and you’re only going to need a maximum of 25 PSI for airbrushing.)

Here’s a typical combination airbrush regulator & moisture trap, perfect for attaching to your shop compressor

Compressors tend to accumulate moisture when they work and this is sometimes ejected out the air line and will foul your paint so you’ll need a water trap to prevent any moisture from reaching your airbrush. You can usually get a combination regulator/water trap for the airbrush side of the manifold.

Do not buy one of these or anything remotely like this. You will be disappointed.

Another type of airbrush compressor you may see recommended is one that is a sealed unit in a small plastic case. These are typically sold to nail artists and cake decorators. You don’t want this. They run constantly, they don’t give you any control over the air pressure and tend to run on the low side pressure wise. This is frequently presented as a budget solution but it just isn’t a very good one. They also tend to pulsate the airflow as you spray which can cause problems with your paints finish. Since they run continuously they also get hot and will sometimes shut down due to overheating.

Finally, we get to dedicated airbrush compressors. These are purpose built small compressors that are designed specifically for airbrushing. These come with or without a tank and run from right around $100 up to and well beyond $500. The good news is, unless you’re a professional artist or have very specific needs due to your living situation there is really no reason to spend much more than $100 on an airbrush compressor.

At the high end of airbrush compressors are specialized, silent compressors. These are very expensive due to the fact that they are almost completely silent. They are designed for heavy usage and usually don’t require any extra hardware like regulators or moisture traps as these features are all built in. The catch is that you pay a very hefty premium for those features and I personally don’t feel that it is worth it for the typical hobbyist who probably spends 10 to 15 hours a week airbrushing, if that. I’ve also seen professional painters state that ultimately these compressors only last for a couple of years even though they are five times the price of a more budget friendly airbrush compressor, and this is coming from professionals who probably run their airbrush compressors 40 or more hours per week, week in and week out.

This brings us to the most common choice for airbrush compressors, the single piston airbrush compressor. These come in both tankless and tank included versions and are your best choice if you’re going to be working inside your house and don’t need to be completely silent. An airbrush compressor without a tank will run continuously, and one with a tank will charge the tank and then only kick on as the pressure in the tank drops below a preset threshold. Having the air reservoir also eliminates any weird pulsation from your air supply while spraying paint. Getting an airbrush compressor with a tank is the best compromise between price and noise and surprisingly, won’t break the bank.

So What Kind of Airbrush Compressor Should I Get?

As you can see there are a lot of choices but some of them are actually easy to eliminate like canned air and spare tires. Honestly the tire as a reservoir isn’t worth the hassle and the dirty little secret about canned air is that if you’re paying twelve dollars a can for that, by the time you’ve purchased eight cans you could have purchased a budget friendly single piston airbrush compressor that includes a storage tank.

The Porter Cable Shop Air Compressor is good for a lot of tasks including being a great airbrush compressor

As far as shop compressors go, I have a fairly small one. I don’t use this for airbrushing because I work in the house. I do use it for airing up bike tires and inflatables, and other odds and ends. To be honest I don’t use it all that much. I’ve had it for awhile and it always kicks on when I need it to so I feel comfortable recommending it. The shop compressor I have is the Porter-Cable PCFP02002 3.5 gallon unit. This compressor is fairly portable at 25 or so pounds and has a carry handle for those times you need to help a neighbor out with a low tire or blow up kiddie pool. This is really adequate for most of the stuff you’re going to be doing in your garage and with the addition of a manifold, and combination regulator/moisture trap would be great for airbrushing if your work in your garage or have a dedicated work space where the loud compressor noise doesn’t matter. This compressor retails for about $140 but you can get it delivered via Amazon for $100 which is a good deal and very convenient.

A Typical 5 Gallon Portable Air Tank – these can be found at most hardware & tool stores as well as online

If you’ve already got a shop air compressor then my recommendation depends on where you do your hobbying. Working in the garage? Get a manifold, air regulator and moisture trap. Have the shop compressor but work inside the house where that isn’t practical due to the racket the shop compressor makes? Get a portable air tank, add a regulator and fill as needed. The added benefit is that this is silent air pressure for working in the house. You can expect to pay about 40 dollars online for a 5 gallon portable air tank. You’ll need to add a regulator to the portable tank to control the air pressure to your airbrush. If you happen to have a Harbor Freight Tools nearby you can pick up a 5 gallon portable air tank from them for around $25. (You may be tempted to buy a compressor from them also but do your homework on that first. Harbor Freight is good for a lot of stuff but I’m not sure I’d trust their power tools to hold up long term.)

If you need to work indoors and be silent or almost silent then you’re going to pay a very big premium for that privilege. When I say “very big premium” I mean you’re probably going to pay five times what you would pay for a non-silent airbrush compressor. I don’t currently own one of these but I have used one and it is very quiet. I have a friend who does nail art so she bought one for her business and has found it very reliable over the course of the last couple years. While I really don’t like the idea of spending this much for an airbrush compressor I’m adding it here for the sake of completeness.

The silent and very pricey Iwata Power Jet Pro Airbrush Compressor

My recommendation for a super silent, reliable airbrush compressor is the Iwata Studio Series Power Jet Pro. This baby is almost completely silent and you pay for that with a retail price of over $550 (!). It does come with a tank and some extra bells and whistles like two separate regulators/moisture traps. It’s also actually a dual piston airbrush compressor that’s designed and built to run two airbrushes at the same time. This airbrush compressor also comes with quick disconnect fittings at the outlets – something you’ll probably want to add to your airbrush kit anyway. (I’ll be talking about these and more in the next article in this series). Extras like regulators and quick disconnects are nice features but don’t justify the total cost on their own. Again, what you’re paying the premium for here is the silent operation. For me and probably most of you, looking to get into an airbrush set up that is way too much of a premium to justify the cost unless you have a very particular set of needs (after all, that’s an extra $400 plus that you could be spending on miniatures and terrain instead of a tool). There is a “Power Jet Lite” version of this airbrush compressor without an air tank and a single regulator. That retails for$420. Both of these airbrush compressors can usually be found online with a ten to twenty percent discount.

The Master Airbrush Single Piston Airbrush Compressor with Tank as sold on Amazon. All of this for only $89 plus shipping!

Finally we have what I consider to be the best of all worlds for hobbyists looking to get an airbrush compressor. Allow me to introduce you to the Master Airbrush TC20T Airbrush Compressor. This unit is a purpose built single piston airbrush compressor with a tank. It include a combination regulator/water trap and even includes a six foot long braided hose. (The hose that comes with this has fittings for an Iwata airbrush. If you’re using something different you’ll need to purchase an inexpensive adapter). The best part? You get all of this for a very budget friendly $100 delivered via Amazon. This airbrush compressor also occasionally goes on promotion with free shipping for $89 or less but at $100 it’s such a good deal it’s worth it to just pick it up rather than wait for a sale.

This airbrush compressor isn’t silent but it is fairly quiet. I’d describe it being equivalent to a tabletop room fan. I airbrush in a portable spray booth and to be honest, the fan noise from the spray booth mostly drowns out the compressor noise as I have the compressor on the floor under my desk most of the time. I’ve had this compressor for a couple of years and for the price (I actually paid about $120 with shipping when I purchased this a couple years ago). I think I have gotten a lot of value out of it. I don’t use it every day and when I’m doing a lot of painting I’m probably still not running it for more than 10-15 hours a week. I’ve heard a couple of people say stuff like “that can’t possibly be any good for under $100. My experience with this compressor has been excellent. I should also mention that it has a two year full warranty and TCP Global (the source for this compressor) has excellent customer service.

I do have one complaint about this airbrush compressor. The design of the connection where you install the included regulator/water trap is ill conceived and the regulator ends up being upside down when you tighten it. This has been the case for at least a couple of years and I’m a bit disappointed that this hasn’t been addressed by the manufacturer. However this can be remedied by using extra Teflon tape on the threads of either the regulator or the nipple that is attached to the air storage tank. It will take a bit of tinkering to get it seated in the upright position but it can be dealt with by the end user. This isn’t enough of a flaw to really downgrade this compressor but if I was scoring this on a scale of one to five I’d give it a 4.5 instead of a 5. Bottom line, I just don’t think you can beat this price and performance level for an airbrush compressor. This is the compressor I recommend to everyone who asks for information on airbrush compressors.

The Wrap Up and Onward to Airbrush Accessories

This wraps up the second part of a series of articles on airbrushing for miniatures hobbyists and modelers. My goal with this article was to provide you with enough information to make an informed decision on an airbrush compressor. For my breakdown and recommendations on airbrushes see my previous article “Airbrushing for the Miniatures Hobby – Airbrush Basics & Mini Reviews”. In the next article in this series I’ll talk about all of the odds and ends that you may not have considered when you started thinking about getting an airbrush and compressor. Some of these items will be things that you’re definitely going to need and some will be optional but handy to have as you grow into airbrushing.

As always, feel free to leave constructive feedback or your own tips and tricks below in the comments section.

Airbrushing for the Miniatures Hobby – Airbrush Basics & Mini Reviews

Hobby Tradecraft, News and Info, Tabletop Gaming 2 Responses »

Feb 062015

Here’s an airbrush with the main parts labeled so that you can get familiar with the terminology

I’ve been thinking about airbrushes a lot lately and there’s been increasing discussion on some of the various hobby groups and boards I participate with or lurk on. The discussion usually starts with someone asking what specifically they should buy or do when they’re starting out with airbrushing. This is a pretty interesting subject and I’ve got a fair amount of experience with it so I thought I’d share a bit of what I know with you all. After I started writing about airbrushes I realized that there is so much to talk about that it would probably be better if I broke this up into a series of articles rather than one ginormous TLDR post. What I’ve decided to do is to turn this into at least a three part series where I’ll cover airbrush basics and my recommendations on specific airbrushes based on my experiences in part one. Part two will cover compressors, hoses and other related hardware and finally, part three will cover necessary and optional accessories – things that I find handy to have around when airbrushing.

Before we really get rolling here I want to mention a couple of important things. First, through this entire discussion I’m going to talking about airbrushes and painting using Acrylic water based hobby paints. These are the same type of paints you’ll typically use for brush painting miniatures and hobby models, brands like Vallejo, Reaper, Games Workshop, etc. I don’t use enamels or lacquers at all so the information presented here may not be suitable for people using those types of paints. Second, if you’re thinking that getting an airbrush will magically make you a master painter as soon as you hook everything up and start spraying paint, well, stop thinking that. Airbrushing will allow you to do a lot of neat stuff and get really nice finishes but it comes with its own set of problems and learning curve. Like any other skill, you’ll need to put the time and effort in to master your craft and fully take advantage of what an airbrush can offer you. Lastly, all airbrush paints are different and most will need to be appropriately thinned in order to spray them with an airbrush. Even the ones that are pre-thinned or labeled “air” paints will sometimes need extra thinning or benefit from some tinkering. I’ll cover this at a later date in a separate article.

The Basics – Airbrush Feed Types

There are three types of feeds for airbrushes. The feed type describes how your airbrush moves paint from the reservoir through the brush body and out the nozzle as you paint. These types of airbrush feeds are Siphon Feed, Side Feed, and Gravity Feed.

A typical Siphon Feed airbrush

Siphon feed means that the reservoir is connected to the airbrush via a spigot under the body. The reservoir is typically a jar with a screw on lid that has an integral hose/pickup tube that sucks paint up into the airbrush when you press the trigger. This style of airbrush is good for moving large volumes of paint which makes it good for terrain or base coating larger models but will generally not be precise enough for detailed work. To be honest this isn’t much better than using a rattle can so I don’t really recommend this style of airbrush for miniatures. (Rattle can = commercially available aerosol spray paint cans with a ball agitator inside that rattles around when you shake it up)

A Side Feed airbrush, this one only allows you to mount the color cup on one side

Side feed airbrushes have the spigot or attachment point for the reservoir straight off the side of the airbrush body so that the paint reservoir sits parallel to the body. These typically have a paint cup and some can be attached to either side of the airbrush which is helpful for left/right hand users. This airbrush style is used a lot by illustrators but in my experience isn’t that great for people doing models or miniatures as the cup seems to always make using this style of airbrush awkward because of the widely varying surfaces and angles you encounter when painting small models.

Gravity Feed airbrush with a fairly large reservoir/color cup

Gravity feed airbrushes have the paint reservoir attached to the top of the airbrush right on the barrel. Paint goes in the cup and when you press the airbrush trigger paint flows into the air stream and out the nozzle. Gravity feed airbrushes, in my opinion, are the best choice for painting models and miniatures because they require lower air pressure to operate and allow you more control over the amount of paint coming out of the nozzle. (You can really thin down paints or use inks and dial down the air pressure to get very fine lines when using this type of airbrush).

Gravity feed airbrushes will sometimes be manufactured and sold with different cup sizes or interchangeable cups so make sure you know what you’re getting before you purchase. I tend to favor the medium size cups although a large cup is handy if you’re base coating something large or assembly- lining a bunch of miniatures.

Airbrush Action Types

Airbrush action refers to what happens when you press the trigger on the airbrush. There are two kinds of airbrush action, single action and double action. Single action airbrushes are the spray guns of the airbrush world. This means that when you press the trigger it operates the same way a rattle can works – paint and air flow out of the nozzle all together. You don’t get to decide how much paint comes out when you press the trigger, it’s all or nothing. For this reason you should avoid a single action airbrush.

A double action airbrush has a two stage trigger system. The trigger moves up and down as well as traveling front to back. This means when you depress the trigger you get airflow without paint and as you slide the trigger back towards you, the paint starts to mix with the air and flow through the nozzle. The further back you slide the trigger, the more paint flows through the nozzle. This allows you a great deal of control over the paint and air mixture enabling you to go from a large flow of paint for broad coverage to fine lines when you need to hit some small details. This does take some getting used to and you’ll need to practice controlling your paint this way but eventually it becomes fairly intuitive. I absolutely recommend you get a double action airbrush.

Airbrush Needle and Nozzle Sizes

Airbrushes come in a variety of needle sizes and you usually find that they have a matching nozzle that either comes packaged together with the needle or will need to be purchased along with it. Needle sizes are usually defined in millimeters, like .21mm, .35mm, .5mm etc. The larger the number, the larger the coverage with that needle and nozzle set.

The largest needles that you’ll be interested in are the ones around 5mm but you really only want to consider this for areas where you need to put down a lot of paint as you won’t be able to do fine detail work with this size range of needle.

Going down a bit from the largest are the .3mm – .35mm “mid range” size of airbrush needles. These are pretty good all around sizes and will allow you to base coat and do some detail work, stripes, checks, camo patterns, etc.

Lastly for our purposes is the range of needles that fall around .20mm to .25mm. This size range is going to give you some really fine lines and allow you to do some nice freehand work. You can also do some base coating with this size but you’ll need to have everything cranked up so you can get the coverage you want. This size range is what I typically recommend because while it may feel a bit overwhelming when you first start out, if you do even a moderate amount of airbrushing you’re going to grow into this fairly quickly. You’ll be able to take advantage of the fine control you already have rather than buying a less capable “starter” airbrush and then needing to replace it a few weeks or months later.

So What Kind of Airbrush Should I Buy?

To sum up you’re going to be looking for an airbrush that is Gravity Feed, Double Action, and .20mm to .30mm needle and nozzle size. Next we’ll take a look at some different airbrushes and I’ll share my thoughts with you based on my experiences with some that I own or have used.

Airbrush Reviews and Recommendations

I’ve been using airbrushes for close to 30 years but not continuously during that time so it’s been sort of a weird learning curve. I started like a lot of people probably did all that time ago – with a cheap plastic hobby shop single action siphon feed brush that was basically akin to a rattle can that you could change colors with. This came with a thin plastic hose and an adapter that allowed you to attach it to a canned air source. This is probably the worst way you can start and I bet that a fair number of hobbyists never get any farther than this because it’s a big dumb ungainly set that doesn’t give you any of the control or benefits of a quality airbrush set up. I’m pretty sure you can still find these Testors brand airbrush kits at places like Michael’s or other craft and hobby stores. Avoid these, you’re going to waste a lot of time fiddling with this and no matter what, you’ll never get fine detail work out of one. On top of that, canned air is ridiculously expensive and wasteful. At $12 to $14 per can of air, it’s likely that by the time you learn to get any decent results with this setup you will have spent enough money on canned air to have purchased an actual airbrush compressor.

Having owned and/or used several different airbrushes I feel very comfortable recommending the following three. These are quality products backed by reputable companies. The airbrushes, accessories and parts are all readily available at good hobby shops and online. Here are my top three recommendations:

Iwata HP C Plus Airbrush Mini Review

The Iwata HP-C Plus Airbrush is a solid, high quality dependable workhorse that will take you a long way

When I finally decided to get serious about airbrushing – about 10 years ago – I made the jump from a Badger series 150 to the Iwata HP-C Plus airbrush. It was a huge step up in quality and control. This airbrush is a high performance, high precision workhorse and has served me well. It is dual action, gravity feed and has a nice 1/3 ounce color cup. These can be purchased with either a .3mm or .2mm needle and nozzle and you can swap them out if you decide to start with the larger size and work your way down as you become more skilled. Retail for one of these airbrushes is around $136 but I have seen it on Amazon regularly at around $100 which is a nice savings. This also comes with a machined metal cap for the paint cup which is nice when you’re holding the airbrush at odd angles for some of those more fiddly models.

I want to note that I have an older model of this airbrush that is no longer available and it has a solid handle back piece as opposed to the current models which have a really nice cutaway designed to help you control your paint flow. About a year ago I noticed that the trigger action had worn down on this and it wasn’t as smooth as it had been so I gradually moved away from this airbrush and tried some others out.

Badger Sotar 2020F-2 Mini Review

The Badger Sotar 2020 -F2 Airbrush is a high precision, user friendly, budget friendly (when purchased on sale) tool. I highly recommend this one

The Badger Sotar 2020F-2 is my current go-to airbrush. This is also a dual action gravity feed model. The designation F stands for Fine and they’re not kidding, this needle is .19mm and will allow you to get some really precise freehand work in. It also has a very fine adjustment dial at the back end so that with properly thinned acrylics or inks and good air control you can make some “hair” thin lines if needed (but believe me, this takes some practice!). The -2 designation is the paint reservoir size and you’ll want to make sure you’re getting that model as it has decent sized 1/12 ounce paint cup. The -1 model is designed for illustrators and the reservoir is actually built in to the airbrush body to facilitate one drop at a time ink usage, you’ll want to avoid this as it won’t hold enough paint for most of the tasks you’re going to be doing.

The Sotar 2020F comes apart easily for cleaning and maintenance and parts are readily available online and direct from Badger – who coincidentally have great customer service. This airbrush kit includes an extra Fine sized needle and a wrench for maintenance. Retail on this airbrush is an astounding $422 but I have to tell you I have NEVER seen it for sale anywhere at this price. They seem to mostly show up in the $200 range if you see it in a shop. However the Badger Sotar 2020F is on sale pretty frequently on Amazon for right around $100 which makes it an incredible value for the level of precision and control it gives you. I highly recommend this one but don’t over pay, wait for a sale!

Grex Tritium TG3/TG2 Pistol Style Airbrush Mini Review

The Grex Tritium TG2/TG3 Pistol Grip style airbrush. Another great choice with lots of well executed design features

I’ve saved the Grex Tritium TG2 for last because even though it is another dual action, gravity feed airbrush it is a beast of a different nature. Unlike the other airbrushes I’ve talked about that have a top mounted trigger that you push down and slide back, this one has a pistol grip and trigger style control assembly. This means that when you engage the trigger you’ll feel that it moves back about half of its travel and then sort of stops/hesitates. The first half of the trigger pull is when the air starts to flow and as you pull the trigger back farther paint starts to flow out (this sounds weirder when I describe it than it actually feels when you use it). This is an entirely different feeling action than what you’re used to if you previously used a regular airbrush but it’s actually a pretty natural feel and becomes very comfortable after you use it for a bit.

The Grex Tritium series has some very well thought out design features that I really like. First the nozzle and needle sets come packed together and are easily changed out. TG2 is the designation for the .2.mm needle and nozzle kit and TG3 is the .3mm needle and nozzle kit. This airbrush also has interchangeable color cups in three different sizes and all three cups include a lid. These cups thread on so they won’t work loose while you’re working. Another great design feature is that nozzle guard/crown tip. These are actually magnetic and will also stick to the back end of the airbrush if you need to change them while painting for those times you’re doing detail work and need to get in really close to the surface you’re painting. While it takes some getting used to if you’re switching from a standard airbrush setup to this pistol grip style it really works well and allows you to do some fine detail work and I think that for me at least the pistol style grip and trigger is less fatiguing during long painting sessions. This kit comes in a plastic carrying case and includes the 3 different sized cups, a regular nozzle cap, a crown cap and a wrench,

The Grex Tritium is pricier than the competition but I think it’s due to the well thought out and improved design features that it has. Keep in mind that it includes extra color cups with lids and a crown cap which other airbrushes do not include in the basic set up. Retail for this airbrush is $299 but it is usually available for right around $200 online. For the extra accessories you get and the nifty design ideas I think it is a good value even though it’s a pricier choice.

The Not So Final Word on Airbrushes for Hobbyists and Modelers

This is intended to be a basic overview of airbrushes and their various features. I’ve also posted some comments about airbrushes I have used and am still using. It is by no means an exhaustive list and I am not a “tool collector” either so you won’t see me buying and opining on every airbrush that’s out there. Let me also say that what works for one person may not work for another. Realistically there is no “be all, end all” airbrush because there’s a learning curve that comes with airbrushing as well as some trial and error for most folks. I am confident telling you not to buy a cheap “starter airbrush” with the intent to try it out for awhile and move up to something expensive. You’ll most likely find yourself frustrated by the limitations of cheap tools and may give up entirely if you have some bad experiences. You’re better off buying a good airbrush and growing in to it as your skills improve.

There’s a lot to learn about airbrushes and in the next few articles I’ll cover a broad range of subjects related to airbrushing.. Next up will be an article about compressors and related hardware and after that I’ll talk about all of the various accessories and airbrush odds and ends that you’ll find handy to have around.

As always, comments and constructive feedback are welcome. Feel free to add something in the comment section below but please keep things civil.

Images: 1 2 3 4 5

How To Save $100 On Hobby Tools

Hobby Tradecraft, News and Info, Tabletop Gaming 1 Response »

May 022014

Last week we took a look at Pin Vises and I talked about how to get a complete miniature pinning kit for around $25 instead of throwing money away on an overpriced Games Workshop Drill Set. I mentioned in that post that there were some other approaches to getting yourself a complete set of hobby tools that don’t require you to shell out $150 for Games Workshop/Citadel branded stuff.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not a “GW Hater”. To the contrary, I’ve been playing GW games for 20+ years and I really enjoy the worlds they’ve created, warts and all. My issue is that hobby gaming is already a fairly expensive pastime that has a way of sneakily “nickel and diming” you into spending more than you think you will when you start out. It seems crazy to me to blow the insane amount of cash on tools that GW tries to convince new miniature hobbyists that they should spend. GW gets away with this because people coming into the hobby sometimes don’t know any better.

The Games Workshop tool set that you don’t need to blow $150 on

A Word About Methods and Tools

This article is based on my experiences building miniatures and models over a couple of decades. I’m not claiming that my way is the only way, just showing you how I do things. One of the best things about this hobby is the community and how folks are willing to share their techniques and tricks of the trade and I sincerely hope you find something useful here. I welcome your input and observations so feel free to add anything you think is helpful down below in the comment section.

Before we get started, a quick word about tools. I’m not a tool snob, nor am I a frugal gamer (can anyone in this hobby really be considered frugal?). Since this article is about getting the most bang for your gaming buck I will be recommending some fairly inexpensive items. A few of them will be from Harbor Freight Tools. Some folks think anything from Harbor Freight is junk and to be fair, if I was a contractor or a mechanic I probably wouldn’t rely on some of the stuff they sell. However for the purposes of what we’re doing Harbor Freight Tools is a great place to shop for hobby tools. For convenience, I’ll also link to similar items that are available on Amazon.

The Basic Tools Every Beginner Needs

To get started you’re going to need a few basic items like a knife set, some files, and a sprue cutter. These items are your core tools and what you will rely on most of the time.

This is an X-Acto X2000 Comfort Grip Knife with a #11 Blade and it’s less than $6

For knives it’s pretty straightforward, you’ll need a basic X-Acto style handle and some number 11 blades. Games Workshop sells one of these that also includes 5 replacement blades for $25 and to be quite blunt, that’s outrageous. If you’re shopping for a hobby knife you can either buy just a knife and some blades for around $10 or you could go with one of these Xacto Basic Knife Sets that’s got not one but three different handles and a variety of extra blades. The Amazon price for this is $16.29. Harbor Freight carries a 33 Piece Deluxe Hobby Knife Set that’s usually priced at $15.99 but is currently on sale for 13.99. The Harbor Freight set also includes some useful additional items like tweezers, a scratch awl, calipers and some tiny screwdrivers. You can also find the Harbor Freight set on Amazon here.

The Gordon 33 Piece Deluxe Hobby Knife Set with Carrying Case and a slew of extras. Available at Harbor Freight Tools and Amazon

One last knife set I want to mention is this Mastergrip Craft & Hobby Knife Set. I mentioned this via my Twitter account last week and Costco has had these for quite awhile. It now looks like they’re no longer available at Costco.com and are on clearance at the warehouses. This set was $20 and at my local warehouse it is now on clearance for $13. Twitter friend @D3FFDR3AD found the same set at his local Costco for 10 bucks! These probably won’t be available at Costco for much longer but it’s worth a look at your local store if you happen to be a member.

Next up, you’ll need a set of cutters to clip all of those parts away from their sprues. Once again, Games Workshop has a set on offer for the astronomical price of $30. But they’re “precision made from stainless steel and have bypass micro-shear blades”…right. They’re angle cutters and you can get some for under $10. In fact unless you’re set on a name brand tool you can get a set of these for way under $10. Check these Hakko CHP-170 Micro Clean Cutters available on Amazon for $4.37! These will do the job and have the right angle to get at those tiny parts cleanly. Over at Harbor Freight you can get these Micro Flush Cutters for three bucks, I’ve seen these on sale there for $2 bucks on occasion and I don’t think you can beat that price anywhere.

Hakko CHP-170 Micro Clean Cutters

Update 5/7/14: It’s been suggested to me by more than one reader that I mention these Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutters as these are widely available in lots of hobby and game shops and are a popular choice among hobbyists. At the gamer friendly price of only $7.68 they are also another great deal in comparison to the Citadel Cutters.

Xuron Micro Shear 170-II Flush Cutters

Lastly as far as basic tools go, you’ll need some files for mold line removal and prepping parts where they join together. Games Workshop is happy to empty out the rest of your wallet to the tune of $18 for a pair of needle files, but these files were probably blessed by the Emperor or something so you know, premium pricing. OR…you could get a set of these non-consecrated needle files that come in a pouch and have handles, and did I mention this is a ten piece set? It’s $7 on Amazon. That’s 10 files in various shapes with plasti-dipped soft grip handles. Harbor Freight also has some needle file sets (probably imported from the Eye of Chaos, but whatever) that are dirt cheap. There’s a set without handles that’s $3.49 and a set with plastic handles for $4. Both of these also come in a handy vinyl pouch.

The SE 10 Piece Needle File Set

The Extra Bits

For completeness, there are a few other tools that you should eventually get but they aren’t strictly necessary for beginners. First up is the Mouldline Scraper – once again GW has one of these, and it’s $17. This tool is strictly optional and to be honest, you don’t need it. It does the same thing your file set does and if you bought one of those knife sets I mentioned above that come with multiple handles and blades you can designate one of those as your mouldline scraper. Personally I use the back of a knife for most of these tasks. If you absolutely have to have a tool like this then I recommend this Squadron Products Seam Scraper. It’s 10 bucks which still feels a little pricey to me, your mileage may vary.

Squadron Products Seam Scraper

The next thing you’re going eventually need is a pin vise/drill. I wrote a post on that subject that goes into great detail bout how you can put together a complete kit for pinning models together for less than the cost of the stupidly priced Citadel Drill so I won’t repeat all of that here. For our purposes, this is the pin vise I use and it’s $8 from Amazon. It doesn’t come with drill bits but see my other post for some recommendations. Surprisingly, this is one of the few things for the hobbyist that Harbor Freight does not offer.

This is the pin vise I use, it costs $8 at Amazon

Our final comparison item is the Sculpting Tool Set. This is really optional and you probably wont need this as a person just starting out in the hobby. I do like to use the spreader for basing materials sometimes so it does have uses other than sculpting. Harbor Freight has one listed for $6 and it includes 6 different tools. It’s the 6 Piece Stainless Steel Carving Set and it has a nice variety of shapes and sizes. It’s really a much better value than the Games Workshop Sculpting Tool Set which has two tools and will set you back a ridiculous $25. You can also find this 12 piece sculpting set on Amazon for around $9 – check the various options here, some are free ship and some are free for Prime members but they’re all right around $9.

SE 12 Piece Sculpting Tool Set

And The Winner Is…YOU!

So we’re at the part where we sum up how much our tool set costs us and compare it to what Games Workshop has on offer. Since I offered up some different options I’ve sort of averaged the cost here a bit, rounding up to give a little room for price fluctuations (keep in mind that prices on Amazon change daily, sometimes even more frequently). Lets take a look:

Knife Set – $16
Sprue Cutters – $5
File Set – $5
Mouldline/Seam Scraper $0 or around $10 (Completely optional and you can get by without one of these)
Pin Vise – $8 (You’ll need to add some drill bits but see my other article first)
Sculpting Tool Set $8

Total = Around $40 – lets say $50 if you throw in a micro drill bit set instead of building the complete pinning kit.

I just saved $100 on hobby tools in 15 minutes!

That means you’ve just saved a whopping $100 for your tool set compared to what Games Workshop has on offer. Sure, you didn’t get that nifty cloth roll up to carry your tools around in but I’m betting you have something around the house that will work or you can hit your local sporting goods store and find something there for about five bucks. You might even consider checking out etsy to see if someone there can make you the custom roll-up tool pouch of your dreams.

Saving that $100 means you have more money for actual miniatures and models, or you could expand your tool set with some other useful tools. In my next post I’ll show you some other items that I think are good to have in your hobby tool box. As always, feel free to ask questions and/or leave constructive feedback below in the comments section.

Get A Complete Pinning Kit For Less Than The $26 Citadel Drill

Hobby Tradecraft, News and Info, Tabletop Gaming 1 Response »

Apr 242014

There’s been a lot of discussion recently about the newly released Citadel Tool set, particularly the cost of this set. While I’ve seen some reasoned attempts to justify what Games Workshop is charging for their hobby tools I think that the price for this set as well as the individual tools is, quite frankly, absurd. I’m not going to address every item here (I may do that separately in an upcoming article) but I was looking at what I personally use for “hobbying” and thought it would be helpful to share some of the things I use with you. Today we’ll take a look at the the Citadel Drill/Pin Vise and I’ll show you how to beat Games Workshop at their own game and come out way ahead in the process.

Is That Thing Made of Gold?

The Citadel Drill set may contain actual gold…

The Citdadel Drill costs $26 and includes the pin vise and 6 drill bits. It’s a nice looking pin vise and it comes in a nice box I guess, but damn, $26? For that same $26 you can put together a complete pinning kit that includes a Pin Vise, Drill Bits, an abundance of Brass Rod in two useful sizes and a set of full size wire cutters for trimming the brass rod so you don’t screw up your sprue cutters.

Assembling Your Pinning Kit

A pin vise will cost you about $7 – $8 depending on where you source it. I have a couple different ones but this is the one I use most. I like the round wooden handle because it feels more comfortable in my hand. I’ve seen these with both the ball type handle and a more mushroom shaped handle, both are about the same price.

This is the pin vise I use, it costs $8 at Amazon

This particular Pin Vise is currently available on Amazon for $7.95 with free Shipping.

Drill Bits and Brass Rod

You can go a couple of different ways here. What I mean by that is that you can get a set like this one that has an assortment of micro sized drill bits that will potentially give you a lot of flexibility – but in my experience you’re going to end up using the same two or three drill bits for about 95% of your hobbying. The other route is to just build a pinning kit with two sizes of drill bit for two different sizes of brass rod. This is what I’ve done and here is what I’m recommending based on my own experiences.

I use two different sizes of brass rod for pinning, both of which I source from K&S Precision Metals. K&S makes metal rod and tubing for modelers and the model train hobby and they have a wide variety of sizes and types of metals. You can usually find this stuff in big hobby shops or model train specialty shops. According to the K&S website you can find them at Hobby Lobby, Dick Blick, Utrecht and more. Your Friendly Local Game Store may also be able to get it for you via their distributor depending on who they use.

The first size I use is .81mm (.032”) Product Code KS1602 – this is a five pack of 12 inch long pieces & you can get this for around $2, slightly less online but you’ll have to pay shipping. For this size brass rod I use #66 drill bits which are .033” – a bit larger than the brass rod so you’re not jamming it into the hole you’ve drilled (and gouging your thumb in the process). You can pick these up from your hobby shop or online and they’re a couple bucks each in a two pack. You can also get a package of 6 or 12 drill bits for under $10 on ebay or Amazon. I mention this because eventually they will wear out or break and it’s worth having spares on hand because it sucks when you have to stop in the middle of a project because you’re short that one critical tool or item.

Brass Rod .81mm K&S #1602

The other size brass rod I use is .51mm (.020”) Product Code KS1596 – again a 5 pack of 12 inch long pieces for around $2. These are paired with #75 .53mm drill bits, another couple bucks each for a pair or you can currently get a 10 pack on Amazon for $3.80 w/free shipping from the same vendor as the wood handled pin vise mentioned previously.

Brass Rod .51mm K&S #1596

Last but not least I recommend a full size set of offset cutters (wire cutters) so you’re not tempted to use your sprue cutters and ruin the edge on those. You can get one of these at Harbor Freight Tool supply for $5, it’s item #66277. If you don’t have a Harbor Freight locally, you can order one – they ship everything FedEx Ground for $6.95 and there are some other items you can get from them that you’ll find very useful and inexpensive. I’ll have another post up in a few days with a list of useful items from Harbor Freight Tools.

8″ Diagonal Offset Cutter – Harbor Freight Item #66277

To sum up, your cost for this complete pinning kit is:

Pin Vise 7.95
#75 Drill Bits $3.89
#66 Drill Bits about $4
Brass Rod .51mm & .81mm about $4 (5 feet of each size, that’s going to last you awhile)
Full Size Wire Cutters $5

Total: $25 – that’s just a bit cheaper than the Citadel Drill and you end up with a complete pinning set up instead of just a drill and 6 drill bits.

For those of you interested in getting a micro drill bit set as an optional add on, those are also fairly inexpensive and while this one isn’t the exact one I have it’s very similar – 20 drill bits for eight bucks and it ships free if you’re an Amazon Prime member.

As you can see, there’s no reason to shell out twenty six bucks for a pin vise. If you only need a pin vise you can get one for a lot less. If you’re just starting out and you don’t have any of this stuff then your $26 will get you a complete set up that will meet all of your model pinning needs for a long time.

Have something to add or a helpful bit of advice? Feel free to drop some knowledge down below in the comment section!