A Bad Workman Always Blames His Tools (Or Does He?)

I have a confession, until today I've not really enjoyed airbrushing. The prospect of getting the airbrush out has filled me with dread but I know I have no choice as brush painting isn't an option either.

I've been using a single action Badger airbrush and despite thoroughly masking I found that the airbrush tended to blast lots of very wet paint over a model and that usually resulted in paint seeping under my masks. Experimenting with different amounts of thinner in my paint didn't even help and to be honest I just couldn't see how I was ever going to be able to do camouflage patterns or indeed anything more than simple colours.

Little did I know the answer to my problems was sitting forgotten in a cupboard. A while ago my father had given me double action airbrush that he didn't need. However at the time the top feed didn't appeal to me (I couldn't put it down once it had paint in it) so I'd decided not to use it.

The old...

... and the new

So earlier I decided I had nothing to lose and I gave it a go. What a difference! First of all it atomises the paint so much better so I get that fine mist of paint which I could never get with the old one. Also I can control the flow much better and paint much smaller areas. Finally, the top feed works well and I find myself using much less paint.

It made such a difference and I feel really optimistic now about what I can do in the future. Camouflage schemes will, (with a bit practice), be achievable!

So just to show what a difference it makes, here's two aircraft painted in an afternoon. One is my Tamiya P-51D build the other started out as a practice but will now be completed. A review will hopefully follow but until then see if you can guess what it is.

Finally, this may not seem like much to the more experienced modellers out there, but I'm quite pleased with this this. My first ever airbrushed canopy, unthinkable until now!