I trying to decide if I want to invest in an airbrush or just use spray cans. I’m looking at the Badger 200-20, $60-65. Then you buy the little extra’s, it starts to really add up, easily $150+ ( using my noisey cheap 2hp/2gal portable compressor to save costs). I have already built a spray booth/box.
Hi Jim:
Lots of modelers use spray cans with success but they can be tricky (the spray cans, not the modelers[swg]). Perhaps the biggest problem is that they put down a lot of paint quickly compared to an average hobby air brush. It’s very easy to fill in the fine details and have paint pooling in the crevices. You have to maintain a proper distance and put down very light coats. There is also a lot of overspray. If you have a filter in your spray booth it can become clogged very quickly.
Air brushes have a learning curve too, but there are lots of tutorials on the net to help you through. The relative ease of controlling the amount of paint makes them a much better tool IMHO, and worth the investment. You can still put down too much paint with an air brush if you are not careful.
You know the old saying: “If you want to do good work you have to have good tools”.
I have pretty much gotten away from using spray cans except for priming.
Dave
Thanx Dave, makes sense. I did some searching on google and found simular answers. And I can atest to the over spray. I sprayed my track with rattle cans and I got more paint in the box I was using to spray in, than I did on the track.
I guess I’m lazy. I love the rattle can ease of use ( simple upsidedown nozzle cleaning ), but didnt really think about how I was going to keep the finer details of brickwork, ect., on an HO scale. One big concern is the size of my layout. Once I have built my dozen or so buildings, I’m pretty much done with painting. I buy RTR rolling stock and plan to weather with chaulks ( and use a dull coat made for chaulks ). I do have a couple model cars ( 1/24 scale ) and a few sailing boats I want to build one day, but who knows when I’ll ever get to them. Just trying to consider cost’s.
I use a brush most often and a spray can occaisionally. I found with the spray can it works best if you are not too close and use a sweeping motion. I also found that 2 light coats are better than 1 heavy coat.
Good luck
Paul
Jim, for your situation you might be further ahead to stick to spray cans. It doesn’t sound like you are going to need a ton of colours (Canadian spelling eh!), and you are going to spend about the same amount for a bottle of paint as you will for a spray can. There is nothing that says you can’t invest in an air brush further down the line if you find the spray cans too limiting.
I would suggest that before buying any more spray cans that you ask about which brands work better and which brands may cause problems. For example, a while ago I tried to use a can of Testors Model spray paint on a small Grandt Line box cab with very fine details. The paint came out way too fast, and despite me constantly telling myself to back off and use thin coats, the paint job was a mess. The small details were largely lost and the inside corners were full of paint, and yet the outside corners and the tops of the larger details were not covered sufficiently. I posted a question on the forum asking what I was doing wrong and had a few people respond that Testors spray cans were not the best. Adding to the problem was the fact that I was using yellow which is supposedly a difficult colour to get proper coverage with. However, when I re-painted with Polly Scale, using my air brush, coverage was no problem and the details were fully visible. (I guess that means I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth here.)
That is not a condemnation of all testors spray products. Their clear coat sprays work quite well.
Maybe others can chime in on what brands of spray cans work well for them, as well as any suggestions on how best to use them.
Dave
On the little painting I’ve done I use mainly cheap home store rattle cans and occasionally Tamiya spray cans. I use a similar method to Pauls, 2 to 3 light coats.
If you’ve only got a relatively small amount to do, then I think investing in an airbrush would not be worth it.
Cheers, the Bear.
Air Brushes need to be cleaned carefully.
LION will stick with his brushes and spray cans. Him also buys cheap disposable brushes.
ROAR
Almost excusively an airbrush for model work. I will use a spray can to paint brick buildings (primer red) or to paint rail (cammo brown) or to do mock up buildings (black). Other than that all painting is done with an air brush. I use a Paasche air brush that’s probably 25 years old and it takes maybe 10-15 minutes to clean it after each use. Not a big deal.
The only rattle cans that I use at all are dullcote. The spray pattern on a rattle can is just too wide and heavy for my satisfaction.(I am my own worst critic) I paint 99% of everything with an airbrush. I paint a very few, small details by hand, but only if I feel its not worth the masking time to spray it. I am definatly a 2 days to mask, 5 mins to spray kinda modeler. A lot of that has to do with having used an airbrush for almost 30 years though, both in several hobbies and as part of my profession.
It took me a long time to pick up all the little quirks of using an airbrush over spray cans. The final push to the airbrush came from not being able to find the colors I wanted in a spray can. I had been using an airbrush off and on for 20 or so years, not enough to get over the hump.
I finally decided it was necessity to learn to use an airbrush if I was going to paint my model railroad rolling stock more than the few colors available in spray cans. The more you use an airbrush the more you will like it over the now ridicules spray cans. I still use spray cans for priming and Dullcoat, on occasion I’ll use Testors flat black for a steam locomotive, everything else is done with an airbrush.
My wife introduced me to Crafters Acrylics for painting figures and miscellaneous detail work about 10 years ago, the big difference in working with a brush is using a good brush. I went through hundreds of brushes over the years before I broke down and bought a GOOD brush, wow did that make a difference.
As Dave said above, "If you want to do good work you have to have good to
I mostly agree with Dave, but have come to a differening conclusion. I have two compressors, 2 or 3 airbrushes, etc.
I’ve changed over to spray cans for most things, reserving the air brush for special projects that need fine control or custom mix paint.
Today’s spray cans are much improved even over just a few years ago. Krylon in particular has a fine, controllable spray. Valspar is similar, but I have limited experience. Rustoleum isn’t as fine a spray, but is usuable.
As with the airbrush, practice helps a bunch and avoids most of the issues with a little care. Don’t practice on your best stuff, but you’ll soon be painting it too with a little luck.
I’ve never cared much for spray cans for anything, and used brushes (good quality ones) for years. I was still using brushes when I began painting for a local hobbyshop, but the owner eventually convinced me to invest in an airbrush, saying it would make the job easier (I never had any complaints about the quality of the brush jobs). Well, the painting became easier once I learned how to use the airbrush (a Paasche VL), but it also required masking for multi-coloured jobs, something I hadn’t needed to do using a brush, so there was not really any savings in time.
However, weathering with an airbrush is a lot easier than with a brush or a spray can for most types of weathering. Another advantage of airbrushes over cans is the ability to use any colour you want. About the only colour I’ve used straight out of the bottle is Floquil Grey Primer - everything else gets mixed, even when batch-painting boxcar red boxcars. I add a little red, or black, or whatever seems most appropriate, so the cars start out looking like they’ve been in service for a while - sort of pre-weathering.
Once the cars have been lettered, I take a bit of the last colour version used, then thin it 90-95% and overspray the cars - this immediately removes that “too new” look from the lettering.
Yeah, when you start buying the extras (mostly paint) the costs can rise. However, your colour choices are unlimited, as are your choices for the brands of paints you wish to use. I made my own spray booth using leftover plywood and Masonite, along with some aluminum siding angle stock and a few pop rivets. The fan is from an air hockey game. The only cash outlay was for filters - cheap fibreglass furnace filters - 11"x20" - cut in half. I’ve been using it, and the airbrush, for almost 35 years.
The old complaint about
If you are using flat paint, and spraying everything, then rattle cans are great, and I am very picky with my painting. That being said it is not for painting things that you separate with detail tape (can be done but the paint is too thick and can cause problems). I use rattle cans for basic brick, mass paintings of windows and doors, track (before any detailing) and generally the start color for most flat items, that will remain flat.
I have an airbrush but have found myself using rattle cans most of the time. All the pros and cons mentioned by others are all valid. I use rattle cans because they are instantly useable, no mixing, running a compressor, cleanning the air brush, and getting the mix/spray pattern just right.
I warm the rattle cans with a heat lamp. When you pick up the warmed can, the can will be warm. If you shake the can and you feel the can cooling, then the paint is not warmed up. CAUTION: do not over heat the can and paint. It could become a bomb. The paint should just be WARM.
The warmed up paint produces a finer spay. There is more over spray though, probably caused by the increase in the cans pressure. Four or five very light coats will produce an excellant paint job without covering the details.
I use Krylon for most of my color painting. Rust-oleum has a good selection also. I use Rust-oleum primers for bricks. They have a couple of different versions that have a different shades of red. Krylon and X-O Rust have red primers too, but I haven’t use them.
I use Scalecoat II Wash Away Paint Remover to undo a bad paint job.
South Penn
Hello All,
I too haven’t yet made the jump to an airbrush.
Rattle cans work for me now and the projects I’m doing. Mostly solid, single colors on rolling stock. Not much fine detail work.
I can see in the future the need for an airbrush for a more controlled application of paints. But for now rattle cans work.
I don’t have a spray booth. I spray outside. On a corner of our deck I setup an old bedsheet to collect the overspray and placed a couple of 4x4’s; for weight, and put several blocks of foam to hold what ever I am spraying. No complaints from “she who must be obeyed” yet.
One trick I use is to warm the cans in hot water to increase the pressure in the can and decrease the viscosity of the paint. I put the can in a tall storage container and run hot tap water over it for a few minutes. With the proper technique the results are good enough for me and with the lower viscosity paint from warming doesn’t mask fine details like rivits.
That’s not to say that you can’t obliterate these fine details especially with things like primers, that are designed to mask “imperfections.”
I have seen good reviews for the Harbor Freight and Tool airburshes; inexpensive and if maintained properly, as good if not better than more expensive ones. When it comes time I’ll probably purchase one of these.
Hope this helps.
Doc Wayne states the points regarding airbrushes so well.
Initially intimidated, airbrush painting is an enjoyable activity for me. Because of the versatility I appreciate the ability to:
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Be able to take colors and tint them to hues and tones of my choice. It’s difficult to do that with rattlecans.
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The comfortable feel of airbrushes in my hand vs rattle cans.
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The ability to easily adjust the width of spray patterns from pencil thin to 2".
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Efficiency: Due to the very fine atomization setups and narrow spray patterns provided by quality airbrushes, (when properly thinned) the paint in two ounce bottles of model paint, covers just as much surface (and more) area as a 3oz spray can. Overspray and waste is considerably less than that of rattlecans.
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Tool longevity. Maintained properly, a quality (not necessarily expensive) airbrush will perform well through hundreds of paint applications. Replacement parts, such as needles and aircaps are readily available and affordable.
Additionally when it comes to maintaining an inventory of a wide variety of colors, rattle cans will take up too much space on my storage trays. Currently I have over 40 one and two ounce bottles of scale model paint (solvent and acrylic) that occupy less than 2 square feet of space. Yes, the paint is still good.
I’m not knocking spray cans as I’ve used them before and it’s how many of us started painting models. However, this thread reminds me of the DC vs DCC views.
Airbrushing offers more versatility and finnesing. Like DCC there is an initial investment (airbrush, compressor/CO2 tank, moisture filter) and slightly more maintenance (1 to 2 minute cleaning times).
Like DCC, airbrushing is good for some (actually many) modelers, while others are satisfied with rattle cans.
[quote user=“doctorwayne”]
I’ve never cared much for spray cans for anything, and used brushes (good quality one
After years of being intimidated by airbrushes, I finally took the plunge about 4 years ago. My conclusion; “What took me so long?” Sure, there is the initial investment and learning curve, but I love the flexibility in colors and control that an airbrush affords me.
You don’t need to break the bank getting your first setup. I’ve found that there are inexpensive airbrushes out there that work great. Currently, I have two Badger 200-H’s (one with a medium tip, the other with a fine one) and one I purchased from Airbrush City, along with a compressor I bought from them.
In the late '60s I switched from spray cans to airbrush when I switched from model cars to military models and needed to do camo. I’ve been a diehard airbrusher since.
Recently however I’ve been watching a bunch of Ken Patterson videos and he uses a lot of cans. This has me rethinking my bias.
For what little spraying I need to do, I just look for a rattle can of the color I need, but I recently bought a single action airbrush and a 2 gallon compressor and I’m currently looking a spray booth ideas in anticipation of more spray work in the future.