Where do you airbrush?

[job]

I am on the fence about buying an airbrush. One of my main concerns is where I could use an airbrush. If I was in America, I suppose I could use space in a garage or even set up in an extra room, but in a small apartment that I share with my wife I am a little concerned.

If you have an airbrush...

1) Where do you paint with it?
2) What is your apparatus? (Do you use a shield? Hood for the fumes or misting paint?)
3) Are there any smells?

[Admiral-Badruck]

There are huge issues with smells and paint in the air.

I would say don't try it in a small apartment you share with your wife.

[Konrad]

And be careful about getting it on your clothes. The Madmiral has shoes and hats just covered in airbrush paint.

[komura]

Using airblush is very effective way to cut painting time.
I usually use it for BA and 40K unit on my desk. Sometimes I use it on my kitchen table.
Unless using water soluble paint like citadel color, the odor is no problem.
I can show you my example in this Sunday.

[kojibear]

I am on the fence about buying an airbrush. One of my main concerns is where I could use an airbrush. If I was in America, I suppose I could use space in a garage or even set up in an extra room, but in a small apartment that I share with my wife I am a little concerned.

If you have an airbrush...

1) Where do you paint with it?
2) What is your apparatus? (Do you use a shield? Hood for the fumes or misting paint?)
3) Are there any smells?

Hope this helps mate:

1.) I paint on my desk in a small room off the living room.

2.) I use a painting booth which has a fan and a long hose that leads to a window that I open when spraying. When using a painting booth there is not really any smell and the paint particles all go on their merry way outside. I also have an old sheet under the painting booth just in case I accidentally spill any of the very liquid airbrush paints. I also wear a mask, but with a booth it is not really necessary.

3.) If you are not using a booth, there will be some smell unless you have a large window open. Most of the Vallejo airbrush paints are non-toxic apparently. However it is usually not good to inhale anything but O2 into your lungs and airbrush cleaning liquids are not good to inhale either. If you don't have a booth, wear a mask.

Plus - if you don't use a both with a fan and hose, some paint particles will fall on to the surfaces of walls and other things in the room. I know from experience. When I was painting my Eldar I had blue on everything and had to dust everything off after I had finishes for the day. That is one issue the Mrs won't be able to accept I'd wager, so invest in a booth.

Others:

The air compressor for the airbrush and the booth fan can be noisy so you will most likely have to do 90% of the painting when the Mrs is out of the house, unless you can do it in a separate room with a door between where she is and where you are painting.

An airbrush is a significant investment. It is not cheap to get set up, but Joshin has or at least had an airbrush set that included a booth for around 25,000 yen I think? Not too bad. Then you will need to buy masks, airbrush cleaners, airbrush paint, paint catcher/pot to spray excess paint and to spray when cleaning, paint thinner and maybe some other accessories. Actually using the airbrush is not that difficult after the first few tries. There are loads of videos on youtube that can teach you how to use it. The hardest thing I have found is actually making sure the paint is the right consistency before I put it through the airbrush, and not clog it. It is not such a big issue, it just means you have to stop painting and clear/clean the airbrush. Me_in_Japan put me on to Tamiya acrylic thinner which is cheap and ace!!!

I have never regretted buying it. It has made painting so much faster with actually a better overall finish due to the smooth application of the base coats and initial highlights.

[job]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

@ Komura: thanks for showing me your manual and your models along with giving me one option.

@ Koji: your detailed response was very helpful, particularly the details about your set up.

[me_in_japan]

Sorry folks - should've commented on this before. Fortunately, I would've mostly just echoed what kbear said.

At the moment I have dedicated painting room, complete with fan and cabinet for airbrushing. I appreciate, however, that this is not an option for most folks. Previous to my current setup I had a more normal situation. I'd say the minimum setup is:

1) Decent compressor tht isn't too noisy. Alternatively, a room as far away from the rest of the family as possible. You can't really ab in the same room as someone else - too noisy.

2) an extractor. I did used to ab in a room with all te widows open and a fan blowing out the window. It seemed fine, but when I came to move house and actually started moving furniture around I discovered that everything was covered in a layer of paint. Everything. In. The. Room. (Including the walls.) This was less than desirable. A workable alternative to a dedicated extractor fan booth is a kitchen extractor fan propped in an open window, with a home made booth (made from cheap, thin wood) around it. Plug any gaps with newspaper and put a layer of paper over your desk, too.

3) make sure to get a decent ab. Double action is important, as so many basics rely on being able to regulate paint flow vs air flow, which you can't do with a single action brush.

4) also, invest in a proper cleaning kit. You will be horrified and disgusted to discover what comes out of your brush after a really deep cleaning. Suddenly all those frustrating clogs, spatters and jams make a whole lot of sense. At minimum you'll need airbrush cleaner (Tamiya is good), q-tips (pointy ones, if possible), cleaning brushes and a wee spanner to remove the tip of your brush (should come with it.)

Hope that helps An airbrush is kinda handy for infantry but for vehicles it is pure gold. I hope you find a set up that suits you