To buy an airbrush or not

Welllll...I'll throw in a dissenting opinion. I think airbrushes are wonderful things, and I have one myself, but I rarely if ever use it on sailing ships. (Warships - especially large-scale ones, like that Snowberry model - are another matter.)

The old adage about brush painting inevitably leaving brush marks just isn't true any more. With a little practice and high-quality brushes, it's entirely possible to get a nice, smooth brushed finish with modern hobby paints (especially acrylics; my favorite is PolyScale).

I know quite a few people disagree, but in my personal opinion the absolutely clean, mechanical appearance of an airbrushed finish is out of place in a model of a sailing ship. To my eye, a good brushed paint job - even if it does show a few brush marks here and there - is closer to what a ship model - and, more importantly, a real ship - is supposed to look like. And to me, personally, hand-brushing is more fun.

Here's a link to some pictures of one of my models, which, I hope, will show what I'm talking about: ( http://gallery.drydockmodels.com/hancock ). I don't think anybody would mistake the paint job for an airbrushed one, but that wasn't my objective.

One of the reasons I like sailing ship modeling is that it allows for an unusual range of personal opinions and tastes. What we're talking about here is a good example. I've seen some beautiful airbrushed ship models, and some beautiful hand-brushed ones.

The bottom-line answer to ubei's original question, "can I get away with brush and spray paint?" is, in my opinion - yes. Absolutely. In fact I don't think you need the canned spray paint. Get a good assortment of acrylics. Ignore the strange names given to the colors by the aircraft, armor, and railroad modelers; just look at the colors themselves. You'll find an excellent range of browns, for instance, in WWII camouflage paints. And buysome good brushes. Lots of people recommend red sable, and red sable brushes are great. But to my fingers the new synthetic ones are just as good, if not better, for model building. Check out an art supply store; such places carry a wider variety than model shops do - and often sell them for lower prices.

Buying an airbrush is, by definition, a good idea. If your funds are limited, though, and if your primary interest is sailing ship, there are several other tool purchases I'd suggest making first. I'd start with a Dremel (or other brand) rotary tool. And I'd give a miniature table saw, a combination belt-and-disk sander, and a lathe higher priorities than an airbrush.

I somehow suspect the above observations will be a little controversial. Great; that's what this forum is about. Listen to all of us rant a little, and make your own choice. That's another thing that makes it a great hobby.

Thanks all for the suggestions. Here I go to get my new toy.

Cheers


Bob

Trust me you will love an airbrush. You don't need to spend big bucks on one, just simply pick-up a Badger single action and use it to paint anything over 1/2x 1/2. I've own my small modeling business for over 20 years and have built and repaired models that have cost thousands and used a simple $25.00 airbrush.

I've bought 3 of them over the years and kept the guts of each one after I've broke it (usually by dropping on a concrete floor). You can't go wrong with one. YES you do have to pickup a compressor but that to is under a $100.00.

Jake

Nothing can mach the finish of an airbrush IMHO. Go for it!

I'm on my first ship model, the snowberry, and I can't imagine painting that hull with a brush! Maybe....just maybe a spray can, but the airbrush made it quite simple.

QT