Hi there,
hehehe, yeah, it is a hot topic indeed!!! I have a 470 as well and I quite like it, as far as the skill goes, I wanted to go and do a 2 day course, but I was quoted $240 AU. A bit too much, I think. So what's the best way to gain experience? I use the AB as frequent as I can. A clean sheet of paper and try putting down some lines, then circles, then squares, then some X's.
To properly experiment you would need some sort of propellant other than the can, one with which you can vary the pressure and paintflow. Less paint more pressure, less pressure more paint and trying these combinations spraying close and farther away from the sheet of paper.
When spraying lines, remember to ease the trigger to allow the gradual flow of paint, or else you can get some pooling at the beginning and at the end of the line. If you have some spare cash, there are some really nice books on airbrushing. I have the testors Model Master "Modeler's Technical Guide" which has all sorts of techniques and airbrushing tutorial. Another airbrushing book is from Osprey Modelling Manuals, here is the link: http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=C9224~ser=MAN
But, as I mentioned before, there is no substitute for practice, tedious practise, as a matter of fact all those exercises reminded me of primary school when we learnt to write, well we are basically doing that here...
I hope this was of help although a bit long winded,
best regards
Gb