i used to be the guy complaining about how airbrush is too cumbersome to use but i just zenithally primed a guy in a few minutes and my brush is spotless, i have seen the light thank you saint venturella
At the second year of using airbrush I found out that pressure can be adjusted. At the fourth year of using airbrush i found out that trigger resistance can be adjusted by screwing the valve. Today I found out that primer should never been released from the nozzle during cleaning. Its only 5-7 years and I became an airbrush master! Thank you, Vince, for another great video!
@@tayloraverett3138 Yes, unscrew that part of airbrush which connects to the air hose and slightly relese the screw (to do this you need screwdriver because the screw is inside the air tube). Then you can assemble airbrush back and test how tight it became to see if further adjustments are needed. When I use myfirst airbrush out of box I had to press the trigger with so much efforts that my finger most probably got an extra muscules )
@@leonidaspereirafilho499 Literally it's a joke. In fact - many of us never look into manual instructions guided by principles: "Who the f**k needs instructions!?" You can learn everyrhing on your own with proper amount of time and efforts, but learning process with teacher or at least basic foundations helps seriously save wast amount of both on this way.
I bought an airbrush (Ultra 2024) just last week.. primed a load of models, used it three days running, no gumming, jamming nastiness.. 1: empty paint out.. 2: use thinner/flow improver 3: run the liquid through 4: wipe out cup 5: run airbrush cleaner through the brush 6: inspect cup, exposed needle and nozzle 7: run a small amount of flow improved through the brush. 8: wipe down exterior This has kept mine running beautifully and only takes a minute to do.. just running flower improver/thinner after brushing and then cleaner.. and finishing with a few last drops of flow improver..
@ at the time of writing the original post I primarily used Vallejo Flow Improver and maybe a little water.. more recently I use a combination of the Vallejo with Army Painter Airbrush Medium and Thinner.
@@frostypineapple no worries dude! I would say though that the Vallejo Black Primer in an airbrush gives a GREAT finish but boy does the brush need a huge clean afterwards.. polyurethane clogs it up a gooden!
Just dropped in to say think you, Vince! I just had my first ever painting session, and it was a 20 figure zenithal Stynylrez grey + liquitex white ink for Cthulhu Death May Die. It went surprisingly smoothly, and because of your method, I experienced no tip dry or flow issues whatsoever. I really appreciate what you do for the community, taking some of the mystery and intimidation out of the equation!
I'm a beginner with an airbrush and I like to use plastic shot glasses to mix the paint in first. I find since they are clear, it is easier to check the consistency of the paint as I can see it flow down the sides.
I bought myself an airbrush and followed the advise you have given with cleaning and thinning primer / paints. Havent had any issues with the airbrush due to it and I'm so glad I got it. Thankyou so much Vince. You are the MVP of miniature painting.
Just starting to get into hobby painting again really, saw your painting tierlist for AoS painting with Poorhammer and now im deep in the depths with Seraphon and Soulblight both 😂 thank you for helping reignite a hobby I havent done in years and all the videos you have showing techniques and reviewing products!
I followed your advice after I purchased my third can of primer for $22. I was over paying those crazy GW prices. $66 dollars for 3 cans, I jumped on Amazon and bought an air brush for $100.
Jeez, that's really high for primer.. even really good Titan primer in a spray can is $13 for 400ml. Of course bottles for the airbrush are even cheaper but for convenience spray cans still have their place.
Finally! I was always frustrated with white rattle can primer, and now I know why! And now I'm frustrated with white airbursh primer and I also know why. Thank you.
Great vid. One additional tip that helps with lessening the chance of primer drying in the airbrush cup: use the cup cover. It limits primers access to oxygen, keeping the paint wet longer.
It's me, hi, I'm the guy who has an airbrush and still buys citadel rattle cans. Thanks to this video though, no more! The lightbulb for me was thinner first, then paint! Sucessfully primed up Dante today with pro acryl black and...had the confidence to load up a color and base him up in retributor armour! Wishing I would have used the gold recipe you have though but wasn't sure how that would do through the airbrush. I've watched a lot of other RUclipsrs and really wish I would have landed here first vs 5 months in. Thank you for this wealth of knowledge!
Vince's videos are a godsend. Thank you sir! These have really helped me understand how to use my airbrush and help me understand what I did wrong on my first couple sessions. Thank you again!
One of the things I found when I first tried to airbrush primer was that the primer would chip off extremely easily. Black or white, it didn’t matter. I believe what was happening was that I was holding the airbrush too far back and the paint was drying before it reached the model. I was unable to find any resources that mentioned this problem. It was very frustrating as a beginner.
Have you tried washing your models before priming? I do it with all my models now. Its an extra step, I know, but it is worth every second if you primer and paint peels off otherwise.
i found that not just washing them , but degreasing them with e.g. isopropyl alcohol helps a lot. Just check that the degreaser of your choice does not damage the model first. iso should be safe in most cases, i would avoid stronger things like acetone because of possible damage to the model.
Agree with the two previous reply: always wash/degrease your minis before priming. You wouldn't believe the number of time I have to say at work when people complain that a paint/primer/plating doesn't not adhere to a surface: Have you cleaned the surface? If not, no wonder you have issue.
@Erick Thanks for bringing it up as I have the same issue of primer peeling off easily. I am just starting to degrease my model and with the tips here, hopefully this issue will no longer be one for me, thanks everyone!
Excellent presentation. I am a model railroader and it took me decades to figure out what Vince explains here in a matter of minutes. If you are new to airbrushing, this is the best place I've found to start. Thank you Sir. Cheers,
really appreciate it Vince, this is probably the most concise video I've seen on the topic and will be an easy recommendation for our new people in escalation league
This was a good tutorial! The advice on turning up the PSI for white primers (and I imagine lighter primers in general like Ivory) is a really good one!
@ Time will tell. I am running a game and am kicking my 3d printing, painting, and story telling into the highest of gears for these folks. Your air brushing tutorials will save me a ton of money- I have a better approach and tool set now thanks to you. I wish I could send you some pics
I found the Pro-Acryl primer to be the best primer hands down. It combines the ease of use of Vallejo Surface primer with the finish and durability of Stynylrez. I won't use anything else now, even their white primer is leagues above anything else I've used. I love it, although putting metallic paint straight over it can lead to losing luster but an extra coat sorts that out.
@@parodycalfilms is it possible to brush it on? I won't use any primer other than Pro-Acryl as a base but I'd like to try putting gloss primer over it to make metallics look better with fewer coats.
@@madMARTYNmarsh1981 I haven't tried brushing the gloss primer specifically, only their normal black and grey primers. That looked a little janky going on but after drying it kind of tightens up. Alternatively, I wonder if you could mix some gloss medium with your primer for a similar effect?
Watched your airbrushing videos and my leviathan grunts came out absolutely fantastic. I thought it was gonna take years of practice to get anything that good. Thanks!
This is great! Exactly what I needed. Question though: If you’ve already primed with black or grey, is there a reason to use a white *primer* for your zenithal? Couldn’t you just use a white ink, or normal white paint? Again, this is assuming you already have primer down.
Think of the airbrush as a spotlight that mimics any light source.. It is so much easier to dust the shoulders and head and all the top edges with it than to do it manually with a brush
@@benjaminnadeau7305 The question is more about using white primer vs white ink/paint for the zenithal (using only airbrush). I use primer but without really knowing why ink or paint couldn't be used.
I use ink. If you look through Miniac’s videos you’ll find one where he compares the smoothness of various zenithal methods and ink has the best results.
Praise be the squeeze bottle. Bought one with my airbrush 2 years ago and you saved me a lot of unecessary cleaning. It's so fast to change colour and end a painting session. Also I might be the weird one using a seperate siphon just for priming my mini
I often miss small hard to reach areas when airbrush priming dark plastic w a dark color, and only find them later when I already set the sirbrush aside again. I was hoping for tips to avoid that.
I hate to say it, but the answer here is just some more rotation and careful time with it. I get it, it happens to me too, it's just one of those slow down moments.
I absolutly love the improvment that u Made in Ur Videos U make such a Great work and put so much afford in it to teach us everything we Need without all this monetary bullshit Its wonderful and im so endless thankful for it Not only the techniques but also the motibating Part kept me in this Hobby and show me what beautiful works and Arts i can create by my own Thank u vince Btw my 3 weeks old sons Name is vincent Keep that work and improve The Same way u Push our work To get better and better ❤️
I took the time to learn my PSI settings, bought some dropper bottles to make easily accessible mixes of thinner/flow improver, and my worked on my airbrush technique. I went from priming 7 plague marines in 90 minutes to 77 miniatures in 2 hours! I found having the premade mix of thinner/flow improver in a dropper bottle, as well as IPA, super helpful. Taking the time to pour exact mixes of all 3 into my paint cup was a chore. The dropper bottles make it fast and easy. I wish I bought these 2 dollar dropper bottles sooner!
For zenithal, is there a reason to use white *primer*? You already have a layer of primer on the mini, so the better adherence of primer isn't really needed. Why not use a regular white paint or ink? I've been using white ink over a dark gray primer and it seems to work well. Easier for me than using white primer.
No, you don't need to, it's durability, but it's all preference, I often use paint or ink as well, no issue. But I know some people like to prime all in white, so I wanted to talk about that as well.
What sort of wizard are you? After a year of hating my $30 airbrush, I stepped up and bought something decent. Then I watched this video and your other one on cleaning your airbrush. I have seen the promised land. It’s so fast and easy now, a joy to use. I look forward to using it. Thank you so much, this has changed my hobby time infinitely.
Your Airbrushing videos have helped me immensely Vince. You've taught me trigger control, thinning and cleaning. The airbrush Is my favorite tool to use now. It's a shame that many people are deterred from using this amazing tool.
Swear to god i come back to this every few months because i keep finding a new snippet anytime i come back. Also I'm still bad at priming but much better than i would be otherwise with this and I'm an airbrush cleaning champ now lol
Really topical! I had a Facebook post about this the other day when I was having issues specifically with priming with my airbrush. Turned out the primer itself had gone bad and lumpy. New primer solved all the issues.
Thank you so much for the video. I'm new to the hobby and dont have the ability to prime outside. This has made the hobby so much more accessible to me.
THANK YOU. I’ve always felt like airbrush primer primers held back some crucial info and said “see, it’s simple!” This video pointed me to the error I kept making and it’s now resolved. I don’t need to fight my airbrush anymore.
Thank you very much! This was a tip I urgently needed. Especially with those airbrush cleaning-cups where you blast excess paint into beeing THE "customers also bought" item.
Vince's airbrush vids are my first exposure to airbrushing. Now I see others using those cleaning cups and blasting excess out and I think "why the hell are they doing that?" It makes no sense!
haha Newbee here! First time using primer on my airbrush, and I did NOT use thinner. After two parts my airbrushed was blocked. Such a pain in the ass. Thanks for the advice in the video
ok... now I have airbrush, thinner, flow improver and ipa. I saw the video of laquer based primer but using laquer at home is quite challenging for me so I'll try this first. thanks for nice video.
isopropyl alcohol in with the primer, i would never have thought of that. I've recently run into issues with the primer just glooping in the cup and blocking my nozzle within 3 bursts of starting. I figured i need to work on my ratios, i think this video may have just saved me hours of ball ache!
I bought an airbrush a week ago and the first thing i wanted to do was zenithal priming. I made sure to look at alot of videos in order not to screw anything up but of course I screwed something up. I could not get the white primer (Vallejo Mech White) to go on to the model nicely. You're the first one to bring up the higher PSI and being patient with alot of layers. Thank you for being so thorough in your explanations. Alot of videos skips over details which could be very important to beginners.
White is notoriously chalky. My favorite white is any of the White from Createx. Createx Wicked line is designed for automotive painting so obviously have to go on smooth as glass.
The humidity here is only below 80% for a few weeks a year; it's like I'm watching videos from another planet. Thanks for great tips from the far off world of eastern Canada, V V!
Been painting a few years now and never really used my airbrush for bpiming before so was unsure of approximate ratios. With the help of this vid, I was indeed able to prime my model in less time than it took for the video to run. Top notch
7:20 completely agree with the squeezy bottle and dump it step. However, since I stopped backflowing at this stage, the body of my HC-CS has remained a lot cleaner. This however means that you do need to clear the nozzle of the last remaining paint, but since it has been thinned by the squeezy bottle step it has not been an issue for me. I found that cleaning the nozzle is easier than cleaning the body. A dirty body can make the needle sticky, which is something you don't want. This does break the "don't unnecessarily blow paint through the front of your airbrush" rule, but I feel I never get into trouble doing that. Wandering if your dry conditions are a little on the extreem side, which might mean that this particular advice it mostly useful for people that hobby in similar conditions.
Just had my first experience spraying Vallejo white primer this morning, what a disaster! I ended up resorting to the trusty old rattle can but after finding this video, I now know where I went wrong and will be trying it again. Thank you!
05:04 "do not rock the trigger all the way back" well big whoops there 😅 i probably get away with this because I thin down primer more than the average bear. I only use the Vallejo stuff which will absolutely kill detail if applied incorrectly, so I almost thin it to 60/40 primer and thinner respectively. Does take several coats to apply. I also use a very high PSI exclusively for priming. That tends to help control flow as well
Thanks for this- was having a hell of a time keeping my Stynylrez flowing. Found out my psi was too high, wasn't using thinner, and was asking for trouble blasting out my excess paint. Everything working smoothly now.
Massive thanks for the video. Really helped me to understand how to clean during my session and how to thin. Just primed my nemesis invaders in the gloss black primer ready for colour shift paints.
Thank you so much for this! I tried winging it priming my first set of minis with my airbrush, and clogging was a huge issue, as was the coverage/durability of my base layers. This video was very helpful! Also the higher PSI for whites helped immensely!
Another tip I found recently, the Stynylrez tends to dry in the bottle a bit, even a new sealed one, strain the paint before putting in your cup, works wonders. Still a great primer, Pro Acryl are not widely available in Australia yet
Get any Monument Hobbies products from Element Games UK. Its only a few pounds delivery to Aus and also super quick (unless they throw in lollies - then the AFP will have to check the contents!) Their primer is indeed super.
@@Z0M77 I got the Iwata 2 spray 'toaster' compressor. It doesn't have a tank though so its always 'on' and pressure drops down once you start blowing air making it a little inconsistent. Go for something like Adam Fenerty suggested.
@@Z0M77 Bunnings sells an Ozito airbrush kit for ~$130, with a decent compressor. The airbrush itself is trash but it's cheaper than buying an AS186 from Ebay or whatever.
i wanna say that this video helped me out so much, some of the stuff was "Omg thats so obv, why didn't i think of that" and other stuff i wouldn't even of thought of. I appreciate you and everything you do for us
Even though I've already watched more than a few videos about airbrushing, there was a bunch of helpful stuff here. I'm one of those that dread airbrushing since many of my sessions seem to be 5-10 minutes of painting and then 1 hour + of taking it apart and trying to get it to run properly again.
I have a question about white primers. You mention in the video that they're problematic and may require extra thinning and higher pressure. What about non-aqueous white primers? Mr. Hobby has both lacquer based white primer and an "alcohol" based white primer (similar to tamiya's acrylics). Are they any easier to work with than acrylic white primers, or are they all one and the same?
@@VinceVenturella Thanks much. I wanted to paint some light pink Eldar, and I figured it would be a lot easier over white. Something that would be interesting would be a video comparing how to use lacquers Vs how to use acrylics. I know you don't use them much, but they're very popular in scale modeling and garage kit painting and may have some nice applications for minis as well.
Watching this video.. and I gotta admit.. about 3 years of painting with the airbrush, and I never once used thinner. I would spray the Vallejo primers straight. ... though to be fair, I guess that's also why I would get frequent clogs, too, but not immediately, so I figured that was more technique than anything.
A lot of the complaints referred to earlier in the vid is a stage everyone has to grind through as they get used to their brush and how to recognise which problems are which, how to fix them, *THEN* ongoing maintenance (and avoiding the need for said maintenance, as Vince demonstrates so well here) becomes way more easy and routine. Edited to add - backflow and dump technique was probably the biggest improvement to my workflow for longevity between deep cleans. EDIT 2 - an alternative to using white primer is..... Not using white primer. If you want to paint something white, prime it grey (or even black if you're feeling saucy). Once that first prime coat is down, you don't have to use primer any more, so that opens up way more stuff. Pro Acryl Titanium White paint is lovely stuff that thins and sprays nicely, and Daler Rowney FW white ink has wonferful pigmentation. If you're set on using primer, another approach is to go down the smelly route - smelly paints are way more stable when thinned because of the solvents' lower surface tension vs water, and go on way smoother as a result (especially if your thinner has a retarder in it, as the one I'll mention does) Mr Surfacer White + Mr Levelling Thinner will really do the business. Obviously ventilation and using all Isopropanol for cleaning (versus water+iso) are factors for consideration.
Thank you so much for the advice concerning the mid-cleanning part, with alcohol and water. I tried it today and never had my airbrush stuck in the middle of my painting session like I always do. I've been painting almost every day (started airbrushing 2 weeks ago), and it was such a pain in the attic (that's where I paint). Sincerely from France !
For me the life changing tip was learning the dual action properly and just getting that second nature. If you activate paint and air at the same time and then deactivate both at the same time you’ll have a bad time!
I LOVE using Molotow One4All black as a primer. NJM turned my onto it and it's perfect. It's super thin, flows perfectly through the airbrush, never clogs, and dries glossy and super strong, perfect for the zenithal right after.
I like the advice on cleaning. I typically like taking the nozzle end off and cleaning up the needle after every session as well. Just don't lose a part down the drain!
Thanks Vince! I don't airbrush much except for priming and this helped. I'd tend to try to get the maximum amount of working time out of the primer in the cup. This is likely what has been messing me up on occasion :)
I find the lid of for the airbrush cup to improve the situation, not only for the paint to not dry but also I find the flow somehow improve, but this might just be my imagination of course.
FIrst the magenta, now the Airbrush Priming... Im living in the future state of doing things before Vince gets to do s guide. Its next week about a series about Wood (from new wood to grey old wood to rotten wood) ?! Again thank you for being such a pilar for the hobby.
This is a VERY timely video for me, as it is just this past year that I have begun using the airbrush for priming and adding a base coat of color. Special thanks for the advice on NOT blowing dirty water through the brush but pouring it out instead!
Standard zenithal, black all over (or something close) white from above. I have several videos in the playlist on using contrast paints and on zenithal priming.
@@JJ-ew1vt quick run down of my work flow. 1. Add thinner to the cup 2. Spray a small amount through 3. Add paint and more thinner if needed 4. Mix 5. Airbrush
😆 Love your demonstration of how to clean your airbrush - with what I would consider a disgustingly dirty airbrush! Admittedly I am a bit OCD about cleaning mine - thorough clean between paints and partial strip/re-lube at the end of a session, but it is very satisfying to keep my (quite expensive!) airbrushes in "like new" condition. Also, one of my airbrushes has a castellated tip guard which prevents the use of the blow-back technique. Having said that I have never had any real issues priming with an airbrush. I have a couple of Iwata TRN2's specifically for the job - one for water based paints and one for lacquer based paints. They are decent quality, easy to hold for extended periods thanks to pistol style grips and have the option of large capacity cups. Obviously this is more relevant for my bread-and-butter spaceship models but I find them perfectly suitable for minis too - even 15mm scale soldiers. As always, looking forward to the next video 👍🙂
Glad you enjoyed, and you can still backflow with those types of caps. You can use a rubber glove, a wet paper towel or just use the tools that they make for it. :)
Pure white is made from Titanium Dioxide which cannot be ground to as fine of a particle as other pigments. Hence the issues you talked about. Like you, have had no issues using Stynylrez, even right out of the bottle. But I use a .45 to .6 mm tip depending on the brush when priming.
I have never air brushed before, I got one a yr or so ago but never used it *(Had medical health issues going on preventing me from doing much but now I’m better) I have 2 models I am painting for my daughter. I was having a crisis moment bc I didn’t know what I should do on priming. I was heavily leaning towards brush painting which would not be hard on most of the pieces which are tiny. But the main piece is roughly 6 inches in length that wouldn’t be as simple to prime (It would I guess because it doesn’t have any real hard areas to paint except one part where it’s a gate up next to a wall that could cause issues of paint pooling if done to quickly.) Which I also thought about using a spray can but again haven’t primed much so very hesitant of using it on these pieces since I can’t screw them up. So I am getting out the air brush, it seems to be the best way to go about it, your tutorial was very precise and calmed my fears. Other people made this way more complicated than it needed to be. So I am going to pull it out and practice on some cardboard first, then when I feel comfortable begin priming my pieces. I will later try more detailed work at another time, right now just wanting to prime it so I can get to painting it.
Getting the thinner:primer ratio right was the biggest blocker to me. Everyone kept going on about thinner, make it thinner, must be thin, thinner is life, if you don't thin you're worse than hitlersatan. So I thinned. A lot. And the primer was garbage, 3-5 coats to get anything done and weird residues. I went back to just using a rattlecan for months until I felt bad about wasting money on the airbrush and went, like you said, 1:4 ratio and it works much better. I remain unconvinced compared to just using a rattlecan when I am painting a massive horde of models. The time to prep the airbrush, clean it, keep it clean, handle the models individually, etc. vs just mass spraying 20-30 models at a time stuck to cardboard flap with a montana can? For fancier figures or projects where the smoother finish is more important the airbrush feels more relevant.
i used to be the guy complaining about how airbrush is too cumbersome to use but i just zenithally primed a guy in a few minutes and my brush is spotless, i have seen the light thank you saint venturella
Welcome to the team!
At the second year of using airbrush I found out that pressure can be adjusted. At the fourth year of using airbrush i found out that trigger resistance can be adjusted by screwing the valve. Today I found out that primer should never been released from the nozzle during cleaning. Its only 5-7 years and I became an airbrush master!
Thank you, Vince, for another great video!
It's a long journey.
Can you explain the trigger one? Do you mean just changing the tightness on the valve that connects the brush to the hose?
@@tayloraverett3138 Yes, unscrew that part of airbrush which connects to the air hose and slightly relese the screw (to do this you need screwdriver because the screw is inside the air tube). Then you can assemble airbrush back and test how tight it became to see if further adjustments are needed. When I use myfirst airbrush out of box I had to press the trigger with so much efforts that my finger most probably got an extra muscules )
I literally learned both of these things in the first 5 minutes of using my airbrush. My guy, what the heck?
@@leonidaspereirafilho499 Literally it's a joke. In fact - many of us never look into manual instructions guided by principles: "Who the f**k needs instructions!?" You can learn everyrhing on your own with proper amount of time and efforts, but learning process with teacher or at least basic foundations helps seriously save wast amount of both on this way.
When priming, follows Cpl Hicks’ advice: ‘Remember, short controlled bursts’
It’s the only way to be sure..
I mostly prime at night. Mostly.
Love this!
Short bursts is how you get spatter.
@@waynegoldpig2220 relatively short ;)
350 vids and still amazing tips. What a wonderful library of information
Thank you, that means a great deal.
I bought an airbrush (Ultra 2024) just last week.. primed a load of models, used it three days running, no gumming, jamming nastiness..
1: empty paint out..
2: use thinner/flow improver
3: run the liquid through
4: wipe out cup
5: run airbrush cleaner through the brush
6: inspect cup, exposed needle and nozzle
7: run a small amount of flow improved through the brush.
8: wipe down exterior
This has kept mine running beautifully and only takes a minute to do..
just running flower improver/thinner after brushing and then cleaner.. and finishing with a few last drops of flow improver..
Can I ask what kind of thinner or flow improved you use?
@ at the time of writing the original post I primarily used Vallejo Flow Improver and maybe a little water.. more recently I use a combination of the Vallejo with Army Painter Airbrush Medium and Thinner.
@@kariko07 gotcha, thanks for the response!
@@frostypineapple no worries dude! I would say though that the Vallejo Black Primer in an airbrush gives a GREAT finish but boy does the brush need a huge clean afterwards.. polyurethane clogs it up a gooden!
Have ya used the ultra for fine work yet? I think mines got a bit till it is on my door step.
Just dropped in to say think you, Vince! I just had my first ever painting session, and it was a 20 figure zenithal Stynylrez grey + liquitex white ink for Cthulhu Death May Die. It went surprisingly smoothly, and because of your method, I experienced no tip dry or flow issues whatsoever. I really appreciate what you do for the community, taking some of the mystery and intimidation out of the equation!
I wish I had watched this video 4 days ago. I basically broke every single rule. I'll do a deep clean today and start fresh. Thanks!
I'm a beginner with an airbrush and I like to use plastic shot glasses to mix the paint in first. I find since they are clear, it is easier to check the consistency of the paint as I can see it flow down the sides.
I bought myself an airbrush and followed the advise you have given with cleaning and thinning primer / paints. Havent had any issues with the airbrush due to it and I'm so glad I got it. Thankyou so much Vince. You are the MVP of miniature painting.
Always hapy to help.
Just starting to get into hobby painting again really, saw your painting tierlist for AoS painting with Poorhammer and now im deep in the depths with Seraphon and Soulblight both 😂 thank you for helping reignite a hobby I havent done in years and all the videos you have showing techniques and reviewing products!
Glad I could help!
I followed your advice after I purchased my third can of primer for $22. I was over paying those crazy GW prices. $66 dollars for 3 cans, I jumped on Amazon and bought an air brush for $100.
Jeez, that's really high for primer.. even really good Titan primer in a spray can is $13 for 400ml. Of course bottles for the airbrush are even cheaper but for convenience spray cans still have their place.
Finally! I was always frustrated with white rattle can primer, and now I know why! And now I'm frustrated with white airbursh primer and I also know why. Thank you.
Great vid. One additional tip that helps with lessening the chance of primer drying in the airbrush cup: use the cup cover. It limits primers access to oxygen, keeping the paint wet longer.
I never had, but it's a great tip.
It's me, hi, I'm the guy who has an airbrush and still buys citadel rattle cans.
Thanks to this video though, no more! The lightbulb for me was thinner first, then paint! Sucessfully primed up Dante today with pro acryl black and...had the confidence to load up a color and base him up in retributor armour! Wishing I would have used the gold recipe you have though but wasn't sure how that would do through the airbrush.
I've watched a lot of other RUclipsrs and really wish I would have landed here first vs 5 months in. Thank you for this wealth of knowledge!
I've reccomended your airbrush cleaning video to so many people. It's saved me so much time
Great to hear!
Vince's videos are a godsend. Thank you sir! These have really helped me understand how to use my airbrush and help me understand what I did wrong on my first couple sessions. Thank you again!
You are most welcome, and happy to help.
One of the things I found when I first tried to airbrush primer was that the primer would chip off extremely easily. Black or white, it didn’t matter. I believe what was happening was that I was holding the airbrush too far back and the paint was drying before it reached the model. I was unable to find any resources that mentioned this problem. It was very frustrating as a beginner.
Have you tried washing your models before priming?
I do it with all my models now. Its an extra step, I know, but it is worth every second if you primer and paint peels off otherwise.
i found that not just washing them , but degreasing them with e.g. isopropyl alcohol helps a lot. Just check that the degreaser of your choice does not damage the model first. iso should be safe in most cases, i would avoid stronger things like acetone because of possible damage to the model.
Agree with the two previous reply: always wash/degrease your minis before priming.
You wouldn't believe the number of time I have to say at work when people complain that a paint/primer/plating doesn't not adhere to a surface: Have you cleaned the surface? If not, no wonder you have issue.
Also paint may of been layerd to thick. thin coating is less likely to chip off
@Erick Thanks for bringing it up as I have the same issue of primer peeling off easily. I am just starting to degrease my model and with the tips here, hopefully this issue will no longer be one for me, thanks everyone!
Excellent presentation. I am a model railroader and it took me decades to figure out what Vince explains here in a matter of minutes. If you are new to airbrushing, this is the best place I've found to start. Thank you Sir. Cheers,
Glad it was helpful!
really appreciate it Vince, this is probably the most concise video I've seen on the topic and will be an easy recommendation for our new people in escalation league
Awesome! Thank you.
3:22 lubricate the very senstive area of the nozzle, got it.
This was a good tutorial! The advice on turning up the PSI for white primers (and I imagine lighter primers in general like Ivory) is a really good one!
Happy to help. :)
Thanks! This really helps a lot. Explains my failings in the past with air brushes
Glad it helped!
@ Time will tell. I am running a game and am kicking my 3d printing, painting, and story telling into the highest of gears for these folks.
Your air brushing tutorials will save me a ton of money- I have a better approach and tool set now thanks to you. I wish I could send you some pics
I found the Pro-Acryl primer to be the best primer hands down. It combines the ease of use of Vallejo Surface primer with the finish and durability of Stynylrez. I won't use anything else now, even their white primer is leagues above anything else I've used. I love it, although putting metallic paint straight over it can lead to losing luster but an extra coat sorts that out.
I found gloss black primer (Vallejo) looks great under metallics.
@@parodycalfilms is it possible to brush it on? I won't use any primer other than Pro-Acryl as a base but I'd like to try putting gloss primer over it to make metallics look better with fewer coats.
@@madMARTYNmarsh1981 I haven't tried brushing the gloss primer specifically, only their normal black and grey primers. That looked a little janky going on but after drying it kind of tightens up. Alternatively, I wonder if you could mix some gloss medium with your primer for a similar effect?
@@parodycalfilms that's an excellent suggestion, thank you. I'll give it a try.
I really do like them so much, it's just a great primer.
Watched your airbrushing videos and my leviathan grunts came out absolutely fantastic. I thought it was gonna take years of practice to get anything that good. Thanks!
Glad I could help :)
This is great! Exactly what I needed.
Question though: If you’ve already primed with black or grey, is there a reason to use a white *primer* for your zenithal? Couldn’t you just use a white ink, or normal white paint? Again, this is assuming you already have primer down.
Think of the airbrush as a spotlight that mimics any light source.. It is so much easier to dust the shoulders and head and all the top edges with it than to do it manually with a brush
@@benjaminnadeau7305 The question is more about using white primer vs white ink/paint for the zenithal (using only airbrush). I use primer but without really knowing why ink or paint couldn't be used.
I use ink. If you look through Miniac’s videos you’ll find one where he compares the smoothness of various zenithal methods and ink has the best results.
I also switched from regular paint to white ink and it really is much smoother. No more speckles.
@@adamssmartthings what’s a good psi for white ink?
Praise be the squeeze bottle. Bought one with my airbrush 2 years ago and you saved me a lot of unecessary cleaning. It's so fast to change colour and end a painting session.
Also I might be the weird one using a seperate siphon just for priming my mini
Nothing weird, you do you. :)
You can also try using pipette for quick cleaning and paint replacement, but, yes, having some water reservoir with convenient nozzle is superb!
I often miss small hard to reach areas when airbrush priming dark plastic w a dark color, and only find them later when I already set the sirbrush aside again. I was hoping for tips to avoid that.
I hate to say it, but the answer here is just some more rotation and careful time with it. I get it, it happens to me too, it's just one of those slow down moments.
I always prime the deep hard to reach areas first to avoid this.
Thanks for this advice. So many RUclipsrs miss the mark when explaining how to use an airbrush and this really helps me!
Glad it was helpful!
I absolutly love the improvment that u Made in Ur Videos
U make such a Great work and put so much afford in it to teach us everything we Need without all this monetary bullshit
Its wonderful and im so endless thankful for it
Not only the techniques but also the motibating Part kept me in this Hobby and show me what beautiful works and Arts i can create by my own
Thank u vince
Btw my 3 weeks old sons Name is vincent
Keep that work and improve
The Same way u Push our work
To get better and better ❤️
I will always keep trying to improve - as well all can every day. :)
I took the time to learn my PSI settings, bought some dropper bottles to make easily accessible mixes of thinner/flow improver, and my worked on my airbrush technique.
I went from priming 7 plague marines in 90 minutes to 77 miniatures in 2 hours!
I found having the premade mix of thinner/flow improver in a dropper bottle, as well as IPA, super helpful. Taking the time to pour exact mixes of all 3 into my paint cup was a chore. The dropper bottles make it fast and easy. I wish I bought these 2 dollar dropper bottles sooner!
For zenithal, is there a reason to use white *primer*? You already have a layer of primer on the mini, so the better adherence of primer isn't really needed. Why not use a regular white paint or ink? I've been using white ink over a dark gray primer and it seems to work well. Easier for me than using white primer.
Preference.
No, you don't need to, it's durability, but it's all preference, I often use paint or ink as well, no issue. But I know some people like to prime all in white, so I wanted to talk about that as well.
@@VinceVenturella oh yeah, for priming all-white, that was very helpful, thanks.
What sort of wizard are you? After a year of hating my $30 airbrush, I stepped up and bought something decent. Then I watched this video and your other one on cleaning your airbrush. I have seen the promised land. It’s so fast and easy now, a joy to use. I look forward to using it. Thank you so much, this has changed my hobby time infinitely.
That's awesome!
Your Airbrushing videos have helped me immensely Vince. You've taught me trigger control, thinning and cleaning. The airbrush Is my favorite tool to use now. It's a shame that many people are deterred from using this amazing tool.
Thank you, always happy to help.
Swear to god i come back to this every few months because i keep finding a new snippet anytime i come back.
Also I'm still bad at priming but much better than i would be otherwise with this and I'm an airbrush cleaning champ now lol
Really topical! I had a Facebook post about this the other day when I was having issues specifically with priming with my airbrush. Turned out the primer itself had gone bad and lumpy. New primer solved all the issues.
Excellent.
Thank you so much for the video. I'm new to the hobby and dont have the ability to prime outside. This has made the hobby so much more accessible to me.
THANK YOU. I’ve always felt like airbrush primer primers held back some crucial info and said “see, it’s simple!” This video pointed me to the error I kept making and it’s now resolved. I don’t need to fight my airbrush anymore.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you very much! This was a tip I urgently needed. Especially with those airbrush cleaning-cups where you blast excess paint into beeing THE "customers also bought" item.
Vince's airbrush vids are my first exposure to airbrushing. Now I see others using those cleaning cups and blasting excess out and I think "why the hell are they doing that?" It makes no sense!
Always happy to help.
haha Newbee here! First time using primer on my airbrush, and I did NOT use thinner. After two parts my airbrushed was blocked. Such a pain in the ass. Thanks for the advice in the video
Thanks Vince I just bought an airbrush (minutes ago) so this was very helpful.
Awesome!
ok... now I have airbrush, thinner, flow improver and ipa. I saw the video of laquer based primer but using laquer at home is quite challenging for me so I'll try this first. thanks for nice video.
Year old video still doing great work. Thanks so much! Really needed a straightforward laid out workflow for this!
Glad it helped!
isopropyl alcohol in with the primer, i would never have thought of that. I've recently run into issues with the primer just glooping in the cup and blocking my nozzle within 3 bursts of starting. I figured i need to work on my ratios, i think this video may have just saved me hours of ball ache!
I bought an airbrush a week ago and the first thing i wanted to do was zenithal priming. I made sure to look at alot of videos in order not to screw anything up but of course I screwed something up. I could not get the white primer (Vallejo Mech White) to go on to the model nicely. You're the first one to bring up the higher PSI and being patient with alot of layers. Thank you for being so thorough in your explanations. Alot of videos skips over details which could be very important to beginners.
Thank you, always happy to help. :)
White is notoriously chalky. My favorite white is any of the White from Createx. Createx Wicked line is designed for automotive painting so obviously have to go on smooth as glass.
If only I had seen this before making every mistake in the book today! This is now saved and downloaded! THANK YOU!
Glad it was helpful!
The humidity here is only below 80% for a few weeks a year; it's like I'm watching videos from another planet. Thanks for great tips from the far off world of eastern Canada, V V!
That is wild.
The alcohol was the secret ingredient I was missing to solve priming headaches. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful. :)
Been painting a few years now and never really used my airbrush for bpiming before so was unsure of approximate ratios. With the help of this vid, I was indeed able to prime my model in less time than it took for the video to run. Top notch
Glad I could help!
7:20 completely agree with the squeezy bottle and dump it step. However, since I stopped backflowing at this stage, the body of my HC-CS has remained a lot cleaner. This however means that you do need to clear the nozzle of the last remaining paint, but since it has been thinned by the squeezy bottle step it has not been an issue for me. I found that cleaning the nozzle is easier than cleaning the body. A dirty body can make the needle sticky, which is something you don't want.
This does break the "don't unnecessarily blow paint through the front of your airbrush" rule, but I feel I never get into trouble doing that. Wandering if your dry conditions are a little on the extreem side, which might mean that this particular advice it mostly useful for people that hobby in similar conditions.
No that's fair, a little blowing out the front is always necessary.
Dropping a little comment to say thank you. Your videos are helping me a great deal in my painting journey and for that, I am grateful
Glad to help!
Just had my first experience spraying Vallejo white primer this morning, what a disaster! I ended up resorting to the trusty old rattle can but after finding this video, I now know where I went wrong and will be trying it again. Thank you!
Right on time. My spray booth comes in on Wednesday. This will be my first time using an airbrush. This will be a big help. Thanks, Vince.
Happy to help.
05:04 "do not rock the trigger all the way back" well big whoops there 😅 i probably get away with this because I thin down primer more than the average bear. I only use the Vallejo stuff which will absolutely kill detail if applied incorrectly, so I almost thin it to 60/40 primer and thinner respectively. Does take several coats to apply. I also use a very high PSI exclusively for priming. That tends to help control flow as well
Well, hopefully this helped you out then brother. :)
Thanks for this- was having a hell of a time keeping my Stynylrez flowing. Found out my psi was too high, wasn't using thinner, and was asking for trouble blasting out my excess paint. Everything working smoothly now.
Awesome.
This was such a helpful video thank you!! I was just using white primer yesterday and was getting very frustrated with it
Glad it was helpful!
ah! this is a response to a tweet convo we had (i'm sure one of many you've had w/ the community) - amazing, thank you!
Thank you Vince. you are a Jedi. i have learned so much from you. Thank you! i am just starting on my 40k journey and you are a wealth of knowledge
Glad to have you along!
I'll start taking your advice for the white primer. I've having a lot of issues with that one.
Thanks for sharing this !!
Massive thanks for the video. Really helped me to understand how to clean during my session and how to thin. Just primed my nemesis invaders in the gloss black primer ready for colour shift paints.
Wonderful to hear and always happy to help. :)
Thank you so much for this! I tried winging it priming my first set of minis with my airbrush, and clogging was a huge issue, as was the coverage/durability of my base layers. This video was very helpful! Also the higher PSI for whites helped immensely!
Always happy to help!
I'm not a beginner, but I didn't actually know some of this. Thanks a lot.
Another tip I found recently, the Stynylrez tends to dry in the bottle a bit, even a new sealed one, strain the paint before putting in your cup, works wonders. Still a great primer, Pro Acryl are not widely available in Australia yet
Get any Monument Hobbies products from Element Games UK. Its only a few pounds delivery to Aus and also super quick (unless they throw in lollies - then the AFP will have to check the contents!) Their primer is indeed super.
Since you're in AUS... may I ask what compressor you are working with?.. im kinda on the hunt for something to get started with.
@@Z0M77 TC910 Aspire Pro Compressor
@@Z0M77 I got the Iwata 2 spray 'toaster' compressor. It doesn't have a tank though so its always 'on' and pressure drops down once you start blowing air making it a little inconsistent. Go for something like Adam Fenerty suggested.
@@Z0M77 Bunnings sells an Ozito airbrush kit for ~$130, with a decent compressor. The airbrush itself is trash but it's cheaper than buying an AS186 from Ebay or whatever.
Priming, base coats, zenithal and varnishing. It's so worth it! Low learning curve to those things too.
Yes indeed. :)
i wanna say that this video helped me out so much, some of the stuff was "Omg thats so obv, why didn't i think of that" and other stuff i wouldn't even of thought of. I appreciate you and everything you do for us
I also got an airbrush as a gift and use it very little because I haven't gotten into that rutine. Good video!
Hope this helps you get airbrushing.
Even though I've already watched more than a few videos about airbrushing, there was a bunch of helpful stuff here.
I'm one of those that dread airbrushing since many of my sessions seem to be 5-10 minutes of painting and then 1 hour + of taking it apart and trying to get it to run properly again.
Hopefully this gets you going faster. :)
I have a question about white primers. You mention in the video that they're problematic and may require extra thinning and higher pressure. What about non-aqueous white primers? Mr. Hobby has both lacquer based white primer and an "alcohol" based white primer (similar to tamiya's acrylics). Are they any easier to work with than acrylic white primers, or are they all one and the same?
Those are certainly easier to utilize for sure.
@@VinceVenturella Thanks much. I wanted to paint some light pink Eldar, and I figured it would be a lot easier over white.
Something that would be interesting would be a video comparing how to use lacquers Vs how to use acrylics. I know you don't use them much, but they're very popular in scale modeling and garage kit painting and may have some nice applications for minis as well.
A well timed video for me personally. I bought an airbrush last year. Kinda been saving it for my stormcast but maybe now is the time.
Now is the time.
Very informative video! The reflective light for wet primer knowledge is something I really needed to hear. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Watching this video.. and I gotta admit.. about 3 years of painting with the airbrush, and I never once used thinner. I would spray the Vallejo primers straight.
... though to be fair, I guess that's also why I would get frequent clogs, too, but not immediately, so I figured that was more technique than anything.
A lot of the complaints referred to earlier in the vid is a stage everyone has to grind through as they get used to their brush and how to recognise which problems are which, how to fix them, *THEN* ongoing maintenance (and avoiding the need for said maintenance, as Vince demonstrates so well here) becomes way more easy and routine.
Edited to add - backflow and dump technique was probably the biggest improvement to my workflow for longevity between deep cleans.
EDIT 2 - an alternative to using white primer is..... Not using white primer. If you want to paint something white, prime it grey (or even black if you're feeling saucy). Once that first prime coat is down, you don't have to use primer any more, so that opens up way more stuff. Pro Acryl Titanium White paint is lovely stuff that thins and sprays nicely, and Daler Rowney FW white ink has wonferful pigmentation.
If you're set on using primer, another approach is to go down the smelly route - smelly paints are way more stable when thinned because of the solvents' lower surface tension vs water, and go on way smoother as a result (especially if your thinner has a retarder in it, as the one I'll mention does) Mr Surfacer White + Mr Levelling Thinner will really do the business. Obviously ventilation and using all Isopropanol for cleaning (versus water+iso) are factors for consideration.
You’re a first-rate educator. Thanks for your good work.
I appreciate that!
Thank you so much for the advice concerning the mid-cleanning part, with alcohol and water. I tried it today and never had my airbrush stuck in the middle of my painting session like I always do. I've been painting almost every day (started airbrushing 2 weeks ago), and it was such a pain in the attic (that's where I paint).
Sincerely from France !
Always happy to help.
For me the life changing tip was learning the dual action properly and just getting that second nature. If you activate paint and air at the same time and then deactivate both at the same time you’ll have a bad time!
There you go.
I LOVE using Molotow One4All black as a primer. NJM turned my onto it and it's perfect. It's super thin, flows perfectly through the airbrush, never clogs, and dries glossy and super strong, perfect for the zenithal right after.
Yep, it's a great primer, harder to get in the states.
As a new air brush user this was super useful, thank you
Glad it was helpful!
I like the advice on cleaning. I typically like taking the nozzle end off and cleaning up the needle after every session as well. Just don't lose a part down the drain!
Thanks Vince! I don't airbrush much except for priming and this helped. I'd tend to try to get the maximum amount of working time out of the primer in the cup. This is likely what has been messing me up on occasion :)
Glad it helped
I find the lid of for the airbrush cup to improve the situation, not only for the paint to not dry but also I find the flow somehow improve, but this might just be my imagination of course.
FIrst the magenta, now the Airbrush Priming... Im living in the future state of doing things before Vince gets to do s guide. Its next week about a series about Wood (from new wood to grey old wood to rotten wood) ?!
Again thank you for being such a pilar for the hobby.
Right on!
Just got the thinner flow improver and alc. thanks my friend
You’re welcome!
This is a VERY timely video for me, as it is just this past year that I have begun using the airbrush for priming and adding a base coat of color. Special thanks for the advice on NOT blowing dirty water through the brush but pouring it out instead!
Glad it was helpful!
Perfect for me as a noob airbrusher! Saved! Thanks Paintfather!
Always happy to help.
If you wanted to use contrast paints, how would you prime the model with an airbrush?
Standard zenithal, black all over (or something close) white from above. I have several videos in the playlist on using contrast paints and on zenithal priming.
thinner first is a great tip. Thanks.
Great video. I stumbled upon preloading the cup with thinner on my own awhile back, single greatest tip for enjoyable airbrushing
Good stuff!
Do you mix it after you put the primer in?
@@JJ-ew1vt quick run down of my work flow.
1. Add thinner to the cup
2. Spray a small amount through
3. Add paint and more thinner if needed
4. Mix
5. Airbrush
I am binging your videos on airbrushing, cause by August I will have a modest airbrush setup and want to make sure I don't screw it up 😅
This video is so timely since I'm teaching my son how to airbrush. Thanks Vince!
-John
Happy to help.
Friday upload? Nice. Can’t wait to see what comes out tomorrow
This just released early, for some reason. :)
Amazing tips! I didn't know there was an actual difference between flow improver and thinner. Thanks Vincy V!
There you go.
Excellent advice on airbrushing. Video on cleaning airbrush is excellent-a real time saver! Subscribed.
Thanks for the sub! Glad to have you along on the hobby journey!
Thanks for the advise specific for using White - super helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
😆 Love your demonstration of how to clean your airbrush - with what I would consider a disgustingly dirty airbrush! Admittedly I am a bit OCD about cleaning mine - thorough clean between paints and partial strip/re-lube at the end of a session, but it is very satisfying to keep my (quite expensive!) airbrushes in "like new" condition. Also, one of my airbrushes has a castellated tip guard which prevents the use of the blow-back technique. Having said that I have never had any real issues priming with an airbrush. I have a couple of Iwata TRN2's specifically for the job - one for water based paints and one for lacquer based paints. They are decent quality, easy to hold for extended periods thanks to pistol style grips and have the option of large capacity cups. Obviously this is more relevant for my bread-and-butter spaceship models but I find them perfectly suitable for minis too - even 15mm scale soldiers. As always, looking forward to the next video 👍🙂
Glad you enjoyed, and you can still backflow with those types of caps. You can use a rubber glove, a wet paper towel or just use the tools that they make for it. :)
Thank you Vince. Your airbrush videos got me airbrushing confidently! God tier airbrush content.
Glad to help
Pure white is made from Titanium Dioxide which cannot be ground to as fine of a particle as other pigments. Hence the issues you talked about. Like you, have had no issues using Stynylrez, even right out of the bottle. But I use a .45 to .6 mm tip depending on the brush when priming.
I have never air brushed before, I got one a yr or so ago but never used it *(Had medical health issues going on preventing me from doing much but now I’m better) I have 2 models I am painting for my daughter. I was having a crisis moment bc I didn’t know what I should do on priming. I was heavily leaning towards brush painting which would not be hard on most of the pieces which are tiny. But the main piece is roughly 6 inches in length that wouldn’t be as simple to prime (It would I guess because it doesn’t have any real hard areas to paint except one part where it’s a gate up next to a wall that could cause issues of paint pooling if done to quickly.) Which I also thought about using a spray can but again haven’t primed much so very hesitant of using it on these pieces since I can’t screw them up. So I am getting out the air brush, it seems to be the best way to go about it, your tutorial was very precise and calmed my fears. Other people made this way more complicated than it needed to be. So I am going to pull it out and practice on some cardboard first, then when I feel comfortable begin priming my pieces. I will later try more detailed work at another time, right now just wanting to prime it so I can get to painting it.
Oooh, so that's what I did wrong. I dunno where I'd be without you vince haha
I just started today and did all wrong already. Thanks for the great video!
Glad it helped!
This video is absolute gold. It answers so much!
Getting the thinner:primer ratio right was the biggest blocker to me. Everyone kept going on about thinner, make it thinner, must be thin, thinner is life, if you don't thin you're worse than hitlersatan.
So I thinned. A lot.
And the primer was garbage, 3-5 coats to get anything done and weird residues.
I went back to just using a rattlecan for months until I felt bad about wasting money on the airbrush and went, like you said, 1:4 ratio and it works much better.
I remain unconvinced compared to just using a rattlecan when I am painting a massive horde of models. The time to prep the airbrush, clean it, keep it clean, handle the models individually, etc. vs just mass spraying 20-30 models at a time stuck to cardboard flap with a montana can?
For fancier figures or projects where the smoother finish is more important the airbrush feels more relevant.
And that's fair, when I did the alpha legion recently, I went rattlecan of course, because of the sheer speed so I get it.