Getting back to Airbrushing

Before getting into all this let me just say – I'm basic. In the before times, I basically just used my airbrush for priming and I'm only just now learning about the magic of Zenithal highlighting. Even for such a simple use though, the airbrush has saved me a bunch of time and even with the learning curve of paints, it's been great and worth it and I haven't felt the need to get more expensive airbrushes.

I originally bought an airbrush to speed through priming my minis. Before I had an airbrush I just brushed on my primer and it worked, but I always felt like it went on thicker than I'd like. Switching to the airbrush for priming helped it go a lot faster and gave me thinner, more even, priming. The downside was that airbrushing was a production. I picked up this compressor / airbrush combo and a spray booth. I was in an apartment and setting this up before spraying really meant I wouldn't pull this out for a quick session, it was kind of a production and I had to block out a lot of time to make it feel worth it. And it was worth it! It made it really easy to prime a ton of minis all at once. Brushing primer took longer and I think I always put it on too thick. With the airbrush I got consistent coverage, quick application, and could bulk prime in much less time than brushing.

When coming back to painting, I knew I wanted to keep priming with an airbrush, but watching folks cover Zenithal highlighting, I wanted to go that extra step. I also saw a recommendation from Ninjon for a portable airbrush. It was only $60 at the time and I figured if this makes it easier for me to pick up minis and airbrush, it's worth it. Now that I have a backyard and a garage I can go there and airbrush without getting the full kit out.

Okay, on to Zenithal highlighting. This... didn't go so great. After some testing, I figured it came down to the paints I was using. I picked up Army Painter Air Primer in black & white. Painting in black went on mostly fine. Black was okay (clogged a little, but not too bad), while white clogged constantly and had big clumps in the hopper. It looked like the paint had curdled! Well, based on a few people complaining on reddit, I don't think it was me. This just wasn't going to work.

Moving on, I went back to the primer I used previously, Vallejo. Vallejo black + flow improver went far more smoothly than Army Painter, and while I didn't get clogs for doing the same with white I still didn't get the smooth results I was looking for. The third try was the charm. What ended up working for me was the same Vallejo black mix followed by a Daler-Romeny white ink + flow improver. That got me much finer spray and far far more control on the highlighting.

This was my first disappointment with Army Painter... but it won't be my last. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the results (I really should've!), but will start taking some pics going forward.