5) I have a wet palette for my regular paints and this is really useful when mixing as I can save the paints for days. If I mix the paints in their own bottle are they just going to dry up anyway since they were exposed to air? If so, is there anything I can do to save mixed airbrush colors I mix?
6) I have an airbrush cleaning container that I can use to empty the gun and then run clean water through it. Are there any other must-have tools I should look into?
7) Any major pitfalls for the airbrush I need to look out for?
#5 - In their own bottle? The thinner will eventually deteriorate the paint. That's why you generally don't want to thin
any paint in the bottle. If it is a color you're going to be using vast quantities of, consider buying and airbrush version of that color. If it's primer, I strongly, highly, super-recommend Badger Stynlrez primer. You can get it in black, white, gray, and colored, and the bottles are big enough to last forever. And it's good on practically everything.
#s 6 and 7. Yes, a few.
~Get thee a respirator. I use
this one. Acrylic is non-toxic, but as soon as you start spraying, micro-sized particles of dried acrylic float around in the air. It's non-toxic, but particles like that are decidedly not good for your lungs. If you're going to be spraying anything other than acrylic through it, get a cartridge for it that handles
organic vapors.
~You didn't mention your compressor. It's pretty important, too. Is it dual chamber or single chamber? Adjustable? Here I'll just copy-paste my own notes on air pressure for you:
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• Adjust pressure and experiment!
• Lower pressure
○ Not as smooth
○ More control
○ Helps with fine details
• Higher pressure
○ Atomizes better - smoother edges
○ Smoother lines
○ Harder to control
• Take notes
• In general, paint at the lowest pressure that gets a smooth coat
• Start at 18 PSI
• Adjust air pressure with trigger pushed
The important points there are to pay attention and experiment, and to keep the trigger pulled when you're setting the air pressure. Turn the compressor on, let it equalize, then hold in the trigger and set the pressure you want to paint with. The reason is that when you let go of the trigger and the brush seals, the pressure is different than when the line is open. Set the pressure with it closed, and it drops when you start painting.
~Learn to field strip that sucker. You'll be doing it a lot. You'll be doing it between sessions to clean it. You'll be doing it when it clogs. Learn where the parts go, take it apart and put it back together a few times. This is frustrating at first, but becomes second nature soon. It's the solution to many of your headaches. But be very, very careful of the needle - bend the tip, even a little, and that needle is shot. You won't be airbrushing until you replace it. It isn't a bad idea to buy an extra and keep that on hand.
~Limit your sources. There are a thousand great videos and how-tos out there, and they're all a little different. You'll just give yourself a headache trying to learn from all of them at once. Worse yet, most of them aren't designed for miniature painters at all. Most miniature painters just show you how they apply their skills without actually teaching you those skills. About 99% of the guides and videos you see out there fall into two categories: The day-one basics (which side is the front, how not to spray paint in your eye), and the year-two advanced ("Here I faded the three colors together and applied a filter!".) There are very few that show you the rest of year one. The best source I've found so far isn't directed at miniatures at all. [URLhttps://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0890249571/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1]Airbrushing for Scale Modelers[/URL].
~The real way to learn is to experiment. Get some green army men, or some sheets of paper and play. Write your name. Do stupid things. Make a line. Turn the pressure up. Make the same line. Turn the pressure down. Make the same line again. Make a rainbow. Draw a 10x10 grid. Now put dots in the center of all of the squares without touching the lines. Play some more. And take notes!
Some tips:
~Get thee some
91% isopropyl alcohol. It's like a buck from the first aid section at Walmart. It's better than 90% of the airbrush cleaning solutions on the market.
~Make sure you have proper cleaning tools for your brush.
~Multiple light coats is better than a single, heavy coat.
~Paint tends to be heavier in the center of the spray pattern. If you want an even coat, spray from off of the surface, over the surface, and back off of the surface (ie - start spraying in the air and move it across the model), and slightly overlap the coats, sort of like you're mowing the lawn, so that the thin are from one line overlaps the thin area from the previous line.
~Understand that there are a number of factors that all go into the final result: Air pressure, how much the paint is thinned, and your distance from the model are the big ones.
~If you are getting a grainy, pebbly surface, it means that your paint is half dry before hitting the surface. Your pressure is probably too high (the paint is atomized into smaller, faster-drying droplets), and/or you're too far away (giving the droplets more time in the air before they hit the surface.)
~If you are getting paint spidering...
...your paint is probably too thin, or you're too close. You're spraying water at the surface and then blowing it around. It's 'splashing'.
~If it is spattering (hitting the surface with drops of paint instead of a mist), it isn't atomizing and you're tossing drops of paint at the surface. It's either too thick, the pressure is too low, or both.
~If it is sputtering or sounds anything but like a smooth, even hiss, your brush is dirty. Pay special attention to the nozzle and the needle.
~Periodically dab the nozzle. A paper towel with a bit of alcohol is your friend.
~Run a bit of alcohol through the brush between colors to both clear the color and to prevent build-up.
What doesn't kill me makes me stranger.