Figured out how to use my HF airbrush

[Wrecker]

Well, I was procrastinating studying for my EIT exam this evening and decided I'd figure out how to use my Harbor Freight $4 airbrush. You definitely get what you pay for, but for $4 you can't really complain. It was my first time using an airbrush to actually paint something other than a solid color, and my third time using an airbrush ever. I think it turned out pretty good. I just watched some video's on youtube by Ed Hubbs on how to paint true fire and then went out into the garage and pulled this out of my azz. The pics kinda suck because of the flash of the camera and the lights inside, I'll take a pic of it tomorrow out in the sunlight. In person it looks a lot darker and the black is blacker. What do you guys think?

[666]

Did you use a template? A little practice and you will have it!!

[JasonInAugusta]

Looks good1 (need to remove the burrs from the edges of your stencil)

I watched the Ed Hubbs videos as well. His fire is a bit different (darker) than I'd like, but he's using a bunch of candy orange...less candy will brighten things up a bit.

You can also paint the flames without using so much candy then hit certain spots with candy apple red to add depth.

At iHobby I ran into the guys from House of Kolor...that meeting went rather well. They sent me home with more paint and stencils than I ever thought I'd be allowed to take on the plane.

They even hooked me up with the crew at iwata.


Can't wait to see how well your future attempts come out. That's damn good for a first attempt with a HF brush.

[Wrecker]

Originally Posted by 666

Did you use a template? A little practice and you will have it!!

Kinda.
I saw the ones Ed Hubbs was using and just cut out a piece of card board to look somewhat like it. It was a real hack job, but I was just wanted to see if I could even get it to remotely look right. The whole thing took like 30 minutes and I spent probably 15 of that getting the pos airbrush to work. I'll make a nice template now and hopefully pick up a decent airbrush and start doing some serious practicing.

[Wrecker]

Originally Posted by JasonInAugusta

Looks good1 (need to remove the burrs from the edges of your stencil)

I watched the Ed Hubbs videos as well. His fire is a bit different (darker) than I'd like, but he's using a bunch of candy orange...less candy will brighten things up a bit.

You can also paint the flames without using so much candy then hit certain spots with candy apple red to add depth.

At iHobby I ran into the guys from House of Kolor...that meeting went rather well. They sent me home with more paint and stencils than I ever thought I'd be allowed to take on the plane.

They even hooked me up with the crew at iwata.


Can't wait to see how well your future attempts come out. That's damn good for a first attempt with a HF brush.

Nice!
I agree, his stuff is a little darker than I would like, still freakin awesome though. I just used what I had laying around for paint. I did everything is Faskolor silver on top of the black and then just sprayed spaztix's anno orange over it all. Not really the right way to do it, but it's what I had left over from other stuff.

[chevy42083]

Looks good.

Is the airbrush really that bad to use? Ive thought of getting one (planning on this weekend actually). Not looking to do anything serious... probably just 5 or so bodies for myself.... with very little freehand work. I have a cheapy one from years ago, but it's a side load brush, which makes changing colors annoying.

I watched those vids also... but I wanna do lexan... not quite sure what process to do. So i'm gonna start making some kickass 2 liter bottles

[1BadJeepBruiser]

Damn dude I am seriously impressed, My gf's dad gave me an air brush...I really need to try it out some day...

[Wrecker]

Originally Posted by chevy42083

Looks good.

Is the airbrush really that bad to use? Ive thought of getting one (planning on this weekend actually). Not looking to do anything serious... probably just 5 or so bodies for myself.... with very little freehand work. I have a cheapy one from years ago, but it's a side load brush, which makes changing colors annoying.

I watched those vids also... but I wanna do lexan... not quite sure what process to do. So i'm gonna start making some kickass 2 liter bottles

Thanks!
If you're just planning to do solid colors it would work fine. I had to turn the psi way up in order for it to actually suck the paint out of the bottle, so for smaller stuff it's not going to be accurate at all. Half the time it wouldn't paint at all which was a pain. If you are going to get one I would suggest the $20 one they have. It's the one that's polished aluminum with the blue annodized back. It looks to be a little better quality and at least looks like the higher quality airbrushes.

Originally Posted by 1BadJeepBruiser

Damn dude I am seriously impressed, My gf's dad gave me an air brush...I really need to try it out some day...

Thanks Mike!
Definitely try it out, it's surprisingly easy and really fun.

[Wrecker]

Here's a little better pics of it in the sunlight. It's really hard to get the picture to turn out right with the candy colors.

[JasonInAugusta]

Good stuff.

Just add more overlapping layers at the bottom and you're set.

[Wrecker]

Originally Posted by JasonInAugusta

Good stuff.

Just add more overlapping layers at the bottom and you're set.

Thanks. That's the plan for next time. My roommates were complaining about the air compressor running while they were trying to go to bed so I had to cut it short.