Airbrushing, Paint Racks and the Watermill!

I have been very busy recently. I have a figure sculpting job on at the moment. I am really enjoying it as it is the first commercial sculpting job I have done for a while. Also the artwork supplied was well thought out and is making my job easier…

Anyway, I can’t show any photos of that job at the moment, and as I am concentrating on it, I don’t have much else to show off at the moment.

Work on the Watermill is progressing, although it has slowed now that the main development is done. I am finishing off the terrain at the moment and will soon move on to painting and then finally adding the water. I also have to decide on what figures I want to put on it. I am thinking that a typical fantasy scene is probably in order. A raid on the watermill with the inhabitants defending as best they can! I am going to have to look through my collection to find suitable figures for the inhabitants and also the raiders. The inhabitants will certainly be humans, but the raiders can be more flexible. I have plenty of Dark Elves, Undead or possibly even a barbarian horde.

I am also considering how I am going to paint my Critical Mass Games Praesentia 15mm grav-tanks (and possibly the Praesentia figures too). I am considering airbrushing them. I haven’t used an airbrush in 25 years, and even then it was for painting actual paintings, not work on models.

Although not exclusively airbrushed, both of these paintings have some airbrush work on them!

Anyway, I still have my airbrushes and my compressor, so it seems about time that I tried them out for model making uses.

When it comes to painting figures I have a large collection of paints, some dating right back to the very first Games Workshop colours. However, recently I have become very fond of the large Vallejo range. So it seemed logical to try the Vallejo Model paints for my experiments with spraying. Last week I bought the Model Air Basic Set. I am just awaiting the arrival of a bottle of Vallejo Acrylic Airbrush thinner and cleaner. Once I have them I will be ready to start experimenting!

Just to get back to the laser cutter. Now that I have settled on the Vallejo paints I decided to build myself a paint rack. I have seen several companies paint racks, and it is simple enough to knock one out on the laser cutter, and I had some spare time this week.

This seemed like a good idea. A small hole in the base plate so that near empty bottles can be kept upside down.

Anyone who knows a little about art theory may recognise the Golden Mean/Section in the curve I have used for the side plates.

I am planning on making a second Paint Rack that will hold the bottle Airbrush Cleaner as well as the the selection of Model Air paints too.