I bought myself an airbrush and compressor when visiting my brother in law a little over a year ago (UK prices are so cheap compared to Norwegian...). Not done anything with it, other than verifying that it works. With a major work project finishing up in 1-2 months (been over a half year marathon) I am planning to take a week or two off work and feel like assembling or painting some of the models I have carefully stashed away waiting for better times. In that regard, I would really like to play around some with the airbrush, got a bunch of Imperial Guard tanks waiting on assembly, which would be great to paint with the airbrush as well. My worry is what happens with the quality of the air when you use it? I.e. mainly worried about if by using it, if I would be breathing in the paint particles. Do you guys use a mask when painting, or perhaps some ventilation system with an active coal filter?
Good questions! As I am also going to get an airbrush this year I am very interested in the answers as well.
@The Red Devil ...the thing you want is called a: Ventilated Spray Booth Here are two threads about airbrushing on ReaperMinis Forums. The poster to pay attention to is Knarthex: http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/69381-airbrush-tutorial-on-hangouts/ http://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/72523-spray-booth-recommendations/
Really depends on the paints your using as most are acrylic they are not toxic and you can't smell them, the cleaner on the other hand is so always spray away from yourself. You just need good ventilation, I spray in the loft which is a confined space and I don't get any vapour floating around, your using such low pressure compared to a conventional spray gun, Airbrush 20psi and it's short bursts not a constant flow. You get considerably more vapour from a spray can than an airbrush but if you want to use a booth or mask you can they are relatively cheap and easily available. You do get overspray so you will get paint on your surrounding area so make sure it's old and not wanted, what I tend to do it get a big cardboard box and place it behind where I spray to catch the overspray but be careful if you place it too close or the box is too small it catches the vapour and pushes it back out.
Thanks guys! Found another version/brand of the "TCP Global" booth mentioned in the link @pendrake posted at a Norwegian store so ordered it. The reviews I found on youtube for it was quite good, and I really liked how you fold it up as a briefcase for easy storage when you don't use it. Also found this DIY project: https://vent-works.com/blogs/the-ventilation-blog/15945741-diy-hobby-spray-booth Was considering it for a little while, as it would be easy to put together, but with limited space, I have no idea where I would put it when I am not working on painting the models.