More Tools for Painting

I got a couple of unexpected items tonight when I was visiting my folks. I've recently started in the hobby of painting miniatures and I'm enjoying the work I've been doing. So much so that I've been getting more paints, more brushes, the Citadel Paint Gun, and I've been giving serious consideration towards the possibility of getting a compressor and an airbrush.

Now, both my father and my younger brother are more mechanically inclined and my father does a lot of carpentry and other forms of wood work as well.  Given that I decided to pick up a compressor and having noticed a small two-gallon model at a modest enough price ($100), I asked my father if he could keep his eyes open for possible sales for this sort of thing for the express purpose of airbrushing.

He informs me that he actually has one that has been sitting around collecting dust for several years which he'd be happy to give. Admittedly, it looks dirty and old but when we pulled it out and cleaned it up a bit, we fired it up and it worked like a charm!

It's a diaphragm compressor and it delivers the ideal pressure needed for things such as airbrushing and the like.  My dad also tells me that I should speak to mom about an airbrush.

As it turns out, my mom had an airbrush kit which she got back in 1990 -- it's new and never used.  Just over 20 years now, my mom used to work a lot with ceramic and my grandfather got her this airbrush kit as a gift. For whatever reason, she never got around to using the airbrush and moved on from ceramics to other hobbies and creative interests.  It's a nice kit and since I've started looking for airbrushes, the Paasche brand has come up a couple of times with positive comments.

This kit comes with different nozzles which, I figure goes with how fine your work needs to be, there's a handy little booklet with exercises to try to sharpen ones various techniques.  This is something I will need to play around with before taking it to the miniatures.

In any event, my mom was very happy to give me the airbrush kit knowing full well that it will finally be seeing plenty of use. I think my father was equally happy if not happier to give me the compressor.  I'm usually the 'tech' guy as opposed to the mechanic in the family.  Usually tools tend to go to my younger brother.  :)

M