How to Airbrush Gradients, Create Shading and use Metallics - your FAQs 

as a guy with a disability my self knowing H&S are willing to go beyond the call of duty to help some one with a sort of impairment goes a long way with me

Please be sure to let anyone who might benefit know to email me personally on wjs@harder-airbrush.de Thanks both!

Very much so. As someone in early stages of tendonitis, I may need to request something like that eventually.

Exactly buddy - we are all aspiring painters not aspiring airbrush mechanics!

@@harderairbrush ✌️👍💜😀😀🤣🤣

Ah man thank you so much for writing to us! It’s been a bit of a struggle to keep up with demand for the new products for everyone leading up to Christmas, so for anyone who we didn’t get to before Christmas, our sincere apologies, but very happy that your experience of us has been good! Happy painting and thanks for joining us!

Ah man I love your comments!!!! W

@@harderairbrush my life is now complete. (Almost) looks like another chameleon now 😎

@harderairbrush thank you and like I said before I could listen to you talk about airbrushes and airbrushing all day.

Thanks a lot Paul.

Thank you Paolo!

Thanks buddy - we really enjoy that... appreciate your comment :-)

ITS HERE!!!!!

Ha BRILLIANT!

Pleasure Kammmm - thanks for joining us with your Black Edition Squevo!

Thanks very much Daniel!

Thanks very much! Glad they are helpful.

Thank you for joining us Nathan!

Thanks very much for your comments and support :-)

Thank you very much for joining us Martin!

Thank you very much for considering joining us!

Thank you, Moustachioed Paul :-)

Hey there - really glad that you're finding it useful! If you're looking at your first airbrush, and you've not airbrushed before, I would really encourage you to think about the ULTRA 2024 rather than jumping in with the Infinity. The ULTRA really has several features which are specifically aimed at making life pleasurable in those first few hours of airbrushing, as well as building good habits in how you handle the airbrush, setting you up for maximum success as you progress to more detailed work and specialised equipment. I can assure you that the ULTRA will always remain useful, no matter what other airbrushes you might add to the hangar later on!

@@harderairbrush Thank you for this advice. While I never airbrushed I know myself enough to know that pinching the cap to mix paint and creating backflow will for sure be something I'll be doing. That's why I started thinking about Infinity. Well that and the fact Ultra 2024 has less space for finger I think. Due to a bit callous fingertip I have deep grip of every tool I'm using, brushes, pens, etc. But after your advice, I think I might go with Ultra and in few months who knows, maybe Infinity 2024 (wink wink) will have more space for finger, or maybe a paint cup installed at an angle for more space (if it's even possible).

You can always install an Evo 2024 head to the Ultra later too 👍🏻

Hey Daniel - ah man we would like to have you join us! Honestly, if you're airbrushing already to a certain level i.e. you have the trigger under full control really, then I'd advise you to look at the EVOLUTION 2024. We will be launching something rather remarkable later in the year too though, and if you've been airbrushing for that long, then perhaps consider holding out for an Infinity ;-) Our warranty is 5 years right now, but quite honestly, it's a bit irrelevant on airbrushes. It really depends much more on the company. For example, no-one can warranty needles and nozzles or seals, for example, so what's left? The body, the working parts - honestly, if anyone was able to come to us and show that they have worn their airbrush out, I think I'd probably give them a new one so that I could study their old one! I have traded a couple of old ones for expressly that reason in the last couple of years, actually, as we were designing into the 2024 models. It's more about customer care, and being there for the long term than whatever the paper says in my opinion. I think our stance on that sort of thing is pretty clear :-)

Thanks for joining us!

We love doing this. Actually just solving a problem for someone right now which has shown me that we can make something really useful for people who have lost/ lost the use of one hand. We will announce it soon. We are really happy with it. W

Thank you - it’s coming!

It’s true! It’s NOT a carpet! 😊

Sure - we have several demo videos out too, but making every video a demo really slows down how much content we can out out. The idea is to really get as much knowledge out there first and then home in on the popular topics.

Sounds awesome!

No comment ;-)

Hey buddy - gosh how embarrassing! So sorry about that! If you ordered right then at the start of the campaign you definitely should have received it by now! Very odd. We are somewhat behind where we would like to be in fulfilment quite honestly, but nowhere near that far! Whilst I’m familiar with your marvellous channel I actually don’t know which customer you are :-) so if you could send ME an email with your order number at wjs@harder-airbrush.de I will get on it and find out what the problem is. I will also then be able to search for your other emails in the general inbox and hopefully then find out why they have gone unanswered. It’s certainly not due to lack of effort from the team, so there may be some other issue which we need to learn about. We have had some issues with spam filtration in the past. Anyway, please email me with your order number and I’ll get back to you with all the details. Thanks for writing.

No worries! Thanks for the help. I'll send you over an email today. @@harderairbrush

Thank you! We will :-)

Hola :-) ya puedes comprarlo desde el siguiente enlace y te lo enviaremos a España, no hay problema. www.harderairbrush.com

Thanks! You too!

Thank you - and to you too!

Enjoy bud! You’ll do great!

In order of speed, I'd recommend adjusting your air pressure first; then try different paint/thinner mix ratios; finally do a gradual disassembly of your brush checking each part closely for damage.

Check your trigger technique first. Should be push down for air, pull back for paint, press forward to stop paint, let up to stop air. LOTS of people do the first two steps, and then just release the trigger. On any conventional double action airbrush (except our new ULTRA 2024) the paint will always stop slightly after the air, and this means that the next time you press down on the trigger, the little bit of paint sitting on the end of you needle will blow off as some dots. After that, check your thin ratios - 1:1 or more. pressure - around 25psi, and after that you might be looking at damage. Hope that helps!

It's an interesting question... our goal is to give a good finish on the needle straight out the factory. I think that we have rather a good process for this, which as far as I know is unique to us. Here's the secret about needles, though... more important than the finish is the sharpness of the step from the first taper to the final one. This is critical. Polishing needles usually rounds this edge off. And that is NOT beneficial. I am sure that a mirror finished needle would probably give an incremental difference in performance on the positive side, BUT I do know that rounding the sharpness of the taper step offers a much bigger performance degradation. However, I also know from personal experience that polishing single taper needles does improve their performance. We used to do it here, and I used to do it 25 years ago for myself and my friends back in the day. However, the performance increase of going to the double taper needle totally blows that away. So if you have an old style airbrush with a single taper needle, go ahead, but if you have a double taper, I'd advise against it. Just a touch too much, and you'll lose reliability on your very fine work.

@@harderairbrush huh... Interesting. I might give this a go on the bad airbrush. It does not have the double taper. But this reasoning is very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to detail this in such manner! :)

Thank you for that - you are right... I will give that comment some more thought...

thin you paints more, and perhaps use an ink paint schmincke or liquitex or use more thinner and build the white like Warrick is telling about in this vid.

It's an interesting question! Firstly, correct thinning ratio. Try to think of the airbrush in terms of what is required to make atomisation... Energy, of some kind, is required. This energy is the airflow. Thicker paint, needs more energy... MORE paint (i.e. larger trigger pulls) needs more energy... so to make the optimal scenario for the airbrush when looking for a super smooth atomisation, balance this equation towards a surplus of atomisation energy i.e. thin paint, and small layers, slowly built. BUT don't forget, there are circumstances when limited atomisation is awesome too... very fine, tight defined work: lower atomisation, less spread, tighter lines/ spots etc... this works better by balance the equation the other way to limit atomisation: paint a little less thin, air pressure a little lower... thinking of the air as atomisation energy, and optimising the paint mix according to which atomisation profile you need, is a really useful way to think about how to set up for whichever tasks you're aiming for. Paint:Air ratio: more bias to Air = more atomisation... more bias to Paint = more definition for fine work.

Beware of obsessive airbrushing! :-) my advice is that whatever way you can most easily get the results that you're looking for, is the right way. If it's a brush, do that... if you particularly want a very low profile finish, masking with very light coats works great. By the way, a great tip for any kind of masking is to blow a very fine mist of the BASE colour over the mask edge before going into it with the new colour. This seals the edge against any bleeds. It's such a great tip. I forgot who taught me that, but I wish I could remember, as they really deserve credit for that! Liquid masking is also very interesting... a little more skill required, but it does give some fantastic possibilities.

Squeeeeeevooooooo!!!!!!

While you wait for an official reply, I would recommend that: 1. Even if you're painting just the same colour (eg. primer) for an extended session, frequently do a quick clean as if you are changing colours, perhaps after priming 4 or 5 minis. 2. Depending on your environment condensation can still build up in your airline, after the water trap at the compressor. You can get an additional small inline trap that attaches to the base of your airbrush and can be quickly emptied with a simple press on the drain plug.

@@richardrussell7082 thanks for your fast answers I’ll try this

Most people seem to paint with the paint far too thick. I think this stems from paint manufacturers saying that their paints are airbrush-ready, which people have misinterpreted as "no need to thin". I've never yet found an airbrush paint which didn't benefit from further thinning. A couple of thin coats is always superior than a single coat of thicker paint. Superior in what ways? Fineness of coating; adhesion; robustness; preservation of moulded detail; less prone to clogging - it's endless! The only time when thicker paint is good is when you want to inhibit atomisation: creating texture, or creating very sharp detail with sharp edges. The best way to prevent clogging with the airbrush is to accept that there it will always happen. Don't ever expect that it won't - there's no secret sauce, special thinner etc - it's just a cumulative use of measures to keep it at distance :-) so, point the airbrush away from the work every now and then and give it a quick full pull to send some wet paint out over the needle tip, followed by a short press to clean it; use of the brush to keep the needle tip clean *(the most important one!)*; a quick preventative clean in between colour changes. These things are always quick and save all the time that an actual clog would cause. Re the water - you definitely will not need a filter on the airbrush, if you already have one at the compressor outlet. It is almost certainly that you have left your hose connected at both ends after a spraying session, or what the disconnected end is blocked by a quick disconnect. Make sure, when you leave you hose, that at least one end is open to air. Otherwise, when the air inside the hose cools overnight, condensation will appear, and it won't find its way through to your airbrush until mid-way through your session. Then people always think that the moisture happened during the session - it didn't, I promise :-) Hope all that helps!

@@harderairbrush Thank you for the detailed answer. Yes, accepting the inevitable sounds good, for airbrushing and also otherwise in life. I won't fill the cup so full in future and prefer to spray cleaner from time to time. And more dilution also suits, I can be even more generous with it. As for the water, you're right, I've always left the hose on the compressor and also have a quick coupling to the gun. This time I have detached it and hung it up to dry, which should solve the problem. Thanks again for the effort you put into the answers, I feel very well looked after by H&S and you.

Hey there... generally I'll start the Zenithal on I and then detail it a bit more with II... I think that the PRIME setting would be way too much for a Zenithal. However, please remember that the collar is only there to help give you a feel for the trigger... as soon as it starts to get in your way creatively, stop using it, and use a free trigger.

Hey there buddy - absolutely. It's all coming soon. Stay tuned :-) glad to hear that you're progressing so well!

Thanks Peter - now corrected.

Hey buddy... honestly, I've never yet met an "airbrush ready" paint which is airbrush ready. Having said that, I do find that the Vallejo colours generally are extremely reliable when thinned 1:1 as a minimum. Almost every circumstance, I would be using even their Air colours at a minimum of 1:1 and often thinned more. The ONLY circumstance that I might use them unthinned would be at large trigger openings with very low pressure, to create rocky texture. I tend to regard "airbrush ready" as meaning "suitable for airbrush" because I always end up thinning them.

Thanks Warwick@@harderairbrush . I'll try a 1:1 ratio then. Happy New Year.

Thank you very much! Always the same question: if we were in that circumstance, what would we hope for? So the answer is easy...

Custom accessibility modifications? Great stuff.

It is indeed Mr Box!

Hopefully you can see much of these techniques shown in our demo videos. If we ONLY make demo videos it really slows down the pace of how much knowledge we can share. So we do the mix :-) hopefully that works well!

@@harderairbrush very true! I can’t wait for my Ultra to arrive. Ordered it early in December but seems like it’s been a hugely popular release so not had it yet, many people who have been nervous to try an airbrush for years like myself are now taking the plunge. Seems like an amazing product and these videos give us that hand hold we need in the early stages.

Yes, absolute nonsense. The same as a “primer airbrush”. Surely we want to put primer down with the same perfection and control as anything else?

i've seen a few on tube sayin the exact same thing lol

Grazie :-)