Air brushing luftwaffe mottle camo

[r4_rick]

Evening all
I’m getting fine splatter when I try to do the circles and blodges etc or mottle camo.
I’m thinning the paint more
Using low pressure

But I’m still using the cheap airbrush that came with the expo compressor I bought

Is the answer a decent airbrush with a 0.2 needle ?

[Bacon Is Proof]

Turn the splatter into bullet holes.
Add a nearby model of a Wellington with my grandfather in the back to add context.

Apologies, I have nothing sensible to offer.

[Yertis]

One method I used was to cut random blobby stencils into thin card using a hole punch (this for 1/72) obviously allowing sufficient space arouynd to prevent overspray. Hold the mask a centimeter or so off the surface and do a couple of quick passes with the airbrush. Alternatively buy a decent double action airbrush but even then it's still a bit of an art.

[Explorer1959]

As Yertis says.

Check you aren’t getting paint building up around the rim of the nozzle as you spray. That will cause splattering.

I have a decent airbrush with a 0.2 needle and that will splatter if wet paint builds up in the nozzle.

[jamieduff1981]

A good dual action internal mix airbrush is never a bad thing. Some paints work better than others also. Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I find enamel and lacquer paints far easier to control in this context than water dispersible paints, owing to the evaporative and viscosity properties of each type. Solvent thinned paints can be thinned further than water dispersible paints, and are less prone to drying on the airbrush needle tip which is the primary cause of clogging and/or spattering.

[dr_gn]

Tamiya specify lacquer paint for the mottling on their 1:72 Hien. I’ve never been able to do it well, but only used acrylics which tend to dry rapidly on the nozzle and spatter. Enamels and lacquers don’t dry as fast and are sometimes smoother. I think Robemcdonald did the mottling in his 1:48 Hien freehand with an airbrush. Not sure what paint he used but it looked fantastic.

[r159]

You could try a retarder, I've started using a Vallejo one with Tamiya and their own paints and its helped me.

[r4_rick]

thanks everyone great feedback...appears it may not be the airbrush....but i did order a nice H&S one at lunchtime today which turns up tomorrow !
will get my 40 year old enamels out and give them a bash and give the tip a thorough clean
getting back into the modelling is certainly helping these winter nights pass !

[robemcdonald]

I used Tamiya acrylics on the hien.

Lacquers would have been a better choice though.

Not quite as good as advertised though on my paint job.