Things to come... (shiny)

I have a most wonderful wife who decided to spoil me at Christmas this year by setting me up with everything I need to get started airbrushing. There was a great sale on a compressor with an 8 gallon tank before the holidays and it's been sitting boxed up waiting for an airbrush to compliment it. (Which was delayed greatly due to the move, new job, etc) While killing time before attending a show in another city on Tuesday, I used my phone (more on living in the future in a later Blog-Fu article) and Googled me up some art stores in the area and came into the possession of this beauty:

iwata Eclipse HP-BS

It's an iwata Eclipse HP-BS, 0.35mm nosel, dual action (can control both the flow of paint and air) with a small resevoir (which is all I need... did the below photo with it half full) and is supposed to be able to do hairline level work. It's going to take a fair amount of practice, but don't you worry, I will share my experiences of what works AND what doesn't work. You'll be able to see both successes and failures and learn at the same time I do. So far it seems like a quality and versatile product. Handles well and I'm getting the hang of adjusting the air and paint flow.. now I need to learn how to be consistent.

Also a thanks to the guys at Mercury Art & Craft Supershop who were very helpful and explained all that I needed to know. (confirming a bunch of what I'd already read, but also going over some of the airbrushes adjustment, care and upkeep) I'm big on appreciating customer service. (little known fact: Canadian politeness rarely extends to the service industry, since it's near-impossible to get fired here) I had tried emailing a couple online vendors/brands suggested by a few of the pro-art blogs around, (since their sites had an overwhelming selection) but nobody got back to me.

The compressor / tank is a Husky (Home Depot's brand) set that came with a whole bunch of attachments for filling all sorts of tires, painting walls, stapling and hammering. (It'll do anything up to 150 psi) The compressor is oil-less, which means cheaper and less maintenance, but louder. That's alright though, because it fills the tank pretty quickly and 8 gallons means it doesn't have to be on that often. Long hose means I can hide the unit away since it's got some size to it. Also, huge benefit of a tank over just buying a compressor means you get a constant stream of air, rather than all the noise and possible spurts as a compressor chugs away by itself.

I'll go into more detail on the compressor/tank and airbrush later and separately once I have a little more experience on them.

And yeah, I may be able to paint up a storm on minis, but I'm still not so good at the 2D artwork. I tell ya, I can't wait to start using this on models. I feel like Link, finding another one of his objects of power in one of his quests.

Also happened to wander into a GW while swag was being distributed, yay me.

Oh, and just because it fits my mood and feeling of creativity right now: