This is it. This is the point where I lose my sanity and Alicia has to have the spare room redecorated with rubber tiles.
I've mentioned how I've been using my airbrush to basecoat these models, and in two cases to do some actual painting. Today I started painting Hastur, the penultimate monster in this oddessy of oddness. The airbrush is a must for him as his myriad of tentacles and other bits would have been a nightmare in terms of time and effort to paint with a regular brush.
But one thing I didn't realise was that I've been airbrushing with the smallest needle — 0.1mm — which is meant for fine details. I changed out the needle to a 0.3mm one and after filling the brush with a mix of Malefic Flesh and flow improver, I started to spray Hastur's horrid appendages.
Things were going well and I'd got to this stage...
...when the paint started to come out in blobs. No biggie, it's happened before, it's time to disassemble the brush and clean it out. After taking it apart, running airbrush cleaner and cold water through it, cleaning the needle, cup, and nozzle, and using the little wire brush thingy to remove any flakes of dried paint, I was putting it back together when this happened:
This is the nozzle, through which the needle passes as you pull back on the trigger to make the air and paint flow. As I was replacing it the thread, which should be to the right, snapped off inside the airbrush. Awesome. I have tried everything I can think of to get the little bit of thread out, to no avail. There's no way to grip it from inside the airbrush head in order to unscrew it.
I have other needles and nozzles in different sizes, so if this had just broken I could have swapped it out. But because there's about 1mm of metal jammed inside the airbrush, it's effectively useless. Yay.
So for now I'm back to using regular brushes and Christ is Hastur a pain in the arse. So many tentacles. And I still have Cthulhu, the largest model, to paint. Just because I managed to paint Tracy with brushes last year doesn't mean I want to do it again. I also wanted to use the airbrush to paint Hastur's robes and his cultist as they're yellow, a colour I cannot brush-paint to save my life.
The one slight saving grace is that the airbrush was a cheap one, so it's not like I just trashed an Iwata. Oh well, off to Amazon to see if I can get another one. Regular Monster May(hem) service will resume as soon as I calm down.
Always a nightmare when a tool breaks in such a way, have you tried putting a screw into the hole in the thread piece, then use that to unscrew the thread /
ReplyDeleteOoo that's an idea, thanks! I'll give it a go. I've ordered another cheapo airbrush that should be here Friday. I'll just have to slum it painting with an actual brush till then LOL
DeleteI've never used an airbrush. It's on my list of things to try sometime. Like venison. And possibly sex.
ReplyDeleteMaybe someday.
Anyway...the serious question: when this happened, did you use bad words, Matt?
You can only imagine. I'll never reach that fluency or volume ever again.
DeleteSorry to hear of your airbrush woes, I never used one either, (but I have had sex! and one day I plan on doing it with someone else there too!).
ReplyDeleteDon't know how big the aperture is that the piece is stuck in, the problem with using a screw is chances are the thread will b e in the same direction so if you aren't careful you end up driving it further in, if you can try pushing the back of a paintbrush in and easing it out. or as you aren't in a hurry wrap a little greenstuff around a metal pin or drill bit and push this into the hole then leave overnight and hopefully screw it out (works best if the piece isn't screwed in too tight.
Good luck, and hope this helps, cheers Roger.
The greenstuff idea is a good one, I'll dig it out and try it. Thanks, Roger! The aperture is about 2mm across, so basically I can barely see into it.
DeleteWhat a soul destroying accident,but it should be fixable, I'd try a soft wood peg tapped in then 'unscrewed' to get the broken thread out.
ReplyDeleteHastur, btw is a great sculp and looking good as far as you'd got.
It was bloody annoying, but luckily it's a cheap model. I'll try your idea of the wood peg too, thanks for sharing it!
DeleteI've had poor luck with airbrushes and am not very good at fixing things. The nozzle is very sensitive and easy to lose. I am at the point where I lose hope if I have to do anything with it. Hopefully you'll handle it better than me and I look forward to seeing Hastur done. It looks like a great sculpt!
ReplyDeleteThe airbrush is beyond repair, but the new one has turned up so yay! Unfortunately Hastur is proving to be a nightmare, not just in terms of the sculpt being a bugger to paint but also getting the yellow to not look crap.
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