Airbrush Zenithal advice please.

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Eilif
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Airbrush Zenithal advice please.

Postby Eilif » Thu Sep 15, 2022 12:27 pm

Hey folks,
I'd like Zenithal priming to be my first foray with my airbrush setup. I've got 10 starship crew members already primed black and all the airbrush paints and primers I could use.

I've read a few tutorials and it seems pretty straightforward but any advice you all have to offer world be appreciated.
-Karl
Chicago Skirmish Wargames Organizer

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jlopatin
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Re: Airbrush Zenithal advice please.

Postby jlopatin » Thu Sep 15, 2022 1:33 pm

use that turntable I gave you to make this really easy. I like to use a grey (maybe halfway between black and white) at a 45 degree angle to the model. Hold the airbrush still at this angle and then rotate the turntable.

I then do a bright white layer from the very top of the model. This gives you a quick and simple 3 layer zenithal...

If you want to get fancier, consider where the light source is coming from, and hit your white highlights from that point.

It's super simple and will give you a really good base to start from.
- Josh

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Michael S.
Final Highlights
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Re: Airbrush Zenithal advice please.

Postby Michael S. » Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:28 pm

Hi Karl,
If you don’t already know of her there is a woman online, her name is Dana Howl, she does a lot of painting advice on youtube. She has a subtle humor which I like. She does Zenithal priming which inspired me to try it on the Chaos Warrior unit I brought last Monday. I went lightly on the white over spray since I didn’t want to go too far with a new technique. It came out very good, especially with the cloaks on the figures. She also has a youtube on airbrushing as well which you may find helpful.
Michael

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Eilif
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Re: Airbrush Zenithal advice please.

Postby Eilif » Fri Sep 16, 2022 11:36 am

Thanks for the advice guys. Will be a learning curve I'm sure, but this all seems very doable. Looks like this weekend is filling up, but I think next weekend may be the maiden voyage of the steamship airbush!
-Karl
Chicago Skirmish Wargames Organizer

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timlillig
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Re: Airbrush Zenithal advice please.

Postby timlillig » Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:35 am

when I prime a lot of figs with an airbrush, I blu tack 3-8 of them to a paper plate and put that on my turntable. it makes it easy to get them from various angles then move them to dry while I do the next plate full.
-Tim

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Eilif
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Re: Airbrush Zenithal advice please.

Postby Eilif » Tue Sep 20, 2022 8:49 am

timlillig wrote:when I prime a lot of figs with an airbrush, I blu tack 3-8 of them to a paper plate and put that on my turntable. it makes it easy to get them from various angles then move them to dry while I do the next plate full.


Thanks Tim!

That reminds me, I think I have a block of dice, MW tank and ball of poster putty that belongs to you. They're on the game shelf for the next time you're over.
-Karl
Chicago Skirmish Wargames Organizer


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