Razorback WIP 2

All this blue... can you tell I paint Ultramarines...?

Well, today was the day. The day when I cracked open my spray gun and made a red-hot go of it. Primarily, it was three things: Educational, messy, and disappointing.
Firstly, this is how the exterior of my Razorback started:

Basic black undercoat with masking tape over the hole to protect the finished interior. I decided, according to the How to Paint Citadel Miniatures book, to give it an undercoat of Macragge Blue, followed by a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade, followed by Altdorf Guard Blue and Calgar Blue. I would then assess my drybrushing and glazing options. I began by getting a feel for the spray gun. It was a cheapie, at $32 with a slightly adjustable nozzle. It made undercoating a breeze. I followed this with washing the recesses... I wanted to get a really definite shadow, maybe venture a little into an exaggerated, comic-book type colour style to accentuate the chunky nature of the tank. The downside to this was that the wash pooled according to gravity and also took forever to dry, so I had to keep turning the tank to get the wash to distribute evenly. Perhaps next time I will just have to be patient and apply it in layers, or let go of the deep shadow recess idea, or achieve it using darker undercoats instead.

Razorback after base coat and wash.

Here's where it all went pear-shaped. I intended to apply the next layer with a brush, because my cheap spray gun didn't have a fine enough setting to get the accuracy I wanted. The brush I used, another cheap purchase from the same hobby store, was very streaky, even after I attempted various ratios of water to paint on my mixing palette. So I decided to use the spray gun after all. Unfortunately, applying the next layer of paint using the spray gun basically obliterated any detail I had tried to achieve with the wash. Furthermore, the spray gun refused to co-operate, dispensing varying amounts of paint, even after I had re-stocked the bottle to make sure that there was enough paint in it. It is here that I saw the value in Garfy's technique, which I've linked to in the previous post: in order for the shading to blend in, you have to spray a fine mist of the same colour over the model. As I was using a wash and not a more solid paint, this was not an option for me (as far as I am aware). I am left with a model with too much paint on it to start again, but with a very nice interior... I will probably just keep it amongst my other bits and bobs on the chance that I need it or feel like trying to rescue it one day.

I ended up throwing out the spray gun, because it wasn't of great quality, the air canister seemed particularly unsafe (constantly leaking air and accumulating frost on the exterior), and I didn't want to have to clean it, I'll admit. The lessons I've learnt can be summed up this: 

1. Spray guns are great for base coats. 

2. Next time, stick with brushes for the rest. Brushes are fine, and afford a better level of control for me.

3. Buy quality equipment (sigh). This is a lesson I've relearnt several times.