I’m new to the air brush scene, and I was so excited when the order arrived from Army Painter. Not knowing what I was doing I loaded the primer in my air gun and primed all my miniatures. The gray primer spit out of the gun (thought maybe it was the air pressure), but I was able to get them coated ok. Then I decided to give them a black undercoating. This is where my issues started and ended with the best customer support ever!
First impressions of Army Painter Paints
After shaking the little black bottle, it came out like toothpaste. Being new I thought I just had to add the Airbrush Medium. So, I kept adding it and stirring it till it was a milky liquid (took a lot of Airbrush Medium). Put it in the air gun and kind of spit out a little and then clogged the gun. I fought with it for 2 hours.
I tried everything I could think of. Maybe I didn’t have it mixed up, so I shook the heck out of it, maybe I mixed it wrong (so I dumped what I had) and started over. Nothing I did made the black work right. I was ½ way through the bottle of black paint and still no flowing liquid was coming out. At this point I was starting to think it was the paint. Sooooo let me try the white I decided.
Second Attempt
I sat down in front of the TV and watched a movie the entire time shaking that white bottle. Faintly hear the marble thing inside hitting the top and bottom. I was really winging that thing, made my arm hurt but I was determined. Felt like a sin to rewatch “Serenity” shaking a bottle. I went back to my air gun. This time it came out, well reminded me of what you get in a tube of Acrylic Paint for brushes. There was no way I was putting that in the air gun. Was tired of ripping the air gun apart, cleaning it and putting it back together. I have already done that so many times I could do it blind folded like a soldier doing time trials with his rifle.
I sat there and stared at the little white blob of paint sitting on the cardboard. This was about the time I decided to try a little experiment. I took a few drops of Airbrush Medium on the white blob and used a stick to try to mix it in. If you look closely, you could see little clumps that looked like cottage cheese that wouldn’t mix into the Airbrush Medium no matter what you tried.
What to do
I was all set to start the return process to send these back to amazon when I found a little note in the package.
What do I have to lose? So, I shot them an email half expecting it to go off into the either and never be seen or get some auto reply telling me “Sorry for your bad luck.” I was VERY shocked that within an hour someone got back to me. They wanted more info and pictures all the time being very supportive and friendly. This hands down had to be the best customer experience I have ever had. Army Painter support is the best!
Come to find out that my Air paints had been frozen at some time before I got my hands on it. Considering that it got down to -30 degrees this winter I can see that happening. They shipped out replacements. I’m a little sad that I can’t play with my new airbrush, but considering I found a company that is willing to stand behind their product it’s worth it!
Be sure to check out our new redone website at tectuma.com.