Ok how do lens cloths and Blue-Tac find their way into a top tips article on a table top games hobby site? Well notwithstanding the fact that I wear glasses and I need them to keep said glasses clean they can also be really useful when you are using an airbrush. Or at least I’ve found that they can be really useful and this is what I want to share with you.
At Adepticon (2016) I picked up a couple of new airbrushes with the intention of really getting to grips with using them. My first project with them as a Reaper Mountain Troll but in true ‘getting a bit carried away with things’ I didn’t really plan things out properly. The result was that had painted the club before I had finished painting all the skin and I didn’t trust myself enough not to get overspray all over the club when I came back to finish off the skin. So I was looking for something to use to mask the club but was worried about using tape in case I lifted the paint when I peeled it off. But sitting on a shelf above my desk was an old lens cloth and I thought it might just do the job.
The very nature of a lens cloth means it is very smooth so it’s extremely unlikely that it will damage any existing paint work. Also because it is so soft and smooth it is also very malleable so you can work it into some really tight areas. In this case all I need to do was wrap it round the club keeping it very tight to the hand. Job done I finished off the skin without worrying about any overspray getting on the club.
Now with one success under my belt I’ve keep the lens cloth close at hand in case I need it for something else. That something else turned up in the case of the Wild West Exodus Black Hoof Scout. I’d already started work on the horse itself without giving to much thought to the rider. But as things started to come together on the horse I decided I wanted the rider to have the same colour scheme as my un-mounted scouts. The problem there was that I had used the airbrush on the scouts I again I didn’t trust myself not to get overspray on areas I had already painted.
Step up the lens cloth. But this time it was going to use it in conjunction with some Blue-Tac. What I did was to position the lens cloth as close as could to the rider and then used a bit of Blue-Tac to fill in any gaps. And another quick tip is that cheap not very sticky Blue-Tac works best.
As you can see from the picture above the combination of Blue-Tac and Lens Cloth allows you to accurately mask off a large area with the minimum of fuss. For smaller areas you can use Blue-Tac on its own as a simple and effective option.
I now keep a couple of lens cloths and some Blue-Tac on my work desk so that I know where they are if I need them. And with me wanting to do work with the airbrush I’m sure they will start to become just one of those things I use without really thinking about it.
