When I first started to spray my Gunpla, I used the Tamiya color spray that costs about RM 15.00 per can (about 15 years ago). The last time I bought used a Tamiya spray can is during working with the model kit that I mentioned in Phase-2, which each can costs about RM 25.00. Now, a can of Tamiya spray can costs more than RM25, probably almost reaching RM30 or over.
Using the spray can is very costly, what's more if you're going to work on Gundam that requires a lot of different colors. So I decided to invest some money to buy a airbrush and a compressor so that I could spray using those small bottle acrylic paint, which would gives me a lot more choices of colors for my Gundam. So, here's the list of items that I have for the spraying.
1. Airbrush Handpiece (Price: above RM250)
I bought mine from a shop in Petaling Street of Kuala Lumpur. The brand of this handpiece is Sparmax, a Taiwanese company that specializes in making airbrush and compressor. The one that I have comes with a 7cc attached cup, and a 0.3mm nozzle double action hand piece.
2. Airbrush Compressor (Price: above RM500)
It is also bought from the same shop and it is also made by Sparmax. This compressor comes with a pressure regulator and moist trap. It is not designed to be used for long hour; the maximum operating time is 1 hour according to the instruction manual. The reason for it not able to operate for long hour is because it lacks an air tank. There's another model with an air tank, which costs more than RM700. So why didn't I buy that one instead? The reason is because I don't have enough cash for it and I'm in anxious mode because I've been waiting for 2 whole years to save cash for this thing. Yet, I have no complain about it because it still do the job.
3. Paint Stirrer (Price: about RM15.00)
Paint stirrer is what you need to stir the mixed paint. I bought mine from Tamiya. It comes in a packet with 2 inside it.
4. Mixing Bottle (Price: about RM20 to RM 30)
I have 2 different types of mixing bottle - 20 milliliters (6 of them) and 40 milliliters (6 of them). They are all from Tamiya, and I bought all of them online.
5. Masking tape (Price: about RM8 onwards)
The masking tape that I used is from Tamiya. It comes in different sizes and the bigger it is, the more costly it will be. The color of this masking tape is normally yellow. It is used to mask area that you don't want to be painted/sprayed. This thing is designed to be used for modelling, so don't use the masking tape that can be bought from stationary shop because those are not formulated for modelling purpose. I used those masking tape for once, and not only that there are still color leaking, it also pull off the masked paint surface, totally ruin everything.
6. Masking liquid (Price: about RM10)
Masking liquid function that same as masking liquid. The differences are it comes in liquid form and it could also pull off the color of the masked surface. The one that I have is from Mr Hobby. I use it to mask clear parts, and also to add extra masking to a masked surface of masking tape to cover up the loop holes.
7. Bamboo Stick (Get it from any supermarket or grocery store)
The normal bamboo stick used for barbecue can be used to hold the spraying parts for spraying purpose. I used them to hold the parts with the use of some masking tape (any type, but to stick the surface of a plastic part, I would use the one for modelling).
8. Polystyrene foam board
The polystyrene foam board can be bought from any stationary shop or you could even salvage them from any electrical item packaging. I used them to hold the bamboo stick mentioned above.
9. Swab
I used the swab for the purpose to wipe out some excessive color during applying panel line. It can be used to wipe on marker pen type color (water based) to produce weathering effect. There are some made by Tamiya called the precision swab, which comes in either the normal round shape or a triangular shape. I found that the triangular shape swab is good to be used on narrow surfaces, but on a wide surface, it is not that efficient as compare to the round type. They come in different sizes as well, and they costs about RM8.xx if you buy it online.
Conlusion
The necessary items over here are the airbrush handpiece and compressor because they are the necessary tool for spraying, or rather airbrushing a model. In a long run, the costs is a lot cheaper than using spray can. Although there are situation where spray can is much more efficient, but in my application, which I mostly do Gunpla, airbrushing is much more cost efficient because I'm dealing with mostly small parts. Masking tape is the next inline, because some Gunpla kit would require you to mask some surface to spray another color onto it. Then the mixing jar and the stirrer are necessary as well. The bamboo stick and foam board are a reference; it is not necessary that you should follow what I'm using, you might have your own way to hold the parts. Then, lastly the swab, which is not necessary if you're not going to apply i.e. panel line or weathering.
