[Hathaway Veteran]

Another answer is that airbrushing can improve painting significantly over hand brushing especially on paper. Airbrushes were originally developed to apply ink, but they are equally good for water color and acrylics – all which work well on paper.

Airbrushes come essentially in two types: single action and double action. Single action means the air flow only is controlled by depressing the trigger pad on the top. Paint volume adjustment is done separately. These are easy to use tools.

Double action airbrushes, which are used by many artists mean that depressing the trigger pad on top controls both air and paint flow. These require patience and practice. Historically they have had open top paint cups on the side of the nozzle, making for a steady hand to not spill the contents. More recently and depending on brand, these cups come with lids. A relatively new invention for these is a large external trigger grip allowing more control of painting and simplifying manipulation of the trigger tab. The Iwata brand of airbrushes pioneers this. However, these airbrushes tend to be expensive.

Just about any compressor is good, but noise can be an issue so try and look for low cost piston-driven models (Sears or Campbell Hausfeld) although hobby specific models from Badger will also work. Be advised that you may wish to consider a water vapor trap, which sits in-line between the compressor air connection and the airbrush hose. Depending on moisture in the air wherever one is, small nodules of water can pass through the airline through the airbrush and paint making for a mess on the surface of what you are painting.

I am not aware of any specific guides for airbrushing ships. There are numerous books available (do a Google or Amazon search) and also try how-to’s on Fine Scale Modeler (Kalmbach Publications). FSM should be available in hobby shops in Canada.

Airbrush brands to consider are Binks, Badger, Paasche, Iwata, but be advised some of these can be very expensive. Try your local hobby shop, art store and the Internet. Most people starting out try simple to lower cost models to practice using before spending several hundred dollars on more advanced models.