Can you build and paint a sci fi spaceship without using an airbrush?

Well let`s see if I can. This is Games workshop Space Wolves Stormfang gunship.
It will take 25 different paint shades using a combination of base colors, layer, highlight, dry, and washes.
I have never painted one of these models before and my goal here is to see if this could be a relaxing way to paint a model without messing around with airbrushes.

Here it is with a black primer

I will post pics after each separate paint is applied.

I might be weird, but I really like cleaning the airbrush... It's a 'zen moment', when I actually take a quiet moment of break from the build, hone one of my most valued tools back to perfection, and can think through the next steps...

Thanks guys,
MIchu I will gladly send you my airbrush to clean!!!

I thought this model looked cool.It was quite expensive, but it is well detailed. THe sprue attachment points were a pain to clean up though.I wish they had put them in different places because they all need filing down. Tamiya does a great job with this -nice thin attachment points and many in places where they are not visible on the finished model.

The fit of the parts is very good.Many are keyed and click into place.

Carl

here is the gunship with all the base layer paints applied.I did actually strip it down and start over because it was really streaky.definitely need to thin the paints a bit to get a smoother finish. I am gradually learning how to use this paint.

next step is shadows and highlights of the colors

Well the gunship is virtually finished.I didn't do any WIP progess pics because it was hard to see the changes when I added highlights etc.

So here are my impressions.I did this to see if you could get a nice smooth paint job using Citadel paints. The answer at least in my hands is NO. Despite my best efforts I couldn't really get a smooth paint job at all.The piant is a little tricky to work with because it dries so quickly and is quite thick.As I progressed through the different paints I found that thinning the paint with water really helped and I also had to take care not to load too much paint on the brush or it would dry and the paint would then get really streaky.

The method of using layers of paints and highlights,washes and layer paints which are quite translucent does work well to give an impression of depth to the parts. I don't think I could ever build one of these to a standard that a good plastic modeler with an airbrush could do, but it was a lot of fun to do and nice change of pace from the Jupiter train I am also building.I could grab the gunship and paint a layer on while I was waiting for the epoxy to dry on the train.

So I will post some pictures later on.I bought a couple more of these kits.For the next one I am going to try airbrushing the base layer paints onto the model and then using a brush for the layers and highlights. I think this will give me a smoother base and potentially a smoother finish. After that I am going to dry airbrushing the base paint and some of the layer paints and just using the brush for shades and highlights so stay tuned for more fun with Games Workshop model kits and their Citadel paint range.

more pics

Thanks Impatience.I have a couple more of these to try. it was fun, but they are overpriced.

Nicely done darbyvet, it certainly looks good to me