Review: Grex TG3 Combo

No new models this week.  I am going to write a quick review of the Grex combo kit I bought a few months ago.  Starting off I used to use the Testors Aztec diaphram compressor with whatever airgun they sent with that.  It worked okay for large areas and base coats.  Not the most even results all the time, but not terrible. From there I moved up to the Badger Anthem 155, great airbrush.  It has great control and consistency, but I still lacked a decent compressor and the Badger is no gravity fed.  Which, when paired with a lackluster compressor started leading to problems as I got into more advanced techniques like color modulation.

So, finally, I decided to step up and get a new compressor. Originally I was going to buy a tank compressor from a hardware store, but I really need a quiet compressor where I am living now.  So one day I stopped by my local hobby shop and talked to the owner about the grex kits he had in stock.  He was kind enough to let me try out the set he bought for himself and showed me some of the work he had used it for.  I really liked the pistol grip and got a sense of the sound the compressor generated.

With this in mind I told him I would be back the next week with the cash.  I will not lie, this set is not cheap, but he gave me a little bit of a discount, which I greatly appreciated.  About the price though, if you are seriously into this hobby, and really want a nice airbrush, buy this thing.

The compressor is very nice and quiet, it was less noisy than my TV at about 1/3 volume levels.  Next it has an automatic shutoff, so when you're not spraying, it stops running.  The hose is nice and flexible and does not hinder hand movement.  The attached pressure regulator and moisture trap are a great feature and something my old compressor did not have.  It's got suction cup feet which help dampen vibration and thus more noise.

Moving onto the airbrush.  This product is awesome!  The grip is so comfortable and easy to control, even for fine details.  This is one thing I was originally apprehensive about, will I get the same amount of control as I do out of the stylus?  Absolutely, and with more comfort!  All of the parts come apart super simple for cleaning and the pin is easy to change.  Paint comes off of the stainless coating very nicely. At least acrylic, I have not tried it with enamels or oils.  The adjust-ability of air and paint flow are great and you can go from base colors to fine line details in a few seconds.  The kit includes a quick detach for the brush that has another pressure regulator which helps facilitate this.  What I do is adjust the pressure at the compressor to suit the paint, then use the one at the gun to adjust more finely for spray area size.  These QD attachments are also available for other brushes and I bought one for my Badger Anthem as well.

All in all I say it's well worth it, and soon enough you will be seeing some of the results I have had using it.  Stay tuned!

Dust Warfare: Update

So, got two more games of Dust in last week.  One was 150pts against Andy's Axis.  We played an objective based game,  by the end I had a handful of troops left and held on of my objectives, the bridge.  My dice were not with me again and I could not do much harm, whereas Andy shot me all over the place.  We caught a lot of things we missed in our first game like blitzkrieg is only for move orders.  We used medics and engineers properly,  radios issuing orders out of control range and a few other minor things.  They sorta came out over the course of the game and we were both still sorta learning as we went.  Andy read up on the rules beforehand while I was working on the table.  The second game was also 150pts but we did a 1v1v1 game with Andy, Kevin, and I deploying on an edge each.  We played objectives again, but it saw that you can just kill everything and win in these smaller games.  Speaking of killing, it's something that my dice actually allowed this game. This game was really fun with units and walkers dying spectacularly left and right.  Turn 2 I believe it was, had my Ludwig maim Kevin's light walker then his other light blew up the Ludwig and my Battle Grenadiers reacted and blew up the light walker.  Meanwhile some of Kevin's Rangers grenaded Andy's Lothar to death.  This left my untouched Hans and Kevin's light walker with 1 hit left as the only two vehicles left.  In the end I had part of a command squad and some grenadiers holding the bridge and Andy had 2 partial squads left and finished me off.  I think he had 6-7 models left in the end and he won it.

All in all my original opinions of Dust remain.  Though the things we forgot are really important and really added to the game in a great way.  Reactions are great and really useful at times.  I can't wait to play again.

On the hobby side I got my three camo colors for my walkers.  There they are, flammable and everything.  I really like Tamyia for airbrushing, especially when using the Tamiya thinner.  You can really thin them down and they still cover extremely well.  I would say they are much better suited to the airbrush than regular painting where they sometimes pull off with additional brushstrokes.

Here we see the disassembled walkers have received their first coat, they look like they belong in a desert at this point, but I'm going for a camo scheme I really liked on some German tanks I've seen.

Next I added the brown to everything, I was really liking where it was going at this point and all was going well.

This continued as I finished with the dark green.  Here's a pic of the Ludwig.

And one of the Hans.

Still a lot of work to do on these two, but I had the time to use the airbrush and had to do so today.  They need all of the metal and details picked out, weathering and damage done, and finally some decals.  I may get those from the dust game website.  I have finished painting the Kommandotrupp as well as a squad of Laser Grenadiers, one of the Battle Grenadier squads is also base colored.  Just took a break from them to do the airbrushing.  Some pictures of them later on.

Thanks for stopping by.