Product Review: GW Spray Gun

Concept

As I'm sure you all know, one of Games Workshop's most recent releases is its Spray Gun. Designed to allow you to spray your models with GW Foundation Paint, the spray gun is supposed to give you greater flexibility in your undercoating, and cut down on painting time (something that everybody can get behind!). After an initial release and recall in mid summer, the product has been fixed and has been on sale for a while. Yours truly picked one up last week. What follows is a fairly simple review/tutorial, designed to give you all some basic impressions of this piece of kit.

Now some of you may remember many years back when GW had a wide range of colour primers, not just today's Black and White. This cut down on painting time dramatically, but also led to a number of armies that were just primed in the relevant colour and left. I can remember doing this myself with an IG armoured company (the shame of it!). Indeed I was told by one GW Red Shirt that this was part of the reason why the other colours were discontinued. Whatever the reason, I was annoyed to find the cans were gone when I got back into 40k. Is the new spray gun the solution? 

I've never used any form of spray gun before, which is part of the reason I paid the £23 for the GW version (£18 for the Gun & £5 for a can of propellant).  I've read that there are better & more cost effective models out there, but I figured that the GW version would be more 'noobie' friendly. I realise its far from rocket science, but I find that if I can get something wrong, I often do! 

Contents

So what do you actually get for you money?

Well, its all fairly straightforwardly packaged and comes with the following:

1. Spray Gun. Yes its shaped like a flamer. Do I really care? No I don't. 

2. Propellant Valve Pin (as well as an adaptor for the Propellant Can).

3. Paint Container.

4. Air Hose.

5. Propellant Can. Just to stress that this comes separately from the rest of the kit.

As I had hoped there is also a fairly in depth instruction manual that breaks the process down nicely. You should also check out GW's own 'How To' for the spray gun. Well worth a look. 

GW's Instruction Booklet

Use/Tutorial 

One of the main quires I had with the GW Spray Gun was over using normal paints. All the promotion material talks about using the new Foundation Paints and Washes, but mentions nothing about using normal paint. Almost to stress the point, the paint container has a set of guides to show what mixtures of foundation paint and water are required for good results. There is no info on normal paint. 

Guide for foundation paint:  Fill the container with foundation paint up to one of the marks on the left. Then top up with water until the next highest mark on the right. 

After some internet research I read that it would be fine to use normal paint in the spray gun, and that only a few drops of water were needed to top it up. So I duly whipped out my Dark Angels green and gave it a go. Be sure to give the paint a good mixing with a matchstick or similar. 

Below we see the spray kit mostly put together. It is as simple as it looks. Screw the adapter on to the can (leaving the valve out, unless you want propellant everywhere) and then attach the air hose. Attach the other end to the 'gun' itself and your almost ready to go!

When in your spraying area you can pop in the valve, by simply screwing it into its hole atop the adaptor. Make sure the hose is securely attached at both ends first. 

You should hear the gas as its released from the can. Do make sure the adaptor is screwed on tight, or you will spend ten minutes wondering why the spray gun wasn't working, like I did!

Below you can see the paint pot in its position on the spray gun. It is a good idea to test out your paint mixture first. If its comes on too thick, go back and add some water. If its too thin then add more paint. Simple! You can also adjust the flow of paint by turning the spray gun's Paint Cap.

My spray gun's first victim was to be my Dark Angels Rhino, hence the need to use DA Green as opposed to foundation paint. When using normal paint, it is important that you still prime the model first, either with a normal spray or foundation paints. This helps the following paints to stick to the model's surface. 

So, following GW's advice and using short sweeping motions, I sprayed away. And uttered some pretty horrible words straight after. It would my appear my mixture was all wrong, and the paint came on a bit thick...

This mistake can however be put down to my inexperience, as opposed to any fault with the Spray Gun. And, as it turns out, once I left the model to dry properly the result was not that bad. 

The coat is patchy in a few places but on the whole it is smooth and will give me a good basis to work from, which was the aim! 

We have also proved that you can happily use normal paints in the GW spray gun. With some trial and error...

Tips

The only major advice I can offer is to ensure that the paint is of the right consistency before you commit it to a model. This means testing, testing and testing! Don't allow your self to rush it like I did! I was lucky with the Rhino, but I easily could have ended up making the eventual paint job harder or even ruining the model.

I would also draw your attention to the Propellant can. Try to keep this as warm as possible, within reason (Remember its a compressed can and will react explosively to extreme heat!). As the can is used it will loose pressure and draw in the cold from its surroundings. This will eventually stop the flow of propellant. If this happens, place it somewhere warm and try again later.

Conclusion

On reflection I do like the GW spray gun. 

Admittedly its not cheap, but it is cheerful and straightforward to use, especially if like me you have no prior experience. The kit seems robust and is easy enough to clean. The paint pot with its markings for foundation paint is also a neat idea. The less guess work involved the better! I will be testing these markings out soon, and will report back to you if they are no good.

My only real criticism is the propellant. I can already hear mine running out after just the Rhino which, at £5 a pop, is not great. I am unsure if the adaptor would be suitable for other makes of propellant but its something I intend to look into. If I can find a cheaper alternative then that would be a major plus for the spray gun.

At the end of the day if you want a simple way to quickly base coat your troops or tanks then I can recommend the spray gun. Its robust, simple and does exactly what it says on the tin.

Rating: 4/5

As usual I hope some of you out there found this a useful/interesting read! Does anybody have their own experience to add?