Mikie

I hadn't heard about the second faction deck but then again, I've not gone through everything. I suppose the sub question then is for the existing magpie collectors (and there are a few) does that mean they'll have to buy 14 faction decks if it's now split over 7 factions? If they're doing 2 faction decks how are they going to split it? Are all the "special forces" models going to be in the second faction deck? Ok, that was several questions... I absolutely get the play-test bit but I think if they're going to do faction decks it needs to be an all or nothing move or it's too clunky. Oh! Another question, will we see an all-faction ultradeck with all the old cards at a slightly lower cost for the aforementioned magpies?

On the "Each faction will only have their original 3 masters in the new book" piece, as the faction decks are coming out too I take you'll be able to play any master you have the model for or, indeed, Master Molly as you'll have the 2nd Edition stat card for them in your faction deck?

Fluff question: Seeing as the fluff will be progressed in 2.0 and as mentioned in your podcast that the old books, and therefore their fluff, will be unavailable are there any plans to make available/sell pdf copies of the old books once 2.0 is out to keep the fluff available to new players that haven't had a chance to read it? They may not answer that if the answer is yes and they want to shift their remaining book stock before the release ;-)

Interesting indeed, it's not just me then! ;-) That's why I made my Airbrush medium suggestion. Same as yourself with the airbrush paints, one less variable. After my red experience I ordered a Model Air red online. By the time it came through I've not needed to use red again (just using it to prime, do large pieces/block in colours) but glad I've got it now because it completely blocked mine (you're bubbling at the tip sounds like a block) and had air leaking out everywhere and don't want to go through again that in a hurry! All my other paints have been fine with the medium (again, didn't have that when doing the red) so for my own uses I'll only go airbrush specific paints for any problem paints or often used ones that spring up. Incidentally when I had completely gummed up my airbrush I tried acetone, household ammonia and just about every other household cleaner I could get my hands on and nothing quite got it right, there was still leaks. I thought, in fact, that I'd got everything but the harsher stuff had maybe killed a seal somewhere. I didn't have any Isopropyl alcohol so can't vouch for that but a couple of spots of Iwata Medea airbrush cleaner pretty much immediately cured it. It was fairly cheap and I hardly use any of it to get it clear so I see it as a worthwhile investment. My advice to anyone starting out would certainly be go airbrush specific at first where possible. Getting to grips with it can feel a bit like wresting an octopus with air pressure, paint consistency, additives, cleaning, the dual action control, brush/model distance, etc. so, trust me, you will appreciate anything that simplifies things at the start.

Unfortunately they don't seem to do it here in the UK =( The Golden medium was about £8 for a fairly big bottle and I've hardly dented it so I think it'll last years and in the same store they had, if I'm remembering right, a Liquitex brand one too. Since switching to using the medium I've not had any issues forcing me to strip the brush down and only took the needle out for a quick wipe once to cure a very slight air bleed. Saying that I've not shot red through it again yet. All my reads seem to clog like a bitch. I didn't buy any special paints, being using Vallejo VGC + VMC for years so using those so it might be that. Army Painter were claiming to have finer pigment in their Warpaints so in theory they should airbrush better than most but yet to hear an airbrush review of them.

Having only just gone through making the leap to airbrushing and fumbling my way through my advice would be, as Pierzasty, has said start with cheap no-name'd e-bay/Chinese. You will make mistakes with the cleaning/dilution and get clogging, leaks and problems and that's a whole less scary on something that costs buttons than a couple of hundred. Secondly paint thinning. I got this advice from watching a couple of videos from the guy from Badger airbrushes and good sense when you think of it and that's don't use alcohol. I'd even say steer clear of using water. Why, I hear you ask? Well if you've ever tried wet blending then swore a lot at your models because it wasn't working you'll know that acrylic paints dry really quickly. When you're constantly blowing air over/through the paint it dries even faster and if you substitute water with alcohol, which evaporates quicker, then you're drying faster still. Paint drying in your tip will cause clogs, on your needle and in the brush it'll cause leaks and it'll make what's already a difficult learning process even harder. Badger-guy (Ken Schlotfeldt) also doesn't recommend Windex. Reason being is an ammonia based cleaner and while it may have the desired effect of slowing the dry time it's because it's attacking the paint. Acrylic paints are a ground pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer so when you introduce a cleaning agent that attacks that polymer it won't cure as well or, in plain English, the paint wont bond as well and is more prone to rub off. Again making things more difficult while you learn. For thinning I went for a bottle of airbrush medium from Golden so your thinning which, I'm lead to believe at least, has a retarder agent in it as well as thinning with the polymer medium so you're not weakening your paint. For cleaning I picked up an Iwata branded bottle of cleaner. I did try other things but they were never quite as successful. It was about £5 but hardly used any of it since I'm using the airbrush medium as I'm getting very little tip-dry so can just shoot water through the majority of the time. In short, Airbrush medium + an airbrush cleaning solution really made things easier for me. There's so many different opinions out there it maybe a YMMV things but I'd say if you've made a big investment in a brush and compressor it's only a little more for these two things and you're ride will be smother and more enjoyable. Have fun =D

Must just be great minds think a like ;-) So glad stumble on to this. I had the cd sleeves anyway so protected the cards for free. Can't beat that! The card size was my only grumble about the mini's but that's now gone :happypuppet2

Dagnabbit! I figured this out myself about a week ago, signed up to the forum just to share this and find myself pipped to the post lol Like Docent says though a standard plastic CD pocket is perfect and I had loads spare kicking about the house so didn't cost a penny. No need for expensive top loaders!