I'm looking into buying an airbrush for painting miniatures, but one thing I can't figure out is if it's safe to use it inside and if I need to use any protection for breathing if I'm going to spray inside. Do I have to set up some kind of ventilation?
The paint I'm going to spray will be acrylics and a few mediums like varnishes etc.
If you would rather use it indoors, that's fine as long as you wear a mask. If you're doing a lot, consider one of the heavy-duty ones:
You can generally buy these anywhere you can buy spray paint or airbrush supplies.
Be aware that your lungs might not be the only place you don't want paint ending up when you're indoors - cover anything you want to remain paint-free with a cloth!
As said by Tom, you should use a mask to spray indoor. It is quite convenient when you are alone but that does not protect your environment. Also don't forget that if you should be wearing a mask in a room, all the other breathing beings in that same room should do the same...
An alternative (or complement) is a spray booth which will catch the particles before they goes everywhere in your room. They are not too expensive (<100$), however, they take some space. It looks like this:
Of course to be effective, you need that the exhaust tube to go outside...
One other downside is they are quite noisy. But if you already have your compressor running, it might not be an issue.
