Only 12 years? My Badger 350 is 15 years old. I only replaced it to get a finer spray - it still works as well as it did when I bought it. [;)]
I use an Aztec airbrush. Badgers are probably the best, and I do own one, but I love the easy cleanup with the aztec. I have not had any problems with it. I use my 60 gallon air compressor regulated down, with 2 moisture traps. One at the regulator 10 feet from the compressor and one just before my lead to the brush. If you use a larger compressor, be sure to drain the thing at least once a week if you do alot of work with it. Bigger compressors are the thing to use if you would commonly use an air compressor. Saves money so you don’t have to buy two compressors!
Higssy, I ventured into the airbrush market with Airbrush City awhile ago. I am satisfied with my experience there, they do have very good customer service as they promise. However, here are 2 things I learned as a beginner that might help you since most of the replies here seem to be from experienced air-brush users.
Make sure the compressor you buy has a tank of some sort in order to maintain constant air pressure. The first one I bought didn’t and as soon as I depressed the trigger the air pressure would drop significantly and affect the spray quality.
Cleaning is essential as everybody has already said but make sure you spray in an adequately ventilated area. I think I went to work high one night [#wstupid]because I painted a few things in my basement before I had to get ready and didn’t open any windows or run a fan. A spray booth is definitely the way to go but can double the initial investment you put into setting up your “paint shop.” I will paint outside if the weather conditions are right, i.e. not to windy, cold or dusty. Whatever you do make sure fresh air is coming into and out of the room you paint in.
In my opinion, as long as you get an airbrush by any of the big name manufacturers and take care of it, you will make out ok. Good luck to you.
I have been pricing spray booth’s for my airbrush work, and the price tag’s are
unbelievable. Has anyone built one (do-it-yourself’er…) or do you know of any
plans available ?
Thanks
Iron Goat
IronGoat,
I’m currently drawing plans to build myself a new paint booth. I’d like to get one just a bit larger than I have, but like you, I think they are way over priced.
Here’s a possibility. http://www.interlog.com/~ask/scale/tips/booth.htm
If you contact me in a couple weeks I may have the booth plans finished. You’re welcome to a copy if you want them.
Hello,
I just did a lot of research on airbrushes, compressors and spray booths and bought a setup for myself. The fella that posted a response mentioning Badger airbrushes is right on! I bought a Badger 360-7 which lists for $180.00 but I was able to buy it for $108.00. From my experience, I will never have to buy another airbrush because it’s the best. Don’t listen to those guys who will tell you you can’t handle a dual-action brush. I learned how to effectively use it in a couple of hours, practicing on some “scrap” rolling stock and scrap plastic. You need to easily adjust the spray pattern as you’re painting, expecially when you’re weathering a model, which a dual-action airbrush allows. Who wants to stop and turn the knob at the end of a single-action brush?
Badger offers a very quiet 1/8 HP compressor made by Thayer Chandler, which is great…in fact they recently offered it on their website for $150.00…I believe list is $270.00. I’m real happy with it. It is not only quiet, it has an airbrush holder mounted on top and a moisture collection cup which is very easy to empty.
As far as painting with an airbrush, I learned very quickly that even with water-based acrylic paint, you need to use a spray booth and a chemist friend suggested that I use a good respirator. I bought a spray booth made by Artograph (artograph.com). They don’t sell directly but I was able to purchase one from madisonartshop.com at about 40% off list (around $240.00}. The artograph spray booth is great because it has 3 filters which are economical to replace and they trap some of the vapor in addition to overspray…and it is set up on a sturdy metal pedastal with the fan drawing the overspray down through the floor of the unit and out the back. Because it is up on a pedastal, it allows you to hold your model at just the right height for spraying. Of course, if you’re going to spray with solvent-based paints, you will have to vent outside and the artograph booth has a connection for attaching a dryer
IronGoat,
Back in 1988 (Off the top of my head), MR published a set of plans and an article by Gordon Odegard on making a metal paint booth from scratch. With a little judicious scrounging it would run you between $75 to $100 to build. (A few years later, a manufacturer (think it was NorthWest Short Lines) produced an exact twin of the booth and charged $400 retail for it)
Five or six years ago, Fine Scale Modeler had plans and an article for a paint booth made out of wood.
ps - I got lucky when I got my spray booth, happened to be in a hobby shop in Junction City and mentioned that I was scrounging parts to build a spray booth - They had a used spray booth for $45 (less than the fan assy on the booth I was going to build) - it works like a charm.
I built my own spray booth from plywood. It is very simple if you have a saw and drill. Just make a box, mine is 2’ wide 2’ deep and 2’ high. I cut out an opening in the top and installed a piece of clear plastic and a light. For exahust, I use a cheap bathroom celing fan mounted on the back with the exahust going out through some dryer tubing to a outside dryer vent. I put a regular furnace filter on the back so my exahust fan doesn’t get too painted. Very simple and it only cost about $40. I put a lazy susan bracket in the middle of it and attached a small piece of plywood to it so I could rotate the piece I am working on without touching it. Whatever I am painting, I put on another small piece of plywood so once I’m done, I can eaisly pick it up.
Dave
Hi Folks,
On the topic of airbrushes, I thought I might share some info regarding paints. If you buy paints already mixed for airbrushing, you will pay more than you need to. I’ve always used Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paints when painting models and wondered if it could be used for airbrushing, especially because I like many of their colors such as “brown iron oxide” and “hammered iron”. These paints are available at Wal-Mart, Michael’s Craft Stores, and Jo-Anne’s Fabrics for around 89 cents for 2 ounces. I contacted the manufacturer and found that they offer a 2 ounce bottle of Acrylic Thinner, especially formulated to mix with their paints for airbrushing. The thinner is $1.69 and therefore, when mixed 50/50 with paint, you end up with 4 ounces of sprayable paint for less than 3 bucks. That’s about what you will pay for 1 ounce of already mixed paint.
Unfortunately, all the local stores who carry the Delta Ceramcoat paints like Michael’s craft store, Jo-Anne’s Fabrics, and Wal-Mart don’t sell the Acrylic thinner. I found it at a company called Craft Catalogue (www.craftcatalog.com). Please notice the spelling on catalog…it’s NOT catalogue.
Hope this helps!
Good Luck,
Mondo
My LHS recommends Testor airbrushes… presumably because that’s what they sell. They also sell Badger but are pushing the Testor models. Has anybody out there had any experiences with Testor airbrushes? I’ve been looking around and I’m beginning to think it’s like shopping for cars. Everybody has the best one, til you buy it. I appreciate al the info on teh other brands in this forum. Thanks folks.