What is the most common high quality inexpensive airbrush brand for painting projects? All I want to do is to spray paint an Alcad metallic stainless steel silver on a resin shell. I went to the Badger airbrush and Pasche website. Which one should I choose? I want something very basic and simple yet good quality.
The topic of air brushes has come up often and there are many opinions on the subject. I suggest you do a search on past threads and you’ll probably find several good ones.
Alright then. I always felt that I would never find what I’m looking for that way, but I’ll try.
Pasche and Badger are the two high quality brands that most modelers use.
If you’re new to airbrushing, maybe start with a single action one. That’s what I did. I have the Pasche single action, and it’s great. I got for around $85.
I can’t tell you which is the most common, but I can recommend the Paasche model VL. double action airbrush. Micro-Mark has it for $95.35. It comes with an assortment of needles and paint jars, a small wrench and the air supply line. You need to add a compressor and water filter, also available from MM. I would shop around for the compressor and filter, however. You might prefer something larger with an air tank.
I’ve got both a single and dual action and use the single probably 95% of the time. Paasche and Badger are the one’s to look at. Stay away from the cheap plastic garbage that are priced cheap. Get the most expensive one that you can afford. Sure the cheap one’s spray paint but they do a poor job and in the long run you will regret buying it.
This has been an often discussed topic and you will find many opinions because to me it is a matter of personal preference. I spent some time looking at the top brands and once I decided on the H-202s set from Paasche, I did some serious price shopping. I found several companies that offered sets that included compressors at a lower price that if the set and compressor were purchased separately. I am very happy with the performance of this set and would recommend it.
If you have a Michael’s or Hobby Lobby craft store in your area, their newspaper coupons that offer 40% off one item can give you a good price on a quality airbrush. I bought my Badger double action that way. As others have said, quality counts in an airbrush. And while you buy it for one purpose, all of a sudden you are using it for many other things.
I bought the dual action even though I hadn’t used an airbrush before. I spent some time practicing with craft store acrylic paint. The instruction manual had some “exercises” to try. I like the dual action as I can vary the paint volume without stopping and changing the settings.
George V.
Any of the major brands – Aztek, Badger, Iwata, or Paasche – will do you just fine. I have an Aztek A470, and am very happy with it. I prefer the ergonomics of their design over the more conventional “tube type” brushes. This is definitely a matter of personal preference, and you’ll never know until you try.
Personally, I would let price be my guide.
I have two recommendations, however. 1) Go for a Double Action variety. They’re trickier to learn how to use, but the ability to vary both the air flow and the paint volume with one trigger will ultimately give you better results. Practice on a piece of artists paper until you get the hang of it (and start practicing with really cheap paint, too). 2) Get one with interchangeable cups rather than the built in variety. That way you don’t have to clean your airbrush as much between colors. On mine, a quick spray with soapy water and I’m ready for a new one.
Oh yeah, get a cleaning station too. They’re great.
I bought two of the new Harbor freight double action airbrushes on sale for $10 each, They actually work great…the color cup and jar adapter doesn’t fit as nicely as a badger, but they work just fine. HF doesn’t sell spare parts or different needles/tips. But for the results I get, i’ll gladly buy a new one when this one is worn out. I also use the HF airbrush compressor with regulator/moisture trap. It has been going strong for 5+ years now…couldn’t be happier.
As a matter of reference, some of the really good custome luthiers (instrument makers) use Iwata airbrushes to spray their high end finishes. I’ve used a lot of air brushes over the years. Iwata is my favorite. It sprays the finest mist of any of my airbrushes.
Alclad is a very fine metalic laquer I believe and looks great. The best spray will give you the best finish IMHO.
Alloboard,
As our fellow modelers have indicated, there are a variety of good airbrushes on the market to choose from. I like the Iwatas as they are excellent units, but are expensive.
For model railroading, I’ve been using the Paasche’ VL for about 20 years. The VL set up sells between $80-$97 (SHOP AROUND). You have the option of spraying with the gravity cup (as in my photo above) or a suction feed jar.
For the price, the VL is an excellent unit, plus it has a feature that many airbrushes don’t have: A scroll lock wheel that enables you to set the trigger to the exact position you want it for a specific spray pattern instead of having to push down the trigger and then slowly pulling it back to the desired position. Comes in handy for me when I’m applying Alclad with the #1 (needle/aircap/tip) setup. For color and clearcoats, I use the #3 setup.
Important: CLEAN IT…AFTER USING IT! Keep it clean, and the VL will last YEARS without having to replace/rebuild it. After spraying acrylic / water based paint materials (Polyscale, Alclad Aqua 600) I flush using a mix of distilled water and 70% alcohol.
After spraying solvent based paint materials, I flush with stra
A GOOD quality tool will never wear out. You pay for what you get… [tdn]
Odie,
IMHO, TA was not being deliberately negative.
Remember that the OP did not write up a price range, only the term “inexpensive”, which to some of us may mean $15-$30 range while to others it may be anything less than $75.
The inexpensive airbrush units that sell for $10 or so are not bad and can spray quite well…however, does it not make sense that if we plan on being in this hobby for the long term to purchase tools that are durable and are designed to last a lonnnnnng time? Even on a tight budget, a person working part time can save up the additional money and purchase a quality “general purpose” airbrush (with replacement parts readily available) that will deliver solid performance and last years.
A particular noteworthy point of this thread: Alloboard plans on using Alclad. I would suggest to modelers using the metalizer to get an airbrush that uses needle, tip, and aircap components that are of metal construction (aluminum, brass, or steel) and that are capable of shooting very fine mists as atomization is an important key to laying down the Alclad.
[;)]
Lets all get on the same page here…does this look like the typical cheap airbrush you all are thinking of? NO. This is $14.99 right now, and if you have a coupon you can get it for $10.
BTW, I have badger tips that are compatible with this airbrush. So, TA462, your notion that this is inferior because lack of spare part availability is moot. I said Harbor Freight does not sell parts, not that parts were not available.
I spend thousands of dollars a year on Snap-on tools…I think I know a thing or two about spotting quality and when it is appropriate to spend the high dollars for a tool, and when it is a waste of money.
Odie,
That is a good looking unit! The inexpensive airbrushes that I’ve seen in the past in the $10-$15 range were plastic inside and out. It’s likely that’s what TA had in mind as well. [;)]
Just curious, do you know what size needle/aircap set up your unit is? (.55 mm, .74mm, etc)
Off the top of my head, I do not know. I do know that the entire tip assembly from the Badger 150 series works directly, but it would need the longer needle like in the 155/200/360 series. I do not have any of those needles to test right now. The needle in the HF brush had a body diameter of 1.17mm/.046" if that helps.
Good,
That will spray fine and medium viscosity paints nicely. Will work with Alclad. However, Alclad atomizes well with .55 → .74 needles/aircap setups. It’s not a big deal, but just means that more Alclad would vaporize into the air rather than on to the model, but the difference won’t be dramatic. Just becomes noticeable if you perform a number of metalizer jobs and notice that you’re using quite a few bottles of Alclad.
Metaphorically in automotive terms, it’s sort of like comparing a new Rochestor Carburetor to a new Fuel Injection system. The carb does it’s job well in delivering the fuel to the cylinders, but the injector is a bit more efficient in its atomization. (Still…I sure miss my tricked out 79 Trans Am!)
If anyone’s wondering why this thread might read a little disjointedly, that’s because I had to delete more than half the posts that were nothing more than an increasingly vitriolic back-and-forth between two members. Let’s keep it civil here, folks.
More info on the HF airbrush:
http://airbrushtips.110mb.com/Harbor%20Freight%20Airbrush.html
This seemed like a pretty balanced review of the pros and cons to me. I have one and like it. Never having used a more expensive unit I don’t know how it compares.
Jim