I have A Badger single action airbrush that is a very old design (Binks Wren) except the Badger is now plastic. My local store is advertising Iwata and Paasche brushes at 40% off. I think this might be a good time to upgrade.
Is there an advantage of one brand over the other? Is the dual action better for model railroading?
Single vs Dual action…the age old question. But to answer this you need to ask questions yourself.
I personally enjoy the full control (air and paint amounts), but I dont like the cleaning of dual action airbrushes.
If I were just doing coverage painting, then a single action would work just fine, but I need the control for weathering.
David B
I’ve used Paasche brushes for years and they work great, the H set is a single action brush that will give you excellent results for basic painting and some weathering, for really fine work an internal mix double action like a VL brush is easier to use and gives you finer control for weathering,fading and detail. I find that for model railroading the H set is the one I use most, it has three tips ,#1,#3 and #5, that with practice you can do all the painting and weathering required for model railroading.
I don’t know about Iwata, they look like quality brushes but the price is a bit high. Paasche H and VL sets are moderately priced and are made of brass not plastic. At 40% off you should get a pretty good deal, you might even consider buying a H and VL set.
One consideration is an airbrush property called “atomization.” According to an art catalogue I have “the better the atomization the smaller the drops of paint (produced out the nozzle of the airbrush) and the closer together the paint droplets. This provides a more solid coverage and finer lines. Atomization in airbrushes is the same as DPI (dots per inch) in computer printers.” The higher the atomization the better the result.
Accordingly, most moderately priced IWATA airbrushes have an atomization of 7 or 8, whereas the PASCHE H has a value of 3, the PASCHE V a value of 4 and the PASCHE VL has value of 4.
I have only owned a PASCHE VL, and I have noticed that a very light coating of paint will go on “grainy,” no doubt a result of it lower atomization characteristic.
Therefore, if I had a chance to buy an Iwata at a bargin price I may be very tempted to do so.
However, I like using large bottles of paint (as opposed to just a samll paint cup) which I can attache to the airbrush, which my Pasche VL allows me to do with its available bottle assemblies. I do not know if Iwata supplies bottles with their airbrushes, or if you are always forced to use a paint cup.
Empty net.
I’ve got an Aztek dual-action (which you already know, Bruce). One thing I like about the Aztek is that you don’t have to disassemble it to clean it. Just spray the appropriate thinner for the type of paint you used through it for a bit and it’s clean. If paint clogs up the tip, it can be soaked in thinner. I’ve got 3 tips, fine, medium and broad, and I find that I use the medium tip most of the time. Of course, one can use a dual-action airbrush like a single-action–just go full on the air and control only the paint. A dual-action has a steeper learning curve than a single-action, but if you want to do any fine detail work, you might be happier with a dual action.
I just bought an Aztek A470, and as Seamonster mentioned, it is very easy to clean, and has the ability to easily switch between Single action or Double action…very handy feature.
I’ve been using a Badger Model 155 Anthem of late, and I like it a lot better than the other three types I’ve used, a Binks Wren, a Badger Model 200, and a Testor’s Aztek.
The Wren was a good brush, but I didn’t like that I needed a wrench to take it apart to clean it while also unscrewing the tip. Once apart, it was easy to clean, however. Bottles would fall off from time to time from the brush body, and I didn’t like the manual tip adjustment because if it clogs, I would have to put down the model, adjust it, try it, pick the model back up, paint until it clogs again…and so on. Still, a simple and very robust air brush that can survive many trips to the concrete floor (don’t ask me how I know that).
The Badger Model 200 is the old standard, but I didn’t like it at all. A single action, it clogged way too frequently for my tastes. It also needed a wrench to take apart, and the needle adjustment was a pain as it’s on the back of the handle. It was also difficult to clean, and had several small pieces to keep track of. It did have some nice accessories with the siphon cup and the bottle caps, etc. But all the same, I quickly got rid of mine.
The Aztek has a number of problems, but it does have a number of benefits, too. It’s very easy to disassemble, but I don’t like cleaning it as the tips never seem to completely clear out just by running solvent or water through it. The dual or single action choice is very nice, but on a friend’s Aztek the needle lever jammed into the body and he had to junk the whole brush as it’s inaccessable. The many different tips are a definite plus, but they can be easily damaged if you try to pull them apart to clean them (so don’t). The bottle feed caps are a bit of a pain as they use small diameter tubes and the ball joint at the top of them is both very stiff and
I agree with Dave about needing duel action for fine detail and weathering. I’ve got a Paache H single action and it works fine for basic painting. It doesn’t work very well for weathering though.(even with the finest tip)
Many thanks for all of your replys. I have bought an Iwata “eclipse” model BCS. I got the 40% discount but the thing was on sale to boot. I also got a bottle of india ink with which to practice. Wish me luck and, thanks again!
Paul: Which model Aztek are your referring too? Aztek makes several models.
grayfox1119,
I have an Aztek A470, and so did my friend (the air brush that he had to throw away). It’s not a terrible air brush or anything, and it’s good for light duty applications. But if you’re planning on painting/weathering/clear-coating say, 50 or more cars, I’d say invest in a higher end air brush.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
I know I am not the one who started this post but this was very good information for me as I have an older Testors airbrush and though I am just learning I can see that this low end airbrush is not going to perform like I am hoping it will. As stated it will work good for large aplications but for the finer things a newer airbrush I think is in order. You all have given me much information to ponder as I make that decision. Thanks!
PAUL: The A470 airbrush is not a cheap airbrush, why did he have to throw it away? Was he maintaining the airbrush properly? ( Cleaning etc. )