Thinking About Buying an Airbrush?

[Connectamabob]

The Revolution CR isn't limited to low pressure. Though some brushes don't perform as well (or at all, in the case of siphon feeds) at low pressure, I've never heard of one that can't do higher pressure. The CR comes with a .5mm nozzle/needle set (which is on the large end), and from what I've read the cup bottom has a large throat well suited to high paint volume applications, so I would actually expect it to perform well at high pressure.

.5mm is a good tip size for a beginner. Smaller nozzle/needles make pulling super fine lines easier in terms of hand technique, but bigger nozzle/needles will be much more forgiving about paint dilution ratios, which is the trickier part to master as it is a bit more "blind".

There isn't really an ideal pressure for modeling in any general sense. It all depends on the specific task. For priming 28mm figures (which I like to do within a 2 cm or less to get even coverage in the low points) I like around 10-15psi, because otherwise it feels like you're going to either going to blast the figure off the desk or blow the paint right back off the figure with the force of the air. If I were painting general color coverage on a building or a vehicle from 5-9cm away, 20psi or higher would be perfectly fine or even desirable. If I were painting a graffiti design on a wall, I'd get close enough to almost touch the needle to the surface (literally- that's what those pronged tips you sometimes see are for: to guard the needle from touching the surface without obscuring your view of the needle or the line), and drop pressure as far as my paint viscosity will allow. Some paints and primers also don't handle dilution very well, so you have to spray them at higher viscosity, necessitating higher pressure. There's a sort of reciprocal relationship between viscosity and pressure, so you can't change one very far before you have to change the other to compensate.

This is why you want a compressor that allows for a range of pressures you can control with a regulator, rather than one that sticks you with a single pressure. An air source you can't adjust is extremely limiting. No matter what brush you get, you won't be able to access it's full range if the compressor caps out at 18psi.

Compressor-wise, if that's all you can afford, I'd recommend getting a cheap hardware compressor and an accessory tank instead of an airbrush compressor. That's what I've used for a long time. The compressor is loud, but with an 11 gallon tank I can charge the tank up to 100psi opportunistically when it isn't going to bother anyone, and that gives me an hour or two worth of silent air at 15-20 psi with a 3.5 tip I that can spend whenever I need/want.

[Elk101]

Thanks for the info.

[The-closet-gamer]

I own six. My badger  200 bottom feed which I've had for twenty years and its busted. I lent it to GW meadow hall to paint the Imperial Fists for the Emperors Palace diorama for games day back in the  the late 90s so that's a claim to fame. The Aztek double trigger which was produced for Kodak to touch up photos ( the days before Photoshop ). A good little airbrush that's easy to use. A revell spray gun that's used for very large areas. A badger 100 gravity feed single trigger that I got off Amazon for the extortionate price of ten pounds. And my pride and joy. The Iwata Kustom that set me back £230 but it is worth every penny. I also have a nondescript double trigger gravity feed with a small cup that I think is an artists airbrush for spraying inks, but it works just as well with thinned paints like Vallejo air. All in all my air brushes are probably the most important weapon in my model arsenal and if looked after can last a live time. If I can work out how to put up photo from my ipad I'll show you some of my latest work.

[Elk101]

Unfortunately the more I look into this the more I can't afford a 'decent' one! 

A diy compressor with a Iwata in the £100 range might be the only way to go anytime soon.

If anyone is selling one off (UK) please let me know.

[The-closet-gamer]

The price of compressors have come down a lot in the last decade. But like an airbrush you might get what you pay for or you might find a diamond in the rough. The first one I got from Badger and I killed it from running it at to high a pressure. 140 psi is way to high and is the reason my Badger 200 is shagged. 12  to 35 psi should be used for spraying depending on the style and finish you want. I also have a nondescript compressor that cost £45 that I got with my nondescript airbrush that I use now most of the time. I also got one with my Iwata Kustom as a mail order deal with some other stuff.

[Connectamabob]

Don't let the costs discourage you too much. I think it's pretty normal for hobby airbrushers to get started by saving and buying things a bit here and a little there for a while before they're able to really do anything. That's certainly the way it was for me. I got my first airbrush with Christmas money when I was a teenager, and IIRC it was like a year before I was even able to try it out for the first time, as it took me that long to get a compressor.

[Eric the Shed]

Unfortunately the more I look into this the more I can't afford a 'decent' one! 

A diy compressor with a Iwata in the £100 range might be the only way to go anytime soon.

If anyone is selling one off (UK) please let me know.

Steve I bought one of these recently - very happy with results - mainly using for terrain, tanks and priming

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=370268372610&view=all&tid=633913641024

[Elk101]

Thanks Giles, though unfortunately it's coming through as "item information no longer listed ".

[Eric the Shed]

Try this link

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIRBRUSH-KIT-AIRBRUSH-COMPRESSOR-AIR-BRUSH-COMPRESSOR-/370268372610?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item5635b6fe82

[Svennn]

Try this link

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIRBRUSH-KIT-AIRBRUSH-COMPRESSOR-AIR-BRUSH-COMPRESSOR-/370268372610?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item5635b6fe82

I have had one of these for a couple of years and although I would not want to do a motorcycle tank or helmet design with it, it is more than capable of handling all my hobby / modelling needs. And if it breaks it is not a big hit to just replace it.  I use this compressor with better brushes too, you could never say it is silent but I would not say it was noisy either - read the wife is yet to complain.

[Elk101]

Thanks Giles! That looks very doable as a starting point. I want to paint buildings, terrain tiles, scenery and vehicles so I'm happy to take a punt on it.

[Eric the Shed]

Its worth watching a number of you tube videos to get the basic info.

I practised on some really watered down paint.

[Connectamabob]

. Three pages of detailed warnings about the cheap crap and about how your brain will try super-hard to scam you into buying it, and all it takes is a one-line endorsement and you're immediately caving again. This is what I was talking about when I said your instincts will be working overtime against you here.

These brushes are not reliable buys. They're cheaply machined out of poor materials, and their tolerances are anything but consistent. It's a coin toss as to whether the one you get will be decent or not (or in some case, merely usable or not), and regardless, you'll never be able to get parts for them. The compressors are prone to overheating and have a rep for often not lasting very long. Some people do have good experiences, but that doesn't mean they're a good deal: it means those these people got lucky. Individual endorsements literally mean nothing because their quality from unit to unit is so inconstant: one might be almost as good as a reputable brush, and the very next one off the line will be a hunk of pot metal that spatters like a flicked toothbrush.

Buy one of these, and you're tripling the chances that your formative experiences with airbrushing will turn you off to airbrushing. You might get lucky... but it's really not a good gamble, and even if you "win", you lose in the long run financially.

Seriously: don't. I know your brain is all like "But... so cheap... and they said it was OK even though the others said it wasn't...", but no: your brain is being a weasel. Don't

Take it from someone who learned the hard way: the ABSOLUTE VERY WORST thing you can do for yourself is to start out with a brush that is unreliable or hard to use and/or clean. You NEED these traits more than anything else when you're a beginner. DO NOT make them dump stats.

You don't need a fine line airbrush. You don't need bells and whistles like MAC valves or needle stops or whatnot. You don't need chrome plating when nickel will do. You don't need a silent compressor. All that sort of stuff can be dumped in the name of budget. But if you dump reliability you are not just shooting yourself in the foot; you are sticking your foot in a meat grinder.

If you can't afford non-crap, take your time and save up. Don't feel like you need to get everything ASAP or all at once. Good AB companies all have lifetime warranties, so no matter how long it takes you to get yours up and running, you're still perfectly safe if it turns out something's wrong with it when you finally do. You don't need to bleed yourself saving for the best ABs you can find, but for a beginner there is less than zero benefit to buying bottom of the barrel. The cost vs risk math just flat out isn't good, no matter how you try to cheat it.

[Elk101]

Point taken.

[FramFramson]

That is rather where I am. I got a very good deal on a high-quality custom-assembled airbrush (Olympos with aftermarket Iwata adjustment fittings added). I bought mine from a seller who owned over 70 airbrushes and since it wasn't his preferred brand or setup so he let it go very reasonably. I still need some fittings as well as a compressor, so it's not in operation yet, but every now and then I keep an eye out for a deal and eventually I'll have a full kit.

I find high quality is very much a money-saving thing in the long run.