Looking to Airbrush for Priming/Terrain in an Apartment

[grant]

I don't bother with respirator mask, cleaning stations or other stuff. I just spray into a shop towel which gets tossed when airbrush is mostly clean, I then take airbrush to bathroom to clean it with toothbrushes and let it dry.

I do use Iwata Superlube on the needle, head cover, and a small amount around the inside of the cup. What a difference it makes to action and clean up.

[Gary Peach]

Go to ebay to see whats available, type in Portable spray booth.  They arent too big and you can get filters.  You can also just fold em up and put it away.  Designed for use with airbrushes and waterbased type paints.  Spray cans are a no no as they do block the filters fast.  They arent too expensive, and will do much better than cleaning the bath and the swear words as you over spray on to the wall, carpet, work surface etc.  The have an hose that can be put out the window too.  Oh and a turntable.

Air brushes I know nothing about, health and safety in an enclosed space...  enough.

[jthomlin]

I agree with the sentiment to get a name brand rather than the 'blue box' Chinese brushes for a beginner. Getting the hang of an airbrush can be difficult enough in itself, without any additional issues associated with poor quality.

As to type, absolutely dual action gravity feed, I have just been though an exercise getting Jo Sonya craft paints to work through suction, side feed and gravity brushes, and the gravity feed was by far the easiest to get a good result.

Brand-wise, I have nothing but praise for my Harder & Steinbeck Infinity, which is admittedly a top of the range brush but their evolution range may fit your specs. Apart from the performance, the design of the H&S brushes makes them a little easier to break down and clean than the 'classic' Iwata and their ebay clones. If you use your airbrush a lot, you will be cleaning it a lot, and anything that makes that task easier is a very good thing! If you require a local stockist that may be an issue, but I'm in Australia and got mine from everythingairbrush.com in the UK and have had no issues.

I've had no experience with Co2 cannisters, but can say that I use a AU$87 basic eBay 1/6 hp compressor with air tank and had no real problems.

For water based paints, one of those fold up portable booths is a good idea. A dusk mask may protect you from particulates, but it does nothing for the fine layer of dust that can accumulate everywhere else. I have a similar non-foldup booth from Sparmax and there is a definite difference to the air quality when I use it.

Cheers!
Joe Thomlinson

[Brandlin]

Brand-wise, I have nothing but praise for my Harder & Steinbeck Infinity, which is admittedly a top of the range brush but their evolution range may fit your specs. Apart from the performance, the design of the H&S brushes makes them a little easier to break down and clean than the 'classic' Iwata and their ebay clones. If you use your airbrush a lot, you will be cleaning it a lot, and anything that makes that task easier is a very good thing! If you require a local stockist that may be an issue, but I'm in Australia and got mine from everythingairbrush.com in the UK and have had no issues.

I have the same brush from the same seller - highly recommended.

[Verderer]

I've been pleased with an airbrush painting cabinet I purchased a couple of years ago. It's surprisingly effective at its job. It includes a fan which sucks the paint fumes through a wide replaceable filter, and no paint comes out of the exhaust went, even a white wall stays white behind it. I haven't used it with paint cans though, so I dunno how effective it's with them, but it can handle my airbrushes at full whack. So it's ideal for keeping the house clean if you don't have a proper shed for you hobby work. So it's not so much about which airbrush, if you got something like this.

I have something like this Wiltec one: http://www.wiltec.de/airbrush-absauganlage-farbe-filter-farbnebel-leistungsstark-w420.html

It's pretty easy to open and close, so you can store it away when not needed.