# Airbrush opinions



## HypnoticCrab (Jun 17, 2016)

Hello, I hope this is the right forum to make this thread.

I've recently got into modelling and try to buy parts where I "need" them. While I don't "need" an airbrush, I have some money lying around, yet, I don't want to spend an arm and leg.
I stumbled across this:
http :// www . ebay. com .au/itm/Voilamart-Airbrush-Compressor-Spray-Guns-Paint-Art-Hose-Kit-7cc-Cup-0-3MM-Nozzle-/131528274675
(Cannot post links yet, remove spaces)
Does anyone have an opinion on this brand? Would this do the job? Are airbrushed an item that fall into the category of "you get what you pay for"? Because I've seen some go for $300+

Thanks to the users who provide feedback.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I'm not sure of the quality of that brush personally. I'm not sure of how the lower end brushes work for the short or long term. I have an Iwata and a Badger and have been happy with both. The Iwata is an HP-CS and is my workhorse brush. The Badger has an extremely fine nozzle and it has worked well for very detailed work. I bought a Paasche compressor with a small tank and have been happy with it as well. For the price I think we can assume this is low end equipment but if it works that is all that matters. Maybe someone here has experience with this specific company and model but I can only say what has worked for me. Good luck.


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## HypnoticCrab (Jun 17, 2016)

The Iwata HP-CS would probably be my next airbrush I'd buy, assuming this genuinely turns into a life-long hobby (shouldn't see why not, I'm getting better and better and it's damn addictive).
Thanks for the input


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## SuperDave321 (Mar 10, 2015)

Airbrushing is great. I have several and use them all. I have 1 of those cheap China made gravity feeds like you're asking about and it's a decent brush. Paid $12.00 for it and it works fine, for it's intended job. With a .3mm tip, It's more of a detail brush. I paint HO scale slot cars and it's not easy to do an all over paint job with such a small tip. Great for laying down stripes and such though. It is cheaply made but if you're careful with it and take care of it, It will last.
What I would concern with is the compressor. Bet that one wont last a week. My opinion is you'll waste your money with that compressor. Better to use a pumped up spare tire. I use an old monster huffer but suggest to spend your money on a good compressor. Had mine for better than 20 years now. Those pancakes that construction guys use for nail guns will work. I like my compressors to have a tank.
Good quality Badger and Paasche dual action brushes can be had for $20 to $30 on the bay. I have both and while there are some fine $300+ ABs, I can't see what they can offer that I don't already have.
ABs take practice but that's where the fun is. Most of the learning curve is in mixing paint and stains. It also depends on what you're painting. An HO scale car uses a fine tip to get an all over wet coat. For something like a 1/25 scale car, you'd need a medium tip to get it all wet at one time. 
Best way to learn to paint is to mess everything up. Mix your paint too thin and then mix some too thick. Get too close with too much air and the do the opposite. Best advice I know is for a cheap or expensive brush is to keep it clean.


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## HypnoticCrab (Jun 17, 2016)

Would I have to mix thinner into my Tamiya acrylic paints?


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Here are a couple of things I've discovered over the past 10 years of using an AB. Cleanliness is next to Godliness! Keep it clean. I use mostly acrylics and I think they gum them up more than lacquers which requires more maintenance. I have a bucket of water at my bench and when done spraying acrylics I dip the cup and needle end of the brush in it and swirl my finger around inside the cup, pour out the water with the excess paint mixed in, refill the cup with water and spray it into the bucket. Then I take a stiff paint brush and with water in the cup scrub the cup, plug the nozzle and blow air back out the cup, dump the water and then spray out the remaining water. This tends to keep the brush relatively clean. However at some point the nozzle and opening to the nozzle will gum up. Then I disassemble the nozzle and put the nozzle in a paint remover bath for a few minutes. Finally I carefully "ream" the nozzle with a spare needle and push out the gummed up paint, I actually see it coming out like a thin worm. And finally I found that the opening from the cup to the nozzle can also fill up and clog. That one had me stymied for a while a year or so ago. I did all my normal nozzle cleaning and still got nothing out of the brush. Finally I happened to look at that hole and it had clogged up partially with paint. Pushing a pipe cleaner through it with some solvent on it fixed the problem. Hope you have a good experience when you do it. You can get effects that are impossible otherwise.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

HypnoticCrab said:


> Would I have to mix thinner into my Tamiya acrylic paints?


I've sprayed them from the jar and also added thinner. You can use various thinners with them, you don't need to use the more costly Tamiya thinner. I've even taken squeeze tube artists acrylics as well as some cheaper acrylics from Michael's here in the states and thinned them with water and gotten very good results.


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## HypnoticCrab (Jun 17, 2016)

Figured cleaning would be of high importance 
So just thinning with water will suffice? Sounds good.
Very excited now haha


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## SuperDave321 (Mar 10, 2015)

I've thinned acrylics with water, Windex, Windshield washer fluid, Future floor wax and some others I've forgotten. I like thin paint. When it's hot outside, water based stuff dries fast but there are artist acrylic retarders that help. Nail polish is fun to work with too. Another helpful item for cleaning is the small brushes in the dental health aisle of the drug store. Not much bigger than tooth picks with bristles.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

HypnoticCrab said:


> Would I have to mix thinner into my Tamiya acrylic paints?


YES. Most paints can be airbrushed. But, most paints also require thinning. Airbrushable doesn't mean airbrush ready.

I thin my Tamiya acrylics up to 50/50 with lacquer thinner (yes lacquer thinner) and they spray beautifully. Some colors require more thinning than others. I would start with at least 3 parts paint to 1 part thinner and work up to half and half if necessary. You can also use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol which is essentially what Tamiya's own thinner is. I use both, but for the big paint jobs, I generally use lacquer thinner. If I am just spraying some small doo dad, a couple drops of alcohol work fine.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I've used airbrushes for about 40 years and sold them for a good 25 years. I would consider these points:

Buy a NAME BRAND brush over a Chicom, no-name, knock-off brush. Some of the cheap Chinese brushes function fairly well, but getting any kind of parts for them is impossible. You will drop a glass jar and break it, bend a needle, split a spray tip, etc. The cheap brushes usually do not operate that smoothly or have weird ergonomics. For example, I bought one of the $18 Harbor Freight metal double action brushes just to see how it worked.... The mechanism is extremely tight and it works best at something like 40-50 psi. Most hobby spraying is done at under 20 psi... The jars are an odd size and not the same as standard hobby airbrush jars. The metal color cup fits at an awkward angle resulting in paint sloshing out. It is also loose and falls out (as does the jar adapter). 

Most name brand brush companies offer a variety of brushes. Even higher end brands like Iwata have more economical brushes. I actually like the Iwata Revolution, which is a lower to mid range brush price wise, but offers very good performance. Badger and Paasche have some nice mid priced brushes too.

The reason better brushes cost more is they are more precisely made and will deliver better results. I can never figure out why people will expect professional results from a cheap $10 Chinese brush. You get what you pay for. Better brushes are just easier to use too. The cheap ones offer very few controls. It would be like having a car that only turns left and has no reverse gear. 

The air supply is as important if not more important as the brush itself. While I don't recommend cheap brushes, you can use a cheap brush on a good air compressor, and get okay results. You can buy a $500 airbrush and get crap results because you are using an air can, cheap compressor that pulses or is not adjustable, etc. 

I use this set up with the Iwata CR brush and Ninja compressor. The compressor is a bit basic but is fully adjustable. Iwata Revolution Airbrush with Ninja Jet Compressor | Iwata Intro Kit

Cleaning is very important. Just flushing out a brush with water will not thoroughly clean it. That does work in between colors. but not at the end of the day. Dried acrylic paint is also quite resistant to thinner. You can soak dried acrylic in water and it will not dissolve. That is one reason I use lacquer thinner a lot. It cuts through acrylic, enamel and lacquer paints. Water is generally a poor airbrush thinner and I would use a paint's proprietary thinner if in doubt as to what to substitute.


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## HypnoticCrab (Jun 17, 2016)

djnick66 said:


> I've used airbrushes for about 40 years and sold them for a good 25 years. I would consider these points:
> 
> Buy a NAME BRAND brush over a Chicom, no-name, knock-off brush. Some of the cheap Chinese brushes function fairly well, but getting any kind of parts for them is impossible. You will drop a glass jar and break it, bend a needle, split a spray tip, etc. The cheap brushes usually do not operate that smoothly or have weird ergonomics. For example, I bought one of the $18 Harbor Freight metal double action brushes just to see how it worked.... The mechanism is extremely tight and it works best at something like 40-50 psi. Most hobby spraying is done at under 20 psi... The jars are an odd size and not the same as standard hobby airbrush jars. The metal color cup fits at an awkward angle resulting in paint sloshing out. It is also loose and falls out (as does the jar adapter).
> 
> ...


I've already purchased the $60 one :S
I will be thinning the acrylics with windex or something similar I can find around the house. I will be very anal about cleaning and using rkoenn's method. I'm sure in a few years when I've got more experience under my belt I'll notice straight away the value of a more $$ airbrush.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

They really are pretty easy to use. The two main mistakes I see more new users make are 1) not thinning the paint enough and 2) not properly cleaning the brush. Outside of that, it's just practice


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## Radiodugger (Sep 27, 2011)

I'm a Paasche kinda guy myself. If I had to do it over again, I'd spend the $300 and get the TGX-2F:










It's part of their Talon line. But really, for what we do, The TS Set has everything you need:










It's a hundred bucks, yeah. And right now, I'm not mixing colors or doing fine detail. The rattle can works for me! I just saw Paasche has a _Complete Colors Pack. 27 pack of 2 oz. bottles. Paasche optimized Extreme Air acrylics to spray with an airbrush.

They say reduced clogging and tip dry in addition to great atomization gives unmatched results. Extreme Air can be used on any surface from fabrics and plastics to metals. Combine colors to create hundreds of custom colors. 

Easy pour spout for less mess Can be used with most airbrush head sizes right out of the bottle. Use Extreme Air Reducer to improve flow through smaller head sizes and to control paint drying in the tip and on the needle._










Wow! $158!! I just can't justify that kind of cash. _You_ might find a value there, though...

Doug


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