Airbrushing questions, again...

[JohnReid]

I use flow medium to thin my acrylic paint (mixed with distilled water.)I keep a large container of water beside me and when not in use I keep the nozzle in the water at all times.I back flush very often holding a wet rag or paper towel over the nozzle very tightly.I use a double action Badger and a nice compressor (made in Italy,I forget the name)that makes no more noise than a fridge.
Lots of backwashing and keeping the nozzle wet at all times works for me!

[chilly]

Ok... SO I have been a long time lurker, and just joined the forum, just so I could hopefully help in your airbrush needs.

I will give you a bit of background of me so you can see where I'm coming from. (not to say I'm right and others are wrong, just so you can decided where you want to go)

I have been a commercial artist for the past 20 years and a professional model maker for the past 10 to 12 years. When I was in High school I purchased my first "real" airbrush, it was a single action badger... it worked fine, but the illustrations i was doing were smaller and needed a finer spray pattern, So I bought my first Iwata. It was a Iwata HP-B (I still have it, and use it regularly), I still felt I needed a finer brush So I then dove into a Iwata CM-SB it was their custom-micron side feed ( I hated the side feed, but loved the micron nozzle, very fine spray pattern this is perfect for illustration work but not so good with model paints unless you use high quality laquers.)

I purchased an Iwata Eclipse about 3 years ago to get an AB with a larger cup size, This is probably the best general AB I have used, it does fine detail work, as well as larger coverage areas. It also handles thicker media such as "future floor polish" really well.

And Finally I JUST purchased a Harder & Steenbeck Colani AB. This is a brute, It seems to handle anything I throw at it, and it is just lovely in the hand.

I have gone totally digital in my illustrative work, so all the Brushes I use are in my model making. I use only Acyrlics (tamiya, Vallejo) in my brushes, mainly because I do not like the many of the enamels out there. I would use Gunze's Mr. Color laquers if they were easier to get where I live But alas they are not.

I thin the tamiya paints with 60% isopropel and 40% laquer thinner(from Home depot), and it works great. I also use that and plain isopropel to clean when I am finished.

I think what you might want to consider is what size of models you will be building, because that will determine how fine of an airbrush you will need to get.

I model 1/24 on up and so I need the flexibility of extreme fine lines and very broad spray patterns.

I have used 3 or 4 Badgers, and loved them, but just needed a little more balance and weight. The Paasche VL's are awesome, and bullet proof. I have used an older Thayer and Chandler, not my cup of tea, but I did not spend a lot of time with it... I know people who love them, and these are people I respect and they do great work. I bought an Aztec, and regretted every dollar I spent on it... it is a piece of junk IMHO. The Grex looks like a nice brush, but I have not tried it.

My thoughts would be double action - internal mix, and gravity feed, but I could be swayed to single action and siphon feed. I just prefer the double action.

I hope I have not confused you...

I also have a cheap compressor from Home depot ($100) for a 2.5 gallon. it works great though noisy. I also use a CO2 tank if I need silence.

-kev


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