Choice of airbrush & reasons.

[Pete the Elaner]

I thought it may be helpful to compare experiences of different types of airbrush.

 

My first was a Badger 200, singe action suction feed. I got good results with it but wondered if a better airbrush would produce better results.

 

I then bought an Iwata Revolution BCS. I got this a few months before they commissioned the Neo range. The BCS is a dual action suction feed. I also bought the optional rear section which allows me to limit the amount of paint which can be deployed.

I use the end stop to limit the paint & pull the lever all the way back. It may be important to mention that I have not used it for weathering very much.

 

Gravity feed seems much more popular than suction, so I decided to buy a Passche Talon to see why. I now have the choice of using suction or gravity.

The gravity brush has a nice feel to it & I enjoy using it. The paint cup being on top makes it easier to place in my airbrush holder/stand.

 

I do feel the gravity has a couple of drawbacks though:

It takes longer to clean than the Iwata. I partly dis-assemble my brushes after each use & they look brand new when I store them. Is this a bit OTT?

The gravity has blocked up a couple of times. I spend quite a while mixing the paint but it still forms a sludge at the bottom. This is no problem for the suction feed. My initial reaction is that I don't stir the paint for long enough but how long is long enough? It feels like I am stirring it for ages. I have used the Iwata to rescue 2 sessions with the Paasche.

 

Although the Iwata & Paasche feel better to use than the Badger, is this a mind trick because they are more expensive tools? I got good results with my Badger. Are my current airbrushes better than the user?

I never really got the hang of double action either. I set the end stop & pull the lever back to it, which does not seem any different to a single action. It takes less than a second to re-set the end stop for a lighter/heavier coat too.

[Theakerr]

I am in the bottom suction cup family.  It does have its disadvantages, the big one being that if you get carried away it is very easy to get the angle of the spray gun wrong and spill paint from the cup.  The big advantage is that I can have multiple cups of different colours made up and with minimal cleaning (just passing soapy water through for acrylics) I can go from one colour to another with minimal hassle just by changing the cup 

[37501]

I graduated from a suction cup Badger 200 to an Iwata Neo. I much prefer the gravity fed type and find that I can mix up a very small quantity of paint in a drink bottle lid and drop it in to the gravity cup with a plastic pipette. 
I now use an Iwata Eclipse which does everything I need from complete paint jobs to weathering small areas. Using enamel paint makes the Eclipse very easy to clean. Changing colours requires just a blow through with white spirit. A total clean is also very easy. I would recommend the Eclipse and enamel paint but this needs good ventilation. I do all my painting in the garage with the up and over door open. I have found no reduction in the quality of paint finish in the current cold weather. 
I guess everyone has their own preferences in airbrush and paint types. 
 

Happy airbrushing....

 

John

[michl080]

I am using three Airbrushes for different jobs. A Iwata HP-B for detail work and weathering, an Iwata HP-C for larger paint jobs like wagons and small locos, and a HP-BCS for large paint jobs that require a lot of paint like coaches and large locos. The HP-B and -C- are gravity fed, the -BCS is a suction type. All are perfect for their job.

You may think that this is overkill, but I bought them all used at an auction site. They were all in the 30-60€ range. Simply assume the worst case that is would be required to replace nozzle, needle and seals, take your budget and remove the cost for eventually required spare parts and you know what they may cost.

 

Michael

[Mick Bonwick]

CHOICE OF AIRBRUSH AND REASONS

 

My choice of airbrush was dictated by my reason for wanting one – weathering. I had no idea what to buy or where to get it from, so took some advice and rang a retailer. I was asked many questions and gave answers as best as I could. The result was the purchase of an Iwata Eclipse SBS, with a side-mounted colour cup.

 

This airbrush has a .35mm nozzle but allows a wide enough spray pattern to cover the side of a 4mm scale coach, and getting close enough to the subject to paint a .35mm (strangely) line. This combination has proved exactly right for my current requirements and, hopefully, for all my future ones as well.

 

The design of the Eclipse allowed easy and straightforward cleaning and the removable colour cup allows for the use of as many different colours in a session as I have cups. I can also keep a bottle of clean thinners available to flush the airbrush through at a moment’s notice. The side-mounted colour cup allows me to get very close to the subject for detailing work and still see where the nozzle is wo=ithout having to peer around the side of a top-mounted cup.

 

That’s not the end of the story, though, because after a while I needed to have airbrushes that could be used by beginners and experienced modellers alike and still give a reasonable level of performance for all. The requirements for these were:

 

·       Perform equally well with enamel and acrylic paints

·       Relatively easy to clean and service

·       Accurate and reliable

·       Robust enough for repeated use

·       Readily available spares

·       Not too expensive

 

By this time I had accumulated enough knowledge and experience to make my own choice and decided upon the Iwata Revolution CS with a .5mm nozzle and acquired enough to have 6 workshop participants using them at a time. This model met all the above requirements and has served its users and me admirably for more than 5 years. I have had no need to replace any parts, nor any failures that could be attributed to the airbrush or its manufacture.

 

During this time I have tried a fair few other makes and models, some of which were equal to the tasks and others which were not. I am quite often asked what I would recommend and I always start my answer by asking about the reason for the question and the purpose of the airbrush. There are quite a few manufacturers who provide models that are suitable for us as railway modellers and most of them will meet many of the requirements listed above. I don’t advocate the purchase of cheaper airbrushes because, although they might perform well enough to begin with, they will need replacing long before any of these will:

·       Iwata

·       Neo for Iwata

·       Badger

·       Paasche

·       Sparmax

·       Harder and Steenbeck

There are others, but I have not had reason to try them.

 

Whether to get top feed (gravity), side feed or bottom feed (suction) will come down to personal choice. Suction feed airbrushes tend to need more air to operate satisfactorily, but not beyond a decent compressor’s ability to supply it. Operating comfort can be a factor as well. Not everybody finds it easy to use an airbrush with the trigger on the top, some prefer to have a squeeze-type trigger operated by the whole hand. The available selection for these is more restricted, though, and I have found that some of them are more difficult to keep clean. Not impossible, just more difficult.

 

 

[97xx]

You don't seem to see/hear of these very often but I have a Revell Masterclass Professional. It is dual action and has the choice of top cup gravity feed, or swing this round through 180 deg and you can attach a bottle (suction) feed.

 

Compressor fed. I spray acrylics exclusively these days. I like the water-based process. The only downside appears to be the propensity for the acrylic to clog/dry out. What tends to happen is that the airbrush slowly builds up a fine coating of paint - even though I only use the acrylic thinner (which is propanol I think).

 

However, it's delivered excellent results in my amateur hands. I'm spraying at about 15-20 psi (cup) and have done full loco/rolling stock to fine weathering. I probably should use the suction for the bigger jobs.

 

I have bought the various needle/nozzle sizes and have found it very easy to use for weathering through to full loco/rolling stock. It appears to be of very good quality. It only goes down to 0.5mm nozzle which I suspect some may feel a bit coarse for expert work.

 

I should add that I'm a complete beginner, aside a Humbrol air can fed dual action suction airbrush I had 40 years' ago - from which I sprayed a scratch built loco in fully-lined green, and a Coronation class tender respray in crimson lake, all in enamels. I do recall being careful about paint leaking out of the glass jar up the thread as there was no proper seal!

[Torper]

My initial foray into airbrushing was the purchase of a ubiquitous AS186 compressor which came with a couple of sirbrushes, all for under £90.  I then went on an airbrushing course during which I was introduced to pistol-trigger type brushes.  As a beginner I found them easier to use and so on my return from the course I bought a Sparmax GP-35 pistol trigger airbrush which I found very satisfactory.  I also bought a kit of parts so that I can convert the .35 nozzle of the Sparmax to a .5 nozzle which I found excellent for larger areas.

 

The only problem with the pistol trigger brush was that I found it a bit clumsy for working in tight areas and so I bought a conventional Sparmax Max 3 which, as expected, has a fine 0.3mm nozzle.  Although very much a budget brush, this has performed excellently.  However, my GP-35 then started beahving rather erratically, stuttering during the spraying operation, and my attempts to clean it out did not improve matters. As this was now out of action I missed the ability to spray larger areas so I went a bit upmarket and bought a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution 2-in-1 airbrush which came with both 0.2 and 0.4mm nozzle sets and two sizes of cup.  At £140 this was considerably more expensive than either of the Sparmax brushes.  I haven't yet tried the 0.2mm nozzle set-up which I thought might be good for mild weathering.

 

In the meantime I'd acquired an ultrasonic bath and I thought I'd see if that could cure the spluttering problems I'd been having with the old GP-35 which I'd felt sure were caused by a miniscule bit of debris that I'd been unable shift.  It did!  So now I have three decent quality gravity-feed brushes giving me a choice of grips and a range of nozzles extending from 0.2mm to 0.5mm.  I still use the original AS186 compressor which continues to work well, and one of the cheapo brushes that came with it is also a perfectly competent performer on less onerous tasks.  I've only ever sprayed enamels as i get on well with them and have heard fearful stories of airbrushes getting irredeemably clogged up through the use of acrylics.  Mybe one day I'll try the cheapo brush with some acrylics!

 

DT

 

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Torper

[blueeighties]

Iwata Eclipse. Been using them in the day job for 7 years now. I prefer the 0.5mm nozzle and needle combo for 0 gauge work. I have tried a few others, including more exotic Iwatas, but this is the best brush I have ever found for my particular use.

It's used in combination with an Iwata Studio Pro compressor.

[deepfat]

I have gone for Harder & Steenbeck Infinty CR 2 with a Sparmax 520X compressor, even though I am completely new to airbrushing. However if this was just for my layout it might be overkill, but my plan is to use it for illustration too.  To get my skills up I have bough t a load of el cheapo Bachmann LMS coaches to convert to an ambulance train so they are going green 

[Mick Bonwick]

43 minutes ago, deepfat said:

I have gone for Harder & Steenbeck Infinty CR 2 with a Sparmax 520X compressor, even though I am completely new to airbrushing.

 

 

I recommend starting with the larger needle/nozzle assembly. The smaller one will block very easily and needs a bit of practise before using.

[Hibelroad]

Started with a Humbrol air brush and canned air - both fairly useless. I moved onto a Badger brush and even though I got a decent compressor at the time I still had poor results. This put me off suction brushes and about 15 years ago I got a gravity fed double action Iwata HP C which I think has a 0.4 mm nozzle. I have used this for both 4mm and 7mm models and it still gives excellent results. I clean it by sloshing white spirit in the cup, stirring it round with a paint brush then blow some through and tip the remainder out into a waste jar. Do this a couple of times until it is clean. I rarely strip it down unless it is really clogged. Also I don't bother much with the outside, but occasionally wipe it down with cellulose thinners. Having the right paint mix is important (consistency of milk) and if it does block while spraying just put a finger over the nozzle (wearing gloves) and spray a quick squirt which will blow back into the bowl and clear the obstruction. I think having a good compressor is important, mine is Revell branded, it cost over £200 a good many years ago but has been a good investment. Also a proper booth which extracts  through a wall vent is well worth getting.

[deepfat]

Thanks Mick that is the plan and I don't need the precision to spray coaches.  I'd love to see some tips and and blogs on here to share expertise

[Mick Bonwick]

9 minutes ago, deepfat said:

I'd love to see some tips and and blogs on here to share expertise

 

I suggest you have a look here:

 

https://www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk/index.php/virtual-missenden-weathering/

 

https://www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk/index.php/spring-2021-weathering-room/

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/blog/2349-mick-bonwicks-blog/

 

That little lot should keep you amused for a while!

 

[Firecrest]

I've tried a few including a Paasche Talon that I couldn't get on with... my main workhorse now is a basic but brilliant Badger 100G gravity feed brush - it's balanced just right and feels just right to use - simple to clean and strip down, and very solidly built. It would have to be one hell of an airbrush to make me get rid of this!

 

I got it for £40 with a H&S brush from a lady who had been using it to spray nails with. It was solid with crud but a thorough clean and overhaul by me and a light service from The Airbrush Company and it just flies now!