Expo tools Airbrush & Compressor AB602

[traction]

Well, took the plunge and bought this from Digitrains last week!

They don't hold it in stock but will order it for you, only took a day.

 

I have never held an airbrush before let alone used one so those who are experts can tell me what I'm doing wrong

 

After building the Church Pews, painted one in a wood brown colour..or should I say brown humbrol number 186.

This is a matt finish so also used some gloss varnish.

The first was hand painted, and it wasn't too bad but you can see the brush marks from the brown and the gloss varnish.

 

So toying with the idea of getting an airbrush for some time, looked and read lots....thank you all who post with airbrush information, very helpful.

I didn't want to spend too much money as I have no idea how much I will use it, also I didn't want to use the air can propellant for all the problems that can cause.

 

Looked about and saw the Expo Airbrush and compressor deal, now this is the compressor with air tank, a pressure regulator and inline water trap. It also comes with a dual action airbrush......not that it means much to me, ok I read what the difference is but thats about it!

 

 

 

So connected everything up, instructions are basically rubbish, nothing to tell you how to connect it all up or much else for that matter, but does have a very nice exploded view of the compressor.

It's actually quite obvious and straight forward anyway so not too much of a problem.

 

Once all connected switch on, it's actually very quiet, and once 40psi is reached the compressor switches off.

Now this is the maximum the regulator will go to, I lowered this to about 20psi and it sounds like the drain has been opened on the air tank and the compressor kicks in all of the time.

I thought this was a fault, but it's not, the cut out only works at max pressure, so when running at low pressures you are basically letting the air out of the tank so it will never switch the compressor off.

It's not very loud so not a problem, just thought it was a fault, quick call to Expo and all was resovled, he did say that they thought it was a fault at first.

I would normally expect the compressor to stop at what ever pressure I set on the regulator, then again if you spend more money on a better compressor then it would switch off....but when does the spending all stop?

 

Anyway so far so good, mixed up some humbrol acrylic paint, now this is the suck it and see part, read lots of things about mixing and ended up pulling my hair out everybody says something different, in the end went for the majority verdict, which is 50/50 mix of paint with........neat car windscreen washer bottle fluid.

Lots of folks used this for airfix models, so went for it.

 

Filled the bottle and set about spraying some cardboard boxes, first thing I thought was is it coming out!!!

It's very odd when first using one of these just how subtle/fine the spray can be. I found that at the 40psi setting it was too high, I could use it but the airbrush had to be a fair distance away or it would blow the paint off.

Dropped the pressure down to 20psi and was able to get really close to the object being painted.

It really did amaze me how fine it was.

 

After playing about went for it on the church pews, and I was impressed at how well the were covered and how accurate the spray was!.

As I was only used to spray cans, being able to get up close with an airbrush and spray the back of the pew was quite something.

 

The kit has the inline water trap, that was a suprise as well, after about 5mins spraying on/off the following shows how much water was captured!

 

 

For just under £100 I think it's a great value start into airbrushing and well worth it, yes if your going to go into it big time then a better compressor which will switch off at any pressure setting would probably be a good idea.

The inline water trap, some may think a bit cumbersome with it being attached to the airbrush itself, but I found it not to be a problem, I think a different water trap could be fitted direct to the compressor and the braided hose screwed to this instead, if it did become a problem.

One thing is certain it's better with it than with out!

I didn't seem to get any obvious pulsing when spraying even at the lower pressure settings so the small onboard tank seems to work well.

 

Over all a great value bit of kit which works very well.

I can't comment on the airbrush, as it's the only one I've ever used, you press the button air comes out, slide it back and paint comes out, the further it's pulled back the more paint comes out.......simples.

 

Still the good thing is, I can always buy another airbrush to fit on this if required.

 

I'm sure those that have used airbrushes before could tell straight away how good/bad this is, but as I've never had one it's impossible to do a comparison, this was more of a I bought this and it's not too bad for a numpty to use and thought other people may find it useful.

 

The following video gives an indication of how loud it is when the compressor is running, just click on the picture.

 

 

This is the first pew that I hand painted you can hardly see through the side bars even being careful!

 

 

This has been airbrushed, not a great photo but you can see through all of the side bars, just needs a coat of gloss varnish.

 

 

Cheers

 

Ian

[Pete Harvey]

Ian

 

One of my Compressors and Airbrushes is the same as you I use one for enamels and another for Acrylics if you can use the airline water trap and even better if you can fit a second water trap you will get even better results it makes quite a difference having two water traps.

 

You have got a very good airbrush and compressor there nice one.

 

Pete

[John Geeee]

I don't have the same set up but I got a compressor and airbrush for about the same price off ebay. I found that the compressor never turned off and thought it unusual so I gave all the hose screw connections an extra little tweak with the spanner and the compressor started to auto switch off at 20psi. So I think even the slightest of leaks causes the compressor to continuously run even when the airbrush was not triggered. This may help or it may not? Otherwise thanks for the review.

 

Cheers

John Geeeeee

[Pete Harvey]

Wrapping white PTFE plumbing tape on the connections is the best way to stop any air leaks from any of the joints and it allows you to still be able to dismantle any of the connections.

 

Pete

[scott_efc]

Looks good im thinking of getting one of these myself.

 

Sorry if this is a really obvious and stupid question but regarding the paint- do you mix it seperately and thin etc then pour it into the reservoir on top of the airbrush? If so is it hard to clean everytime you want to change colours? And does it waste all the paint left over or can you get it out?

 

I will have to get myself one and definately give it a go.

[traction]

Scott_efc,

 

I mix the paint in a small plastic pot.

I'm only using acrylic paints (Humbrol) thinned down with neat car screen wash.

I read on one of the airfix/revell forums thats what they use to thin the paint down, or it's distilled water with a small amount of IPA (alcohol).

 

One guy has only ever used the neat car screen wash, cheap £1 bottle, seems to work very well.

I mix 50/50.

 

Any left over can be poured back into a pot but don't know how long it would last for.

Cleaning is quite easy, you just have to get into a routine after every spray job, clean everything down really well.

I fill the pot with neat screen wash and blast that into the kitchen sink, then fill with warm water and do the same again.

 

I just make sure there is no trace of paint left which could dry hard and cause a blockage.

 

HTH

 

Ian

[7013]

Ian, thanks for your superb review, I am about the same standard as you. I looked at the AB602 on the Expo site today and was about to order when I decided to ask them a couple of questions. I have a Badger and Premi-Air brush and want to use them with this compressor too so I was waiting to see if they had the relevant connectors, I believe the Premi-air may connect directly but I believe the Badger may need an adaptor. However the supplied brush seems really good and your experience seems very positive so I will almost certainly order one. Thanks again for the review, if you have any follow up comments would appreciate them.

Andrew

[7013]

OK took the plunge and bought one for myself, excellent value. Today was the first time I had used a compressor rather than cans. The supplied airbrush is pretty good but like Ian I found it strange using the dual action. Set up was straight forward I used some enamel diluted 50/50 with thinners and did a bit of underframe spraying with rust colour. The set up is so easy to use and will suit my needs, I have a Badger brush which I will fit to the compressor via an adaptor and should be getting a Premi-air G35 which is a good brush which I believe will connect to the set I have. The supplied brush is capable of doing some very fine work and I messed about a bit doing some general weathering. I would recommend this to anyone who like me is a relative novice. I would like to have the water trap away from the gun but TBH it does not impede use, I will explore getting one that will fit the other end of the hose.The only things I would add to Ians excellent review is:-

Get yourself one of those spray booths with extractor and filters, and wear a mask, it can become pretty smelly and some paints contain toxins that are not nice.

[magic_monkey09]

just purchased one of these myself, brilliant bit of kit and well worth the money.