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im thinking about getting a airbrush set and I would like some input. My first choice right now is a store brand from here in germany. the store is called conrad, id compare it to maybe radioshack in the states, i say just make it clear that while its not top brand name its also not kmart brand. anyway, its a dual action, gravity fed brush with 2.9 bar compressor. i also plan on buying a moisture trap separately. so all this for 150€ (~$200), what do you guys think? i looked at the airbrush faq in the articles section and it meets the standards of the author except that the article recommends a 5 bar compressor. how big of a difference will this make? is having a 2.9 bar compressor a huge drawback?

any feedback is appreciated. also if anyone can recommend any other sets that I can get for around the same price range, please recommend away. or if anyone can recommend any good european online shops that have good deals, please let me know.

thx

I have been spray painting commercially for 10+ yrs as an aircraft mechanic & using an airbrush for hobbies for over 25. I'm not trying to brag, because I know I have alot of "old school" BAD habbits, but I'll put my 2 cents in. I also had to convert Bar. to PSI. (I haven't had to do that since I worked on MB105's & AS350's) So humor me with this long post.
A dual action airbrush gives you the most control & adjustment. My advise is mix up a large batch of cheap paint & test it on a large cardboard box. Try every possible adjustment. You might be surprised what effects you can achieve.
As for the compressor; 2.9 Bar is about 42 PSI to me. (us silly americans) 5 Bar is almost 73 PSI. Every spay paint application I've done, except HVLP (not practical for modeling), I've used between 30-35 PSI, even with full size paint guns you see in autobody shops. Now the 5 Bar compressor will definately not work as hard as the 2.9 bar model, but you should have a regulator to turn down the pressure, unless it's already built in. Also for any painting a moisture trap is always good.
I hope maybe some of that helps & don't be afraid to come back & ask more questions.

@shrew can you tell me whats a good paint to buy for air brush usage?

And if i use GW ( my god feels so expensive ) how much water ratio to add?

Privateer is a very good paint for airbrush, followed by GW, which works fine but needs a bit more thinning. Reaper and vellejo arent very good fro brushing really, too clumpy.

A little tip, make a solution in a dropper bottle of 1:10 rubbing alcohol and water, and keep it nearby. The alcohol will keep it from seperating.

My bad airbrush habit: I just drop the whole thing attached to the hose AND cup in a bucket of water between colors and sessions so every few days I have to take it apart and soak it in laquer thinner.

Actually now that I think of it, it is sitting out with a half cup of paint in it, and I am leaving for the weekend tomorrow I am hard on my brush lol.

@Lunahound I'm not the one to ask about GW or most acrylic paint. Remember Ihave the "old school" BAD habits. I like Enamel & Laquer paint. Tamyia paint I've had success with I don't remember the ratio, but for any acrylic paint I would reccommend using rubbing alcohol to mix it with.

My mom bought a testor air brush she was̔̊̋̌hoping to make custom post cards with dried flowers attached
̔̊̋however no one knows how to use it̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒now its just sitting there tempting me to use it for painting tanks

LunaHound, if it's the starer kit, does it have the propellant can?

shrew wrote:LunaHound, if it's the starer kit, does it have the propellant can?

Yes , basically 2 container , 2 nozzles , and the can.

*edit:
I was wondering , spray paint works by throwing tiny droplets of paint onto the model right?
what happens if it gets running and flow to random places? ( or does it not? )
<-- just thinking if its like rain drops on a car windshield ( does it flow away when the droplets connects and gets too heavy to stay )

LunaHound, is it the AZTEC airbrush? I don't have one, but I've heard that it's very good. I'm sure you can look up an instuction manual online. The can is used by screwing in the blue wheel thing in the top. The brass knob on top turns it on & regulates the pressure. The hose hook-ups I think is pretty self explanitory... I think.

Yes its testor aztek , however i cant find the propellant can anywhere. Does any propellant can fit on it?

As far as I know, yes. I haven't used cans in probably 10 yrs. I have a regulator & dryer set up on my home shop compressor.

OK - taken the plunge and bought an ebay airbrush, hose and regulator/water trap. So - about AU$50-60 all up delivered.

I am going to borrow my fathers serious compressor (used for a nail gun) - planning to fill up the tank and then use the bleed off without power (or noise) of the comressor running - the thing weighs about 60kg.

So - will give a review of a cheap-ass airbrush once I have it and have had a play...

Cheers

OK thanks for the input, especially shrew. It's nice to have a professional's opinion. I guess what I'm hearing is that is seems like a good setup?

You can buy one of those Testor's airbrush kits in most Walmarts for about 25 USD, give or take. I've had one sitting around for ages that I finally broke out and gave a good dunking in some acetone-free nail polish remover to get all the gunk out. I'll test it out on base-coating some SM bikes and let you know how it fares.

Cross, Thank you for the compliment, but I wouldn't consider myself a professonal, the painting I did for my job was mostly painting patch panels from sheet metal work & other "touch up" work. The largest single thing I painted was an engine cowling about the size of a dog house. Good luck with the airbrush!!!

LunaHound, I did forget to answer your question about the paint dropplets & "runs". An airbrush uses air pressure to atomize the paint turning it into a "mist". Once the the paint gets onto your piece, if it's a vertical surface the surface tension holds on. If you put tooo much on it will pool up & run down if it's on a vertical surface. My best advice is hold the airbrush @ least 1 foot away when painting. Paint in constant sweeping motions. Another good benefit of a dual action airbrush is you can just spray air in between coats of paint to prevent runs. The button or trigger of the airbush has 2 positions, down blows the air & pulling back introduces the paint. If you do get a run in your paint, I've gotten away with wiping it off & painting over right away, but depending on the detail of what your painting you might want to strip & repaint. I'm not going to lie to you 90% of my painting success came from trial & error.

Hi guys

Is the airbrush OK for undercoating?

Or does the airbrush require a porous surface to bond to?

Thanks

I use airbrushes to spray my primer for non-GW models, I either use Gunze or Tamiya Surfacer. I haven't used the GW Foundation paints, but I'm told you can Airbrush those without a basecoat like you can paint them without one. Other acrylic doesn't airbrush well without an undercoat though. In my experience, GW Acrylic doesn't airbrush well at all, actually, though I haven't tried with recent kinds. I also can't stand using Vallejo ones for Airbrushing, but that's personal preference, there are plenty of modellers who get great finishes with it. I'm tempted to get the Vallejo Dark Angels Green equivalent colour and try it out on my current army, it must be said...
As for the actual airbrush, I love my Testors Aztec A3205. Best single-action Airbrush I've ever had; easy to clean, swappable paint jars, adjustable spray size.I use it for all my fine detail work instead of my more expensive double-actions now, for most things.

Thanks for the info GlauG

AIRBRUSHES ROCK!
I go here for everything, rebuild kits, starter packages, etc.
http://www.tcpglobal.com/


I own:
Paache VL ( first DA brush and used to base coat now)
Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS (detail)

I really want the Iwata Kustom Custom Micron CM. But I want to get use to handling the smaller body of the Iwata compared to the paache.

I use to have the Aztek A470 and I liked the special tips for fine lines and spatter. I just hate that testors stuff usually only fits on testors equipment unless you buy testors adapters. I also did not like the Aztek because you couldn't break the brush down for cleaning like the 2 I own now.

PAINT. I use Vallejo and GW 90% of the time in my airbrush and no problems. If you follow the rule of thumb "paint should be consistency of milk". No problems. The alcohol trick is a must as it also makes cleanup easy. When I mix paint for spraying I usually do 1:1 water/paint, then test spray on a box. If it's a little rough dilute more. The paint dries quickly with the dilution and alcohol mixed, and if the airbrush starts acting funny, you usually have paint buildup on the needle tip. Then it's just taking the air cap off to scrape the glob off with my nail.

If you love the airbrush stuff and decide to get into buying better equipment, add an ultrasonic cleaner to the list. It'll keep the brush like new. And if you need the wife to cosign on the idea just tell her she can clean her jewelry in it

I am just starting to get into airbrushing. I have no way of painting outside or somewhere where the area is naturally ventilated. How much do I need to worry about wearing a mask and ventilating when painting 40K? (Living in an apartment sucks) Does the brush kick out a lot of paint dust? I'm just trying to decide what kind of airbrush area I need to setup. Any advice would be great.

LBursley wrote:AIRBRUSHES ROCK!
I got here for everything, rebuild kits, starter packages, etc.
http://www.tcpglobal.com/


I own:
Paache VL ( first DA brush and used to base coat now)
Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS (detail)

I really want the Iwata Kustom Custom Micron CM. But I want to get use to handling the smaller body of the Iwata compared to the paache.

I use to have the Aztek A470 and I liked the special tips for fine lines and spatter. I just hate that testors stuff usually only fits on testors equipment unless you buy testors adapters. I also did not like the Aztek because you couldn't break the brush down for cleaning like the 2 I own now.

PAINT. I use Vallejo and GW 90% of the time in my airbrush and no problems. If you follow the rule of thumb "paint should be consistency of milk". No problems. The alcohol trick is a must as it also makes cleanup easy. When I mix paint for spraying I usually do 1:1 water/paint, then test spray on a box. If it's a little rough dilute more. The paint dries quickly with the dilution and alcohol mixed and if the airbrush starts acting funny, you usually have paint buildup on the needle tip. Then it's just taking the air cap off to scrape the glob off with my nail.

If you love the airbrush stuff and decide to get into buying better equipment, add an ultrasonic cleaner to the list. It'll keep the brush like new. And if you need the wife to cosign on the idea just tell her she can clean her jewelry in it

I got a lot of my airbrush gear from TCP as well. I still use a Paache VL as well. As long as I as used the right needle size I never had a problem. I've also found thining out my paint with acrylic ink works really well, at least for me it has.

ixlar wrote:I am just starting to get into airbrushing. I have no way of painting outside or somewhere where the area is naturally ventilated. How much do I need to worry about wearing a mask and ventilating when painting 40K? (Living in an apartment sucks) Does the brush kick out a lot of paint dust? I'm just trying to decide what kind of airbrush area I need to setup. Any advice would be great.

Ventilate: no need if using GW paints or any other water based non- toxic. If you plan on painting inside you WILL get dust if you don't use a spray box with filters.

--$249.14--- Expensive but if you can't go outside and don't have a garage, this is your best bet.
Paache table top Spray booth http://www.tcpglobal.com/airbrushdepot/itemdetail.aspx?itemno=PAS+HSSB-22-16

Mask: Again if you use non-toxic paint and don't dilute with anything that has fumes (alcohol has harmful fumes) no danger there.

TIP- when I lived in an apartment I use to airbrush in the bathroom. Dust kicks up but it's probably the easiest place to clean in the house. I had a fan in the ceiling of my bathroom.

Water-based Acrylic is the easiest to clean.

When I was painting in an apartment I did it in the kitchen and turned on the vent. I'd still say ware a mask even if it's just a dust mask.
The dust depends on what brand of paint your using but, I've found most water based paints give off a lot of dust. The fumes won't hurt you. But getting a lot of paint dust up your nose sucks.

Okay, thanks for the advice.

I would stay away from using kitchen & or bathroom vent fans IMO. 1. the overspray can collect on the fan blades & eventually fall down into food if using a kitchen fan. 2. the fan is usually NOT sealed wich will have brushes that can arc & when in contact with flamable paint fumes, fire, or @ least possibly short in contact with water based paint. I know I wouldn't want to have to explain to the superentendant or landlord why they have to replace that fan. I would find another way. I'm not trying to brag, but I had some decent success with my home made spray booth hooked to my shop vac. Try it... mine cost less than $30.00 to build IIRC. I would still use a mask or respirator.