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Okay, as I'm building an IG army and have a bunch of armor to paint, I'm beginning to investigate the cash outlay necessary for an airbrush. From what I've seen, the most expensive initial investment isn't in the airbrush, but in the compressor. This may be a stupid question, but could I use a tire inflator instead of a full-on compressor? I'm wondering about something like this: http://www.aircompressorsdirect.com/Campbell-Hausfeld-RP3200/p543.html. If I could figure out a way to hook it up to an airbrush, would it work?

Edit: Fixed Link

Link's broken.

If you cheap out you are just going to throw it away. Save your nickels and buy a proper compressor.

It is possible to use a spare car tyre instead of a compressor. I think that Badger do an adaptor.
The pressure doesn't stay consistent after a while but if you already have the inflator it would be worth a go.
It would certainly be fine for terrain if it is crap!

See, that's the thing - I already own one of these inflators. Got it as a present as a part of a car emergency kit. Would it work to hook it up to an airbrush, though?

Having gone this rout here is my opinion.
It will work but not well. It will be pulsed like @$#% and may throw oil into your paint if its an oiled compressor. You will most definately get water thrown into your paint which will screw up your coating drasticaly.

Aside from horrific pulsation you will probably suffer from a rapid draw down in which the compressor cant keep up with your brush. If the compressor can keep up with the brush holy c@$#% pulsation will be your bane. If it cant keep up this will lead to rapid overheating of the cheap compressor. Overheating = rapid life consumption and immediate burnout if you let it overheat too much.

If you use it to inflate an innertube this will give you better consistency but again you will have to inflate the tire often and be sure you dont overfill the tire.

Id say your far better off paying 100dollars for a hobby compressor. It wont be great but it will be orders of magnitude better than this. and probably a lot quieter.

Another "cheap" rout is if you know someone with a big compressor buy a tank w/regulator and fill it. this will allow you to say coat your tanks once or twice depending on the numbers.

Okay - and that's what I was afraid of. Seems to me that a big part of what makes an airbrush work right is a constant flow of air. And I was afraid that an inflator would not have the pressure regulation necessary for good, consistent flow.

Glad to know that this has been tried, even if it didn't work well. Saves me the money of buying an airbrush and trying to concoct a way to make it work with the inflator.

You don't need a super fancy air compressor to do the job. Check out Walmart or Home Depot or Lowes and you can probably find one for around $80 ......http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90168

You want one with a tank on it, doesn't even need to be 3 gallons. 1 gallon tank will do fine. You can get an airbrush for around $73 (or less). Dixie art has a Iwata HPC-R for $73 + shipping. You can get cheaper than that but don't go TOO cheap. I have one of the new Badger Renegades and it is a very awesome brush and parts are a lot cheaper than my Iwata but it cost me over $100 after shipping.

Get a double action airbrush, try to get one with at least a .5mm nozzle (aforementioned Iwata has that size, goes from pencil lead line up to 2" spray). My badger maxes at a 1" spray but I can do hairlines with it.

Trust me, for $200 you can get a decent or even nice airbrush and compressor but over the course of an army, especially an army like IG with all their tanks, it will save you hours, if not days, worth of work alone. I can basecoat a baneblade in 5 mins even with my detail airbrush, the same cannot be done with a regular paint brush, unless you just load the paint on and slap it on so it looks like crap and even then that would be pushing it.

So, if you are thinking of an airbrush go for it. They are hard to use at first, it takes practice and patience but they are so very much worth it. Look at the thread started by Atropos907 if you haven't already and do your homework on the matter. Lots of resources online but don't be afraid to ask I or atro anymore questions on the issue.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92403

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93657

Look at this it might help too
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95923

there you go dbm

In looking at the following posts I realized my response was slightly more negative than I intended.
I just remember really fighting with a compressor that wasn't made for airbrushing.

Looking over the links sonofruss suggested Id make the following recommendations.

If your buying 6 identical brushes for that cheap they are likely only good for base coating and maybe getting down to 2-3mm diameter sprays. If that's good enough for you cool. But as Fateweaver said, do your homework. Its better to spend hours researching than to impulse buy and be dissapointed.

The compressors look like they should do the job though Id be more inclined to go with the higher PSI as I suspect it will support a higher flow rate. Caveat, it will also likely pulse a little more noticeably. But as I said these will very likly be orders of magnitude better than a tire inflator.

Id say if you want to start cheap do so. tricks can be performed to make nice details that freehanding with the brush is not capable of. You just have to be inventive and that's part of the fun. Id say go for it. buy what you can afford now if you think it will suit your needs (200 sounds fair as its what I started with) and see if you like it. If so months later you can upgrade whichever component is causing you the most grief when you have a better idea of what you want.
I started with a Pashe double action and did fairly well with it. But I wanted to completely replace brush painting so went with a more expensive brush after saving up for 6 months for it and a better compressor.

BTW I would rate my compressor as a 8.5 out of 10. This is because I would like a 5+gallon tank and a compressor that is just as quiet but can fill the 5gallon tank in under 5 minutes. I'm just spoiled to my fathers garage way back when. If my compressor didn't have a tank Id rate it at a 7.5. A tire inflator likely ranks around a 2-3. the compressors suggested by sonofruss would likely be ranked by me at around 6-7. Mine is higher because it is slightly quieter(Or was compared to compressors I tested in hobby stores) which is why I bought it over others for its price tag. I did my homework to get the quietest I could for under 200.
If I get rich Ill probably by a 500-1000 dollar eurotec or silentair with a larger tank and faster compressor... yea that ll happen soon.

But again, give it a try if you can make the 200 dollar commitment. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did and start saving to buy something better once you figure out what, if anything, you think needs improvement.

No-ones said this yet, but if you hook up your cheapo compressor to an airtank, with a regulator/drier between the airsupply & airbrush, you'll eliminate most of the problems you're being told about i.e pulsation & water in the airstream.

What you might see in a few weeks use is the compressor gives up the ghost, as it'll be turned on & off repeatedly, as opposed to 5 mins to fill a tyre every 6 months. If that's the case, you'll know by then if you think it's worth it, you can then spring for a better compressor.

They have different needles you can buy to vary the lines like the ones fateweaver posted about I did not put them in my post but if you need them put up a post.