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hold on! because it doesnt have a tank it will get hot really quick and might burn out!
that without a tank you wont have a constant pressure and you cant set the pressure at all so that also might cause some problems because your not shooting henna your shooting paint, which is a little bit thicker!
yeah i had to spend €140 euro worth of airbrush materials but what i got was pretty descent.
i got a 3ltr tank for €80 (about 60GBP) and a €20 airbrush (in blue foam) and i used that for about 2 months now... im getting a new airbrush because the cheapy one does has it flaws but other then that im pretty happy with my setup
dont forget to get an airbrush blowout cleaning pot!! those will make your life a lot easier!!! and a good airbrush cleaning solution
the kit in the original post would probably be okay for very quick short bursts of work, but do not expect it to be okay working for hours at a time.
The compressor is a diaphram compressor with no tank; this will mean that the pressure of the air it outputs will actually wobble up and down and it may feel like its pulsing.
Which would be no good at all for doing airbrush art, but might be acceptable for just basecoating mini's or putting washes on etc.
The airbrush kind of has to be a cheap one from the price tag, I wouldnt expect wonders, but it should work okay, again it will strugle to do freehand artwork but should be okay for basecoats, I didnt take note of its nozzle size, for spraying GW acrylics, I've used a 0.2mm nozzle with success but quite a lot of thinning is required. I would suggest a 0.3 or 0.5mm tip to be more user friendly and managable for begginers.
'Ain't nothing crazy about me but my brain. Right brain? Riight! No not you right brain! Right left brain? Right!... Okay then lets do this!!
At the end of the day my budget is very limited. I loathe the thought of having to buy the cans of compressed air. Also cannot spray direct from a can (Dad's poor health). What sort of airbrush could i get for about £50 (Only going to be used for basecoating/priming)
well you can get an airbrush for about 15-20GBP and buy a Co2 Tank for about the same amount and have it filled with air at a gas station for like 2-3 quid...
and you can run with that for quite some time +its absolutely quite
There is also valves to run airbrushes off spare car tyres.
You just need to reinflate the tyre every so often.. unfortunatly I cant help with how long a tyre will run at whatever psi because iv always used a compressor. A tyre would be a similar idea to the CO2 tank mentioned above... you could start out like that and look at getting your own compressor to fill the tank at a later date.
For basecoating you dont need a top of the line airbrush, the expensive ones mostly only get better for fine detail work.. which to be honest isnt done with airbrushes on mini's all that often.
A gravity fed airbrush will run on lower air pressures than the syphon feed ones, which will help when not having a free air supply.
'Ain't nothing crazy about me but my brain. Right brain? Riight! No not you right brain! Right left brain? Right!... Okay then lets do this!!
I'm a little dubious about using tires :S. Think i may take a wander up the road to the local welding supply company and see how much they'd charge for a smallish cylinder and subsequent refills. Any advice on must buys for airbrushing?
Must buys:
Compressor: You need it. Must have tank, output regulator, moisture trap. Must have adapter nut for your airbrush hose(s) (ie 1/8" or 1/4" most commonly - typically larger machine shop compressors have a 1/2" output).
Airbrush: Go for dual action, gravity feed for multipurpose use. If you're aiming on doing VERY large batches, a siphon feed with several spare jars and a couple of spare jar adapters will help with consistency and storing paint mixes between jobs. In something over 3 years of commission work I've not had to do this though. But the principle is sound.
Cleaning kit: Cellulose thinners, airbrush cleaning brushes (like little bottle brushes, very useful!), q-tips, tissue (lint free), vapour trap if working in an enclosed environment (a takeaway carton lined with tissue with a small hole to push the nozzle through works), alcohol thinners / screenwash.
Thinning materials: Alcohol / screeen wash. Acrylic flow improver (most delay drying a bit and help avoid 'tip dry'). Several containers for water. Pipette.
Others: Airbrush stand (good and stable, if necessary epoxy it to a large ceramic tile). 'Slops' tray (I use an old takeaway plastic carton) to dump unwanted mix, q-tips old bits of tissue etc etc. Good light.
Most important - LEARN HOW TO CLEAN OUT THE AIRBRUSH PROPERLY AND DO IT REGULARLY. I've just spent several hours trying to recover a mate's airbrush that has paint clogging the air channels. It's going to need days in an ultrasonic cleaner now to try and shake loose what's inside it. If it had been cleaned regularly and properly this wouldn't have happened. After every spraying run, flush it out with cellulose thinners and wipe off the needle (with thinners). After every session do the same but strip the brush down - clear the nozzle (use an old paintbrush), clear the needle channel (use the aformentioned AB cleaning brushes), clean out the cup / feed tubes properly. At the end of the session your brush should look basically as clean as when you bought it. If it doesn't, expect problems.
winterdyne wrote:Must buys:
Compressor: You need it. Must have tank, output regulator, moisture trap. Must have adapter nut for your airbrush hose(s) (ie 1/8" or 1/4" most commonly - typically larger machine shop compressors have a 1/2" output).
see vid A below
winterdyne wrote:
Airbrush: Go for dual action, gravity feed for multipurpose use. If you're aiming on doing VERY large batches, a siphon feed with several spare jars and a couple of spare jar adapters will help with consistency and storing paint mixes between jobs. In something over 3 years of commission work I've not had to do this though. But the principle is sound.
agreed
winterdyne wrote:
Cleaning kit: Cellulose thinners, airbrush cleaning brushes (like little bottle brushes, very useful!), q-tips, tissue (lint free), vapour trap if working in an enclosed environment (a takeaway carton lined with tissue with a small hole to push the nozzle through works), alcohol thinners / screenwash.
see vid A below
winterdyne wrote:
Others: Airbrush stand (good and stable, if necessary epoxy it to a large ceramic tile). 'Slops' tray (I use an old takeaway plastic carton) to dump unwanted mix, q-tips old bits of tissue etc etc. Good light.
you can get a blowout pot (also shown in the vid) which can double as an airbrush stand. works really good!
winterdyne wrote:
Most important - LEARN HOW TO CLEAN OUT THE AIRBRUSH PROPERLY AND DO IT REGULARLY. I've just spent several hours trying to recover a mate's airbrush that has paint clogging the air channels. It's going to need days in an ultrasonic cleaner now to try and shake loose what's inside it. If it had been cleaned regularly and properly this wouldn't have happened. After every spraying run, flush it out with cellulose thinners and wipe off the needle (with thinners). After every session do the same but strip the brush down - clear the nozzle (use an old paintbrush), clear the needle channel (use the aformentioned AB cleaning brushes), clean out the cup / feed tubes properly. At the end of the session your brush should look basically as clean as when you bought it. If it doesn't, expect problems.
see vid B
Vid A
Vid B
[youtube] [/youtube]
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/07/02 08:22:44
Similarly I do not have a tank, although I wish I did. The only problem I encounter is overheat, so it seems a convenience issue. I have seen people say you can't tell the difference until you have a tank though.
If you're just starting out, like me, the cheap and cheerful will be excellent. I couldn't be happier with mine.
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No and yes. i have one of the airbrushes ( the grav fed one) and its pretty good... dont bother with the bottom feeder although the bottomfeeder is good for basecoating since it can hold more paint, but it needs more presure to work properly. the compressor is similar to what i have but i have it with a tank attached... its only a tad more expensive but it makes it loads better!
the blowout pot is crucible for day2day cleaning and makes your day a lot more enjoyable then when you dont have one of those babies and it also doubles as an airbrush stand
Waethion wrote:Maybe it's just me, but I see "everyone" in this thread saying you need a tank. I don't have a tank, and it works smooth as silk. What's up with that?
what Davylove21 says
Davylove21 wrote:Similarly I do not have a tank, although I wish I did. The only problem I encounter is overheat, so it seems a convenience issue. I have seen people say you can't tell the difference until you have a tank though.
If you're just starting out, like me, the cheap and cheerful will be excellent. I couldn't be happier with mine.
overheating and irregular pressure are common problems when using it for a while...
usually basecoating will take a while, especially when your painting multiple models and wanna do some preshading or whatever.
to OP, if you spend 15GBP more you will have the same kit WITH tank!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/07/02 14:17:52
True that. the compreesor kit I linked earlier didn't come with a tank, one phone call and £10 later and it did.
Interestingly in the FW modelling Mastercraft books I note that the bods at FW show tankless compressors in their guide/worktops. Clearly it is not imperitive to have one to achieve great results, less so for just basecoating.
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DijnsK wrote:overheating and irregular pressure are common problems when using it for a while...
usually basecoating will take a while, especially when your painting multiple models and wanna do some preshading or whatever.
Not doubting the truth of this, however I basecoated my ~650 point basic SM army in one go with my cheap tankless setup, so YMMV I suppose.
From my (granted; limited) experience I'd say a tank is far from a necessity for a beginner on a budget. Especially if you haven't airbrushed before, start out with a cheaper solution: You can always sell it and upgrade to something more expensive later IF you want or need it.
The tank issue is arguable... If you want to be spraying for more than a handful of figures at a time then tanks are a must. They will extend the life of the compressor considerably;
without a tank
The motor will be running 100% of the time you are spraying, any pressure it makes above what you want out of your airbrush will be wasted. Being as the motor is a moving part, this means wear and tear from performing cycles that aren't necessary.
With a tank;
The motor will fill the tank up to a preset pressure... it varies from kit to kit for a little airbrush kit lets say 6bars,
then it will not click back on untill the pressure in the tank drops below say 4 bars.
Being as you probably aren't having over 4 bars of pressure through your brush, the output pressure will remain constant and never pulse up/down.
Because the motor doesn't need to run 100% of the time it will run cooler and longer with less condensation in your air supply. less noise for your fellow residents to complain about. and you can do more in one go before your motor is too hot and spitting condensation onto your work (even when you have loads of traps and filters)
Edit; if you were ever to try and spray paint that isnt waterbased you could cry when it spits moisture onto your job! with waterbased paints its still not an ideal situation.. but its less of a problem than with say cellulose paint - which probably isnt what you want on your mini's
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/07/03 14:50:07
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HairySticks wrote:without a tank
The motor will be running 100% of the time you are spraying, any pressure it makes above what you want out of your airbrush will be wasted.
I feel like an idiot now, but.. Do most tabletop airbrush compressors come with a (really small) tank? Because mine, which I assumed was without a tank because there's no mention of one in the description, does not run 100% of the time - it switches on for a short time every few minutes..
It's holding pressure in the space between the pump and regulator. This is basically where the tank goes, so yes, all compressors will have a (teeny tiny) area to hold pressure. The bigger the space, the more you can spray before your output pressure drops. If your pump is switched by dropping output pressure or stored pressure below a certain level, this is why.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/07/03 21:54:15
I have used an AS186 airbrush compressor without a tank attached to it before, and the motor will run the whole time you have the trigger of the airbrush pressed down, it can stop however if you let the air off the airbrush - which is not really the way to airbrush.
The trigger is press down for air and pull back for paint for a reason, typical behaviour is to have the air blowing constant pressure before, during and after paint application as you move onto and away from the job.
A tankless compressor is okay, dont fret over it. but its significantly better with a tank If you only ever spray for 10-15minutes at a time and the motor gets time to cool down between sessions, you will not encounter too much issue with it.
If you want to start doing illustration and custom paintwork etc with your airbrush, then a tank to allow long periods of consistant pressures would be a big plus.
For applying primer, base colour, washes, and topcoats to mini's... it's fine for doing small batches at a time. If your unhappy with your kit because it cant work for long enough without cool down and you get water in the air often then consider a new one otherwise carry on as it is.
edit; youd know if it had a tank.. theyre usualy the vast majority of the size of the device, and are big and round, metal usualy the motor would be sat ontop of one if it exists like this one
Which is what I have, its got a 2 piston motor sat ontop of a 3L tank... pretty small kit but gets the job done
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/07/03 22:07:53
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Lormax wrote:
Which compressor/tank setup is that?
Thats an 'AS196' if you google for that you should find it ... there is also an 'AS186' that has a single piston head on a tank. and another 2 that are just compressors with no tank, and some more housed inside metal cases... quite a selection to be honest. They are 'generic' compresors that get sold under a lot of brand names...I'm not sure where they actually get made hehe.
The 196 model that I pictured, is more than adequate for most hobby needs, will work for about 60-90 minutes of solid spraying before I really have to leave it to cool off - I only ever really do this when I'm illustrating and freehand airbrushing on things.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/07/04 02:44:27
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although the bottomfeeder is good for basecoating since it can hold more paint, but it needs more presure to work properly. the compressor is similar to what i have but i have it with a tank attached... its only a tad more expensive but it makes it loads better!
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