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Hey guys! So, as the title states. I'm looking to get into airbrushing. For now, my interests are largely for basecoating, but it is completely possible that I will want to try something different in the future, so I do not want to buy something of poor quality. Today, I experienced this:

1. Go to Games Workshop with no intention of buying the Citadel spray gun, knowing that it is overpriced and of lackluster quality, intending to instead buy one online.
2. Talk to the store manager, who is arguably the nicest guy alive, about basecoating with an airbrush.
3. He tells me about the Citadel spray gun, and makes it very clear that it may not be what I'm looking for, but that he personally likes it for his painting.
4. Three other customers in the store immediately chime in about how it's perfect for basecoating, and you couldn't ask for a better entry level spray gun.
5. If you couldn't figure out where this was going, I bought it.
And step 6, I went home and realized I had bought complete crap and immediately felt stupid. So, I demanded a refund, and so on and so on. Now, my plan is to buy a new, higher quality airbrush, preferably one with a compressor bundled with it. At the same time, I am not looking to spend a huge amount of money when I do not need to use it for high-level painting. I've found two that I am interested in, and I'm essentially wanting to make sure that they are of decent quality before I drop the money on them.

1: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Airbrush%C2%AE-Airbrushing-Airbrush-Compressor-The/dp/B00BF0MW9G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373181633&sr=8-1&keywords=airbrush+with+compressor

2: http://www.amazon.com/Airbrush-Precision-Dual-action-Compressor-Decorating/dp/B002P646DE/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1373181830&sr=8-14&keywords=airbrush+g23

Will either of these do for my intentions, or would I just be disappointed like I was today haha? Obviously, I'd prefer to get the cheaper one, because the money I got back for the spray gun and a can of propellant would completely cover the cost of it. However, if the pricier one has a good reason for the extra $10, I suppose I can't turn that down.

Thanks ahead of time for any help you can give me!

Alrighty. Well, there is a wealth of information about airbrushing and our hobby. Specifically you probably want to tune in to the following youtube channels:

WG Consortium - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChB9tRBzwbR35OBP2e9HhKw

Awesome Paint Job (Les Bursley) - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0vYyCks8CDWZBHz-qtZhbA

Ichiban Painting (Hugo Matte) - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdu8ZvFzRlCGSq1OU6FFmpw

Buy Painted (I can't remember his name) - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsVtZ8SRClYf4tPzy8HjNtA

Personally, if your budget permits it, I recommend the Badger Patriot 105 as the only airbrush you'll need 95% of the time. It's fantastic aside from minute detail work. This should run you around 70 USD.

To get you on your way you really should watch Chungs (WG Consortium) videos on Airbrush 101.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vDgaRqlhI0 is a good (although dated especially in terms of pricing) resource to start with.

Badger Patriot 105 - http://www.amazon.com/Badger-Air-Brush-Patriot-Gravity-Airbrush/dp/B002W84GTO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373186744&sr=8-1&keywords=badger+patriot+105

Cleaning Pot -(You WILL need one) - http://www.amazon.com/Iwata-Medea-NAC-201-Cleaning-Station/dp/B000VADIVC/ref=pd_bxgy_ac_img_z

Hose adapter to fit Badger airbrushes - http://www.amazon.com/Badger-Airbrush-50090-Airbrush-Paasche-Adapter/dp/B000BROVLG/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1373186819&sr=1-2&keywords=badger+airbrush+adapter (You wouldn't have known you needed this until after you bought your stuff :()

As for compressors, you can use basically anything. The only information you REALLY need to know is that it needs to have a regulator, a moisture trap and it needs to be able to spray at least 30psi sustained. Those little compressors your looking at are more for makeup and will likely not be sufficient for our purposes. I went with a very cheap, tankless compressor and though you can spend more it's worked out very well for me.

The major difference between a tankless compressor and a compressor that has a tank is that the ones with a tank are typically less noisy. Airbrush compressors are pretty good for being not terribly loud but you COULD use a loud shop compressor if you didn't care about the noise.

http://www.amazon.com/AIRBRUSH-COMPRESSOR-Airbrush-Published-Exclusively/dp/B001738DXU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ac_4 is a reasonable compressor.

"MASTER" brand are rebranded chinese manufactured stuff. I would not recommend the actual airbrushes but none of the airbrush manufacturers make their own compressors. I WOULD recommend a chinese made compressor which should last you quite some time.

A reasonable tankless compressor option - http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-AIRBRUSH-COMPRESSOR-Regulator-FREE-HOSE/dp/B001BJFHAW/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1373187371&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=hobby+air+compressor

My suggestions will cost you more than the ones you've listed. It would run you about $150. The compressor will not last forever, but you should never need to replace the airbrush. Components maybe, but not the thing overall. It is a great tool.

--- EDIT ---

Just wanted to clarify something. The reason you want it to spray 30psi sustained is that you will then never have an issue with being unable to spray enough. Your working psi is going to be between 8-20 at the most.

Additionally, the only other thing you could want after a setup like this would be a detail brush. Good options are the Badger Sotar 20/20 or the Badger Renegade Krome. As far as spray pattern is concerned they're exactly the same airbrush. The only difference is that the sotar is lighter. On Amazon the Sotar was on sale for 70 USD.. It has since gone up but I would watch for it as I'm sure it will go down in price again.

There is a bloke somewhere around here. He used a hom-and-garden pump action watering can as his pressure tank, and bought the cheapest airbrush he could find (Chinese, at something around $20). I think he spent less than $50 for the setup, which I feel is still better than an air gun, and let's you figure out if this is something you want more of. results will probably be on the dodgy side, but I'd suggest the same if you want to make your first step into airbrushing, as this is probably the cheapest way to find out whether it's something you really want to do.

Falhurk wrote:
Buy Painted (I can't remember his name) - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsVtZ8SRClYf4tPzy8HjNtA

Jaroslaw Grabowski... so it's understandable ; p I like and watch all the guys you linked (and more) but BP has always been my favourite, I love how he paints. So I subscribed to his recent thing here. More for intermediate painters than beginners, but he does step by step for all his painting tutorials and does some fundamentals like how to make an oil wash and so on. Great motivation to try and get better seeing some of the beautiful models he does.

Les did a great airbrush rant here that will give you a good idea about what you can expect from different airbrushes on the market. Highly recommended watch, was a good part of what convinced me to go from my starter cheapie chinese airbrush to a Badger Krome. Also recommend the Airbrush 101 series Falhurk linked, I think it's up to episode 3 but hasn't been updated in a while.

Getting an airbrush is essential if you're deep into the hobby imo. Speeds up and improved basecoating and lets you quickly and easily shade your minis once you learn how.

Thanks Yonan for his name.. Buy Painted is one of the most valueable airbrush youtubers (if not THE most valueable one) on the net. I actually didn't know he was going to do a subscription based website. I'll be signing up for a year, the guy is worth far more than the asking price.

 poda_t wrote:
There is a bloke somewhere around here. He used a hom-and-garden pump action watering can as his pressure tank, and bought the cheapest airbrush he could find (Chinese, at something around $20). I think he spent less than $50 for the setup, which I feel is still better than an air gun, and let's you figure out if this is something you want more of. results will probably be on the dodgy side, but I'd suggest the same if you want to make your first step into airbrushing, as this is probably the cheapest way to find out whether it's something you really want to do.

I strongly disagree with this. Initially I bought my compressor with a few cheap chinese airbrushes. These failed within a week. I believe that if you took the route suggested by Poda_T you would either be completely turned off of air brushing or you will have increased your total startup costs by whatever you paid for the knock-off airbrushes and compressor solution.

It really depends, there have been others that went and bought air guns and swore off of airbrushing as well. It looks like the bloke from the UK made it work. The threads in here somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it up.

I'm just starting to futz around with an airbrush, but I would recommend being prepared to be messy when you start. Not as in 'Wow, that miniature didn't turn out so well.' but rather 'Hm, I think I need to go put on a dry pair of pants now.' Okay, it's not quite soggy-britches messy, but I'm spilling a fair amount of liquid when I mix paint, clean things out, etc. I imagine it gets better fairly quickly, but start out painting somewhere that you can make a surprisingly large mess.

Both of the Amazon links are from TCP Global. go to thier actual website. I personally use eclipse HP-Cs and I swear by them for base coating and zenithal work. I have multiples because I just throw one in the ultrasonic while I brush a new color; then ipso switcho.
You don't need an airbrush specifc compressor I use a 3 gal oil less pancake and wear headphones...it's loud. Oilless is the key; avoid diaphragm compressors.
If $150 seems steep for an HP-CS the Neo is a good entry model made in Taiwan instead of Japan. Unfortunatly it is not parts comparable with other Iwata brushes.

Dunno how good those little diaphragm compressors really are.
Never tried one lol. Apparently they suffer from pulsing of the air psi.
Look for piston compressors, a tank is nice and really handy,even a small few liter one. A common one is the AS186 cheap and cheerful tbh does just fine.

As for airbrushes, theres a lot of cheap ones out there ,some are alright, some are garbage :( can be a gamble tbh.
Reputable brands include Badger, Iwata, Harder & Steenbeck, Paashe, Develbiss and some others.
All of those brands offer rather high end airbrushes, with lots of specialised models. But most also offer entry level products, that will suit your needs fine and have the known build quality from the reputable branding

There is something to be said about the quality of your airbrush/compressor. Constant airflow is key, I have a cheap airbrush and a good one, the good one is a LOT easier to use and does a WAY better job, can go wide or super skinny for detail.

My experience with cheap airbrushes, and I've had several, is the seals are crap usually and eventually fail and/or cause unpredictable results. You typically get very simple mechanical AB's with typically, larger needles/tips, that can typically do some basic work when you go cheap.

I've been airbrushing for 5 years now and my advice would be to get a decent AB. A Paasche Talon or an Iwata distributed NEO (because of great Iwata service) are both still VERY reasonably priced but good AB's. Get dual-action, gravity feed.

my advice is to get lots of fans and either airbrush right beside the biggest door you can find, or paint outside.

cadmium is a highly toxic heavy metal that is harmful in even trace amounts and can cause cancer. cadmium is often found in red,orange,yellow,flesh tone and other vibrant brown/bone colors. according to the MSDS vallejo model air is cadmium free and i think P3 and reaper might also be safe but look into it yourself because i dont use either of those paint lines.

no exceptions: you'll need a 3M mask with organic filter cartridges. Actually read the slip and learn how to use it. the face shield one is probably a good investment or get the half mask and buy safety goggles. air brushed paint particles are small enough that they can travel through your eyes.

dont be an idiot like i was at first wearing some crapy dust mask thinking it's ok.