Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Background - I'm not talented, but after 9 years of 40k, I've refined my painting technique for 40k models to what you see below. Here's the WL I did recently with just brushes:



And my 'best' paint job, the farseer on the left.:


Okay, maybe "best" is a stretch, but it's my 'cleanest' paint job.

I don't claim any great skill in anything you see above. But, I've got a lot of vehicles I want to do decently, so an airbrush/compressor is on my wish list. I have found what might be a great bargain for an airbrush/compressor deal:

Here's what was on the tag for the box:

Brand name - Central Pneumatic

oiless air brush compressor with airbrush kit

easy to read pressure gauge

thermal overload protection with automatic reset

anodized aluminum airbrush

22cc glass jar assembly

5cc metal cup
Air delivery .7 CFM @ 40 PSI

1/ HP , 58 PSI

I don't know if the "easy to read presure gauge" is something I should care about.
I don't know if it's a 2 step airbrush (I've been told to get a '2-step' but I'm too much a nooB to know if this is it, and it didn't say so on the box).

The kit is approx $90 American. My intent is to paint Vendettas, Rhinos, Land Raiders & Dark Eldar Venoms & Raiders. I'll use GW's paints. I have been told that "Badger" is the airbrush brand I should be aiming for, but by another hobbyist I was told that the store (Harbor Freight) where this kit is offered, rebrand's Badger and sells 'em cheaper.

Does anyone have any input on this?

The Harbor Freight airbrushes are not rebadged Badgers - they are, in fact, Chinese knockoffs.

Some of them are pretty solid, but the QC on them is nonexistent, so some of them are not as good.

There is a good resource here you can read about that. If you read the review on the Master airbrush, you can see what the deal is.

If you can exchange it if it sucks, you may as well try it out.

The pressure gauge on the the regulator is vital because you will need to adjust the PSI pretty frequently depending on what paint you use and how much its thinner. The sweet spot is between 15 to 25 PSI, maybe 30 PSI if it's really thick.

The "2-step" your friend is referring to is whether or not it's a single action or double action airbrush. There are 2 variables in an airbrush - the amount of paint that comes out, and the amount of air that comes out. In both types, pushing back the trigger also adjusts how much air comes out. In a single action, you generally twist a knob to adjust how big the spray pattern will be. In a double action, the trigger rocks back and controls how much paint comes out dynamically.

So, a single action airbrush: you press the trigger and spray a line. It will be the same width at the beginning and the end. Think can of spray paint.

In a double action, you press the trigger, pull it back, and spray a line while slowly rolling the trigger back to closed. You'll have a line that starts out wide and ends out fine, like a dagger.

I wouldn't really recommend a single action one for anyone since the double action can be used in the same fashion but has much versatility for what your skills grow to use them.

Anyway the bottom line: I personally would not buy a Harbor Freight airbrush for $90 because I'd rather spend more for better quality control, and have a lifetime labor warranty to boot, as Badger airbrushes do. But if you decided you weren't sure about airbrushing and wanted to make the minimum possible investment to find out, this might be a good fit for you.

Agreed. Pretty much anything from Harbor Freight falls into the "buy it for the one time you need it" category of disposable/expendable tools. It's a place to buy something cheep that you'll only use once, not to actually get reliable stuff you'll be using all the time.

I use a harbor freight airbrush + compressor and it works very well. Unless you are doing commissions the harbor freight airbrush will suit your needs. For $22 the airbrush makes a great starter and you can learn some basic airbrushing techniques, get your army painted and not break the bank. Harbor freight has a good return policy, they charge a 15% restocking fee, so you could buy the airbrush and compressor try it out and return it if you don't like it. Airbrushing is different from normal painting and some people don't like it. Why spend a bundle on something you may not even like?

I say try airbrushing out with a cheap airbrush and then buy a expensive one if you find you love it.

Yep, go cheap first. A friend of mine bought a Peco Global airbrush made in China. I ended up getting one as well. I have experience with a Paasche VL and found I could get smaller, better lines with the cheap one than my $100 one. I dropped it and bent the needle and tip and was even able to find parts on ebay. One modification I did make to get the best out of it was to coat all the threads with beeswax to make them have an even better seal.

I'd also recommend going gravity fed (with the cup on top and built into the airbrush) for cheap ones.

For a compressor, I ended up going with a cheap shop compressor when it went on sale for $75 at a local automotive store. I put it in the closet and close the door while it fills up and the air in the tank is usually enough for a whole session.

Go Chinese all the way at the start. Particularly when it comes to the airbrush itself, I can't see any reason to spend hundreds on something I can get for £12 unless I turn into a GD winner overnight.

Moving this to P&M, as it's not a tutorial.

I have a Badger Renegade Krome and Badger TC910 Aspire Pro and absolutely love them both. One big thing that you are going to run into with a "Pancake" compressor from Sears or the like is air pressure, they are designed with a long stroke, so as soon as you run the tank dry and the motor has to kick in to refill the tank, your air pressure turns to crap and gets very very spotty and bursty, which is not good when trying to air brush, buy something that is worth while to start and you will be much happier, my brother absolutely despised air brushing because he used a cheap chinese brush and a craftsman pancake compressor and the brush clogged all the time, compressor didn't give reliable pressure so he just wrote off air brushing all together because he didn't want to devote the money to getting a decent setup.

A good regulator and a shop compressor will outperform any dedicated airbrush compressor. As for clogging, I have found that my cheap airbrush needs more retarder than my paasche, but I borrowed a friend's Iwata and it required the same retarder increase, so it's not the cheapness that causes that, but the design (as the cheap chinsese ones are Iwata copies). Also, running out of air pressure plus clogging sounds like the symptoms of using too high PSI for the brush in question. The gravity fed cheap chinese ones like 15-20 PSI. A shop compressor will fill to 100 PSI and then you use the regulator to only let out 17 or so. Add some retarder to your thinner mixture and you're good to go. Exactly the same steps for the $30 cheapo as the $300 Iwata.

I have a "shop" compressor from C&H. Regulator & filter combo. Except for the noise...I have not had any problems with it.

I have the Harbor Freight bundle. I've upgraded the airbrush (many times!) but I still use the compressor. I did also upgrade the regulator, but that was only a $15 part.

Thanks, for input, all.