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I have scanned around and found some good info about the kind of air brush to get. It is something we have been thinking about getting but the good ones are a pricy penny. So my question is, are there any air brushes that are good for beginners that won't break the bank? A set like this looks great...

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Multi-purpose-Professional-Airbrushing-Airbrush/dp/B006HJCP8S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1422414034&sr=8-3&keywords=airbrushes+kit#customerReviews

But is this one crap? And how about used air brush kits? Should we stay away from used sets and only go new? If it helps we think we would use an air brush for base coats on models and large terrain. We may play around with detain work once we get some time working with one.

Thank you team!

I don't trust the brand, personally, but many start with similar kits. For your intended tasks, an inexpensive brush will suffice... if you get one that works properly, wherein lies the problem with many budget brands. My $30 Master G44 was unworkable garbage (hence my distrust of the brand), but I get good performance from my $15 siphon fed brush from Harbor Freight.

If you go really cheap, replacement parts aren't an issue - you just buy a whole new gun if you screw the pooch. You do, however, want to find a seller with a generous return/exchange policy (like HF, who knows their suppliers have weak QC). The biggest issue, generally, isn't some particular element of performance, but whether the thing works, at all.

If you have a local Harbor Freight store (to make returns/exchanges viable, since you avoid repeated shipping costs), I highly recommend checking out their stuff. The airbrush compressor they sell is the same style as the one in your link - may even be the same model, as it seems the same few Chinese factories produce the bulk of them, which various companies then re-brand.

I bought this one. http://www.amazon.com/Master-Airbrush-Performance-Multi-purpose-Dual-action/dp/B001TO578Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424719576&sr=8-1&keywords=airbrushes+kit

The airbrush was ok good for priming but not detail work. the air compressor is sweet its quiet and works well for dialing in psi. I did by a badger airbrush and it works great with the air compressor and use the master airbrush for terrain. But over I have been happy and a good way to get in to air brushes cheap.

An Airbrush is a tool. Like any tool, its made for a specific task. Basic tools are no frills, straight up, thing built for a specific task. An inexperienced mechanic using a basic tool will get the job done. An experienced mechanic using a high quality tool will not only get the job done faster, but with less fuss and his tool won't break.

How does this apply to an airbrush? Just like a paintbrush, when you first started painting, you probably used $5 GW brushes or went to a local hobby store and paid $2 for 20 artificial brushes in various sizes. When you first started painting, you probably didn't realize the type of bristle matters when it comes to holding paint, the ease of cleaning, or how the brush always maintains a point. While an "expert" painter could paint any model to a passable table top quality with just about any kind of brush, they will need a natural hair, fine crafted brush that costs $20 to achieve a master piece. That $20 brush, when properly taken care of, will out last any $5 GW brush by several times over. The artificial brushes are just trash.

So what am I trying to say here? As a beginner, if you buy a $300 airbrush, you will not notice the difference between it and a $20 "Artists Choice Premium Plastic" airbrush. After painting for a while, you will want to try different techniques and use different kinds of paints and that cheap-o airbrush will limit you (and in some cases, prevent you) from doing what you want. Or that cheap-o airbrush will break down all the time, or leak, or any of the other dozen things that can go wrong with an airbrush. You don't want your tool to limit the job you are trying to perform.

Get a good, quality airbrush from the start. I'm not saying buy the Ferrari or Cadillac, but a nice Toyota Camry or Honda Civic, or Ford Focus- a middle of the road, comes with a warranty, quality airbrush. Iwata, Badger, and there is a British company whose name escapes me at the moment, but they all make quality airbrushes. Learn how to shoot various paint, how to deal with dry tip, clogs, thinning your paint, etc. etc. and just use it to paint with. After a while, when you've developed the basic skills, then start looking at one of the higher priced "Sports Cars" or "Luxury Cars" of the airbrush world.

There are several good posts here on Dakka Dakka about airbrushes if you do a search, and just use Google- "Whats a good airbrush for a beginner using acrylic paint?".

For what it's worth, I bought a $100 Badger airbrush several years ago that I still use today. Am I a great painter? No, but my Badger does everything I want it to do, and I haven't been limited by it yet. Then again, I don't really use it for fine details or "fades" like a lot of airbrush artists do.

I got an almost identical rig, and it does me fine as a beginner. The airbrush is crap for detail, but good enough to learn with. I will be replacing it relatively soon. For that price, it's a great starting point, even just for the compressor, hoses and water trap. Remember to get a cleaning pot though!



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I would consider this bad boy though: same brand, similiar price, but has a tank on it too.

http://www.amazon.com/AIRBRUSH-COMPRESSOR--Airbrush-Published-Exclusively/dp/B001738DXU/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1424826773&sr=1-1&keywords=airbrush+compressor

Start with a cheap one to learn on-- no sense in buying an expensive one you dont know how to use well enough to make it worth it. And then possibly never using it or breaking it.

I think you will be good with the setup in your link. You are just starting out and do not want to dump too much money into something new, yet. What I like about that set is it looks like you get a good basing and terrain brush and a more detail oriented brush. Looks like Iwata knockoffs actually.

Another thing I like about the brushes is they are gravity fed. Nothing worse for a new comer to airbrushing than to have to deal with suction fed brushes.

A Veda 180 is a pretty good basecoat brush, or an Iwata Neo - pretty straightforward.

I recently changed to a H&S Infinity CR+ and I could tell the difference in quality immediately.