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I'm very inexperienced with airbrushes. I have attempted it before, but I could never get the finesse of the standard double action down. I'd always spray too much or too little, and that was just basecoats. But I've heard about newer airbrushes coming out with a trigger design, and they look like they're a lot easier to use. Two that I've seen are the Grex Tritium and the Iwata Neo TRN1. That said, I have no idea if these are good beginner airbrushes. I hear the Grex is really expensive, but the Iwata seems much more reasonable. I've always been under the impression airbrushing is best for basecoats and NOT good for details. But after watching some videos showing what these airbushes can do, I'm not so sure about that assumption anymore. Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.

I have no direct experience with pistol grip airbrushes but these are some of my thoughts after checking out the alternatives you showed.

1. They seem pretty similar in quality, and if so, the Grex seems very much overpriced.

2. Both of them are pretty expensive compared to regular grip airbrushes. Is it really worth it?

3. It seems you come away from the tip a bit with the pistol grip, this can affect precision.

Beside that it's hard to say.

For my own part I really felt useless with the airbrush before I stepped up one step in quality and got a real smooth action compared to the old ones. Also, it takes practice... lots of practice.

Not saying you have to go super expensive though, just need to get to a respectable build quality.

A lot of airbrush problems are from dry paint or improper compressor settings.

I have a cheap iwata that works great and will be upgrading to a badger renegade krome

I bought mine on Harbor Frieght $35.00. I bought my compressor on Craigslist for $25.00

I've just recently gotten back into 40K, and I've dabbled in airbrushing, and I figured I'd let you in on my limited experience.

As the above posters said, it will take practice. Remember the first mini you painted by brush? Airbrushing is great for coating an entire surface, but before you shell out for some expensive gear, make sure you've got the experience under your belt to justify top-grade stuff.

I would continue to use something cheap until you get good at cutting paint for airbrushing - something I still struggle with. Go to Hobby Lobby's airbrush section and invest in a handful of $2 empty plastic shampoo-sampler looking bottles for pre-mixing in large quantities. Using these will allow you to clean out your airbrush and it's pot inbetween coats. One of the mistakes I made was mixing it in the pot itself, and once I get it right, leaving it in there instead of pouring it out. Get some rubbing alcohol or airbrush cleaner and dump out and clean anything that's going to be sitting in the open with paint for more than 5-10 minutes. You'll ruin an airbrush if you don't consistently clean.

I'm using the GW "flamer" airbrush, rigged to attach to my compressor. Disregarding GW consumer-whorism, it's cheap, decent, and it gets the job done for basic work. I've ruined more expensive airbrushes with lack of cleaning and in one case, submerging one overnight in too harsh of a cleaning solution.

Get some plasticard sheets from Hobbytown USA or some similar place to practice on - if nothing else, to test your paint mix. It's cheaper than replacing GW models. If you water the paint down too much, it will coat terribly, and you don't want to find that out after you're trying to apply a layer to a basecoat.

Start cheap if you're inexperienced like me. You may not use it as much as you think, and may not have the skill set to take advantage of better tools. Or you could do like me and break $100 worth of airbrushes and hoses within the first couple of months.

A decent compressor isn't that expensive or difficult to use or maintain.

Since the GW one is an external mix single action airbrush it is quite limited, this is not a problem if general coverage is what you want to use it for.

A mid price double action brush will get ju a little more range and is imho a better practice tool. But then again, depends on what you want to do with it.

I have a Grex Tritium with both 0.2mm, 0.7mm needle. Smallest and largest respectively.

The Grex is more expensive yes but I think it is more verstile in terms of needle choice. Maintenance looks easier too. I love it so far as it is my second brush. My main is an H&S Infinity 2-1.

I have not tried the Iwata Neo but it does seem like a very good starter brush at a very reasonable price.

I

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
I have a Grex Tritium with both 0.2mm, 0.7mm needle. Smallest and largest respectively.

The Grex is more expensive yes but I think it is more verstile in terms of needle choice. Maintenance looks easier too. I love it so far as it is my second brush. My main is an H&S Infinity 2-1.

I have not tried the Iwata Neo but it does seem like a very good starter brush at a very reasonable price.

Since you have got the Grex and the Infinity, how do they compare in cleaning and maintenance. Curious since IMHO H&S seem to have made their brushes VERY easy to clean and maintain.

I tried the Grex Tritium, and I hated it (so much that I returned it). I was so excited, but afterwards, I just couldn't get used to the pistol grip. It sounds like a good idea, but practically you use an airbrush for two things: coating large areas, and painting fine details.

Pistol grip makes coating large areas easier, but that isn't hard anyways. Painting fine details is horrible with a pistol grip, I thought, because it is very different from a pen or paintbrush, and you control the airbrush using your arm and wrist rather than your wrist and fingers.

The coolest thing about the Tritium is that the crown is magnetized! So, you can remove the crown by simply pulling on it (and as a bonus, it clicks onto the back side). Maybe it would be different if I never used a pen-style airbrush before, but I don't think so. I mean, put your hand in the pistol grip position and try to write your name; now imagine that being a pen instead. Now, I know that there are people who do amazing work with it, so maybe it really is just me.

Cleaning on the Grex was pretty average, except for one nice bonus -- the cup detaches! There are many nice things about the Tritium in terms of smart design. I just can't hack the pistol grip, and it's not cheap enough to just keep as an extra priming/basecoating tool.

I went with Buypainted's advice and bought a cheap Taiwanese airbrush for less than USD 20.00 (U-Star 120, 0.21 mm needle). I feel like everything else would be a waste on me now until I get really good at airbrush control. I am very happy with the results I get from basecoating, highlighting, shadowings, color transistions (e.g. on power weapons) and varnishing.

Apart from what has been said before about colors needing to be thinned down, note that also climate affects the results from airbrushing. Too hot, cold and especially humidity in the air can ruin everything.

 granander wrote:

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
I have a Grex Tritium with both 0.2mm, 0.7mm needle. Smallest and largest respectively.

The Grex is more expensive yes but I think it is more verstile in terms of needle choice. Maintenance looks easier too. I love it so far as it is my second brush. My main is an H&S Infinity 2-1.

I have not tried the Iwata Neo but it does seem like a very good starter brush at a very reasonable price.

Since you have got the Grex and the Infinity, how do they compare in cleaning and maintenance. Curious since IMHO H&S seem to have made their brushes VERY easy to clean and maintain.

As far as cleaning and maintenance goes, NOTHING is easier than the Infinity. Not the Tritium, not the Iwata, not the Renegade Krome or Sotar. The Infinity is the Glock of Airbrush. Pricey but very well built, can be stripped down with no tools and easily reassembled.

I use my Infinity for precision stuff, I have the 0.15mm / 0.3mm needle for it.

My Grex has the 0.2mm and 0.7mm. I use it mainly to basecoat large models or large group of models and for terrain. It comes with a very big paint cup with a cap and the 0.7mm makes it easier when you are doing large area spray. I tried the 0.2mm needle for precision work and was surprised as how comfy and easy it was.

Talys mentionned returning his Grex because he could not get used to the pistol grip and honestly like many things in Airbrush there is alot of personal preference.

Grex does make some non-pistol grip airbrushes like the Genesis series. The other cool thing about the Grex is that parts are interchangeable between the brushes. Everything seems to be built on the same principles. So the 0.7mm on my Tritium can be put into a Genesis with no problem.

 Erik_Morkai wrote:
As far as cleaning and maintenance goes, NOTHING is easier than the Infinity. Not the Tritium, not the Iwata, not the Renegade Krome or Sotar. The Infinity is the Glock of Airbrush. Pricey but very well built, can be stripped down with no tools and easily reassembled.

Good to hear, I have 2 H&S Evolution and they are just as easy it is good to know I hit the jackpot in the, not-so-much-fun, cleaning department.

As for the Glock reference, interesting. Never cleaned one, I just know it is crap when it comes to competitive precision shooting.

 Talys wrote:
I tried the Grex Tritium, and I hated it (so much that I returned it). I was so excited, but afterwards, I just couldn't get used to the pistol grip. It sounds like a good idea, but practically you use an airbrush for two things: coating large areas, and painting fine details.

Pistol grip makes coating large areas easier, but that isn't hard anyways. Painting fine details is horrible with a pistol grip, I thought, because it is very different from a pen or paintbrush, and you control the airbrush using your arm and wrist rather than your wrist and fingers.

The coolest thing about the Tritium is that the crown is magnetized! So, you can remove the crown by simply pulling on it (and as a bonus, it clicks onto the back side). Maybe it would be different if I never used a pen-style airbrush before, but I don't think so. I mean, put your hand in the pistol grip position and try to write your name; now imagine that being a pen instead. Now, I know that there are people who do amazing work with it, so maybe it really is just me.

Cleaning on the Grex was pretty average, except for one nice bonus -- the cup detaches! There are many nice things about the Tritium in terms of smart design. I just can't hack the pistol grip, and it's not cheap enough to just keep as an extra priming/basecoating tool.

I just bought the Grex TG-3 and am so far loving it.

I find that I can use it well for detail work. The secret, at least for me, is not holding the trigger like it is an actual gun. Rather, you should manipulate the trigger with your middle finger and have your index finger rested against the side of the gun pointed at the object your are painting. This actually feels more comfortable and precise to me than the standard pen-style airbrushes. Grex quality has also been top notch so far!