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I've been interested in Airbrushing for a while now as painting everything by hand honestly takes a very long time. And, I've seen some truly excellent results from airbrushing. That said, I can't bring myself to spend $175 on an air compressor and $125+ on an airbrush kit. Is there a decently inexpensive airbrush (compressor, brush, nozzles, hose, everything) that people who are starting out with an airbrush seem to like? I'd prefer gravity feed.

SG

i recently bought a cheap airbrush kit for about USD40 from china. aliexpress. they give discounts every now and then which shaves off a lot from the original prices. not to mention.....free shipping. just wait for the sales

It came with an airbrush, air filter, small air compressor,pipet, briaded hose and adapter.

Works fine for my purpose which is priming and basecoating. havent tried more fine detailed work though. But hey.....for USD40, it already exceeded my expectations.

I used Vallejo model and vallejo game air paints. havent clogged the 0.3mm yet. fingers crossed.

Compressors, I'm afraid are expensive, and always will be expensive. But you can get a decent airbrush from Taiwan for about 20$ - they come in a plastic box with blue foam, look for them on ebay. There are really cheap ones out there, but I wouldn't recommend them, because they're a bit too cheap.

I'd say the opposite, actually. You don't need an expensive compressor. Basically any compressor with a tank and a moisture trap will do the trick. You should be able to find one for under a hundred dollars pretty easily.

The airbrush is a bigger deal. You can get super-cheap airbrushes, but they're only good for base coating. If you want something that will actually do the cool stuff you see people do with airbrushes, you're going to be paying over a hundred bucks unless you find a pretty good deal.

Regardless, I've used both the Badger Krome and Grex Xgi, and both work great without being too expensive. There are several other good options out there as well, those are just the two I can vouch for.


It does take a bit of practice using the airbrush, getting used to avoiding clogging, getting a smooth application, etc, but it's not particularly difficult and once you get the hang of it it's easy.

I was looking into this a little while back, I found this one fleabay http://www.ebay.com/itm/140975810534?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

From what research I did it seemed decent for a beginner. I still havent gotten around to buying it though so I cant offer any firsthand opinions but Im sure someone more knowledgeable than me will let us know if its crap or not

xevv wrote:
I was looking into this a little while back, I found this one fleabay http://www.ebay.com/itm/140975810534?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

From what research I did it seemed decent for a beginner. I still havent gotten around to buying it though so I cant offer any firsthand opinions but Im sure someone more knowledgeable than me will let us know if its crap or not

It's pretty much a standard kit worldwide. The compressor is as solid as you're going to get without going mid range budget. I've used mine for afternoons as a time and it's been fine.

I'd look to buy that compressor and hose on their own and spend a little more bank on an airbrush.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:

xevv wrote:
I was looking into this a little while back, I found this one fleabay http://www.ebay.com/itm/140975810534?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

From what research I did it seemed decent for a beginner. I still havent gotten around to buying it though so I cant offer any firsthand opinions but Im sure someone more knowledgeable than me will let us know if its crap or not

It's pretty much a standard kit worldwide. The compressor is as solid as you're going to get without going mid range budget. I've used mine for afternoons as a time and it's been fine.

I'd look to buy that compressor and hose on their own and spend a little more bank on an airbrush.

*nods* Yes but until you sorta figure out what the hell youre doing those airbrushes should work well enough for a little while too. I didnt see the point in going out and buying a 100$ brush right out of the gate when simply put youre going to be bad anyway. Plus from some stuff I remember reading a solid amount of people managed to ruin their first brush anyway lol

I guess it depends how disposable you view your tools. Me, I'm a kinda buy-once person, and then keep plugging away for years.

Recent discussion worth perusing: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/664633.page#8140007

Thanks for all the help, everyone!

SG

So, I just wanted to update you all. I decided to go ahead and spend the extra money. I picked up the following:

Master Airbrush High Performance Airbrush Air Compressor with Filter, Black Air Hose & Dual-brush Holder

Iwata Eclipse HP CS Dual Action Airbrush Gun / Gravity Feed

They should be waiting for me when I get home tonight. Looking forward to getting started with them!

SG

Congrats, the HP CS is a great brush.

Next: Read possibly everything you can.
Do searches, watch tons of videos.

You are going to have TONS of questions coming up, and most of them have been asked before, and lots of people have shared answers here.

Airbrushing is a very fun and rewarding part of the hobby - but it can also be very frustrating as a beginner as there is a learning curve, and getting down the right balance of pressure, brush control and paint viscosity is indeed an art.

best of luck to you!!!