Which Airbrush?

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**Warpig1815**

I'm about to order some more paints from Games Workshop and I was going to get a spray can of Chaos Black to prime some models. However, as I'm sure many of you will know, spray cans are hideously wasteful and Games Workshops spray cans are,well......hideously expensive. At £9.50 for a can that I can only use about twice (To get full coverage of about 10 marine sized models and a dreadnought wastes most of the can due to the spray angle) i'm essentially spraying money at my models, and i'm not going to buy GW's sprayer which is reputed to be terrible. So I've resolved to 'speculate to accumulate' and get myself a decent airbrush - problem is I don't have a clue what to get.

So, if anybody wants to answer my question, feel free - i'm looking for a mid range sprayer, not top professional quality, but not one that is likely to clog or break within 10 minutes of use. Oh an preferably one that's not going to involve a p+p equal to it's cost. (Sorry Australia

)

**darefsky (Flight Medic Paints)**

Not to be disrespectful, but there are about a bigillion posts about this very topic,

Just scroll down, I'm sure you will find 5 or 6 on the first page.

**Warpig1815**

Ah, your probably right. Still, I'm referring specifically to the UK, so it probably discounts a lot of those. Never mind, i'll take a look at them first.

EDIT: Your right darefsky, I had a look, and on the first page there was no Airbrush articles, and on the next 2 pages, the only mentions to airbrushes were either how to use them, or problems people were having with them. The majority were overseas (from me) posters, and did not answer my particular question of 'which one is recommended'. However, you were right in telling me I should check prior threads first, I gather it must be irritating to see duplicates

**ScootyPuffJunior**

Go deeper than 2 pages and use the search function. There have been probably 15 posts about this topic from people here in the States and in Europe. On quite a few of them there are pretty comprehensive lists of good brands, prices, and the other related equipment needed. This topic is beat to death on this forum, trust me.

**Warpig1815**

Ok, thanks for the advice both of you. I have had a look around on the forum, and whilst there are many topics on airbrushing, problems with airbrushes, specific airbrush reviews and 'how to' tutorials, none of them really satisfy my question. However, if there's an option, for the sake of clearing the forum i'll delete my thread and seek another source.

**BrotherVord**

Go to Amazon.com and do a search for airbrush kits...there is a deal right now that gives you three midgrade airbrushes (one gravity fed dual action, one siphon fed dual action, and one siphon fed single action) and a compressor (no tank) for about $120 bucks if you get free shipping (after taxes) i have this kit myself and can vouch for its usefullness as a beginner set.

**ScootyPuffJunior**

Warpig1815 wrote:
Ok, thanks for the advice both of you. I have had a look around on the forum, and whilst there are many topics on airbrushing, problems with airbrushes, specific airbrush reviews and 'how to' tutorials, none of them really satisfy my question. However, if there's an option, for the sake of clearing the forum i'll delete my thread and seek another source.

More questions aren't bad so there is no need for the melodrama, but i think this link might help you.

**Ouze**

I'm very fond of the Badger Renegade spirit brush, because I like the side feed - you can use it straight up or straight down, and you can get parts from it on Amazon, and I have Amazon Prime so they're here in 2 days.

You might want to invest in a kit like this for your first set to see how much you like it, and learn how to clean it. You'll probably screw up your first airbrush with improper cleaning in some way, so you might not want to start on the high end right off the bat.

Expect to spend around $100-150 for a decent airbrush, and around $300 or so for a decent tanked compressor, depending on what you need. It goes up from there. You can spend less but I think you'll probably get less as well.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
PS - you're still going to be getting cans of spray paint to prime your models! Airbrushing unto unpainted plastic is either not going to work at all, or poorly. I prefer flat black or white (depending on what I'm painting) cans from Lowe's, a big box home store - they're like $3 a can. Someone else posted they use Walmart 99 cent cans just as well.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
PPS:

For searching Dakka, BTW, I don't actually use the search tool. It's not bad, but Legoburner is one man and search is just a small part of what he does. I understand search is "in their wheelhouse", so to speak, so I instead go to Google, and search for, say, "airbrush advice site:dakkadakka.com" without the quotes.

Here are some of the responses with many posts for you to peruse:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/389880.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/338923.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/251253.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/368872.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/287922.page

**ScootyPuffJunior**

Ouze wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
PS - you're still going to be getting cans of spray paint to prime your models! Airbrushing unto unpainted plastic is either not going to work at all, or poorly. I prefer flat black or white (depending on what I'm painting) cans from Lowe's, a big box home store - they're like $3 a can. Someone else posted they use Walmart 99 cent cans just as well.

Incorrect, there are quite a few airbrushable primers on the market that completely negate the need rattle can primers.

**Ouze**

Which do you have hands on experience with that you have found satisfactory?

**ScootyPuffJunior**

Vallejo and Tamiya are both nice, but I prefer the Vallejo Surface Primer; using the grey for about everything for neutrality's sake but the black is nice as well if I am going for a darker overall tone.

**Rusty Robot**

Okay, yes, this type of question gets asked a lot. Searching WILL help, despite the fact if it relates to using an airbrush for priming or not. Which, I guess, is pretty much your sole purpose for one? If I am so inclined, as per your first post?
Am I also to understand you are brand new to airbrushing and don't own any relating equipment?

If so, being from the uk, this is exactly what I would buy (if just for priming):

Sparmax SP35 Airbrush
AS-186 Compressor
Air hose (if not included with compressor)
Vallejo Grey Surface Primer

The whole lot should probably ring up to about £130 - check out eBay. I have the SP35 and use it for priming and varnishing. I think it's great, especially for the money. I have a slightly better compressor (twin piston - AS 196), but the listed one will do you just fine.

**Ouze**

ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Vallejo and Tamiya are both nice, but I prefer the Vallejo Surface Primer; using the grey for about everything for neutrality's sake but the black is nice as well if I am going for a darker overall tone.

Do you water these down, or just run them through the airbrush from the bottle? The review I read said straight from the bottle is OK...? I've never used brush-on.

**ScootyPuffJunior**

Ouze wrote:
ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Vallejo and Tamiya are both nice, but I prefer the Vallejo Surface Primer; using the grey for about everything for neutrality's sake but the black is nice as well if I am going for a darker overall tone.

Do you water these down, or just run them through the airbrush from the bottle? The review I read said straight from the bottle is OK...? I've never used brush-on.

No thinning required, they run perfect through an airbrush with a .21mm tip (I personally prime at around 30 psi). It says on the bottle that it can be brushed on, but I have never tried it.

**Ouze**

cool, thanks for the info.

**Manchu**

I've been using Valejo primer lately through a Badger 360. Can confirm no thinning is necessary with any of black, white, or gray.

**ScootyPuffJunior**

OP, try this: http://youtu.be/pJj3vnqhQyE

Lots of those articles that come up when you search airbrushes in this forum are very helpful even if they don't straight up say which brush/compressor to buy. Before you sink ANY money in to a setup you should make sure it is something you really want to dive in to. Read what others say about and what the pros and cons of it are. Read about technique, paint thinning, maintenance, and the like; don't be that guy that goes and spends hundreds of dollars on a setup and then has no clue how take care of it, let alone use it properly. There is more to getting started than trying to buy the cheapest setup (which I don't recommend anyway).

**Manchu**

Take it easy, sometimes you just gotta make a start and see how it goes.

OP, a nice airbrush to start with is the Badger 360. Here's a link to a good store with good service and good prices:

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/baun360.html

It's basically a Badger 105 with a fully rotatable cup so you can use it as gravity-, side-, or bottle-feed. Nice versatility for a great price.

**Warpig1815**

Thanks to all posters - including ScottyPoofJunior (I wasn't trying to be melodramatic, just you were insisting I look elsewhere, and I was equally adamant that the other posts really weren't what I was looking for

)

@Brother Vord - I'll take a look at that three part deal - It may prove to be useful as, like Ouze, said i'm likely to wreck the first one. :(

@Rusty Robot - Cheers for the list, I already have a compressor (though i'll need to check how low the psi can be set for on that) and spray primer (though I wasn't aware that airbrushing isn't the be all and end all of priming - I still need spray cans), so it was just the airbrush I was unsure of.

Finally @ScottyPoofJunior - You're probably right that I should research into airbrushing more, but that was sort of the whole point of this - to gauge how much a decent airbrush would set me back if I intended to go forward with it. I wasn't aware there was so many questions posed by people about airbrushing so apologies that I caused you some irritation

Oh an BTW, the British aren't really too good at 'melodrama', we're kinda more.... stiff upper lip.

Thanks to everybody for the help, i'll research a bit more into this, but it's given me a good indication of the path to go if I intend to purchase an airbrush.