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I am looking to get an airbrush ASAP. I have learned I need a dual action one with a compressor that has a tank. Can any one recommend a good one , preferably a combo kit to save money ? It will only be used for minis.


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So far I have been looking at the badger patriot 105, and the iwata eclipse he-cs has any one used either of these?

Hi Haroon.

I started out with one of those ebay deals you've probably seen if you've been looking around at airbrushes. Essentially most of what's out there if you're not looking at the expensive iwata, badger or steinbeck brands are chinese copies of the Iwata micron and eclipse brushes. The source I used for mine in the end was www.airbrush-pro.co.uk

These actually do a pretty good job for what you pay. The AS186 compressor gave a good size tank to avoid pulsing of the air pressure and a good regulator allowing PSI to be set clearly using the gauge. You can use ANY of their compressors though, as frankly, they get the job done. I don't believe for a moment that expensive compressors done by the brands make a great deal of difference in the end.

Now as to brushes, the BD130 on the same website are basically copies of the Iwata Eclipse, and the 180 is a copy of the iwata micron cs. It's incredibly obvious. The first one is a standard double action gravity feed, and that does a great job for you to be honest. The micron adds in a very narrow nozzle, aswell as a MAC valve to allow fine control of the pressure at the airbrush itself. In all honesty, this is not a good idea with these chinese knockoffs. Their manufacturing stands up to the basics of the airbrush reasonably well, but adding these more complex features causes all kinds of maintenance issues later. If you're going via a knockoff to learn with, go for a simpler one. The BD-130 on that site should do you perfectly well. Good size gravity feed cup allows you to do large areas or batches of figures, and it can get down to reasonably small spray width.

In truth, if you're going to be painting regularly, and if you want to have a brush that will allow you to move up to the next level while still being fairly afforable, I would recommend the Iwata Eclipse HP CS. It's a well known airbrush that does VERY good work as a general workhorse airbrush that is fairly afforable at about £100. It'll do large and small work very well, and you WILL notice a significant improvement in construction over the knockoffs. The parts are so well made, they glide over each other and you'll experience a LOT less clogging and maintenance. A decent alternative to this would be Badger's Renegade Krome. It's another good all round brush, but it's about £60 more. Some argue over which of the two is the best general workhorse brush, but I'm willing to believe the Krome is better, but for £160, it's a tad too expensive for my taste.

To sum up, I'd recommend an unbranded compressor and an Iwata Eclipse HP CS, after you learn with a cheap £15 knockoff airbrush.

Hope that helped.

I recommend the Badger Renegade Krome 2-in-1 as well. It is pretty hard to find but the good news is that it only cost about $130 on Amazon, but you may be able to find it cheaper from a dedicated airbrush supply store, such as www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com. I also recommend the Badger Renegade Velocity. It is about $100 and is usually easier to come by.
If you are serious about airbrushing, don't waste money on a cheap compressor that won't last long. For a decent compressor that will give you years of service, you will probably spend $200+. Iwata and Badger both make some nice ones in that price range.

To begin with, I might reccomend a cheap airbrush. I don't know you personally... but many people will break and bust their airbrush in the process of learning propper care.

If you feel confident, sure aim a bit higher first time around.
Theres a lot fo good brands, some alreadey mentioned. Harder & Steenbeck is my personal fav. But theyre European, maybe tricky to obtain in the states. You should consider availability of spare parts for your brush. Get a brand that you can repair easily, rather than one where you need to wait a month and pay international shipping for a needle lol.
In usa Badger seems a good bet for that, personally i didnt get on with my badger 105, matter of personal tastes. I much prefer my H&S evolution silverline.
Compressors depends on situation, how much a problem is noise? cheap ones are usualy fine, just a tad noisier. My chinese made AS-196 , (lots get a 186; the 196 is a twin piston version) is still running strong several years after getting it. Its just too loud to paint at night time if im gonna consider others in my house.

If I have absolutely nothing other than my acrylic paints (not the greatest acrylic paints either: Delta Ceramcoat) and I don't want to spend a whole lot of money, would something like this work for me?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fine-Detail-0-2-Dual-Action-Gravity-AIRBRUSH-KIT-Tank-Air-Compressor-Auto-Paint-/140997458635?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item20d41a7acb&vxp=mtr

(apologies if this seems like a threadjack, there just seemed to be the most info here).

 Lotus wrote:
If I have absolutely nothing other than my acrylic paints (not the greatest acrylic paints either: Delta Ceramcoat) and I don't want to spend a whole lot of money, would something like this work for me?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fine-Detail-0-2-Dual-Action-Gravity-AIRBRUSH-KIT-Tank-Air-Compressor-Auto-Paint-/140997458635?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item20d41a7acb&vxp=mtr

(apologies if this seems like a threadjack, there just seemed to be the most info here).

It would, but your going to need to learn to get comfortable thinning, try different ways of thinning and see what you like.
Would have an easier time of it with a 0.3 or 0.4mm nozzle brush, but even a 0.2 will spray most paints when thinned accordingly. Look at Liquitex Airbrushing medium, golden airbrush medium, tamiya thinner, isopropyl alcohol, the windex thing (im not a fan of amonia)... lots of scope to try things out.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
I recommend the Badger Renegade Krome 2-in-1 as well. It is pretty hard to find but the good news is that it only cost about $130 on Amazon, but you may be able to find it cheaper from a dedicated airbrush supply store, such as www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com. I also recommend the Badger Renegade Velocity. It is about $100 and is usually easier to come by.
If you are serious about airbrushing, don't waste money on a cheap compressor that won't last long. For a decent compressor that will give you years of service, you will probably spend $200+. Iwata and Badger both make some nice ones in that price range.

Well, I've used the standard one I bought through airbrush-pro for over a year and it still works perfectly. The various friends I have owning an airbrush all used the same type of kit, and have reported no problems. I haven't heard of the unbranded compressors causing issues. Usually it's the cheap brushes.


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 Lotus wrote:
If I have absolutely nothing other than my acrylic paints (not the greatest acrylic paints either: Delta Ceramcoat) and I don't want to spend a whole lot of money, would something like this work for me?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fine-Detail-0-2-Dual-Action-Gravity-AIRBRUSH-KIT-Tank-Air-Compressor-Auto-Paint-/140997458635?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item20d41a7acb&vxp=mtr

(apologies if this seems like a threadjack, there just seemed to be the most info here).

Okay, for the love of god please do not buy that particular ebay listing.

That airbrush is what I was talking about when I mentioned the chinese knockoffs of the Iwata Custom Micron brushes. They are a complicated £300 design with more internals designed to specialise in fine detail. It is not a general workhorse airbrush. The knockoffs are categorically not as well made, so the more complicated the design of the brush, the more likely it is to have serious maintenance issues. Also, it's not just that. I have THAT EXACT CHEAP AIRBRUSH. I found that due to the poor manufacture, when the needle was pulled back, it would move at an odd angle rather than straight back. This altered the direction of the paint flow, causing it to impact on the VERY narrow nozzle guard. This piece then clogs, causing you to stop work so frequently that many of the people who reported working with it resulted in taking the cap off during operation. This is bad, because then the needle tip is exposed, and with poor manufacturing and materials, it's more susceptible to damage if knocked. As soon as the needle becomes bashed, your paint flow will spurt out at odd angles, and the brush as a whole starts to do the job very poorly.

If you're going to buy a cheap airbrush, keep to the SIMPLE ones.Go here; http://www.airbrush-pro.co.uk/index1.html

Look for the BD-130A. That is a perfect example of a cheap airbrush that is good to learn with. Simple mechanics that the knockoff manufacturers can't get too badly wrong. Honestly, use that site and just grab their AS186 compressor and the hose, and you'll do fine.

 RavensNestPainting wrote:
it resulted in taking the cap off during operation. This is bad, because then the needle tip is exposed, and with poor manufacturing and materials, it's more susceptible to damage if knocked. As soon as the needle becomes bashed, your paint flow will spurt out at odd angles, and the brush as a whole starts to do the job very poorly.

If you're going to buy a cheap airbrush, keep to the SIMPLE ones.Go here; http://www.airbrush-pro.co.uk/index1.html

Look for the BD-130A. That is a perfect example of an airbrush that is good to learn with. Simple mechanics that the knockoff manufacturers can't get too badly wrong.

agree with keeping it simple, but disagree with it being bad to have the needle exposed. Seriously, go check out hwo any professional high detail airbrusher paints, its actually a requirement to have the needle guard off to pull really good quality lines when freehanding, the guard is really good for storage, but when in use should be removed, and propper care taken, points you raise about it being delicate are true... propper care has to be taken over it.

edit; messed up quoting... think its fixed now.

So the pump is fine, but the airbrush is too complicated and bad.

Would this airbrush be simpler and a good one to start on for a newbie?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MASTER-PRO-G222-0-3mm-Dual-Action-Gravity-AIRBRUSH-SET-KIT-w-3-TIPS-Paint-Hobby-/140986227405?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d36f1acd

I'm trying to find something in the US that corresponds with your descriptions. (hopefully this helps out other beginners too).

The H&S Evo Silverline is my second airbrush and I've had much better results than with my first, a Badger 360.

Check out the Evos:

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

HairySticks wrote:

 RavensNestPainting wrote:
it resulted in taking the cap off during operation. This is bad, because then the needle tip is exposed, and with poor manufacturing and materials, it's more susceptible to damage if knocked. As soon as the needle becomes bashed, your paint flow will spurt out at odd angles, and the brush as a whole starts to do the job very poorly.

If you're going to buy a cheap airbrush, keep to the SIMPLE ones.Go here; http://www.airbrush-pro.co.uk/index1.html

Look for the BD-130A. That is a perfect example of an airbrush that is good to learn with. Simple mechanics that the knockoff manufacturers can't get too badly wrong.

agree with keeping it simple, but disagree with it being bad to have the needle exposed. Seriously, go check out hwo any professional high detail airbrusher paints, its actually a requirement to have the needle guard off to pull really good quality lines when freehanding, the guard is really good for storage, but when in use should be removed, and propper care taken, points you raise about it being delicate are true... propper care has to be taken over it.

edit; messed up quoting... think its fixed now.

Yes, but we're talking to people who are new to airbrushing. I'm willing to bet they're looking for a general solution that'll handle undercoat/basecoat/highlight and shading later on, rather than fine detail and hairline stuff.

The simple fact is, while an experienced professional can be trusted to know how to compensate with the nozzle guard off, most learners might not, and one good knock is all it takes to render you in need of a brand new needle, and they're not exactly ten-a-penny.


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 Lotus wrote:
So the pump is fine, but the airbrush is too complicated and bad.

Would this airbrush be simpler and a good one to start on for a newbie?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MASTER-PRO-G222-0-3mm-Dual-Action-Gravity-AIRBRUSH-SET-KIT-w-3-TIPS-Paint-Hobby-/140986227405?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d36f1acd

I'm trying to find something in the US that corresponds with your descriptions. (hopefully this helps out other beginners too).

That airbrush looks exactly like the BD-130A on the site I mentioned. It has no MAC Valve, no limiter - just the double action trigger assembly. By the way, the extra components is an EXCELLENT touch.

That'll do fine. Go right ahead and use that 186 compressor and that airbrush and you'll do great.

I would also recommend:
- Liquitex Airbrush Medium for mixing with pigments and inks if you want to make your own colours.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liquitex-Airbrush-Medium-8-Oz/dp/B001US2NQA/ref=sr_1_1?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1371752360&sr=1-1&keywords=airbrush+medium

- Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner for flushing it clean after work.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vallejo-Model-200ml-Airbrush-Cleaner/dp/B002X6BNYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371752349&sr=8-1&keywords=airbrush+cleaner

Hope that helps!

Thanks every one for your advice, I went with the iwata eclipse hp-cs, got it for $120. Still looking for the compressor, I will let you guys know how it all works out.