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Ok, so I have heard airbrushing is a great way to have great painted models, and paint faster....

I would like to get into it, but the problem I have at the moment is picking a good air brush.
What would you paint veterans recommend ? Air brushing seems to have better quality from what I can tell.
and maybe some tips would be nice as well!

To add to this, I live in an apartment. Is it viable to air brush in an apartment/enclosed space or do you need open air area?

I airbrush in my apartment as long as you have the correct spray box it's fine, I haven't had an issue where I've sprayed unintended things.

It all depends on your price range, I want a Badger Krome but at the moment I'm using a pretty bog standard airbrush which I only use for base coating.

Something's I've learnt.

Always clean your airbrush immediately after use
Make sure you thin your paints correctly (should be the consistency of milk) or buy Vallejo Game Air/Model Air paints
Be prepared to use a lot of paint whilst you get used to it
Spend time learning how to add paint and air flow

 Atheos wrote:
To add to this, I live in an apartment. Is it viable to air brush in an apartment/enclosed space or do you need open air area?

Definitely doable. How involved you need to be in setting up your workspace depends on a few factors: where you're spraying, what you're spraying, how concerned you are with safety, etc.

Personally, I'm using acrylic paints in a dedicated hobby area (an already somewhat grubby table with plenty of crap scattered around the back edge), so I needn't be terribly concerned about protecting the surrounding areas. I just throw down some newspaper, resting one page flat on the table and propping the back up against my pile o'crap, to catch any overspray.

As for safety, I'm using non-toxic acrylic paints/inks, exclusively. The harshest chemicals I use are for cleaning - ammonia, IPA, and the like - and they aren't nearly as bad as things like cellulose thinners or the hotter solvent cements. If I were spraying constantly, I'd feel justified investing in a good VOC-rated respirator or a fume hood, but I just use a simple spray jar for cleaning and don't huff what makes it through the cotton filter. Even non-toxic products aren't meant to be inhaled when atomized, of course - no particulates are good for your lungs (hence the warnings about working on resin kits, when the material itself is inert, once cured). A decent dust mask will guard against turning your snot whatever color you're spraying, although it won't do squat against chemical fumes. Generally, I don't worry about even that, but that's not to say doing likewise is advisable.


To the OP: Airbrushes are tools, just like traditional "hairy stick" brushes. They can be used to increase productivity and/or to achieve higher-end results, but you're going to need to invest time practicing to see those results. Even once you get the basics of use down, all of the fiddling, cleaning, etc. actually makes the airbrush the slower tool for many tasks. Once you get the hang of it and start working in batches or on very large pieces, then you'll start to see a net savings in time. Likewise, airbrushes can give amazingly smooth gradients across surfaces in a fraction of the time it would take to do by brush. A poor spray job, though, is just as unimpressive as poor layering or a ham-fisted wash. Not to dissuade you from exploring airbrushing, of course - they can be great tools for the painter. Just go in knowing that there's an often hefty initial expense followed by a (steeper for some than others) learning curve, instead of the magic "point and paint" wand that some misguided hobbyists seem to expect. Plenty of threads on the subject, already (as well as countless blog posts), so see if you can't dig up a few of those to get you started with beginner tips and gear suggestions. Best of luck to you!

There are lots of brands out there that can do the job. I would suggest getting an airbrush that is made in the US. It just makes it easier to get parts. I live near Chicago and both Badger and Paasche are from there. Both have a good line of products. Some people don't like Paasche while others don't like Badger and so on. It's really six of one and a half dozen of the other.

Ask yourself what you want an airbrush for? Details? Base coating? That will also point you in the right direction. Airbrushes come in single and duel action. Single is once you hit the trigger/button both the air and paint start to flow at the same time. A duel action allows you to control when the air is on and lets you have the paint flow in small or higher sprays(This is the way I would go).

There are plenty of airbrush tutorials on Youtube that you can check out. Some offer reviews, tips and care for airbrushing.

Hope this helps.

Iwata HP somthin somthin and the Badger Renegade krome is nice and can be gotten relatively cheap (100$ or less)

Compressors are all over the place. i believe you can get an ok one with a tank from TCPglobal that gets some decent reviews

I got kinda lucky with a cheap 80$ one from harbor freight that has minor moisture issues but still retains pressure without pulsing which is good.

Here is my go-to list of airbrushes I made for every time this question comes up (so a lot, actually):

Badger Patriot 105 ($75) - solid brush, larger standard needle, good for a beginner
Badger Renegade Krome 2-in-1 ($160) - excellent brush, easily one of Badgers best offerings for the price, very popular mid-range airbrush
Badger Renegade Velocity ($125) - older than the Krome, but very similar with less "fancy" features, uses the same needle/tip as all of the Renegade-series brushes
Harder and Steenbeck Evolution SIlverline 2-in-1 ($175) - very nice brush, good reviews
Iwata Eclipse HP-CS ($130) - solid mid-range airbrush, larger standard needle than the others on the list
Grex Genesis.XGi ($168) - fairly new but they get good reviews, looks kind of cool, needles/tips seem a little expensive

Now, some of these prices might have fluctuated a bit since I wrote this list (which was a while ago now), but they should more or less be in the ballpark. These are all what I would consider "beginner airbrushes" that offer a solid starting point for just about anyone. It is also realistic that you could buy one these brushes (especially the Evolution, Krome, or Eclipse) and use it forever because they're all pretty good.

For compressors, you can go buy a shop compressor from the home improvement stores or Harbor Freight or go to Amazon and search for "air brush compressors." Find one with a tank, good reviews, and a decent price.

Dont forget the moisture trap

 Desubot wrote:
Compressors are all over the place. i believe you can get an ok one with a tank from TCPglobal that gets some decent reviews. I got kinda lucky with a cheap 80$ one from harbor freight that has minor moisture issues but still retains pressure without pulsing which is good.

I'm using the same HF compressor, but have had absolutely no issues with moisture - it's only very recently (had a project that I did exclusively by airbrush - probably an hour or two of rather frequent spraying, which is much more than I've ever done in one go) that I've ever gotten a significant amount of visible condensation in the trap chamber, but even that wasn't enough to drain, let alone accidentally shoot through the gun. Is your spray area particularly humid and your hose particularly short or did you just "break even" while playing the HF power tool lottery (anyone with HF experience knows that you can't beat their prices, but there's a reason for their generous return policy - quality control is absolute crap)?

As for the TCP compressor, pretty much all of the bottom-end (cast iron body, no tank, oilless, single piston) compressors are the same. Several brands, tons of different sellers, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the same few Chinese factories produced the lot of them. If you aren't going spend the money for a higher end, tanked compressor, focus on balancing the cost with the warranty. There's no point in paying a premium just for some brand's sticker, but you also don't want to gamble on a no-name product from a supplier who won't back it up. For me, having a local store which made any necessary (luckily, there were none) returns/exchanges quick and painless, that meant going with Harbor Freight. For those without a local store, TCP Global (who also sell through Amazon, IIRC) is well enough established (lots of reviews, established and visible level of customer service, actual reputation to maintain, etc.) that they may actually be a better bet.

I don't have too much to say (but that won't stop me from taking a while to say it ) in terms of the best starter airbrush, as I took a painful and circuitous route, myself. Started with a Master G44 based on reviews I later found to be severely outdated. It's completely unusable (there's a misalignment in the body that ruins the spray pattern, no matter which parts you swap in) and caused me no end of frustration. I moved to a 0.35mm HF siphon feed (which I had initially bought and returned as unsatisfactory, although that was primarily due to my inexperience) and thought "Wow, what an improvement - I can actually spray with this!" After getting competent, but by no means skillful, with the HF brush, I finally broke out the Sotar (0.2mm) that I picked up cheap a while back. Were I more flexible, I'd literally have kicked myself for not using a quality brush as soon as I had the gist of things. Based on the flexibility (variety of needle/nozzle sizes), solid construction, warranty, and ease of finding parts, I'd be sorely tempted to name the Badger Patriot 105 as the ideal starter brush, but there are enough potential caveats to that statement that I had best shut up, for now, and let those with more experience and a more succinct writing style take over.

I really want to get into using air brushes, I know it can cost a lot , but it sounds like it would be worth it...

 oadie wrote:

 Desubot wrote:
Compressors are all over the place. i believe you can get an ok one with a tank from TCPglobal that gets some decent reviews. I got kinda lucky with a cheap 80$ one from harbor freight that has minor moisture issues but still retains pressure without pulsing which is good.

I'm using the same HF compressor, but have had absolutely no issues with moisture - it's only very recently (had a project that I did exclusively by airbrush - probably an hour or two of rather frequent spraying, which is much more than I've ever done in one go) that I've ever gotten a significant amount of visible condensation in the trap chamber, but even that wasn't enough to drain, let alone accidentally shoot through the gun. Is your spray area particularly humid and your hose particularly short or did you just "break even" while playing the HF power tool lottery (anyone with HF experience knows that you can't beat their prices, but there's a reason for their generous return policy - quality control is absolute crap)?
.

It could just be that wonderful Southern California Beach weather that is getting into my compressor. but running it for about 1 hour in and it will occasionally jet water out with the trap about 1/8 full of water.

Im still guessing its a bad moisture trap and all i really needa do is get a second one but i might instead save up for something nicer maybe

Check out the Iwata Neo-CN. Iwata branded, but made in China. At $40 US it's a decent brush for basecoating, and built very well.

I've had mine for about two weeks now, and I use it mostly to spray primer (Vallejo Surface Primers), and basecoats, and occasionally practice doing more detail work with it. I can consistently spray from a 1/4" wide to 1" wide stream of paint through it. I don't know if it's capable of better detail.

Can you use Air brushes to get details as well? Or at some point, do you have to actually use a brush to get certain details?

You can do details with an airbrush. With the proper needle/nozzle size, distance, air pressure, and consistency, some guns are capable of laying down hairlines. It's not easy, though, and generally isn't considered worth the trouble. Best to break out the brushes for detailing, IMO.

I use an Iwata HP-CS.
Very good airbrush, and has interchangeability of parts. I picked up a .5mm nozzle, needle, and air cap so I can switch it out with the stock .35mm setup.
The airbrush itself can be had for somewhere in the $100-140 range.
In the midwest, Hobby Lobby carries Iwata products so parts are easy to come by. You can print out a -daily- 40% off coupon on ANY one product from Hobby Lobby. And it's not just on the lowest priced product.
Currently, they carry the Iwata HP-CS bundled with an air hose and some paints, with some other supplies for $200, so with the coupon it's about $150.

Airbrushing, once you've figured out it's capabilities and intricacies, is a great way to achieve studio quality results for your minis.