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Hey guys whats up, just want to ask all you airbrushers out there a few questions to see if im on the right track here.
iv been meaning to get an airbrushing kit for some time now, and i swore to myself i wouldn't touch any of my models until i owned a decent little rig to do my 2 landriaders / 3 deadnaughts / and valkyrie , iv been painting my troops by hand and i might re paint them using the airbrush if all works out as i hope it will. might do my termies as well......now back to my questions.
i wanted to know if these 2 kits are decent by your guys standards,

- http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/iwrecraisywi.html
- http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/iweccsaisywi1.html

What is the difference ?
Is that compressor decent ?
my budget is pretty much the cost for either of those, so when i saw that i could get a compressor and airbrush kit made by iwata kinda got me excited, as i have heard they are quality products.
iv been watching videos online by this gent who makes rad vids about airbrushing, he says he adds windex to his paints.........uhhh is this a good idea and does it work, when he mentioned that windex naturally dries itself it made me think that it sounds like when airbrushed on the paint would land on the model wet, then dry smoothe, all his models look pretty impressive to, so im just trying to clarify.
another thing, should i buy a braided hose ? and lastly, i hear people talking about having a moisture trap..and this kit comes with the compressor that doesnt have one, was wondering if i should buy an "in-line" moisture trap to connect to a kit like this.

any and all information is welcomed.
cheers

Iwata is a good company, you should be fine any of their brushes. The difference between the two airbrushes is one has an opening where you can quickly adjust the needle. This is good when you are say, painting large surfaces and want a larger flow of paint at one time. The braided hose doesn't matter. Using windex is a preference. You need to thin your paints and windex works, but if you are spending $200+ on an airbrush and $5 on a pot of paint, you can spend like $10 on some good paint medium to thin the paints. As for a moisture trap, You can buy them for cheap and just add it to the hose.

Given the prices, I'd definitely go for the CS - I have one, it is great for a beginner brush that will grow with you. Easy to take apart, easy to troubleshoot, hard to break, takes a ton of abuse.

Those compressors aren't great though - they don't have a tank, so they are going to be difficult to learn on (as they will splutter a bit). A cheap compressor from harbor freight attached to a good airbrush is probably the best way to go. I bought a smart jet pro (or nonpro, can't remember) compressor from iwata - it is a good compressor, but a waste of money given what I could have bought cheaper.. Any compressor with regulator and moisture trap will be fine to learn on.

great replies, thank you for all the info, so i will look into a moisture trap for ure then, and what do you mean by "sputter" kb_lock ? like no consistent spray ? if this compressor is garbage i mighttttt try and get the step up, but i think the next stage compressor is like $150-200 more and doesn't come with an airbrush.

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

that compressor does come with everything you guys mentioned. is the little compressor i linked earlier not up to snuff ?

Yeah, they spit a bit and lose consistency - not a major deal for base coating, terrible for detail work.

I have that smart jet pro, it is great but expensive.

Does the compressor need to be quiet? If not, any cheap compressor with a tank / pressure regulator / moisture trap will be fine. If you do need quiet, then do you want to do detail airbrushing in 12 months? If not, get the ninja you linked first, otherwise get the smart jet or wait for the Americans to wake up with local suppliers and brands.

Rather than making a new thread, it seems like a good idea to post in this thread with a similar question.

I am pretty sure that the Paasche Talon set is a good use of money. The brush is actually chromed, and it has a nice annodized needle cover and a non locking choke adjuster. On ebay they hover around the 110-130 mark with the three heads and a second needle.

As far as the compressor, I'm pretty sure these are fine:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151854048571?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

They go by a couple different manufacturer names, but they are all the same as far as I can tell. The important thing is the gauge, water trap, and obviously the tank.

I am planning on picking up these two items on my next paycheck, along with a cleaning pot and some cleaner, which I will probably dilute with something to make it last longer. Are there any other must have accessories that I'm forgetting?

Do not dilute your cleaner. When paint melts, if it comes into contact with other fluids like water, it turns into something with the consistency of tar.

What exactly is Airbrush Cleaner? Is it isopropyl or witch hazel or something?

I have never messed with this stuff before, but I'm sure it''s something you can probably make in bulk with stuff from Home Depot or a pharmacy. Simple Green seems to be a winner for literally everything, and I read that a 25/75 mix is pretty good for airbrushes. Since I will probably buy that stuff in bulk for stripping anyway, it might be a good solution.

It's not straight anything. My partner actually ran it through the lab at work and couldn't easily identify the content.
It dissolves paint but doesn't kill rubber seals or rust springs, so it's generally best to just not dick about with it.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
Do not dilute your cleaner. When paint melts, if it comes into contact with other fluids like water, it turns into something with the consistency of tar.

As long as you're using acrylics you can flush the AB through with water first before using a few drops of the undiluted cleaner to finish off the job. If you used the cleaner for the whole job you'd go through quite a lot of it

That's if it's wet, I was thinking of dried-on paints and wasn't clear due to being very silly.

I bought this one and never looked back.

You will want a tank on your compressor.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/ABD-KIT-4207T-MASTER.html#.Vjhc2_mrSUk

 Captain Fantastic wrote:
Rather than making a new thread, it seems like a good idea to post in this thread with a similar question.

I am pretty sure that the Paasche Talon set is a good use of money. The brush is actually chromed, and it has a nice annodized needle cover and a non locking choke adjuster. On ebay they hover around the 110-130 mark with the three heads and a second needle.

As far as the compressor, I'm pretty sure these are fine:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151854048571?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

They go by a couple different manufacturer names, but they are all the same as far as I can tell. The important thing is the gauge, water trap, and obviously the tank.

I am planning on picking up these two items on my next paycheck, along with a cleaning pot and some cleaner, which I will probably dilute with something to make it last longer. Are there any other must have accessories that I'm forgetting?

That's one I went with. Read my post from a week ago on my purchase list and the comments there on what to make sure you get. Talys was right about getting the 1/4 NPT adapter for the compressor to use with the Paasche hose.

 Beaches wrote:
Hey guys whats up, just want to ask all you airbrushers out there a few questions to see if im on the right track here.
iv been meaning to get an airbrushing kit for some time now, and i swore to myself i wouldn't touch any of my models until i owned a decent little rig to do my 2 landriaders / 3 deadnaughts / and valkyrie , iv been painting my troops by hand and i might re paint them using the airbrush if all works out as i hope it will. might do my termies as well......now back to my questions.
i wanted to know if these 2 kits are decent by your guys standards,

- http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/iwrecraisywi.html
- http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/iweccsaisywi1.html

What is the difference ?
Is that compressor decent ?
my budget is pretty much the cost for either of those, so when i saw that i could get a compressor and airbrush kit made by iwata kinda got me excited, as i have heard they are quality products.
iv been watching videos online by this gent who makes rad vids about airbrushing, he says he adds windex to his paints.........uhhh is this a good idea and does it work, when he mentioned that windex naturally dries itself it made me think that it sounds like when airbrushed on the paint would land on the model wet, then dry smoothe, all his models look pretty impressive to, so im just trying to clarify.
another thing, should i buy a braided hose ? and lastly, i hear people talking about having a moisture trap..and this kit comes with the compressor that doesnt have one, was wondering if i should buy an "in-line" moisture trap to connect to a kit like this.

any and all information is welcomed.
cheers

Windex does work in some instances however can be bad for your airbrush. Any scratches on the inside of the airbrush that come into contact with the Windex could de-chrome. This will allow paint to stick in those areas or affect the operation of the airbrush. I do however know several people that use it in paint mixes. Isopropanol Alchohol (rubbing alcohol) works well with many paints but not all paints. Mix it with one part alcohol To three parts water and test spray. I tend to use a dry retarder in my Vallejo paints to limit tip dry.

The non tank compressors can cause "pulsing" in you paint work and a tank compressor does typically work a little better. The moisture trap should be installed as close to the airbrush as possible. I have one on my compressor and right at the airbrush.

bbarrington2001 wrote:

 Captain Fantastic wrote:
Rather than making a new thread, it seems like a good idea to post in this thread with a similar question.

I am pretty sure that the Paasche Talon set is a good use of money. The brush is actually chromed, and it has a nice annodized needle cover and a non locking choke adjuster. On ebay they hover around the 110-130 mark with the three heads and a second needle.

As far as the compressor, I'm pretty sure these are fine:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151854048571?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

They go by a couple different manufacturer names, but they are all the same as far as I can tell. The important thing is the gauge, water trap, and obviously the tank.

I am planning on picking up these two items on my next paycheck, along with a cleaning pot and some cleaner, which I will probably dilute with something to make it last longer. Are there any other must have accessories that I'm forgetting?

That's one I went with. Read my post from a week ago on my purchase list and the comments there on what to make sure you get. Talys was right about getting the 1/4 NPT adapter for the compressor to use with the Paasche hose.

The compressor will tend to heat up so you will want to let it cool during long sessions. Despite having a moisture trap, you will still get water in your tank from to time. There should be a drain plug on the bottom of the tank for this.

bbarrington2001 wrote:

 Captain Fantastic wrote:
Rather than making a new thread, it seems like a good idea to post in this thread with a similar question.

I am pretty sure that the Paasche Talon set is a good use of money. The brush is actually chromed, and it has a nice annodized needle cover and a non locking choke adjuster. On ebay they hover around the 110-130 mark with the three heads and a second needle.

As far as the compressor, I'm pretty sure these are fine:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151854048571?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

They go by a couple different manufacturer names, but they are all the same as far as I can tell. The important thing is the gauge, water trap, and obviously the tank.

I am planning on picking up these two items on my next paycheck, along with a cleaning pot and some cleaner, which I will probably dilute with something to make it last longer. Are there any other must have accessories that I'm forgetting?

That's one I went with. Read my post from a week ago on my purchase list and the comments there on what to make sure you get. Talys was right about getting the 1/4 NPT adapter for the compressor to use with the Paasche hose.

Looks like we are on the same page. I will definitely buy that hose kit, because I read later on that paasche uses a proprietary method.

Vallejo Surface primer is sub-15$ for a 200ml bottle! Holy heck that's cheap, considering you're probably going to thin it down a bit and that airbrushes are efficient anyway. I will probably buy a bottle of white and one of grey at those prices.

I'm sure this has been asked numerous times, but is there anywhere where I can buy large quantities of vallejo-ish dropper bottles and easy to clean pipettes? I feel like pipettes will be a huge plus with airbrushing.

I don't thin down the Vallejo primer, but yeah, it's super cheap, and a 200ml bottle lasts... **forever**. I mean, you can fill up a room with miniatures with 200ml of primer

Incidentally, the black goes a really long way, because you need almost nothing to get 100% coverage. The white and grey, not so much. The grey is a very light grey; personally, I wouldn't bother with both.

If I had to choose 3 primers from Vallejo, I would take:
- Black; this is their nicest primer
- German Red-Brown - this is a really dark paint, and is excellent as an undercoat for gold or dark red
- Desert Tan - this is an light beige, around the color of Uhbanti Bone

I like Desert Tan better than white, for painting white, because of three reasons: first, Desert Tan covers a lot better than white, and is easy to cover with white (for instance through an airbrush). Second, I usually don't want PURE white, anyhow, and I need to cover whatever basecoat with some shade of blue-grey or yellow-grey. Third, the Vallejo White Primer, I find, takes way too many coats to get opaque, so I just do a couple of thin coats, and then I paint it with white (Vallejo Air) paint. If I'm going to do that anyhow, I might as well paint it Desert Tan, so that when I cover it with white or wolf grey, I can easily see where I've missed.

The other four Vallejo primers I really like are in their Game Air series - Red Primer, Ultramarine Blue Primer, Leather Brown primer, and Chainmail primer (yeah, it's metallic!!).

I personally prefer Gunze Mr. Surfacer as a primer. I'm using the 1200 (the number refers to how gritty it is, larger number = smoother and smaller number = rougher) and I like it because it sprays very smoothly, dries to a tough finish quite quickly (unlike the Vallejo stuff that takes ages to cure) and it you need to you can sand it.

The downside is that it's a lacquer paint, which means you need a lacquer thinner (I've just been using Gunze Mr. Color Thinner (not the aqueous thinner which I believe is an acrylic thinner). And being a lacquer it's more important to not inhale the stuff (though frankly I wouldn't want to inhale any of it!).

I ordered my dropper bottles from http://usplastic.com. They are good quality bottles and they were very inexpensive. Plus, they have larger bottles for things like cleaners, water and other mediums.