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Looking to pick up an airbrush and i have no experience with them. Any suggestions on a starter set?
Id like to stay away from can powered brushes though.

Thx!

What's your budget, and where are you located?

If you search eBay or Amazon either here in Canada or in the US, you can find some pretty cheap airbrush + compressor kit combos at a very reasonable price.

If you're just starting out and the expectation is that you're going to be replacing the airbrush at some point, then here's what I recommend:

The brand name of the airbrush isn't super relevant when you start. Master brand on eBay/Amazon is very inexpensive, good quality for the price you pay, and you'll get good value. Expect to replace this within a year, but it'll give you experience with using an airbrush, disassembling/reassembling, cleaning/maintenance, etc. And because the airbrush is cheap, price wise, it's not the end of the world if you accidentally break something. I used a Master brand airbrush when I first started and that thing was $30 CDN, so I wasn't afraid to mess around with it.

The key thing you want with the airbrush is gravity fed, dual action. Gravity fed means the paint cap sits on top, and gravity feeds paint into the main body (reason being this is the easiest airbrush to clean, and requires no extra PSI to push paint through the airbrush, unlike siphon fed or side fed), and dual action means a trigger that requires two actions to work: push down for air, pull back for paint.

That being said, as you invest more in better airbrushes, especially from the bigger brand names (I'm a Harder and Steenbeck advocate through and through), you can definitely tell you're getting what you pay for. So if you find that airbrushing is the thing for you and you want to invest in a better one, just buy the best one you can and don't look back.

Again, with the compressor, brand names aren't terribly important. Some key features you want: regulator (for consistent PSI), water trap (to filter water out of your compressed air and ensure it doesn't feed through your air hose), and the ability to adjust the PSI. If you find a compressor that's oil-less, that just means it's less maintenance for you!

There's some debate on the necessity for a tank. I'd say get one if you can. The price gap shouldn't be that big, and the tank will give you more flexibility, especially with longer painting sessions to ensure you don't overheat and burn out your compressor.

It's not the end of the world if you get a compressor without a tank, but if you do, get one with an auto on-off feature. You replace a compressor far less often, so if you're going to invest in a set, pick up a better compressor from the start. I've been running a cheap tankless compressor I bought as one of these kits off eBay for probably 7 or 8 years now. It's tankless (but my airbrush sessions aren't really lengthy so I've never felt like I've struggled in it's use) so at some point when it dies, I do want to replace it with a compressor that has a tank. Of course, it's still going strong so it's unlikely I'll be replacing it anytime soon.


There are a couple of things I definitely consider non-essentials, but they're pretty handy to have, and they'll certainly make your life easier.

Invest in an airbrush cleaning kit.
Stock up on QTips.
Hydrogen Peroxide is your friend, as close to 100% as you can get. Super useful for cleaning your airbrush, and isn't as harsh on your o-rings and seals as nail polish remover/acetone is.
Quick-release kit for your air hose. Makes it super easy to just disconnect from your compressor to go rinse out/clean your airbrush without having to constantly twist the airbrush on/off.
Airbrush stand/holder. Something you can use to set the airbrush down and hold it upright while you do other things (like clean up your area, swap colors, etc.). Especially if you still have paint loaded into your airbrush cup.
Airbrush spray booth. Gives you a bit of flexibility especially if you're working in an area without amazing ventilation. Just stock up on filters and swap them often.
Second water trap. I actually have two loaded on mine, to guarantee no moisture in my air. From my experience, I've found that one water trap, especially when they start getting a little saturated, starts to slip in performance, so having that redundancy is really good.

wow... thank you DV8 for taking the time to reply like that.
what are your thoughts on those little micro compressors or whatever theyre called?
says theyre for cakes and art...lol.

i wonder if they would cover base coating minis...

Waste of money. Just get a proper compressor.

The Badger Patriot 105 is a great brush to start with. Good quality, total workhorse, and very forgiving for the beginner. I have the .5 and .3 needles, and get so much work done with those.

I also have a SOTAR 20/20 for really fine work, but that one is definitely not for beginners.

I started with the Iwata starter set that comes with a tiny wallwart powered compressor. Only thing which I would change on it looking back was the nozzle size, IME 40mm is the nozzle size you want for acrylics. The smaller nozzles tend to tip dry up very fast.

Whatever you decide to go with, make sure you are covered on the airbrush cleaning dept before doing anything else! You need to be able to clean the brush properly starting with your first spraying session. Cleaning station, the nozzle cleaning bits, all that stuff is going to help a lot.

I personally went with one of the Master kits from ebay/amazon. This might be good if you're not confident with your skills at cleaning, as you can really gum up the works in an airbrush if you don't take care of it properly. I didn't have great luck with my Master airbrush, but others say they work fine. As cheap as they are, you won't feel bad if you wreck it when experimenting.

If I had to do it over again today, I'd go straight for the Badger Patriot 105. I currently use an Iwata HP-CS that I got with the hobby lobby 40% coupon and it's been my workhorse ever since. It works fantastic, but other manufacturers have kind of caught up and offer more for the same money these day, and I heard hobby lobby is discontinuing that coupon or not allowing it to be used with the airbrushes? I also have a Badger Sotar 20/20 but definitely don't recommend that for anyone but advanced users. I barely even touch the thing myself, as I just don't do enough super fine airbrushing to justify the headaches of getting the paint perfectly thinned + the tip drying issues of using that fine of a needle/nozzle.

Don't mess with tankless compressors. Just not worth it--go straight for one with a tank. I currently DO use a Master brand one from amazon.com I think, and it's fine.

Oh, and as tauist said, make sure you know how to disassemble/clean your brush before you even put paint in it.

Edit: Oh, and one more thing: make sure that if you are going to be airbrushing enamels or using laquer thinners or anything in your brush, that you get one with PTFE seals or that specifically says they can be used with these paints. Regular rubber seals used in cheaper brushes (like that cheap master brand) will be eaten up.

 gorgon wrote:
The Badger Patriot 105 is a great brush to start with. Good quality, total workhorse, and very forgiving for the beginner. I have the .5 and .3 needles, and get so much work done with those.

I also have a SOTAR 20/20 for really fine work, but that one is definitely not for beginners.

Seconded. That was my first airbrush and I use it to this day.

Badger makes some great airbrushes and the Sotar / Khrome lines are good ones to 'graduate' into as you need more fine control.

The one thing I would add: look at Harder and Steenbeck. Not cheap, but you should know what else is out there.

http://germanairbrush.com/

thank you all, there's some really great info here.
i was looking at the badger and cant find a complete set so id have to buy a compressor.
is there a set combined with compressor?

If you live alone or have a shop/garage you paint in just get a household compressor.

Sure it's noisy but if you get one with a 2 or 3 gallon tank it shouldn't kick on that often once full but of course as I'm sure you know shop compressors aren't very quiet so probably not a good idea if you live in an apartment complex/condominium/dormitory.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
thank you all, there's some really great info here.
i was looking at the badger and cant find a complete set so id have to buy a compressor.
is there a set combined with compressor?

I got a Masters brand or something like it (the silver and black one with tank -- think all those Chinese compressors are basically the same build). Then got a Master-to-Badger conversion adaptor for the end of the hose. You can find them on Amazon.

This is how I got my first airbrush. Went with the Evolution and haven't regretted it. Might upgrade in a year or two.

 usernamesareannoying wrote:
thank you all, there's some really great info here.
i was looking at the badger and cant find a complete set so id have to buy a compressor.
is there a set combined with compressor?

Badger sells compressors.

http://badgerairbrush.com/Compressors.asp

While you might want to start with something smaller, it's good to know how to choose a good one. Once you get past overall air pressure, the main issue with them is noise. They have a motor that fills the air tank when it gets low, the noise can be disruptive when it's filling.

I have 3 air compressors. The first one I ever bought is a small tabletop device, it did not make much noise nor did it regulate air properly. I would set it to 30psi and watch that drop to almost nothing after spraying for a few seconds. This made it really hard to learn how to airbrush, you have to have some consistency in pressure. I got frustrated with it and threw it away.

The first one I bought after that is an industrial model with a big tank. The problem with it is motor is loud enough to be heard outside the house. It's impossible to hear anything else while it's filling, even noise cancelling headphones are only so effective. I did build a noise-dampening box around it, which helps a little. But this thing is so loud you can feel it in your chest even when you're in another room, it's like being at a rock concert. The good thing about it is, once it's filled, I get about 30 minutes of spraying before it has to be filled again. I can turn the motor off and work at really low pressure without having to fill it more than a few times. I can also split the line and let friends hook up to the tank when we want to paint together.

The next one I bought was advertised as a quiet model. Quiet is a relative term, it operates at about 46db - about as loud as a running dishwasher. I have to almost yell to be heard when it's filling. While it's better sound wise than the industrial one, it has a smaller tank. This means it refills more often, which creates it's own problems. You're working on some details with the airbrush, really focused, and this noise suddenly starts up - very startling. After screwing up a few paint jobs, I started to look for something that's exceptionally quiet.

The one I use for painting today is the Badger Aspire Pro TC910 (at the bottom the page linked above.) It's very quiet, you have to be near it to hear the motor running. In terms of pressure, it gets up to about 55psi, which is higher than I ever use. (To give you a sense of the difference, the industrial one goes up to about 160psi.) While I would not describe this as high capacity, it doesn't matter because you hardly notice when it's refilling.

So start with whatever level you want to get familiar, but pay attention to other compressors because it can have a big impact on your painting. A compressor that's too loud means you don't use it when it might bother someone else. Not enough pressure and your paint jobs come out speckled and uneven. Not enough capacity in the tank and it's filling constantly, which can be jarring and lead to mistakes. Ideally, you don't have to pay attention to the compressor except to adjust the pressure from time to time.

Air compressors are constantly going on sale. The industrial one I bought from Home Depot for $40 in 2010. They were replacing it with another model, this was a closeout. The quiet one cost me more but I got it on sale around the holidays so I got a discount. The Badger one was the most expensive but I got it at a discount, they run specials on their Facebook page and I think I got it for 30% off.

It's worth watching for price changes. Good luck.