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I'm just starting to look for an airbrush just because I want to do it. I'm having trouble nailing down what I should be looking for.

This is what I have so far;
-I want a dual action air brush
-I want at least a .3 needle tip
-I want a relatively lightweight, cheap, air compressor with a small tank or inline reservoir.
-I want to keep it around the cost of a 100 dollar bill.

I have not looked into what needs to be done with my paints in terms of thinning yet. But I'm going to go that route because I already have lots of brush paints, some Army Painter, and lots of Citadel pots.

What else do I need to be picky about before choosing? Budget is an issue, I could go balls deep and get a nice setup but I want to make mistakes with cheap stuff first.

Finally, if someone has something as simple as a link to exactly what I need to buy and learn to use, I would be greatful, put your well being in my prayers, and be very thankful.

http://www.amazon.com/Badger-Air-Brush-2020-2F-Gravity-Airbrush/dp/B000BROVIO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459914525&sr=8-1&keywords=badger+sotar+2020

This is what a friend of mine recommends as well as one I'm eyeing when I get the money.

But don't forget you'll need a compressor as well.

If you're not wedded to a finer needle the Iwata neo has a .5 and is available at hobby lobby (which I mention cuz they let you use their 40% off coupon on them, when they have them in stock! making a $80 airbrush that much less). Anyway it's the only one I started with, but I did so mainly because I use it for priming and some basecoating, since my weather makes for a terrible time rattlecan priming and I don't always want to do 20+ models with brushon.

Anyway just a couple thoughts.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002KJDXHQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?qid=1459947139&sr=8-12&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=master+airbrush+kit
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001738DXU/ref=mp_s_a_1_16?qid=1459947230&sr=8-16&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=master+airbrush+kit

I am thinking more along the lines of buying these two together and thinning some of my army painter stuff with water

HEY YOU! READ THIS POST!

So i was once in your shoes looking to get a solid airbrush, i first got a master to play with the idea of using it, then i went ahead and bought a badger, and its amazing.

Here is a solid list of things you are going to want if you are a first time airbrush buyer

This is the brush its a bit bigger then .3 its a .5 but still solid for basing and doing effects like stenciling or OSL.
http://www.amazon.com/Badger-Air-Brush-Patriot-Gravity-Airbrush/dp/B002W84GTO/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1459948171&sr=1-1&keywords=badger+airbrush

The next thing you want is a hose, this is a badger one so it, by logic, should work with badger air brushes
http://www.amazon.com/Badger-Air-Brush-10-Feet-Company-Braided/dp/B000BQ094A/ref=pd_bxgy_201_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NEGGWKCHJ5C00SD8MPP

The compressor, this you want oil-less, harbor freight sells a cheapo one thats what i use, simple and does the job
http://www.amazon.com/PointZero-Portable-Airbrush-Compressor-Tankless/dp/B004KNBVM4?ie=UTF8&keywords=model%20airbrush%20compressor&qid=1459948502&ref_=sr_1_23&sr=8-23

These are some really nifty things to get, i HIGHLY recomend getting the blow pot, and the cleaner, the iwata cleaner is really solid stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/Iwata-Medea-Airbrush-Cleaner-16-Oz/dp/B003TJA0S6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01

http://www.amazon.com/Iwata-Medea-NAC-201-Cleaning-Station/dp/B000VADIVC?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01

Then for paint i would highly suggest Vallejo game air, its pre mixed, comes in a nice dropper bottle, and is very fine pigmented.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aarts-crafts%2Ck%3Avallejo+game+air&keywords=vallejo+game+air&ie=UTF8&qid=1459948597


The biggest thing about airbrushes, is not using them, its cleaning them. For the love of god, every time you use it make sure you clean the nettle if nothing else, you have to keep that nettle clean.
There are plenty of places online to lean how to do it.

By no means am i an expert, or even a good airbrush artist, this is just what i have come to find out via trial and error in my buying experience.

-So the above covers what you want to buy, air brushes range from 50 bucks all the way up to 400, the 400 ones are very VERY high quality, and can get very fine details. For what you want dont go out of the 100 buck range.

-Paints, as i said, Vallejo paints, already mixed, just drop and go, and shake them really good before using especially if you are using whites, or yellows, those pigments like to settle.

-CLEAN! for the love of god clean your air brush.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Rismonite wrote:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002KJDXHQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?qid=1459947139&sr=8-12&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=master+airbrush+kit
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001738DXU/ref=mp_s_a_1_16?qid=1459947230&sr=8-16&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=master+airbrush+kit

I am thinking more along the lines of buying these two together and thinning some of my army painter stuff with water

Also dont use water, you need a medium if you are going to thin your own paints, water alone is not good.

If you dont want to buy a airbrush thinner, mix a ratio of 1-1-1

1 part paint, 1 part water, 1 part rubbing alcohol

again, vallejo game air is a much better choice

Thanks for the post. I bought a pot at harbor freight just yesterday and was looking at that exact model air compressor lol. They had a 'deluxe' air brush their but it looked like a siphon cup and I couldnt make heads or tails of the nozzle size. .3 is going to be how large the stream is right?

 Rismonite wrote:
Thanks for the post. I bought a pot at harbor freight just yesterday and was looking at that exact model air compressor lol. They had a 'deluxe' air brush their but it looked like a siphon cup and I couldnt make heads or tails of the nozzle size. .3 is going to be how large the stream is right?

Yes and no, the measurement is the size of the nettle, obviously though, smaller the nettle, smaller the point you can make

What are you trying to use this for?

I want to spray paint on boyz and trukks. Finer details can be done with a brush

I'd stick to a compressor that has a tank on it myself.

0.3 or 0.5mm is the size of the paint nozzle, the passage the paint has to flow through before it mixes with the air.

People place a bit too much emphasis on nozzle size IMO, it's mostly important for determining how thick the paint you spray. If a paint doesn't flow well, it needs a larger nozzle.

The actual spray pattern is more dictated by the shape of the needle, the needle taper and the shape of the air cap.

I know people who just use water to thin, but it's the hard way of doing things, it'll make life less frustrating (especially in the early stages when you're just learning) to use a thinner designed for the task.

Painting depend if you are going to run a gravity fed or a feeder bottle.

If you are doing it from a gravity fed, I'd run with Bagder Minitaire and Vallejo Air.

Feeder bottle you can stick with GW and Army paint because you will need to add water to the bottle anyways,

With Badger Minitaire and Vallejo Air, they are both pretty thin already and the only thing you really need to add is Vallejo Flow Improver to help with dry tip.

 Snoopdeville3 wrote:
Painting depend if you are going to run a gravity fed or a feeder bottle.

If you are doing it from a gravity fed, I'd run with Bagder Minitaire and Vallejo Air.

Feeder bottle you can stick with GW and Army paint because you will need to add water to the bottle anyways,

With Badger Minitaire and Vallejo Air, they are both pretty thin already and the only thing you really need to add is Vallejo Flow Improver to help with dry tip.

There's no reason a siphon feed can't use Vallejo Air/Minitaire or a gravity feed can't use GW or army painter.

People usually recommend gravity feed over siphon feed for painting miniatures because they tend to be better for detail work and operate better over a wider range of pressures. Also if you're only spraying small amounts each time, you'll waste less paint.

 Rismonite wrote:
I want to spray paint on boyz and trukks. Finer details can be done with a brush

Then any airbrush will do.

But are you actually trying to replace the brush for the airbrush? If so, you cant really do that.

Air brush is top for basing, painting large surfaces, or adding effects.

 Backspacehacker wrote:

 Rismonite wrote:
I want to spray paint on boyz and trukks. Finer details can be done with a brush

Then any airbrush will do.

But are you actually trying to replace the brush for the airbrush? If so, you cant really do that.

Air brush is top for basing, painting large surfaces, or adding effects.

Well, do you have time to tell me about the limits of an airbrush?

 Rismonite wrote:

 Backspacehacker wrote:

 Rismonite wrote:
I want to spray paint on boyz and trukks. Finer details can be done with a brush

Then any airbrush will do.

But are you actually trying to replace the brush for the airbrush? If so, you cant really do that.

Air brush is top for basing, painting large surfaces, or adding effects.

Well, do you have time to tell me about the limits of an airbrush?

So I mean anything is technically possible with an air brush, but I can tell you thinks you won't be able to do/ will have a very very hard time doing

-fine detail work like jewels are going to be a nightmare to do, edgeing, highlighting, that going to be hard to do.

- another thing is sharp edges, you are going to have a hell of a time painting something that is meant to be very different, example a space marines armor vs the gun he is holding

-also it's going to Be impossible to not screw up, if you have black armor, and need to paint something white, a lot more then what you want to be white is going to be white.


An air brush is not a replacement to a brush, it's an enchantment. It's great for Latin down and even coat, doing object source lighting, things of that nature. Another great example is doing flames on large vehicles. If you get really REALLY fancy, you can load inks into your air brush and pain with inks, but this is by far a very advanced technique, I have only seen a golden demon painter do it, and even then I could not really follow what he was doing.

 Backspacehacker wrote:


So I mean anything is technically possible with an air brush, but I can tell you thinks you won't be able to do/ will have a very very hard time doing

-fine detail work like jewels are going to be a nightmare to do, edgeing, highlighting, that going to be hard to do.

- another thing is sharp edges, you are going to have a hell of a time painting something that is meant to be very different, example a space marines armor vs the gun he is holding

-also it's going to Be impossible to not screw up, if you have black armor, and need to paint something white, a lot more then what you want to be white is going to be white.


An air brush is not a replacement to a brush, it's an enchantment. It's great for Latin down and even coat, doing object source lighting, things of that nature. Another great example is doing flames on large vehicles. If you get really REALLY fancy, you can load inks into your air brush and pain with inks, but this is by far a very advanced technique, I have only seen a golden demon painter do it, and even then I could not really follow what he was doing.

Actually, to be fair, most of the things you mention as difficult to do are really easy if you're prepared to spend time masking, sharp edges especially. When I'm doing white areas on my tanks, for instance, the actual painting takes minutes, but I'll spend 20 minutes or more masking the area first, but it's worth it for the smooth white that I couldn't duplicate with a brush in 10x the amount of time.

Equally with gems, above a certain size unless you're using a ludicrously small nozzle anyway, the blend in colour you get with an airbrush can be very effective, but it's a time vs effort thing with those and I'd agree it most often is better using a hairy brush.

I'd say have a go with inks too, there's really no difference in use, just in finish (they dry very glossy, so normally need a flat coat if that's not desirable and they're like using candy colors, so they'll expose any flaws in your priming/base coat.) They can give really vivid colors beyond anything you'll get with normal paints. All I've really done is play with single colors over a zenithal priming coat, if you're going to start applying them over colored bases then your color theory will need to be solid, but I wouldn't say it's a particularly difficult thing to execute.

 Azreal13 wrote:

 Backspacehacker wrote:


So I mean anything is technically possible with an air brush, but I can tell you thinks you won't be able to do/ will have a very very hard time doing

-fine detail work like jewels are going to be a nightmare to do, edgeing, highlighting, that going to be hard to do.

- another thing is sharp edges, you are going to have a hell of a time painting something that is meant to be very different, example a space marines armor vs the gun he is holding

-also it's going to Be impossible to not screw up, if you have black armor, and need to paint something white, a lot more then what you want to be white is going to be white.


An air brush is not a replacement to a brush, it's an enchantment. It's great for Latin down and even coat, doing object source lighting, things of that nature. Another great example is doing flames on large vehicles. If you get really REALLY fancy, you can load inks into your air brush and pain with inks, but this is by far a very advanced technique, I have only seen a golden demon painter do it, and even then I could not really follow what he was doing.

Actually, to be fair, most of the things you mention as difficult to do are really easy if you're prepared to spend time masking, sharp edges especially. When I'm doing white areas on my tanks, for instance, the actual painting takes minutes, but I'll spend 20 minutes or more masking the area first, but it's worth it for the smooth white that I couldn't duplicate with a brush in 10x the amount of time.

Equally with gems, above a certain size unless you're using a ludicrously small nozzle anyway, the blend in colour you get with an airbrush can be very effective, but it's a time vs effort thing with those and I'd agree it most often is better using a hairy brush.

I'd say have a go with inks too, there's really no difference in use, just in finish (they dry very glossy, so normally need a flat coat if that's not desirable and they're like using candy colors, so they'll expose any flaws in your priming/base coat.) They can give really vivid colors beyond anything you'll get with normal paints. All I've really done is play with single colors over a zenithal priming coat, if you're going to start applying them over colored bases then your color theory will need to be solid, but I wouldn't say it's a particularly difficult thing to execute.

Oh I agree it can be done, but it is by no means easy to master especially for a new comer to airbrushes

thanks