Help choosing an airbrush

[endlessnameless]

I have recently purchased a tau army for 40k and am having difficulty with the paint scheme. I cannot get an even covering of the desert yellow which I am using on all the armored parts.

After applying 4 coats over a white undercoat and still being unsuccessful I was thinking that buying an airbrush would be a good solution, as I had been wanting to get one for a while now.

I would also use it to hopefully paint the camouflage patterns on my vehicles and for use on scenery.

I figured that this would be a good place to ask for advice which particular airbrushes would best suit my needs. Or where I could finde more information.

I’m willing to spend up to about £150 but will go higher if necessary. I know that a compressor makes a lot of diffrence in price, what are the advantages over caned air?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[cookster]

My friend plays tau and has an airbrush. The air cans run out real fast and its much cheaper (over time) to buy a compressor. He got a decent airbrush for like 40$. It was also discounted like a mo but still.

 

[dauber22]

Don\'t know a thing about airbrushes but wanted to welcome you to the Forums. Hang around a bit. I\'m sure someone\'ll be along shortly that can help you. I\'d especially watch for a reply from \"airhead\". There\'s a reason he\'s called that. And it\'s not because he\'s stupid... Well, it\'s not just because he\'s stupid. lol Mr. Finn, who stops in from time to time, I believe also knows a thing or two about them.

Anyways, welcome to the Forums. I\'m sure a helpful person will be along before long.

 

[Orb]

Well, Einions the man for airbrush advice, his miniatures are mostly started with the airbrush.

Compressor = continuous air at controlable pressure
Air cans = fixed pressure that will decrease over time (and it\'s not long) and can be a pain when u run out and the brush isn\'t clean.

aircans good short term; will cost lots over time.
Compressor = on off investment.

Airbriush; I have an Aztek airbrush - they\'re durable, relatively well priced, less to clean, and quite well availble in the uk these days.

 

[Einion]

Hiya,

Aztek! Cheap and good enough for most people, plus easy to learn to use and to clean (very important and under-publicised thing about airbrushes - they can take longer to clean than the paintjob!)

You need to factor in a compressor unless you want to fork out for canned air day after day - you can exhaust a can in a single painting session so multiply that up and you soon see why compressors are worth the money, plus you get inline pressure control which is very handy for doing different effects without having to rely on just finger control of the trigger on a double-action airbrush. For simple spraying it can make a single-action airbrush (like the simpler Azteks) work nearly like their more expensive cousins.

Here\'s a past thread with some useful links:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=9542

The paint you\'re using sounds like it\'s not very opaque which is probably a lot of the problem here, any paint that\'s decently opaque should cover white primer in two or three thin coats.

Einion

 

[Einion]

Hey Rob! :innocent:

Einion

 

[Orb]

Hey Einion!

lol

Another thing; I\'ve successfully sprayed GW paints thro my Aztek, thinned heavily with tamiya thinner. The Rhino in my gallery was using SW Grey

 

[QuietiManes]

Re: compressors, you dont need to spend alot on a compressor. If you\'re going to be using the airbrush alot you will want to, to save yourself some trouble, but you can get cheap ones that will do the job fairly well. A friend in highschool used to have this large tank that he had to manually pump up to fill with pressure, then he could attach a pump or airbrush or whatever to it, like the cans it had a diminishing pressure, but it lasted quite a while before you needed to pump it up again, the size of the container is what matters here. You can get these sorts of compressors from the home stores, do it yourself stores. In with the contractors equipment, pneumatic nailers, spray guns, etc.

The only thing, you need to make sure to get one with a moisture trap, or get a moisture trap seperately. If you have the money though, get one that does the pumping for you, it\'s well worth the ease of use. To sum it up, it doesnt have to be an airbrush compressor, there are cheaper ways.

Cheers, gluck.

 

[airhead]

Welcome to the forums

Airbrush thread #1 here

Airbrush thread #2 here

Enion nailed it when he said it takes longer to clean one than to dirty it.

I still recommend Iwata - but a lot depends on what you are going to do with it.

Not knocking Enion or the airbrush he uses, (especially with the results he gets) but I got rid of my Aztec. Just could not get used to it.

Terrain calls for lots of paint in broad areas:
Badger Vega 2000 (I\'ve got 6)
Iwata Eclipse

Base coating minis calls for a similar gun or maybe a more detail oriented gun:
Iwata Eclipse
Iwata HP C
Iwata HP B

Detailing tanks will call for some very detail work:
Iwata HP C
Iwata HP B
Iwata Custom Micron (CM) - but hang on to your wallet when you check on them.

My choice for a beginner would be an HP or an Eclipse if you cannot afford the top load gun.

Compressor is almost a must. Model work does not need a lot of pressure. I got a small one on ebay that puts out plenty - noisier than a airbrush style compressor. Along with the compressor, you need a regulator and a moisture trap. Probably a few fittings to connect everything as well.

When you order your gun, think strongly about ordering a second nozzle and needle - eventually you will crash a needle against a hard surface and ruin it.

 

[finn17]

Check out eBay

I can\'t add much to what has already been said, but I have bought a couple of nice, new Iwata\'s from eBay for a very reasonable price.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by airhead
Not knocking Enion or the airbrush he uses, (especially with the results he gets) but I got rid of my Aztec. Just could not get used to it.

No prob, each to his own.

Originally posted by airhead
Terrain calls for lots of paint in broad areas:
...
Base coating minis calls for a similar gun or maybe a more detail oriented gun:
...
Detailing tanks will call for some very detail work:

Or you could just get one Aztek with multiple nozzles!

Seriously, the Aztek doesn\'t do any one job better than specialist airbrushes might (particularly not for fine lines I think) but it does all of them together better, and more easily, than any other single \'brush I\'m aware of, and for a modest price.

Originally posted by airhead
When you order your gun, think strongly about ordering a second nozzle and needle - eventually you will crash a needle against a hard surface and ruin it.

Good point. Another advantage of the Aztek - almost impossible to ruin a nozzle/needle assembly.

Einion

 

[airhead]

I still have one aztec with the splatter nozzel for doing stonework.

And yes, you cannot hardly damage the nozzle/needle but it is easily replaceable if you do. Just screw in a new cartridge.


My final reccommendation is to see if you can find an airbrusher in your area and get them to let you try as many guns as you can.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by airhead
I still have one aztec with the splatter nozzel for doing stonework.

They\'re cool aren\'t they?

Einion

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Id also recomend an Iwata.. I have three now a HP-C and CM-B and to spray big stuff a RG-3

Bought them all on ebay heavily discounted .

As for a compressor Id recomend one with a reserve tank and not a continious flow as the second temd to make your brush spatter/spit on the initial pressing of the trigger. Also having a good pressure gauge and water trap is also much needed.

 

[endlessnameless]

Thanks a lot for the replies they have been really helpful

I’m thinking about getting this airbrush kit with
this compressor

Does this seem like a reasonable price?

Could anyone recommend a book or something similar which covers the basics of how everything works and maintenance required, basically a beginners guide

Thanks a lot

 

[airhead]

I picked up one like this:

for next to nothing on ebay. over 150 psi and will handle my Iwata fine. The Vegas can keep it running constantly though.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by endlessnameless
Does this seem like a reasonable price?

It\'s okay for the UK but not compared to the two vendors on the link I posted above - the prices equate to about £54 so only if the shipping works out at more than 60 bucks would you not come out ahead.

Originally posted by endlessnameless
Could anyone recommend a book or something similar which covers the basics of how everything works and maintenance required, basically a beginners guide

The Aztek set you\'ve picked should come with both a manual and an instructional video, the video might only be available in NTSC format though so how\'s your VCR?

Most airbrush books don\'t have much detail on maintenance because the insides of various brands, and individual models, vary quite a bit plus most that do have a section on this will be for traditional metal airbrushes which will be of zero use to an Aztek owner. Before they were bought by Testors, Aztek brought out a book for their \'brush, you might be able to find this secondhand if it\'s no longer in print.

I haven\'t bought an airbrush book in years so I won\'t recommend the ones I have, there could be much better ones available now. Browsing the art books on Amazon should give you something to go on. Any decent one will cover the basics of pressures for different media, spray angle, trigger control and other things, plus a trouble-shooting page for common problems, which are roughly applicable across brands but you always have to experiment to see what works best for you - I often spray what amounts to dirty water at high pressure for mist coats, in direct conflict with the normal spraying advice.

By the way, that compressor doesn\'t have a reservoir as far as I can see and also there\'s no moisture trap.

Einion

 

[airhead]

does have a regulator, but a moisture trap is a must. (I use 2 here in FL, one at the tank and another one up at my manifold.)

Enion, it has a 0.25L tank - I have more than that in hose at home. (Run a big compressor in the garage and pipe/hose it into my studio/bedroom) I use an old small propane tank for the one in my portable cart with a standard 1/10 th HP diaphragm type.

But I am falling in love with that litte donught job. Portable and powerful - but a bit noisy - airs up car tires, bike tires, paints, even rattles the air wrench.