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Simair airbrush - any good?


Potato Pete

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My Badger 100 has just about given up the ghost, but whilst rummaging through a whole bunch of stuff I had in storage I came across a Simair Studio xl2000 which I bought years ago but never used.

Does anybody have any opinions on it - any good or best avoided?

Cheers

Pete

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As Pauls suggests, H&S - It's the Evolution Silverline M, with the rear handle changed to differentiate it slightly.

It's a perfectly good airbrush.

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In the Graphic Design/Illustration circles about 20+ years ago, Simair had a good reputation for airbrushes and compressors. Tell the truth I still have a Simair silent storage compressor, had it for years and it hasn't missed a beat.

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Simair is a house brand of the art & crafts wholesaler West Design, don't know if it always was but it certainly is at the moment. The portfolio is/was predominantly H&S & Sparmax products, most with a slight twist to differentiate them (XL2000 = Evolution Silverline M, Focus = Evolution, SP35 = Sparmax SP35.......).

The Simair silent compressor is most likely a Sil-Air unit.

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Thats right, the Graphic design people swore by them 20 years ago. Anyway, get some gash paper even old news paper to get the hang of control,practise free hand writing,dots,curlicues and have a play. spray a toilet roll,kitchen roll inner card tube etc. Its the only way,practise,practise.

Btw Curlicues are great for hand control practise helps free you up.Google it if you've never heard of it,not an everyday word. Good luck!

Edited by bzn20
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You weren't my Graphic Design Lecturer from 1987 are lol. More or less word for word.

No I wasn't! I did take some time out from Airframe work and went to Art College but They were all in the dark as far as airbrushing went! Even though they had one of those big belt driven Devillebis compressors that not one person knew how to use,why the had it,whats it for. I tried to buy it but they wouldn't sell. Just in case sombody wanted to use it! 2 years later there it was covered in dust!

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I've had mine since 1980!

Nick

I should have written... 20 years ago, roughly.Could have been 30 odd! I forget how the years snowball into decades!

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  • 11 months later...

Finally got to play with the airbrush and I have a couple of questions, one specific, one general dumb one

Firstly, the trigger doesn't seem to depress but it constantly bleeds air through the nozzle. Assuming it shouldn't do either of these things?

And the general dumb question - how do you go about applying several coats? What I mean is that I when apply a colour, I apply a thin coat, I let it dry and then apply another. But between coats I clean the airbrush completely to stop it clogging. So the whole process of applying several coats takes some time. Is this what other folk do, or am I making work for myself (and a fool of myself)?

Cheers

Pete

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The trigger should depress, sounds like the valve is stuck or perhaps the rubber seals have perished it possibly needs a good overhaul. I had a number of simair brushes years ago and they were all very good. If I recall correctly they were all made in Japan and came in at around £150 to £200 a piece which was a bit cheaper than Iwata at the time but not by much. I use enamels and tend to only do a single coat with the airbrush. The trick is knowing when you have just enough paint on for it to settle and give good coverage without being enough for it to run.

To be honest thinking about it I don't know if it would even be worth refurbing an old airbrush these days. I have about ten brushes here that I picked up off ebay for between £10 and £20 brand new on ebay and they are all doing great and, at less than the cost of a good sable brush when they go duff they go in the bin.

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