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Hansa 381 Airbrush (Black)


Mike

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Hansa 381 Airbrush (Black)



Harder & Steenbeck

brush1.jpg

Once upon a time, H&S and Hansa were separate companies, but H&S have now bought Hansa, and have integrated them into their very successful range of high quality airbrushes.

The 381 I tested is unusual in that it is painted or anodised (I can't tell) with a tough glossy black finish that oozes quality. A Hansa logo and the brush's model number is presented on the left side of the main body, while the brush's serial number and the words "Made in Germany by Harder & Steenbeck" are on the other side.

boxtop.jpg

A paint finish? On an airbrush that often gets sloshed in cellulose thinners? Surely that would be madness. Not at all, it would seem. The finish is as hard as nails, and as yet I've failed miserably to mar it in any way shape or form. Even leaving it lying in thinners overnight hasn't done any damage - lord alone knows what it is made of, but it's not coming off!

The airbrush shares many functions and a good degree of engineering features with the H&S Infinity that we reviewed recently. It is supplied in a nice black plastic presentation case with sliding clasps, and the airbrush lies in a red flocked plastic insert, with all the provided accessories already attached. The cup is the larger 7ml type, and comes with a matching black lid, and it also has a quick-disconnect adaptor screwed into the air-valve, which if you have the connector on your hose makes changing brushes so much easier. If not, you can obtain one cheaply from your supplier, or remove it and screw it directly into the hose.

To the back of the tapered rear body is a knurled adjustment knob that allows you to set the needle stop wherever you want in its travel. Very useful for squiggle camo, or any application where you want to get the same width of spray each time without having to find your "bite point" first. It's not quite as advanced as the one-touch click on/off setup on the Infinity, but it is still very useful.

Unscrewing the rear body gives you access to the standard type of needle assembly, with tension control and the needle retention screw all where they should be. The black theme extends into the body here, with only the set screws being a bright silver. Unscrewing the needle assembly requires you to grip the knurled outer ring firmly, as there isn't much in the way of surface area. It would be as well not to over-tighten this part, as it could prove difficult to remove.

The trigger differs somewhat from the H&S brushes that I have tried, insofar as it is conical, much like the "pickle" button on a joystick, with built in ridges to prevent your finger slipping. It also has a neat little hook that latches it to the airbrush body, so you can't easily lose it unless you actively remove it.

The nozzle is similar to the H&S, but instead has a rubber seal rather than the Teflon seal of the H&S. It is again self-centring, and kept in place by the air nozzle, which screws on & off with light finger pressure. The air cap has a further needle guard that screws on or off, depending on your preference. Here was where I had my one issue with the brush, as the needle guard seems to accumulate paint quite quickly on my review sample, although it could have been my ham-fisted mixing of the paint that caused it. I ended up running the brush without it, which although it exposes the needle to potential damage, it meant that I didn't get any annoying splattering.

nozzles.jpg

The needle is a 0.3mm part, and you can get spares and different sized assemblies should you wish, but I have found that the 0.3mm has served me well, being capable of fine detail as well as covering relatively broad areas.

I have used the brush with Alclad, Xtracrylic, Lifecolor, Vallejo and Tamiya paints with no issues, although I do always add a drop of Winsor & Newton Galleria flow improver to acrylic paints when I spray them.

Clean-up is easy due to the breakdown of the brush, although the hooked trigger does take a little fiddling with to remove the first few times, and the H&S cleaning and reaming tools all work with the nozzles and paint pathway. No airbrush cleaner or thinner has marred the finish, and despite my rather lackadaisical cleaning routine I have not suffered unduly with clogging of the brush, except for my own fault of leaving dried paint in the brush overnight.

I won't bore you with the usual swirly patterns of other reviews, but suffice to say that it can produce fine lines with enough regularity to satisfy my needs, and was used almost exclusively in the completion of my recent F-16 pictured below.

finished3.jpg

Conclusion

An excellent airbrush that can be found quite reasonably on the 'net, for around £100, although the list price is around £155. As this includes a great many of the parts that are considered extras on a lot of airbrushes, it represents excellent value for money, and performance will not disappoint - I've thoroughly enjoyed using it.

Spare parts, if you should need them can be found here.

Review sample courtesy of Harder-Steenbeck_logo.gif

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Mike,

You forgot to mention that the trigger is not a traditional double action, it's a progressive double action similar to those used in the Iwata and grex Trigger brushes.

You only have to pull the trigger back & the airflow starts automatically, then as you pull back further the needle starts to move releasing the paint.

The finish is black chrome, but the brush is also available with the standard chrome finish.

I have sold a number of them to beginners and people that prefer the action to 'normal' double action brushes.

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I have one too, a silver one. It's a great piece of kit and frighteningly easy to use. Getting a spare set of seals is a good idea cos I lost one the second time I used it and couldn't understand why I was having all sorts of problems!

Tony :clif:

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Nice review Mike.

Dan

Cheers :)

Getting a spare set of seals is a good idea cos I lost one the second time I used it and couldn't understand why I was having all sorts of problems!

Been trying to lose my seal all the time I've been using it - it seems to have a life of its own. Seems resiliant enough to various thinners though, which is a good thing :)

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  • 1 year later...

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