Infinity 2-in-1 Airbrush, Harder & Steenbeck Options

[Mike]

Infinity 2-in-1 Airbrush
Harder & Steenbeck, Germany

The packaging of this airbrush sets the stage for the product within. A simple, brushed aluminium finished metal box with a clear lid giving a view of the brush and accessories nestling in a flock-finished black liner.

The box contains the airbrush resplendent in chrome and anodised terracotta with gold anodised accents, a larger 5ml cup to supplant the attached 2ml cup, a spare 0.4mm needle, paint nozzle and air nozzle, plus a small bag inside the 5ml cup containing the needle protector cap, distance cap and the small metal bar used to remove the rear of the brush for maintenance.

The brush itself exudes quality and has a lovely dense feel to it, while weighing next to nothing. Etched into the left side of the body of the brush is the word Infinity in brackets, while on the right side you'll find the manufacturer's name, model number and place of manufacture - Germany. This detail is robust, and is still perfectly legible on the 3 year old brush that I still use today.

The interchangeable color cups for this true gravity fed airbrush are on the top of the body, at the bottom of which you can see the needle passing through on its way to the nozzle. This makes for a very short paint path, which eases cleaning no end. A replaceable rubber seal is housed inside the screw threaded recess into which the color cups screw, and as well as those provided, you can obtain a 15ml cup, and a tiny little insert that basically covers up the thread, for those tiny paint jobs in confined spaces.

I can confirm that although it seems likely that paint will clog the thread of this area, in practice it does not, as the fit is so snug that unless you remove the cup while still full of paint, nothing seeps through. It would have been nice if H&S could have included lids for both cups though, but they aren't particularly expensive to source yourself if you're a flamboyant airbrusher like me, and therefore prone to sloshing the paint out of the cup.

The trigger is of the traditional top mounted variety, actuating the air by downward pressure of your index finger, and drawing the needle back by moving the tip of your finger towards the rear of the brush. The needle is returned to closed by the pressure of a spring inside the body, the tension of which can be altered by turning a knurled set-screw on the inner of the rear of the brush, which is made accessible by two cut-outs on the sides that allow you to adjust return tension and loosen the needle without disassembly.

Below the trigger is the air valve, which terminates in a standard male quick-disconnect fitting. H&S have a 2m braided hose with QD female fitting and a MAC (Micro-air-controller) valve built in, which mates with this part, allowing you to swap brushes if you have a few, or clean the body without having the hose pulling it off the bench every time you let go. The QD fitting unscrews, as does the air valve assembly for cleaning or maintenance if the need arises.

Between the chrome and terracotta front and rear assemblies is an attractively gold plated perforated ring, which is the visible part of the tension adjustment housing, with the holes acting as receptacle for the provided bar to unscrew this element. A rubber seal prevents over-tightening of the anodised rear of the brush, which unscrews in the usual manner for disassembly.

At the absolute rear of the airbrush is the Quick Fix button, which allows you to set the maximum travel of the needle, enabling you to select the same width and density of spray pattern again and again by turning the gold anodised set-screw and depressing the chrome button. With that dialled in, you cannot over-open the paint nozzle until you un-set it by pulling backwards on the gold set-screw. It's an ingenious device, and incredibly useful if you're doing consistent fine lines like a squiggle pattern, or mottle on the sides of a WWII German aircraft or fighting vehicle.

Disassembly is a breeze, and soon becomes second nature. The whole process involves only the supplied metal bar unless you want to remove the rear needle seal, which will require either a small screw driver, or for extra precision the H&S removal tool, which also holds the Teflon seal in place.

The air nozzle unscrews with finger pressure, and reveals the self-centring paint nozzle inside, which pulls clear of the assembly with ease. It is around 13mm long, so much harder to lose than Iwata nozzles, and you can purchase a separate reaming kit for the nozzle which includes a rather sharp metal reaming tool with screw on metal cap and a double ended brush that is shaped to fit all the possible paint paths of your airbrush - well worth obtaining to keep your brush in good working order.

My disassembly and cleaning routine is as follows:

• Remove the handle of the airbrush
• Twist and remove the air and paint nozzles and set aside for cleaning
• Loosen the needle and remove from the front, ensuring no paint is drawn into the rear of the brush
• Remove the trigger - this just lifts out when the needle is removed
• Unscrew the trigger tension mechanism using the supplied bar, being careful not to ping the internals and spring off into the distance
• Run thinners through the body, using any small brushes or interdental brushes on sticks that you have to hand
• Ream out the paint nozzle carefully

Reassembly is just as simple, and can be achieved in around a minute given a little practice.

Of course you have to be careful not to bend the needle, or damage the air nozzle, but other than those necessarily delicate parts, the rest of the parts are robust, and the fit commendable.

Spares for the seals and rubber o-rings are relatively inexpensive, as is the needle should you bend it like I sometimes do. You can purchase packs of 3 of each type of seal, so I usually have a bag of each in stock so that I'm not held up by any seals needing changing.

The brush works beautifully with acrylics from Lifecolor, Xtracrylix, Vallejo, Tamiya and Alclad lacquers, but when using most cellulose thinners, a little swelling of the Teflon seals will result from the Xylene that seems to be creeping into most brands. This is only a temporary effect, and leaving the brush disassembled to dry will soon have your seals back to normal. It's a shame that pure thinners is becoming harder to find these days, as it affects the majority of airbrush seals to a greater or lesser extent. Happily, the H&S seals are at the less affected end of the spectrum.

Conclusion
The H&S Infinity 2-in-1 is a beautifully machined, fine quality tool, and worthy of anyone's attention when considering a new airbrush. The price is commensurate with the quality of course, but I find that the "buy cheap buy twice" maxim holds true as much in our hobby as it does elsewhere. Couple this brush with a quality compressor, a good supply of consumable spares and keep it well maintained, and it will give you years of sterling service.

You might think that this brush would be aimed at the skilled or professional modeller, but I would disagree. It is easy to operate, flattering to your skills, easy to strip and clean, and would suit anyone from a beginner to a master.

Having owned one of these brushes now for 3 years, I can say without doubt that the quality of manufacture has not dropped in the interim, and that apart from my own clumsiness, the original brush has not given me one iota of trouble. Replace the seals at the first sign of air or paint leakage, remember the caveats about cellulose thinners, and you will have trouble free, precise and enjoyable airbrushing fun for an awfully long time.

You can view the instruction manual online here.

Review sample courtesy of Harder & Steenbeck.