Returning to the hobby - looking for airbrush advice :)

[themcgarvie]

Used to build and paint scale models & games workshop stuff many years ago.

Father-in-law (damn him!) has gotten me back into it, so far just built 3 or 4 cheap and simple kits to get back into it.

Next project is a 1/32 Tamiya King Tiger, but I know I'll struggle to do it justice with a brush.

So looking for airbrush ideas, no huge budget around the £100 mark.

[Rabbit Leader]

Personally I’d start with something much cheaper than that. In equivalent money terms, I use a 15 pound airbrush and have achieved fairly good results with this unit for years.
 

If you are new to airbrushing the saying ‘practice makes perfect’ is so very true. It’s a technique that takes a while to get used to, however once your senses know what sounds, feels and looks right - you’re well and truly on your way there. 
 

Put your money towards buying good quality paint and very good quality thinner. 
 

Cheers and good luck.. Dave. 

[themcgarvie]

Yeah, every time I start my search for airbrushes they seem to be £100+, anything less than that looks like its just a nozzle and nothing to power it...

[Rabbit Leader]

Oh, yes… you’ll need a compressor to push the air out, so apologies if you were thinking of an overall package budget rather than spending all that money on the airbrush itself! 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Ray_W]

I would advise that irrespective of what brand or price range you choose, do ensure you get a gravity feed dual-action airbrush. It is not that difficult to get the knack of it. 

 

This is an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS. Which I love and have had for many years of trouble free service. It may be outside your budget. There are cheaper copies. Some Chinese suppliers bundle compressor, hose and a copy airbrush. I show the image just to reinforce the style of airbrush to hunt for. Note overhead gravity cup and dual-action trigger being push the trigger down for air and pull back for paint. The nozzle size here is 0.35 mm. A good all-rounder for coverage. More complicated painting such as free hand camouflage demarcation and mottling is well within its capability with a little practice. 

 

 

Ray 

[roginoz]

Echo the above from @Ray_W !

 

This is also my weapon of choice and I've got [thusfar] 12 years of reliable and trouble free use out of it.

Tried others, still prefer my Iwata.

Rog

[theplasticsurgeon]

Adding to what's already been said about learning the craft with a less expensive airbrush.

This is a nail-technician airbrush, that I bought for £5 in 2011.  Dual action - so great for learning.

Guaranteed 2 years - I was sceptical about that, but it lasted until I dropped it in 2020. 

There are no spares in this sector of the market, but at that price my attitude was "just buy another".

Used on all my models between those dates,  it also taught me the value of a thorough cleaning regime. 

 

[malpaso]

I bought a compressor and airbrush set from a nail art supplier for well under £70; significantly cheaper than anyone aiming at modelers.

Airbrush was perfectly useable and showed I liked airbrushing over 2 years or so, a birthday brought a “better” airbrush.

 

The compressor is fine (AS186 clone) 6 years on, the original airbrush has been passed to my daughter and still works; the benefit of the fancy airbrush is spares availability, much easier to clean and maybe more comfortable ((though this can be down to getting used to whichever tool used).

 

I can’t honestly say the paint jobs between the budget and fancy airbrush are any different; practice and paint thinning are way, way more important!

[ckw]

17 minutes ago, malpaso said:

I bought a compressor and airbrush set from a nail art supplier for well under £70; significantly cheaper than anyone aiming at modelers.

Airbrush was perfectly useable and showed I liked airbrushing over 2 years or so, a birthday brought a “better” airbrush.

 

The compressor is fine (AS186 clone) 6 years on, the original airbrush has been passed to my daughter and still works; the benefit of the fancy airbrush is spares availability, much easier to clean and maybe more comfortable ((though this can be down to getting used to whichever tool used).

Very similar story to mine. However, I got 2 airbrushes with the compressor. One of these failed quickly (seals disintegrated when using cellulose thinner to clean) while the other still works fine. So I guess the bottom line is that there are some good compressor & airbrush deals available, but you may find you'll need to replace the airbrush in a short time. On the plus side, having gained some experience you will have a better idea of what sort of airbrush you want as a longer term investment

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[cngaero]

Have a look at Bart Sharp. About 18 months ago, I picked up a Bart Sharp 186 dual action airbrush complete with three different size colour cups and a twin cylinder compressor with a 3.5 litre air tank.

The whole lot cost me just over £120 at the time. They may have risen in price recently, but they are definitely worth a look.

I think the airbrush was in the region of £30 at the time. Granted it isn't  state of the art  like an Iwata or a Harder and Steenbeck, but it doesn't match their prices either.

In the time I've had it, it's worked like a deam. Easy to use and easy to clean and it's been very reliable.

They are really nice people too and very helpful.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Chris.

 

[ModelMonkey]

I had one of these for my first few years: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/000511320/

 

plus their cheap Clarke compressor. No air tank but it worked perfectly well.

[Watto]

Practice and learn from your mistakes is my advice, no matter what airbrush you decide on. Good quality paint and thinners make a big difference and using them and learning what works for you is very rewarding.

 

I hope you have success with your new weapon....

 

Watto 

[sardaukar]

I bought a fengda compressor and air brush set for around £110 from Amazon when I started 2 years back.https://amzn.eu/d/ca0kFzq cheaper now.

 

Fengda airbrushes aren't bad to start on although I've updated since and have the iwata mentioned above. The Fengda compressor however continues to do good work.

[kiseca]

On 11/22/2022 at 11:53 AM, ckw said:

Very similar story to mine. However, I got 2 airbrushes with the compressor. One of these failed quickly (seals disintegrated when using cellulose thinner to clean) while the other still works fine. So I guess the bottom line is that there are some good compressor & airbrush deals available, but you may find you'll need to replace the airbrush in a short time. On the plus side, having gained some experience you will have a better idea of what sort of airbrush you want as a longer term investment

 

Cheers

 

Colin

My budget experience was the other way around. The airbrush did need new seals but is still working fine, but the compressor, a simple box type unit, not an AS186 clone, gave up the ghost within a year. The replacement compressor is an AS186 style unit with an air tank, and that has transformed the capability of my setup especially for fine detail. I've also treated myself to an Iwata airbrush and that too is a clear step above what I had, not in the quality of the paintjob it can deliver when new, but in the quality of the brush, the way parts fit together, the trigger feel, the availability of spare parts if ever needed (none yet, the seals are much more durable), the guarantee and ability to claim against it (haven't needed to but the brand of my budget airbrush has long since vanished from the internet). It's a bit nicer to use, feels like it's worth three times as much - which is more or less what it cost.

 

I had a successful introduction to airbrushing using a budget all-in-one Amazon deal which gave me compressor, airbrush, hose and some cleaning utensils all in one, but here's the thing. I wasn't trying airbrushing out. If I wanted to achieve the quality of paintjob I was after, I had no choice but to master airbrushing. I was never going to get there with a hairy brush and rattlecans have their own limitations. So I'd start by asking yourself that. Is airbrushing something you want to just try out and see if it's for you, or is it a piece of equipment that is something you really just need to have to get the result you want? If it's the latter, like it was for me, and I could go back and advise my former self when I was in the position you are right now, I'd tell me to skip the budget step, up my budget (probably to about £150 - £200) even if it meant waiting longer, and get a good quality compressor either with a tank or a very good quality one without, and a recognised name airbrush.

 

Problem with budget kit is you don't know how much difficulty and problems are coming from you learning, and how much are coming from the kit. It's like learning to play guitar on a cheap budget instrument. If the action is bad, if the intonation is bad, if the neck isn't quite perfect, and you're a beginner guitarist, you don't know that the reason the bloody thing is so hard to tune, sounds so thin and tinny, and is so hard to play chords without choking the string is the guitar, not the player.  Good kit means you trust it and it's all down to you to get the result you want.

[dnl42]

11 minutes ago, kiseca said:

...

So I'd start by asking yourself that. Is airbrushing something you want to just try out and see if it's for you, or is it a piece of equipment that is something you really just need to have to get the result you want? If it's the latter, like it was for me, and I could go back and advise my former self when I was in the position you are right now, I'd tell me to skip the budget step, up my budget (probably to about £150 - £200) even if it meant waiting longer, and get a good quality compressor either with a tank or a very good quality one without, and a recognised name airbrush.

 

Problem with budget kit is you don't know how much difficulty and problems are coming from you learning, and how much are coming from the kit. It's like learning to play guitar on a cheap budget instrument. If the action is bad, if the intonation is bad, if the neck isn't quite perfect, and you're a beginner guitarist, you don't know that the reason the bloody thing is so hard to tune, sounds so thin and tinny, and is so hard to play chords without choking the string is the guitar, not the player.  Good kit means you trust it and it's all down to you to get the result you want.

I very much agree with this. An expert can get outstanding results with nearly any tool quality. When you're starting out, you need to focus on your techniques; knowing it's you, not the tool, helps quite a bit.

 

Decide you are going to learn to use an airbrush, and then learn to use the airbrush. Probably on a cheaper kit, too. The primary goal with the cheaper kit is to learn airbrushing. Start with cardboard, wood, and plastic bits you find around the home. Once you feel comfortable on simple surface, a model has far more complex geometries to deal with. The most important lessons I learned are to thin the paint, paint close in (5mm to 45mm), and make sure the paint is (slightly) wet when it hits the surface.

 

 

[kiseca]

Another thing is, while it's a higher budget to find to get good quality equipment with a recognised brand, if you do indeed then decide you just don't like airbrushing, it will be rather easier to move on an Iwata, H&S or Badger airbrush and a decent compressor for a fair chunk of what you paid for it than would be the case with a no-name-brand budget setup, with which you may well just have to write off the £60ish that you spent on it.

 

In fact, it may be worth looking for just such a deal to get good quality, durable, used equipment for somewhat closer to your current budget.

[Keeff]

As I returned to the hobby, I purchased a GOHEIPER airbrush that comes with a small compressor from Amazon for the princely sum of £50. 

It came with three needles/nozzles, cleaning kit a few other bits all in a protective case. 

 

I've never used one before, and for the cost, I'm getting some fairly good results with it.... well, that's what I think!! 

 

Keith

 

[kiseca]

2 hours ago, Keeff said:

As I returned to the hobby, I purchased a GOHEIPER airbrush that comes with a small compressor from Amazon for the princely sum of £50. 

It came with three needles/nozzles, cleaning kit a few other bits all in a protective case. 

 

I've never used one before, and for the cost, I'm getting some fairly good results with it.... well, that's what I think!! 

 

Keith

 

Sounds like the same thing I got. 3 needles / nozzles, small compressor, cleaning kit and case. Just different but equally random brand name (Gocheer in my case). I think I paid about £60 on Amazon.

 

The airbrush is still going strong. The compressor, a small square box, lasted a bit under a year before something on the piston had disintigrated enough that a) it had no compression and b) when I opened the cylinder the failed component was, literally, FUBAR. I do really mean it was Beyond All Recognition. From what wes left, I couldn't tell what it would have been when intact and had no idea what I might have needed to buy to replace it. Apparently it was helping seal the cylinder but there weren't any obvious missing "rings" nor any sign it had once been attached to the top of the piston. Or anywhere else.

[Mark Cassidy]

Hope you got an airbrush sorted but in case you didn't ill share my thoughts. I started out during lockdown with a nail spraying compressor and a 25 quid kk moon airbrush, that was ok it let me experiment with airbrushes for about 40 quid. Did I get the best results no , did I learn a lot with I sure did, I learned what I can soak cheap rubbler seals in to clean them and what I can't. I learned how mot to bend needles lol  in 201 I bought a Chinese compressor with a 3ltr tank fenghdu 186 I belive that was 70 quid and a h&s uktra with. 2mm needle. It was a huge jump for me and so much better. That combo is a wee bit above your budget so my advice is take the 100 quid deal with a cheap Chinese airbrush and compressor they are on amazon I think at  103 quid , learn from it , u will get reasonable results and then when your budget allows upgrade your airbrush to something better.

 

 

Hope this helps and please  let us all know what u went for

 

Mark

[daront]

Also now loking at getting into airbrushing. Have been looking at the compressor and brush packages on Amazon. Looking at either the Timbertech or a feng set up, both approx £75-£100. Going cheap first to see what results i get and for learning. 

Next question is spray booths? Do people use them, do you have an extractor with them? Home made or shop brought?