First airbrush - What is important?

[LAV25]

I'm thinking of getting an airbrush, but I'm a little lost on what I need to look for. I've got no experience with using one, and the variety of options out there is a little baffling. I'll be using this to paint 1:25 scale plastic models and the occasional 1:10 scale RC body.

The key things I know I don't understand are:

1. Single or double action: Why is double action better, is it important for a newbie?
2. Gravity feed or pressure feed (gravity seems to be more expensive)
3. Compressors and regulators: How important is it to be able to vary the air pressure
4. Trigger or button type: pros and cons

Finally, I live in a fairly small apartment. The paint booth/boxes are crazy expensive. How much of a Dexter kill room would I need to make (spreading newspapers everywhere or whatever), and would it be safe just to paint with a couple windows open? I know that my dad used to airbrush on occasion in our basement, but the concrete floors didn't mind overspray, and it was the seventies, before anything was dangerous

Thanks for any help you can give me.

-val

[CrawlinClodKiller]

Look through here: http://theairbrushforum.com/oldindex.php
Lots of good knowledgible people there.

[MonkeyRiver]

Thanks for the link. I have a little plastic badger sprayer I need to graduate from.

To the OP: regarding smell/fumes, there are waterbased acrylic hobby paints that have much less odor than when spraying oil based paints.

[CrawlinClodKiller]

Oh yeah deffinately use water based. Also on that site I linked there is a how to build a paint booth somewhere. It is cool and would work great for rc stuff.

[LAV25]

Thanks for the link, that looks like a great resource. Now I just have to wait for my membership to take effect! And water based paints are one of the reasons I want to switch to airbrushing, so that is definitely on the list.

-val

[vonclod]

with a double action brush you can controll the amount of paint on the fly, just more control and you need it if your doing graphics or airbrush artwork type stuff, but not good to shoot heavier metalflake ..but if your doing simpler stuff your ok with a single action..for most stuff i like the good okd single action for ease of cleaning which is not so big a deal when useing water based paints. i use pasche airbrushes they are a decent brush

[Rootar]

Pick up an Iwata HP CS and start shooting. Its an EXCELLENT gun, never any trouble, easy to learn with, and itll do everything youd ever need for this hobby.

[R&E_Racing]

X2 you can not go wrong with any Iwata A/B.

Thats is all i use.