What Airbrush to Buy?

[Redharris]

Im looking to buy a second airbrush for painting Bodies.

I already have one of the Better Harbor freight Airbrushes.
It is a Siphon Airbrush and before ya'll Poo Poo it, It has served me well for painting my Race bodies through the years. I use it at work too, for some Industrial stuff.

I am not a Fancy Painter, but I would like to improve my skills. Learn some Flame work and some Skulls. That sort of thing.

I have found my siphon Brush is good for Big flat areas, but is hard to get into Tight spaces sometimes, and I have to up the pressure sometimes to get a consistent spray. I am hoping that a Gravity fed Brush will help me improve my technique and be a bit more forgiving and consistent at lower pressures?
Also, it would be nice to have a second brush for convenience.

Any Advice as to what to buy. Remember, Im not pretending to be a pro or anything, so I dont need top of the line.....

This is the only car I have left that I actually painted. Cant Quite bring myself to sell my old Factory Team SC10

[DrIsotope]

All comes down to your budget. I've have Badger, Paasche, cheap Model Masters, you name it. The only thing that currently gets used is the 20V MakerX airbrush from Worx, which my wife surprised me with, and it's honestly really nice. It's a basic gravity-feed DA brush, but the "power source" just makes the thing super convenient. No air lines, no vapor traps, no standalone compressors. The compressor is a tiny guy that attaches directly to the bottom of the brush, and it runs off of 20V batteries via a power cable. Probably about a hundred bucks all in including batteries and the "MakeX hub." You can also get a rotary tool that runs off of the same hub-- I have no experience with the rotary, but hey, could be two birds. If you buy the airbrush at a big box home improvement store (like Lowes) you open the box and there's two airbrushes in it-- I guess one is "food safe." I use one for water-based and one for oil-based. Now that's luxury.

[Pariah Zero]

It's hard to gauge what your problem actually is. It may well be your issue has absolutely nothing to do with your brush. Simply being a "siphon" brush isn't terribly descriptive, unfortunately.

There are hella nice siphon brushes, and the whole siphon vs gravity cup thing is better described as a style / preference thing. Whatevs floats your boat.

In the hands of a talented airbrush artist, a $20 Harbor Freight brush can do a lot better work than I can do! They certainly won't last very long in a pro shop, mind you.

When properly reduced, siphon vs gravity isn't relevant - the siphon itself uses almost no air pressure. (For an example of a low PSI airbrush: human lungs produce 1-2 PSI) My wife nearly murdered me for teaching it to my six year old son with soda straws. Not my brightest moment, in retrospect.

Anyway, if you're interested in a gravity feed airbrush, there are two modes of thought: Try to buy cheap and grow into it, or buy expensive and know it ain't the airbrush's fault. (FWIW, I got a $300 airbrush a decade ago, so I went the expensive route. Worked for me, but I needed a little help to blame "me", and not the Aztek airbrush I started with) On another note: Don't bother with an Aztek from anywhere! Aztek nozzles are consumables - like a razor blade. Testors decided to stop making nozzles a couple years ago, so they're all basically trash now.

Coast Airbrush is my favorite online shop to check out airbrushes; I'd suggest an Iwata - they're generally considered the standard that everybody else is trying to match. Iwata has a value line, the Iwata Neo which is about $60 for the gravity feed, and $70 for the siphon feed. You might also need hose & fittings, depending on where you're at.

Also - I'd really recommend both the Red and Grey scotch brite pro pads (fine / ultra fine). They're perfect to scuff bodies to get better paint adhesion. Much finer than a regular green or blue scotch brite pad you'd get from the grocery store.

There are also decent hobby brushes by Badger, and Paasche.

I also like the Createx line of airbrush paints (which work on both 1:1 autos and Polycarbonate R/C bodies) - but that's a whole different kettle 'o fish - if you want to go that route, make sure you read the TDS and Application guides (Autobody grade paints are not as simple as "load airbrush and spray")

You may also be interested in paintwithpearl.com: They sell pearl flake at really good prices. Often they'll sell enough pearl to mix a gallon of paint for $13-30. You mix the pearl flake with clear, spray the clear/pearl, and then paint a base coat on top of that (well, at least on polycarbonate, where everything's backwards). Just don't spray too much pearl, or you'll lose the effect! (in other words, it takes testing & trial & error to figure out how to do it). I'm personally fond of ghost pearls.

[smog]

I would not consider myself an expert on airbrushes. I have been airbrushing RC bodies for a few years and am still learning. I started with an Iwata Neo and currently use the Iwata Eclipse. I had issues with the Neo clogging and found it challenging to keep clean. My experience with the Eclipse has been more easy going. In fact I have not touched the Neo since picking up the Eclipse. It feels like a significant upgrade to me and the issues I had with the Neo I no longer experience.

While it is my understanding the design of the Neo makes it more susceptible to clogging, I can also appreciate that I bought it as a novice and have come to have a much more appreciative relationship with the tool over the years.

[Pariah Zero]

Originally Posted by smog

While it is my understanding the design of the Neo makes it more susceptible to clogging, I can also appreciate that I bought it as a novice and have come to have a much more appreciative relationship with the tool over the years.

My experience is somewhat similar - After getting my Kustom Eclipse CS, I found that yes, it performed better than the Aztek I had been using -- but that my airbrushing skills just weren't there to begin with.

After developing the skills, the Aztek wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered - it didn't clog nearly as much, it flowed better, atomized better, etc. The key was (for me) that buying the expensive airbrush gave me no excuse to blame the airbrush anymore. (Yes, I know "poor is the workman that blames his tool..." well, when starting airbrushing, there's a lot of things that can go wrong, so being able to eliminate several at once was very helpful).

[Boomer75]

I have a Paasche Talon, it is my only brush and have had it for a few years. I am not an expert but I have used it for a bunch of different applications and it worked well in every situation. Any issues were my fault, like not thining properly etc. My only complaint is that Paasche threads are different and I have had to find adapters for hoses which is a pain.

The price was good and the parts are easy to find and I would buy it again assuming it is still made in USA.

[smog]

Originally Posted by Pariah Zero

The key was (for me) that buying the expensive airbrush gave me no excuse to blame the airbrush anymore. (Yes, I know "poor is the workman that blames his tool..." well, when starting airbrushing, there's a lot of things that can go wrong, so being able to eliminate several at once was very helpful).

I would agree.

[Olle P]

I'm on my third airbrush now...

The first was a $10 no-name single action siphon. Got the paint applied properly, provided I had a sufficient amount of paint in the can and cleaned the airbrush between each layer of paint applied. So 30 seconds spraying, five minutes cleaning. Rinse and repeat dozens of times to finish the job.
That was way too tedious, so I spent some more money on...

The second was a $25 no-name double action gravity feed. Worked like a charm! I've used it for R/C car bodies as well as painting wargame minis. Didn't need that frequent cleaning, but was a bit tricky to re-assemble after having removed the needle.
Something went wrong with it a year ago though. I haven't figured out what, it just wouldn't work (at all).

Current airbrush is a Harder & Steenbeck Evoultion Silverline which is more like $130. Bought it with two needles so that I can (also) cover large areas faster.

Keeping the airbrush clean and having a good source of compressed air is probably more important than the model of airbrush used. The model is more influential on how often you need to clean it and how easy it is to clean.

[pmack99]

I also have the Iwata Neo gravity fed, and I've been using it for a bit over a year now mainly for model car painting, but I've done a couple RC bodies as well, and for the price I can't complain. Next up is my motorcycle helmet and then my line of Chevy C10/K10/K5/Suburban bodies for my various RCs.

[Stomp]

Old thread but I have a single action Paashe H siphon feed, a double action Paashe VL siphon fed, and a double action Badger 105, and Badger Arrow 105 which are both gravity fed.

I like the Badger 105 the best. It is all toolless as well which is nice.

[Thorsteenster]

I've never bought one or airbrushed but have always wanted to get an Iwata HP-SBS I think the specific model was
A number of folk I talked to that have & use Iwata air brushes swear by em.