Which airbrush?

[fuzzyturns]

Having seen numerous demos over the last few years where people use airbrushes for all sorts of decorations, I am getting closer to buying one myself. However, a quick look around the internet reveals that there is a huge variety out there, ranging from well under £20.00 to well over £200.
So far the only thing I am pretty clear on is that I will need a double-action airbrush, and probably gravity fed to get fine detail work done.
So my question here to the forum member is: what airbrushes do you use, and what's good or bad about them? What should I avoid? Should I go and have a training day with somebody? What are best paints to use? Any and all feedback will be highly welcome.

[GBF]

I have three airbrushes two are Iwata about £150  00 each and one from Axminster for about £30  00 I think it was.You can certainly tell the differance sugesting you gets what you pays for.The Iwata Airbrushes are certainly capable of much finer work than i am likely to ever want but it is nice to have good kit if you can afford it.
I had two days Tuition on Airbrushing and to be quite honest I have soon forgotten a lot of it I found it just too much for me to take in probably due to my age.As you know I am a great beleaver in tuition but I think airbrushing is something that would take a very long time to get just the basics therefor it would be very expensive.The paints I use are airbrush paints already thinned and ready to use there are lots on Ebay.Another alternative is spirit stains.Recently I went on a course with Martin Saban Smith and his Intrinsic Colours are waterbased and sprayable strait from the bottle.

Regards George

[Derek]

I run some of the cheaper ones around both gravity and the bottle types as well as single and double action. For larger areas I would use a bottle fed type preferably double action but for smaller and detailed work go for the gravity fed.
I did use mine on the Shards bowl I was still learning then as I still am now

If money was no object I certainly would go for what George has the Iwata brand

[Paul Hannaby]

If you are just doing basic blanket coverage and aren't worried about fine lines etc. the cheapest airbrush you can buy is just fine!

I use a siphon feed single action airbrush I bought around 15 years ago for £7.50 for applying spirit stains. I use that because I have a different bottle for each colour and I just switch bottles to change colours. You can buy the kits with a few siphon feed guns and a few bottles for not a lot of money.

If you want to use acrylic paints, the double action gravity feed types are probably better suited because you can just put a few drops of paint in the cup and spray. It's also easy to mix colours in the cup if needed. Choice of paints might dictate the type of gun. For the thinner paints such as Com Art and Golden etc. you can use a 0.2 - 0.3mm nozzle but some of the others like Createx need a 0.5mm nozzle or bigger.

Don't be fooled into thinking you need to buy an expensive airbrush unless you are doing very fine detail and even then, you may not need anything too fine if you are using masking techniques etc. The website below sells BD airbrushes of both gravity and siphon feed types. I have a BD and an Iwata and for the techniques I use with acrylics, either would do. The only significant difference between the ones I have is the nozzle diameter.

http://www.airbrush-paint.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d27.html

If you want to come to my workshop and try out the different guns, paints etc. let me know and we can arrange something.

[edbanger]

Hi Fuzzy

I spent a day with Nick Agar and soon went down the route of the cheap airbrush I brought a dozen like the ones in Paul's link. I use an airbrush for each colour bottle feed double action is a must. They are great for applying spirit stains and water based dyes without any detail.

Recently I went to a demo by Joey Richardson now her work is stunning and she uses interference paints and many other from Golden Artist Colors these are a different thing to the spirit stains and water based dyes that I'd been using and are not happy with the cheaper airbrushes. So after a lot of looking around I purchased a gravity fed Badger Xtreme Patriot 105 Gravity this was just over 100.00 quid. But it look's like there been a bit of a price jump on these airbrushes.

The reviews on this airbrush were great and I have to say I've not found anything that it can't do.

I still use the cheap set if I want to cover a large area with spirit stains or water based dyes as the bottles hold a lot more fluid.

But if you wanted to buy just one airbrush then a double action gravity fed airbrush is the way to go, and I would highly rate the Badger Xtreme Patriot 105, but I have not tried the other airbrushes in this price bracket.

[Bryan Milham]

Fuzzy,

not much to add to the above except I do have an airbrush and was having problems with it, trying to spray thinned acrylic paint.

I asked a friend who uses an airbrush regularly to have a look at it for me, seems I have a very narrow aperture and very fine needle, okay for some inks and stains but it will never spray paint.

So think about what you want to spray as much as anything else.

[fuzzyturns]

Thank you all for the info, this is very helpful. So it looks like I actually need three things:

• A spraygun for finishing of large(ish) items with lacquer or varnish
• One or more lowcost airbrushes for background colours
• One decent airbrush for fine detail work, ideally with changeable nozzle

[Lazurus]

Iwata Kustom CS for me, has a small feed cup which is great in saving paint, and a second cheaper brush for larger areas with bigger cup and selection of needles and tips. I think the advice for a interchangeable bottle or brush for every colour is good, but it does mean more cleaning afterwards. Ensure your air supply is well filtered if you are not using a dedicated airbrush compressor as water in the lines will ruin your finish.

[fuzzyturns]

I've got a Airmaster compressor with a 25 litre tank (was a freebee from an acquaintance). This already has a filter and pressure reducer unit on it. I was thinking of putting a compressed air network into the workshop (for air tools) and then have another filter and reducer unit at the place where the airbrushing will take place.

[GBF]

I use the small Axminster airbrush compresser I have fitted it with an extra filter/water separator and pressure gauge.
It is nice to be able to move it to wherever i want to work

Regards George