Airbrushes

[Lonsdaler]

Bartsharp. https://www.bartsharpairbrush.co.uk/?do ... 2675781250
This company provide a wealth of airbrush equipment as well as many pages of advice. Somewhat against the perceived wisdom, they actually suggest novices shouldn't immediately purchase a top of the range airbrush. It's well worth a read
I'm only a satisfied customer and have no other connection with them. Their spraybooth is brilliant.

[FWLR]

Well there is some very good advice from Trevor here and I agree with him that airbrushing is far more controllable and very cost effect. I started with the cheap Chinese airbrushes and while they did do a semi decent job, they did have there limitations and are a pain to clean. Yes it's a learning curve and it does get better with practice, like most thing we do in life isn't it really.

I now have a GSI Creos Mr.Hobby PS289 Procon Boy WA Double Action Platinum 0.3 which is just has good as the Iwata Hi-Line HP-CH Airbrush, but a lot cheaper and possibly better. I did own the Iwata at one time a long time ago and for me there was not a lot of difference in the operation of the Iwata to the Procon. You can get just about every type and price range and my advice would be, do your research and get what you like the look of, with ever one you get, practice, practice and more practice is what I would advise. you will soon get the hang of them, but for me both the Procon and the Iwata give you more control, they are others with the same system, but they are ones I trust.


https://www.everythingairbrush.com/prod ... -3mm/https:/

/www.plazajapan.com/4973028835014/

[FWLR]

By the way the Procon is Japanese.....

[GTB]

I've been occupied with re-arranging my workshop and installing a new lathe. The new lathe has been commissioned and I'm back to normal modelling again.


Something that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that if you mix your own colours and use paint types/brands that don't come in spray cans, you either stick with a traditional paint brush, or use an airbrush. There used to be a DIY device called a Preval that was basically a glass jar screwed on the bottom of a spray can, that you filled with your desired paint colour/type. I've never used one and not even sure if they are still around. I have physical difficulty operating spray cans anyway........

Also note that air brushes come with different size tips. Contrary to popular opinion, the tip size is related to the viscosity of the liquid to be sprayed, not so much the minimum width of the thinnest line it will spray. I use enamel paints, so the tip on my Badger airbrushes are a medium tip, equivalent to the 0.5mm tip on other brands. Airbrushes were originally designed for artists and the fine tips are for use with thin liquids like inks, dyes, watercolours, etc. The larger tips are for thick materials like varnishes, etc. This is in the Badger instruction manuals.......

My airbrush saga follows.........

Adventures with an airbrush.

I bought my first 'airbrush' about 50 years ago soon after graduating and starting paid employment. It was a Badger model 250, which cost me about A$12.50 as I recall. I use the term airbrush advisedly and I note that Badger now label them as a spray gun. A 250 is only one step up the technology ladder from an aerosol can. The results are about what you get from a spray can, but there is some control over the amount of paint being sprayed. I used mine for a couple of years, using propellant cans as the air source.

After a couple of years I replaced the model 250 with a Badger model 200 with a medium tip which is a single action internal mix airbrush. For a while I continued to use propellant cans until I saved up the then eye watering cost of a Badger compressor. That model 200 and the compressor stayed in use for the next 35+ years and they have painted something like 500+ HO railway models, a couple of static display model ships and even touched up the odd car part. By that time it was like Grandpa's axe, with various working parts having been replaced at least once.

At the time I bought it, the model 200 only came in a bottom feed version with a 22 ml glass jar for the paint. I fairly quickly replaced the jar with a 7 ml paint cup, which was easier to clean, but there were still areas that were difficult to get at in both the paint cup and the airbrush. Although it was cleaned between colour changes and after each painting session, I still found it necessary to strip it down and give all the parts that came in contact with paint a few minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner every couple of months. It was amazing how much crud came out of the paint cup and the body of the brush as the ultrasonic cleaner did it's job.


Just before I retired I bought a new Badger model 200G, which had a medium tip, gravity feed and a 2ml paint cup. This gave the same results as the original model 200, but was much easier to clean and the cup size was adequate for HO models. Then I retired and made the decision to change my modelling activities to working in large scale, specifically Fn3. The first model I painted required constant refilling of the small paint cup, which rapidly became a pain in the rear......


I then made an ill considered decision to buy a chinese made airbrush. Not a cheap special from the local speed shop, but a good quality one. I was able to closely inspect a sample and to try it out on the dealers exhibition stand and all seemed OK, so I bought one. It came with several different size paint cups and different size tips. The dealer also stocked maintenance spares, which is unusual for a lot of chinese made goods.

It worked fine when tried on a model at home and continued to work for about a year painting large scale trains, but then the performance deteriorated. After a good clean it would spray about 1 ml of paint and then paint would start to build up on the tip and it would all grind to a halt. Various parts, mostly o-rings, were replaced, but it still tended to block easily. The compressor was starting it's terminal decline around this time, which may have contributed.


I spat the dummy at this point and found a local supplier who had a Badger model 100LG with a medium tip in stock. This is a gravity feed type with an integral 11ml paint cup, so it easy to clean and it doesn't have to be refilled during a painting session anywhere near as often as the small cup on the model 200G.

The model 100LG has now been in use for the last 10 years with no issues with the airbrush. I've also kept the model 200G in use, as it will work with only 2 or 3 drops of paint in the cup for touching up small areas. The model 100 and 200 airbrushes share many of the same spare parts, so I don't need to keep as many in stock.

I don't foresee replacing either the Badger 100LG, or the 200G, as both do what I want them to do and will outlast me, unless Badger go belly up and the supply of spares dries up.


Coping with compressors

It didn't take me long to work out that propellant cans weren't going to be a good idea in the long run. A compressor was the desirable option, but 50 odd years ago they were expensive.

I found a cheap little piston compressor in the local Big W about the time I bought the Badger 200. It lasted a couple of years before it shook itself apart and by then I had the money to buy something better.

Something better was a Badger diaphragm compressor which put out about 1cfm in free air and could supply enough air at 35 psi to run the model 200 airbrush. It was noisy and tended to to vibrate across the bench unless restrained but it could run continuously for long painting sessions without strain. It still can, it is now over 40 years old, but it still runs and I now use it in the workshop for running in a new steam loco chassis.

When I bought the chinese airbrush I also lashed out on a new compressor with a storage tank that would only run as needed, rather than continuously like the old Badger compressor.

Big mistake. This compressor could supply just enough air for the chinese airbrush, but it wasn't really up to supplying a Badger airbrush. Turned out it could only generate about 2/3 the air flow that the old Badger unit could. Also, the design wasn't all that flash as the piston seal wore out rapidly and after about 2 years the air flow started to drop. The supplier couldn't get new seals, but tried his best and sent me the seal out of a used compressor he was stripping for parts. It was already part worn and the Badger 100LG killed it off in short order.

By coincidence an advertising brochure from one of the local speed shops dropped into the letterbox and they had a small workshop compressor on special, at about half what I paid for the compressor that had just died. It was a 1HP direct drive diaphragm compressor with an 8 litre tank and an output of 40lpm in free air. It is noisy enough to wake the dead when running, but it supplies enough air that it can fill the tank and run an airbrush at the same time, so the duty cycle is low. It doesn't run hot even during a long painting session and has given no problems since purchase 10 years ago. It may well outlast me.


The following links may be useful for anyone considering purchasing an airbrush.

This site comprises comparative reviews of many commonly available airbrushes. The second link is to a specific useful page.
https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/
https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbr ... t-airbrush

The second link is to a doc on the Badger site, but much of the information is relevant to other brands, if you can work out which are the equivalent to the Badger models.
https://www.badgerairbrush.com/PDF/Ulti ... 1final.pdf


Regards,
Graeme

[philipy]

At the time I bought it, the model 200 only came in a bottom feed version with a 22 ml glass jar for the paint. I fairly quickly replaced the jar with a 7 ml paint cup, which was easier to clean, but there were still areas that were difficult to get at in both the paint cup and the airbrush. Although it was cleaned between colour changes and after each painting session, I still found it necessary to strip it down and give all the parts that came in contact with paint a few minutes in an ultrasonic cleaner every couple of months. It was amazing how much crud came out of the paint cup and the body of the brush as the ultrasonic cleaner did it's job.

I started with a cheap airbrush of un-remembered origin, but in the late'70's replaced it with a Badger200, with bottom feed glass jar. At about the same time I splashed out on a Microflame Model 201 compressor which was advertised as being ideal for the Badger 200 amongst others. As I recall it cost a bit over £50 in about 1978/9 and at the time it was a major "don't let the wife know how much" purchase. It is incredibly noisy and has to be trapped to prevent it rapidly walking off the bench when running, but it works well enough and has never given me any trouble, although as I said before, I didn't use the airbrush for quite a few years until trying again recently.

[Phil.P]

Graeme,

My airbrush saga follows.........

Thank you for this, lots of information to take in, and links to follow..

'Somewhere' I have a modelling spray gun, bought many years ago, possibly Humbrol?
Red plastic, a baby-food sized jar screws under the spray-head, and a can of propellant is screwed on behind this. From memory, there is an extended trigger for operation.
I quickly learnt this was expensive to run, and impossible to get close to a model with. No control over the spray pattern. - It just meant you could 'aerosol' anything you put in it..

I also bought a classic (but cheap) spray gun and compressor from a car magazine of some sort.. Two nozzles. - One circular, one with a slot (from memory) with the silver canister screwed-on for the paint.
Cheap, cheerful, and I could get a decent finish on car-panels with it.
One nozzle was ruined, by using it for masonry paint. Has been buried in the garage for 20+ years.

I think I have enough information, and leads, to while away several wet evenings, so thanks to everyone for your input.
Unless I suddenly decide on an urgent need to lay paint on several items, I think any purchase will have to wait until the end of the year? - We have a daughter getting married, and a property to clear, work-on, and probably dispose of..

Thanks again,
Phil.P