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Air Brushes

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Steve Dwyer:
Looking for recommendations on buying an air brush for canopies and detail. I don't want to spend a ton of money; I'd prefer to stay under a hundred. I had a $30 three tip size Master gravity feed that worked so, so. It may have been compressor related; I have since installed a water/desiccant filter. I seem to have misplaced the airbrush anyway, I think someone borrowed it.  I only need the gun and hose; I'm considering siphon feed instead of gravity?? I'm open for suggestions looking at Paasche, Avanti Iwata and Master. Can't find much here only using different paints with airbrushes.

Steve

Dave_Trible:
I am using an Iwata I got at Hobby Lobby.  I think it was a bit more than $100 but it serves me well.

Dave

Dennis Nunes:
Hi Steve,

I recently purchased a “Paasche VL-3AS” airbrush set that comes with .55,.75, and 1.05 mm spray heads from Amazon for $80. It is excellent!


Dennis

Paul Wescott:
I’m not comfortable saying “this is the one YOU need” because everyone is different.  Different dexterity, different media / paints / inks (you can even put Klass Kote through one but talk to Mr. Klass Kote first), also different climate.

So as a past airbrush user here are some random thoughts.

Paasche is an excellent brand.  Their $20 “EZ” external mix model may do some of what you want.  I would be more likely to buy a HF cheapie with more features.

The Paasche VL (suggested above) is an awesome unit.  There is one “pre-owned” on fee-bay right now for $35, it looks like the same kit for $80 elsewhere.

The thing about the VL is it’s a dual-action airbrush.  You push down on the button (trigger) for air, and the farther you push it the more airflow you get, and you pull it back to pull the needle out of the spray orifice, pulling back a little barely opens the orifice and the further you pull back the bigger the orifice gets.  So controlling the VL is 2-dimensional and you either have to have or develop a talented finger.  The VL is great for t-shirts and fine arts but maybe overkill for canopies etc. And then as if that wasn’t enough, you can swap out the three sizes of tips & needles to give you three different orifice sizes.  The needles also have an adjustment.  For each combo (Sm/Med/Lg) the needle will close off the orifice at the front end of the travel, and open it fully at the back end of the travel.  Lots of people install the needle so it blocks the orifice at the front position, which allows ZERO media through if the air is blowing.  Some folks pull the needle back a bit then lock the adjustment, so there is always room for the media to flow.  Many pros or production users go one further, they use the small needle with the medium tip, and the medium needle with the large tip, so that they can’t really fully block the orifice.  Double-action plus tip/needle selection AND adjustment turns the process into a 3-dimensional juggling act.  I’ve seen intelligent people struggle with it, and I’ve seen half-wits find it effortless.  Go figure.

A single action airbrush only blows air when you press the trigger.  Everything else gets pre-adjusted.  This might be the best solution here.

But the only way to know is to try.

Use a good regulator.  The air compressor should have a tank or you’ll see the paint pulsing out of the brush.

This reply was generated by ChatGPT JUST KIDDING! JUST KIDDING LOL!  Or am I…

Have fun.

Doug Moisuk:
Do you need the most expensive ones? Are you using it every day?
I bought the best one from here and I’m happy with it. Capable of more than my skills.

https://chuckbauman.com/airbrushes-free-airbrush-reviews.htm

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