Airbrush suggestions please...

[Bryan S Snyder]

I'm thinking about buying my first airbrush and would like some input from others who may have used them before. I have other hobbies where it may be useful so I figured now's as good as ever. Bottom feed or top feed? How big? Favorite brands of paints? What should I stay away from or look out for?

Thanks all!

 

[Banzai88]

Airbrush to do what? When it comes to this, there are a million choices and a million way to skin that cat.....a few that are flat out bad, most are varying degrees of OK, and a few that are amazing. Decide on your level of investment in time, effort, equipment, money, and learning curve, as there's something of an inverse relationship on a few of those factors. YouTube is your friend. Paasche, Grex, Iwata....all good choices that will work every time, last several lifetimes, and retain their value 20+ years later. If you buy a chinese knock off, you're on your own.

Hobby work or rocket work? Hobby airbrushes aren't really well suited to painting even modest size MP birds, so hobby model rockets or below. Simple is good when it comes to that. I prefer a Paasche H bottom feed. Simple, cheap, easy to use, robust, easy to clean. From there you can decide if you want to stay with it or invest in a high speed/low drag top feed dual action. As far as hobby paint goes, each different 'hobby' has it's proper paint. Vallejo for figures and some models, etc, etc.

For MP and HP sized birds, hard to beat the Harbor Freight guns as easy, cheap, and adequate introductions to HVLP. Usually lacquer is used from TCP Global's Restoration Shop or Duplicolor lacquer from your local auto parts shop.

First rule of airbrush/spray gun: It's NOT a bottomless spray can.
Second rule of airbrush/spray gun: You'll be happier and money ahead long term with a compressor with a piston AND a tank.
Third rule of airbrush/spray gun: KEEP IT CLEAN, CLEAN IT AS THOUGH IT WERE A SURGICAL INSTRUMENT AFTER EACH AND EVERY USE.
Fourth rule of airbrush/spray gun: Yes, you need the moisture trap and air filter.

 

[Bryan S Snyder]

Thanks Banzai88. I'm into rockets naturally, RC cars, RC planes, drones, and guns. A nice airbrush could come in handy on all of those. Is a big dewalt shop style compressor and tank overkill or can I adapt it down to a little airbrush?

 

[Tobor]

I'm thinking about buying my first airbrush and would like some input from others who may have used them before. I have other hobbies where it may be useful so I figured now's as good as ever. Bottom feed or top feed? How big? Favorite brands of paints? What should I stay away from or look out for?

Thanks all!

I asked a similar question just over a year ago, in this (thread). Have a look see.

 

[tomsteve]

iwata eclipse HP-CS. you wont be disappointed. practice practice practice.

good forum to get info from
https://www.airbrushforum.org/

 

[Mailman]

Check out the rocketry show recently did 2 podcasts on airbrushing.

 

[Banzai88]

Thanks Banzai88. I'm into rockets naturally, RC cars, RC planes, drones, and guns. A nice airbrush could come in handy on all of those. Is a big dewalt shop style compressor and tank overkill or can I adapt it down to a little airbrush?

Perfect

 

[solid_fuel]

I use the Paasche H for most of my rocket painting, I have painted up to 3" diameter rockets with it. It is single action very easy to use. I use Createx paints over Krylon rattle can primer. It is powered by a Craftsman compressor with a 20ish gallon tank. I do not find a moisture trap necessary but the paint I use is water based so if you use a non water based paint your mileage mat vary. cleaning is very important, between coats I spray a 50% alcohol/water mix, then backflush with my finger over the tip. After wards I clean very thoroughly with both water and rubbing alcohol to completely clean any residue off, and it never gets it all. I spray very light coats the first coat or two will almost never have complete coverage and sometimes look like there isn't any paint at all. it is very important to have a nice base coat as the paint I use is often transparent and will allow the base to show through. this nice when there is a metallic base as it allows for nice interaction between the base and the color coats.

 

[Knuckledragger]

+1 on what Solid Fuel said.
I use a PaascheVL (my H was not reliable for some internal reason) on a Campbell Hausfield 2 gallon compressor intended for a small staple/brad gun. I have a water trap and filter on the compressor ($11) and its fine for shooting paint on an Alpha, Baby Bertha or small body but for larger sized rockets like my Big Daddy, the 2 gallon is too short on capacity. Depending on the tip size used (.55, .7, and 1mm), the pressure in the tanks would drop pretty quick while laying down the 1st color coat. Thats expected and why you want a larger-ish tank capacity. I have a five gallon tank but haven't plumbed it for the compressor yet as other household projects have taken priority. On the plus side though, for a 3" BT, slowing me down while waiting for the tanks to build back up might not be a bad thing, keeps me from laying on the paint too thick and gives me a chance to shoot some cleaner through the nozzle. I too use Createx and Wicked Colors. I like the easy cleanup, lack of smell teleporting from the garage to the living room, and how fast the paint dries (CO humidity is usually < 30%). I got the base coat on the Bertha and Alpha but winter hit before I was able to finish them (yesterday it snowed two inches, tomorrow 70 degrees)! Such is Colorado weather. Once we get the summer furniture out of the shed, I'll set up a small spray box in there and have at it. I have a Big Bertha in primer and Leviathan-ish rocket in build, they will need some form of pigment, and I want to do something a little more intricate on the Leviathan!

 

[lcorinth]

We did a two-episode piece on airbrushes on The Rocketry Show podcast.

Part 1 is here (it's a good episode, but ends just before we get to the recommendations)

Part 2 is here (where we get into the nitty gritty)

I went with spraygunner.com as a vendor. They've got some good stuff and always reply to questions.

 

[David Schwantz]

Hi Bryan, good advice from all. If you have enough room and do enough painting, I say this as I also do RC and paint lots. Anyway, You can always setup a paint booth of your own. Not really that much work or costly. I have a 10 x 13 booth in the basement. 2000 cfm fan in the ceiling to suck out the fumes, filters all incoming air, water trap and pressure regulator, and a fresh air supply, made by Hobby Air and I highly recommend it. I prefer gravity feed also, FLG3 Finish Line by DeVilbiss for the really big stuff, it has a quart cup. A Blue Point suction feed for primer, but my go to gun for most is a FX100 Finex, made by Sharpe. Gravity feed, mini HLVP. Does fantastic work. I use both Paasche and Iwata airbrushes, both are dual action internal mix. By that I mean, you push down on the button for air, and pull back on it for paint. The more you push down, the more air you get. Also the more you pull back, the more paint you get. It mixes the two in the head instead of blowing air across a nozzle outside of the head. You will get better control of your paint and finer detail using internal mix. I have my compressor in the garage and plumbed though out my house. It does have a 60 gallon tank, never run out of air for just about anything. You don't need much more than 35 psi for spraying, so a good regulator would be a must.