Harder & Steinbeck Colani Airbrush review.

[BarryW]

Depends how careful you are, and how good your booth is, but there shouldn't be any discernible smell in your flat. Does your wife use hairspray? Does she use a spraybooth?

Pete

It is well worth spending out to get a powerful booth that has a strong ‘pull’.

Mine is a Benchvent that cost me over £350 and it’s well worth it. If you change your filters regularly and make sure you get a flow going before you start and keep it going for a while after spraying then there is no reason to stink out your home. I also keep the door to the modelling room closed while spraying as an extra precaution.

[Jim R]

I have fairly recently upgraded my spray booth to a Benchvent like Barry as I am moving over to MRP lacquers. I vent to the outside air and can honestly say I have no problems with smell or fumes.

[Tim Marlow]

Go for it Richard. Nothing to lose really. Start with primer and sheets of paper until you’ve got the hang of it, then move on to model finishing. The Aztec is pretty much bulletproof so I wouldn’t worry too much about spares. I think all I ever bought in using mine for about ten years was a spare nozzle. Looks like this place still has spares…..I’d get a couple of general purpose nozzle spares and you should be all set.

https://www.makeitbuildit.co.uk/brand/aztek-r

[Tim Marlow]

Many thanks Tim for that.Bless you mate.I shall give it a good go and if all fails use a single action or good old hairy sticks.
Rich

The Aztec can be set up as single action or double action, by the way Richard. It’s what the roller on the handle does. If you need to ask anything just shout. I used mine a lot, and I know Jakko still uses his, so we should be able to help you out.

[Tim Marlow]

That’s pretty close to the same set I have Richard. Plenty on the net to tell you what each nozzle does. I found the grey one the most useful myself. It’s pretty simple to use. The red thing is a nozzle wrench and also helps clean the paint path where both the nozzle and the paint cup plug in. The control that changes it from single to double action is that silver roller on the handle. Fully left is double action, fully right is single action. I wrote S and D on mine to remind me :upside:. Paint cups can be plugged in on either side where the little plugs at the front come out. I’m sure the full instructions can be found on the net. Nozzles you have are as follows…
Grey, general purpose. Tan, fine line. Turquoise, high flow. Red, small coverage (mine didn’t work properly). Black, general purpose acrylic paint. White, don’t know, haven’t got that one

[Tim Marlow]

No probs Rich. The needle comes out of the back of the nozzle housing really easily. Its a friction fit and just pulls out. I always used to take mine apart for cleaning. Tamiya and Mr Levelling Thinners is probably the way to go for paint to be honest. Mixed about one to one it sprays really well. The MLT thinners can also be used in place of lacquer thinner (cellulose thinner in the UK) for cleaning. It’s certainly less objectionable in its smell, and works pretty much the same. Spraying water based acrylic may put you off for life. It’s an acquired art, but some love it.

[David Lovell]

All makes intresting reading looking forward to some pics from Barry to see what this odd ball can do loads of lines on some printer paper please B.

[BarryW]

All makes intresting reading looking forward to some pics from Barry to see what this odd ball can do loads of lines on some printer paper please B.

I will do Dave but it won’t be until after Christmas now….

That said…

Having used this now on the B24 I can conclude that this is an excellent general purpose airbrush and would certainly recommend it as a SECOND airbrush for anyone building large models in particular. I will certainly be making extensive use of it as my workhorse airbrush.

Why a second airbrush?
Well I did not find the top positioned trigger very comfortable or natural. It is fine for laying down basic camo colours, for instance, but just not for detail painting. I will retain my .2 Infinity for detail, for now, though I might get another pistol grip airbrush with the trigger under the brush for future detail work.

In future my aim will be to have the Colani for basic general purpose airbrushing, plus the Topnotch with spreader cap, for varnish application and a pistol grip airbrush with a small needle for detail work such as mottle and lines.

I have no reason to think that the Colani will not do a good job, with a .2 needle for detail work but it really is just that trigger…

[Sprue42]

Thanks Barry, I have never wanted or even considered a trigger-action AB. I will now. For what its worth, I would describe that as double action too.

Ralph.