What are your favorite airbrushes? (POLL)

[BarryW]

I know exactly what you mean. However, I think the 2 in1 thing is a gimmick. I don't know any modeller who changes needle sizes on a single airbrush......
John

I do John


Most of my work is done with the 0.4 but I will swap to the 0.2 for some odd jobs like mottling.

[PhilJ]

I have the two in one H & S. Not a gimmick as you can use both needle/nozzles easily.
The Solo normally comes with a .2 needle. It is the same as the 2in1 with out


a .4 needle nozzle supplied.


The two in one comes with a .4 and .2 needle nozzle.


When I used the H & S regularly I swapped and changed needle nozzles.


Takes about 30 secs. Unlike the Iwata, which has a screw in nozzle (a pain)


the H & S type nozzle just pushes into a housing.


The Silverlin is the same model as all the Evo types. But it has an adjustable


stop on the end to control the amount you pull back the trigger.


Sound great but it is a pain. If you have slight blockage, with acrylics,


they can normally be squirted out at full trigger. With the adjuster you


are restricted. I found that during the same session that I may want


to use more or less trigger where some areas are large and some small.


ie adjust the paint stream by experience.


The Sliverline comes with the quick release. But it is the tail it does not


come with the expensive bit to add on to the hose. I bought quick release


for all my brushes but have chucked them all in the dustbin. First I found


they are quite long and get in the way ie they extend the hose into a solid


end piece. They also leak even the more expensive ones.


Costs. John is about £4 less on the two in one at Everything Airbrush.


On the Solo John is about a £1 cheaper.


The Evo is a great brush. Dead easy to clean. I would go for the .4 and .2


combination. .4 is great for large areas. The .2 great for detail work.


It is unlikely you would need to change needle/nozzles while in a session


as the two sizes are used for different types of work.


All my opinion of course but after considerable use. Stiil use it for certain


work where the Iwata is not as handy usually varnish work as they are


much easier to clean than an Iwata.


Laurie

I would say buy from John then if it's the matter of a couple of pound, I didn't even know about this forum let alone the shop when I went and bought everything at once a few months ago.


Looks like I might be buying the .4 needle on your say so Laurie, do you think it will be worth it for say priming and base coating on 1/48 planes? I do feel as though I could do with a little more spread at times.


Cheers Phil

[Guest]

I would say buy from John then if it's the matter of a couple of pound, I didn't even know about this forum let alone the shop when I went and bought everything at once a few months ago.
Looks like I might be buying the .4 needle on your say so Laurie, do you think it will be worth it for say priming and base coating on 1/48 planes? I do feel as though I could do with a little more spread at times.


Cheers Phil

Hi Phil. Yes the shop is first class.


I think for general work Phil .4 H & S and Iwata .35 are first class for general work. a lot,in my opinion, depends on the scale. For 1/72, unless it is a big Lancaster, a .2 providing the paint used can take it or vice versa really. But for 1/48 which is my favourite I would go with the .4. For detail shading and effects etc I use a .2.


Good idea to play about with pressures to find the best that suits you. If it is anything like my experience it took a time to grasp that the pressures make quite a difference when airbrushing. For a .35 general work I use about 18 to 15psI. For a .2 detail work about .8PSI. With a low pressure as 8PSI I have found that I can build up very slowly a paint cover. It takes patience but you have full control over the placing of the paint and it's intensity. But lots here will have their own idea of what is best ie experiment.


Not sure what paints you are using. I use all water based acrylics. Cannot advise on enamels but Patrick is the man for that.


Laurie

[john i am]

You will not go wrong with that one Patrick a very nice airbrush.
Cleaning is a doddle so easy. great thing about H & S is


that the cup is removable which makes cleaning even easier.


Pity Iwata do not see the light.


Laurie

Iwata do brushes with removable cups it's not exclusively just an H&S design. I can completely strip down my iwata tr2 and reassemble it in less than 1 minute and it works like a dream everytime and to be honest I don't have to strip it down very often at all. So I would say my tr2 is as user friendly as any H&S brush. But I would advise anyone who intends buying a high end expensive airbrush is it try before you buy.

[Guest]

Hi Phil. Yes the shop is first class.
I think for general work Phil .4 H & S and Iwata .35 are first class for general work. a lot,in my opinion, depends on the scale. For 1/72, unless it is a big Lancaster, a .2 providing the paint used can take it or vice versa really. But for 1/48 which is my favourite I would go with the .4. For detail shading and effects etc I use a .2.


Good idea to play about with pressures to find the best that suits you. If it is anything like my experience it took a time to grasp that the pressures make quite a difference when airbrushing. For a .35 general work I use about 18 to 15psI. For a .2 detail work about .8PSI. With a low pressure as 8PSI I have found that I can build up very slowly a paint cover. It takes patience but you have full control over the placing of the paint and it's intensity. But lots here will have their own idea of what is best ie experiment.


Not sure what paints you are using. I use all water based acrylics. Cannot advise on enamels but Patrick is the man for that.


Laurie

I use Alcohol based acrylics for ABing, but I use vallejo for brush painting


John

[Guest]

Iwata do brushes with removable cups it's not exclusively just an H&S design. I can completely strip down my iwata tr2 and reassemble it in less than 1 minute and it works like a dream everytime and to be honest I don't have to strip it down very often at all. So I would say my tr2 is as user friendly as any H&S brush. But I would advise anyone who intends buying a high end expensive airbrush is it try before you buy.

I know what you mean. Iwata gets bashed over non-user friendly features, but my main two Airbrushes are Iwata's, and I love them, in comparison to my old infinity. The Iwata Hi Line, when adjusted with the 0.2, offers incredible precision, perfect for the Luftwaffe aircraft and camo schemes I primarily build


John

[Guest]

I would say buy from John then if it's the matter of a couple of pound, I didn't even know about this forum let alone the shop when I went and bought everything at once a few months ago.
Looks like I might be buying the .4 needle on your say so Laurie, do you think it will be worth it for say priming and base coating on 1/48 planes? I do feel as though I could do with a little more spread at times.


Cheers Phil

I say buy from the shop as well, but the H&S do not have 0.35, and my personal opinion is that 0.35 is the best for 1/48-1/32. It can do both very fine lines to large coverage. The good thing about the iwatas, is that when you pull the trigger back, the needle is fully retracted, behind the nozzle, so that it sprays like a spray gun. Only Iwata has this feature, and this is really what appeals to me. The versatility that Iwata packs into it's airbrushes, from the Eclipse range, upwards is really good


John

[PhilJ]

Hi Phil. Yes the shop is first class.
I think for general work Phil .4 H & S and Iwata .35 are first class for general work. a lot,in my opinion, depends on the scale. For 1/72, unless it is a big Lancaster, a .2 providing the paint used can take it or vice versa really. But for 1/48 which is my favourite I would go with the .4. For detail shading and effects etc I use a .2.


Good idea to play about with pressures to find the best that suits you. If it is anything like my experience it took a time to grasp that the pressures make quite a difference when airbrushing. For a .35 general work I use about 18 to 15psI. For a .2 detail work about .8PSI. With a low pressure as 8PSI I have found that I can build up very slowly a paint cover. It takes patience but you have full control over the placing of the paint and it's intensity. But lots here will have their own idea of what is best ie experiment.


Not sure what paints you are using. I use all water based acrylics. Cannot advise on enamels but Patrick is the man for that.


Laurie

Same as you I believe Laurie, mostly Vallejo model air. I have a bit of delicate camo work to do on my new build a bit later on so I will be practicing at low pressure, I can see how you get better control like that.


Cheers

[Guest]

I had great difficulty Phil at low pressure using a .2 needle/nozzle until I got the new Vallejo Flow improver.


Before, using Vallejo Lifecolor and Mig (water based) I would be having to clear the brush every minute or


so by giving it a full blast of the trigger. With the flow improver I have now rarely had problems.


Just a couple of drops for general work at 18 to 15PSI. For detail work .2 needle 8 8PSI I put in 4 or 5 drops.


Also thin 40% approx. This gives a free flow of a very thin paint great I have found for building up the depth required.


I did write some where here a little while ago. I experimented with straight paints with a full cup.


Forgotten the exact times but about 22 secs to clear the cup using a .35 needle.


Using the same pressure it took 32 secs to clear a .2 needle. I think that illustrates how you have that much


more control and with 8PSI even more with so much less paint being delivered.


Laurie

[Guest]

Personally I think low pressures like that are unnecessary Laurie. Paint flow is controlled by the airbrush trigger, not air flow.


Obviously if you're happy with it, that's fine, but using higher pressure (30 psi & above) atomizes the paint better. A delicate finger on the trigger will provide sufficient control at those higher pressures to create any effect you desire.

[Guest]

Personally I think low pressures like that are unnecessary Laurie. Paint flow is controlled by the airbrush trigger, not air flow.
Obviously if you're happy with it, that's fine, but using higher pressure (30 psi & above) atomizes the paint better. A delicate finger on the trigger will provide sufficient control at those higher pressures to create any effect you desire.

That does not reallly work if you use alcalds. The max I sprayed alclads was 25 psi. I normally spray at 25 psi anyway. the most I have ever gone to was 40 psi


John

[Guest]

Personally I think low pressures like that are unnecessary Laurie. Paint flow is controlled by the airbrush trigger, not air flow.
Obviously if you're happy with it, that's fine, but using higher pressure (30 psi & above) atomizes the paint better. A delicate finger on the trigger will provide sufficient control at those higher pressures to create any effect you desire.

Absolutely Patrick. But lower your pressure and you then have more freedom to control


the amount of paint which spues out giving even further control to your delicate finger.


As an illustration put your pressure up to 50PSI and the paint will disappear out of the


cup in seconds delicate finger or not ie control is not so easy.


This is all using water based paints.


Laurie

[Guest]

Absolutely Patrick. But lower your pressure and you then have more freedom to control
the amount of paint which spues out giving even further control to your delicate finger.


As an illustration put your pressure up to 50PSI and the paint will disappear out of the


cup in seconds delicate finger or not ie control is not so easy.


This is all using water based paints.


Laurie

It is a trade off as are so many things in life!


I used to do all my spraying at under 25 psi, but then seeing Steve's (Stona) stuff made me try higher pressures as he works at 35+.


I've found that it gives better consistently, smoother finish & less annoying unwanted spurts & spits!


Obviously 50 psi is way too high, I'd only use that whilst cleaning.


It'll be interesting to see the results I get when I get my expensive airbrush - I'll try a different range of psi settings & see how it goes on.

[Guest]

smoother finish & less annoying unwanted spurts & spits!

You get those do you Patrick. Must be the enamels. ?


Regret you have lost my point Patrick. I was not suggesting that any body uses 50PSI. I was, as indicated, using it as an illustration of the facts of nature.


Yes I bet you will be over the moon Patrick with a new brush. Life changed when I got my little Iwata. Humans are so fickle what suits one is poison to another.


Just found all of a sudden that airbrushing took off and I found so many things I could do with an airbrush.


Laurie

[Guest]

You get those do you Patrick. Must be the enamels. ?
Regret you have lost my point Patrick. I was not suggesting that any body uses 50PSI. I was, as indicated, using it as an illustration of the facts of nature.


Yes I bet you will be over the moon Patrick with a new brush. Life changed when I got my little Iwata. Humans are so fickle what suits one is poison to another.


Just found all of a sudden that airbrushing took off and I found so many things I could do with an airbrush.


Laurie

Hmm I've said it before & I'll say it again - there's hardly any threads about airbrush problems from enamels users


Well, you did say 50 psi as an example so that's why I referred to it.


At under 10 psi, yes the air is coming through slower than at 35, but to my mind all that means is the paint won't be mixed properly. Perhaps my trigger finger is more delicate than yours


I'm not expecting a vast difference.Moving from a single action to adouble ction was most likely the biggest change that I'll have experienced. I expect this upgrade to be less noticeable, but hopefully more rewarding in the long term.