I believe it's finally time for me to invest in an airbrush. Any tips? Up until now any painting I've done has been either strait paints with a brush or spray cans, but lately I've been thinking it's time to take it up a notch. I think I'd like to go with something simple like a single-action brush and I'd like to be able to switch out paints fairly quickly and not waste a lot of paint. My plans are to use this on scratch-built ships and the HO scale railroad.. Any suggestions or tips for someone who knows nothing?
I've had great luck with my Paasche "H". It's seen steady use for about 25 years and has never given me a lick of trouble. I have other brushes but that was my first.
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" I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail
fast; for I intend to go in harm's way." --John Paul Jones
So Jimmy, you're ready for your first airbrush. Good man!!!
I also have been airbrushing for quite a few years, and my advice is as follows. Forget the single action, and go directly to a double action. My reasoning is that why waste your time and money on a piece of equipment, that with a little care, should last you a life time? A single action has a place that it fills quite nicely, but you've indicated that you'll be working with smaller scales as well as doing fine work. The versatility you get with a double action far outweighs what a single action will do for you. I started out with a single action, then advanced to a double action. Once I got used to it, I've never used my single for any reason. It sits in my drawer and gathers dust.
The differance between a singls action and double action has to do with what's known as fan control. (The width of the pattern you're spraying.) With a single action, your trigger only controls the amount of air you're pushing out the front of the gun. You adjust the amount of paint with a knob on the stern of the gun. To adjust the fan pattern, you have to turn the knob. Not an easy thing to do during a spray pass.
A double action on the other hand has both air and fan control right in the trigger. The trigger action goes up and down for air supply, and forward and back for fan control. This makes it really easy to adjust your spray pattern while in the middle of a pass. I think you'll find that buying a double action, and learning your lessons on it will save you time and money in buying a piece of equipment that you won't have to replace when your skills advance. And your skills will advance!!
As far as a manufacturer, I like Badger equipment. This is a matter of personal prefferance, as most quality equipment will perform at about the same level. I've been using their stuff for quite a while, and like it a lot. Their customer service is top notch, and they go out of their way to help you resolve any questions you may have, replace damaged parts, and have a complete line of equipment. The best advice I'd give you is try a few differant brands, and see what fits your hand the best, what you think gives the best result, and don't discount any reccomendations you may get from others. Try a bunch of brands before you settle on one. As it's a tool, consider it like buying a new hammer. There are many brands out there, but one will work for YOU the best. What works well for me might not work as well for you. So try a few differant brands.
Another important thing you need to consider is your air source. Do you have a compressor now, and if not, what have you considered using? I would reccomend investing in a decent compressor made for airbrushing. About a third of a horse, and is capable of delivering 40 LBS of pressure will work well. And don't forget, you'll also need a moisture trap, and pressure regulator. These items are essential to a good paint job.
If you're lookng for a deal on new equipment, try Dixie Art Supply. They're down in Louisiana in some swamp someplace, but offer the best deals I've found anyplace. They have a web site that's pretty cool.
My last piece if advice is don't get flustered when you start using it. It takes a little while to get used to it, but a lifetime to master!!! I've been at it a while, and am still learning things!! But you have the benefit of being here to ask the thousand questions that come with having a new piece of equipment. While I don't personally know many of the folks here on the board, the ones I do know, and from the other work I've seen posted here, I'll say there are some damn fine painters here. I think we all can answer any questions you could think of. You'll be in good hands!!!!
I did forget to mention that atm price is a factor, that's why I was considering a cheap-o single action external mix brush for now. It apealed to me in that it looked easy to clean. I know already that I really would prefer a double-action brush but then I'll have to wait a while before I get one and vacation is coming up and I am wanting to make hay while the sun shines if you know what I mean. I've got a small compresser that I picked up at a garage sale for 5 bucks, it doesn't have any resivour or anything, but It looks like it would only be good for hobby type airbrushing. One of my big questions is whether siphon feed or gravity feed is better than the other? Oh, a couple of things about me... I'm a kid here on the the forum ... only 38 ;p a cubmaster, involved dad and general all around good guy. I work full-time and don't have enough time to do all the stuff I want to do. I LOVE sci-fi, always have and always told myself that I would do some of that movie magic for my own fun at least. I had a couple of friends in highschool who were into airbrushes and I remember one of them showing me how he used the film to create hard edges and forms and shade spheres and such (almost seems archaic now that I can render with POV-Ray and model with S-Patch). We were those guys who always easily did well in art class. Any of the times over the years that I would have like to use an airbrush I've done the old load up a toothbrush w/paint trick and flick it with my thumb to spray it over an area... but that's geting old and I've got a lot of stuff to do coming up. Sure I can get pretty good results with spray cans... but I want more colors and more freedom.
I bought an Aztek double action with a couple of different nozzles on E-Bay for $20. Saw several in that range so that might be a common situation. I haven't put it through it's paces yet (not that I could) but I figure at that price it will be great to learn with. I did buy a large syphon jar for it the last (and first) (and only so far) time I was at Hobby Lobby as the brush only came with a small gravity fed one. Anyway... long story short is you might want to check your auction site of choice for similarly priced items.
--EDIT-- Almost forgot... The nozzles are super easy to swap out and it looks like a breeze to clean.
