GHQ Models Forums

Anyone have any recommendations for air compressors and airbrushes for painting microarmor. Don't think I would neeed it for anything else. For the compressor, any specific rating, CFM, noise level or whatnot to look for? what about tip size or type for the painting of itsy bitsy detail? Any personal observations or lessons learned to pass on before popping out $125 plus for a compressor and probably near the same amount for an airbrush?

Thanks

Kyle

Airbrushes:
You can get them in double action or single action
Double action allows you to control the amount of air flow and paint flow at the same time by pushing down on the trigger (to release the air) then pull back to bring out the paint. With this you can go from fine lines to very thick lines. You can even do very thin light lines or thin dark lines just by going back and forth over the same area. You can get internal mixes where the paint cup is attached from underneath the airbrush or gravity fed style where the cup is actually part of the airbrush and is located on top.
Single action airbrushes only control the airflow. The operator has to turn the tip to get the different thickness of lines. I haven't seen a gravity fed style but I do know that most are internal mixes.
Do a google search for- Iwata, Paasche, Aztek, Badger.
I currently use a Paasche VLS double action and like it quite a bit. I'm actually starting to do more painting with it other than models. I started off with a Badger 350 single action.

Compressors:
Depends on what you want. If you want a nice and silent one, you're looking at some more money, but this will allow you to paint into those wee hours of the night without really disturbing anyone. Most of these I have seen have a small air tank, so they will run almost continuously. Or you can get the average household ones that can operate a small air nailer. Most of these are a single stroke engine and are loud, but they hold lots of air, this is the type that I use. It will kick in to put more into the tank once it gets down to 80psi then runs up too 110psi then stops. I can go for about 5-10 minutes before it starts again, depending on how much pressure I'm using for my painting, which is around 20-25psi. Most paints have a different recommendation.
I currently have a Clarke Air compressor, which has done me good for the past 4 years, but am now looking at getting a small silent one as I have to do all of my airbrushing in the garage, because of the noise from it.

However, the main question is "How much do you want to spend?"
Airbrushes can get quite expensive, some are not bad. My Badger 350 was $60 CAD at the time, my Paasche was $150.00. Others go for much higher than that.

Make sure your compressor has a tank, moisture trap and preasure gauge. The tank will cut out any 'pulsing' with the air flow. The moisture trap will dry any atmospheric moisture gowing to the brush, and the preasure gauge will allow you to change the air flow.

I bought something similar to this, mine was unbranded but looks exactly the same...

http://cgi.ebay.com/PAASCHE-AIR-BRUSH-C ... dZViewItem

You can clearly see the moisture trap and preasure gauge on the left hand side.

I also got an unbranded airbrush...

http://cgi.ebay.com/AIR-BRUSH-GRAVITY-F ... dZViewItem

Which is dual control, has a screw on the back which limits the pin movement so that I can preset line thicknesses.

I've been very happy with this brush, it's much better than a model which was 3 times it's price.

You may also want to get hold of some small jars to mix your paint and invest in a bag of cheap pipettes to transfer it to your airbrush as well.

Regards

I have a Badger double action that I'm happy with. I would recomend getting a GOOD water trap as water in the line can cause problems.

if you are new to using a airbrush be prepared for a learning curve. I've been using a badger single action and think it does an excellent job and has resulted in my "personal best" in painting up some Syrian T-55s. The problem I have experienced is the brush gets clogged and I need to clear it because it stopped spraying paint. To prevent the clog I will usually thin it, but then the paint sometimes is to watery and a "splash" pattern is generated. Finding a happy medium is frustrating, but when getting it right the models look great.

The more experienced guys here can probably give good advise, some just use brushes, but I regret my skill is not as good.