Hello all! I recently decided to start airbrushing models (cars, ships, etc). I’ve only built a few, but I want them to look nice and I can never seem to do that by hand painting. So I purchased a mighty mini airbrush kit from testors. It comes with a small compressor, an external mix, plastic airbrush and some pre-thinned paint. Needless to say, the airbrush is a piece of crap. I have no experience and I can already tell that. I have trouble even getting it to spray, and air spews from the crevices where the button is at all times (among other problems). I now understand you get what you pay for in that department and have decided to buy a more expensive and reliable airbrush. Probably an iwata or paasch based on my research. My question is: in order to make the purchase of the mighty mini not a complete failure and waste of money, could I just by an air tank like this one http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/magna-force-10-gallon-air-tank/0000000085539?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping%2Bsearch&utm_campaign=google%2Bproduct%20search&gclid=CKX_0LPd4rUCFQSnnQodOC8AkA And be able to fill it with my mini mighty compressor? I know this will probably take a while, but I really want to shell out another 2 or 3 hundred dollars for a tank compressor alone. And I also want a steady flow of air. Does anyone out there have any experience with this or know if it will even work? Any help would be great! Thank you!
Hi Skyy89,
No experience with the mighty mini but after looking at it will offer an opinion. I think it will take a VERY long time for the mighty mini to fill a 10 gallon tank from the small compressor if it will even do it. Also the compressor is likely to get quite hot - risk damage. I wouldn’t try it. If you are concerned about pulsation, even a small reservoir between the compressor and airbrush will eliminate most.
I should’ve added that noise is also a pretty big factor. I work third shift and I’m a night owl, so most of the time I will be using it is at night. The mighty mini is quite loud, but not loud enough to wake anyone else up which is one good thing about it. I wouldn’t mind paying a couple hundred bucks for a better compressor, but I have no way of judging the sound to see exactly how loud they are. Lowes wouldn’t let me plug any up to test them out. I’ve read in forums that people consider the mighty mini to be quite loud but I haven’t found any comparisons to other compressors. As for the small tank, would you suggest something around a two or three gallon?
The tanks supplied with many airbrush compressors are in the 2.5 to 3 liter range (1 gal=3.7 liter). My SparMax is 2.5 L and works great. You can check HERE for one that I think might work. For quiet/silent compressors think lots of money. Reasonably quiet ones are Sparmax Stormforce ($199 no tank) or TCP Golbal TC20-T ($109 with a tank). I don’t know how loud your compressor is but do know that most shop size small compressors (i.e. three gallon) are very loud - I have a Husky 3 gallon one from Lowe and it is very noisy but works fine.
Forget about the Mighty Mini which is a complete loss. I suspect it will not compress to much more than 20-25 psi. At that pressure, you will not squeeze too much air into ANY tank.
The airtank pressure should be well above 45 psi to get useful range for the airbrush. In order to run the airtank at any meaningful duration, you need to pump it up well above 120 psi.
“My question is: in order to make the purchase of the mighty mini not a complete failure and waste of money, could I just by an air tank like this one.”
The rule of good decision making is not to dwell on the sunk cost. Don’t let your money wasted on the mighty mini force you to make a decision in a less optimal way. Completely forget about the might mini and start from scratch.
Buy a high quality AB from Iwata, Badger or Paasche and buy a good compressor.
Thank you all for your input! I’m accepting the fact that the mighty mini was a bad buy and I’ll just have to forget about it. I have been researching airbrushes now and I believe I have I narrowed down to a few brands/models: either an Iwata Eclipse, Iwata micron (although probable not this one), a badger renegade velocity, badger 100LG, or Badger omni 4000. I’m stop going to look into Harder & Steenbeck but I’ve read that there may be some “hook-up” problems for lack of a better way to describe it, and adapters may be hard to find. My next venture will be finding a decent compressor that is quiet enough to not wake my other family members. If only I had a way to start them up and listen to them before I buy. I’m planning a trip to a hobby shop, but I’m in a very small town and the closest one is a few hours away. I’m not looking for anything huge, just enough to power an airbrush for a model. I probably won’t use the compressor for anything else. I’m still open to any suggestions and I will update with my final decision when it is made. Again, thanks!
Typing on my phone at work and it autocorrects a lot of my words. I’m sure you all can put together what I intend to say ha
I had a mini-piston compressor that would walk off the table if I hadn’t put it on a rubber mouse-mat, It was too noisy for my tastes & I could not use it at night or when the kids were sleeping.
I then got a Rotring compressor with a refrigerator engine & U handle that acted as the tank, virtually silent, no pulsing & runs fo 20 mins no problems. very similar to this pic for illustration
Look after it & it’s a once-only purchase, but shop around.
LOL. Hadn’t thought about that way KeiLau. A 10 gal tank only holds ~17 gal at at 25 PSI. The only purpose any tank would serve would be to reduce pulsation.
Iwata recently introduced the NeoAir compressor which might be similar to the Mighty Mini. Phil Flory recently reviewed the NeoAir on his site (florymodels.com). It shuts itself off after 10 minutes because of heat generation. IMHO the market for the Mighty Mini, NeoAir and similar is really nail painting/makeup salons.
Skyy89 the AB’s you’re looking into are all fine. I’m partial to H&S but would suggest you add Grex Genesis XG to your list. Also, Badger and Paasche use proprietary threaded attachment for their hose/airbrush; Iwata, H&S, Grex and many others use a 1/8" BSPP. Many airbrush compressors come with either a 1/4" NPT or 1/8" BSPP output. I wouldn’t worry too much about the AB connection because adapters are easily available (I’ve adapted my Paasche Model H and Badgers to the, now more common, 1/8" BSPP)
The idea of a tank is to fill it with high pressure and use a regulator at the output. If you do not fill it to a high pressure it will not last very long unless it is huge. So to fill a tank you need a compressor that will put out a hefty pressure- say 40-50 psi or so. Since you will not be running the compressor while you are painting, a cheap pancake compressor from the hardware store is a good option. I have seen these for around forty bucks when they are on sale (in fact, I bought one at that price at Menards). However, I did not have a tank other than the tank on the compressor- very little tank and the compressor ran about half the time. It made an awful racket when it was running. But with a decent sized external tank it should be okay if you do not mind the noise when pressurizing the tank. I finally opted for a reasonably priced low noise airbrush compressor.
I’m a novice when it comes to airbrushing. I started ABing last year. I researched a lot. The consensus of more experienced people’s advice was, “You don’t want to keep buying ABs and compressors. Buy the best you can afford.”
I chose an Iwata Eclipse and an Iwata Smart Jet compressor (<-- this one was the sexiest looking compressor in my price range!). I’m ultra sensitive to noise but have no problem using it.
I bought my eclipse at hobby lobby using the 40% off coupon that they offer online. I have the silent scorpion compressor that i purchased at the lhs, but if you have a harbor freight anywhere nearby, they have inexpensive compressors although i dont know how good they are.
I plan on getting the Harbor Freight (Central Pneumatic) airbrush compressor this weekend. Its around $65 or less if you have a flyer coupon (usually 20% off a single item). It has mixed reviews, but mostly positive. (Seems the negative reviews are either operator error or something that can easily be fixed) It seems to have all the features and claims to be able to pump 50psi max. (probably starting pressure, but should be plenty of working pressure) Flow rating seems a little lower than others, but I’m not experienced enough to notice any difference. I’m just starting out and limited on building time so as a starter compressor, its cheap enough where I don’t mind throwing away 60 bucks if its crap, but it does have a 90 day warranty, and they’ll probably sell you an extended warranty for a few more bucks. My other options were the Iwata Smart Jet ($235), the Polar Bear 2000 ($170), or dragging a dirty air hose across our carpet from my big compressor in the garage, LOL.
I know a couple of guys that use that HF compressor and they are happy with it. It should work fine. It may be a bit noisier than the Smart Jet, but it is not too noisy.
I’m a guy who used a HF compressor for over three years before I got one with tank. It worked fine and is still working. As Don says, It is reasonably quiet. Only change I made was to replace the 0-100 PSI gauge with a 0-60 PSI one. Good luck with it!!!
Harbor Freight got mixed reviews mostly not due to user error. Some did not pump out enough pressure and some quited after short period of time. Typical Harbor Freight airbrush compressor states a 500 hours MTBF in the manual. It is up to you to decide if it is worth the $60 gamble. BTW, TCPGlobal on Ebay sells similiar item at same price, but with a 8 times longer (2 years vs. 3 months) warranty.
Personally, I perfer to spend the extra on one with established durability track record because I am in modeling for the long run. Did you look at the Sparmax TC-2000 at Hobby Lobby?
I believe Harbor Freight coupons excludes air compressors. But more often online than in their stores they put them on sale.
I came across an air compressor that is (I believe) originally designed for medical use. It is called a John Bunn 400A. It registers at 49 Db which is the quietest Ive found so far and is a reasonable price on Ebay, but I just need to know if it would even work for airbrushing. This may be a stupid question but if someone could tell me whether or not it works, I might just buy it. Here is a link:
Don’t claim to be an expert, I’d bow my head to Don Stauffer on that score, but looking at that you could find it hard to get the connections to fit to a standard airbrush hose. The one I use is similar to the link below.
Its a no name brand but I’ve had mine for a couple of years now and so far, fingers crossed. its not had a problem. I know you can get them with a tank which would probably be better. Its not “LOUD” but thats all subjective
Phil