I think for most of us mere mortals, we will never approach the capabilities of our airbrushes. I can get a fairly consistant line about the width of a standard sharpie marker, but my hand can not keep it straight oe even enough to make it look good.
My 100LG with medium needle and tip can do any application I need shooting 1/35 armor, 28mm sci-fi, and some really small tanks from the game ‘Flames of War’.
Man, thank you all so much for the info.
I am not sure what the model number is on the paasche. I have to choose from these brands because this is just about all they carry at hobby lobby and for other reasons, that is where i have to buy this equipment.
Mike, Don and Bill,
You guys are all missing the point here. It is not about how fine a line. It is about whether the customer who lays out his hard cash deserved the information of the airbrush. When I am told that the nozzle has a fine nozzle, I want to know if it is 0.2 mm fine or 0.5 mm fine instead of being radiculed for asking irrelevant information.
Bill may be right that a dial-in “fixed line width” like the Badger 200-20 is of limited value. However, the limiting dial on the Paasche Talon or the H&S Evolution Siverline (double action) is quite useful in allowing a “not to exceed” type control in line width for the average users.
Count: If it’s down to what Hobby Lobby carries, the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS, hands down. Mine is 8+ years strong with the same needle.
Keilau, I am not ridiculing you for your opinion, only pointing out that .35mm .54mm or .73mm is a meaningless number without some form of context. A novice is not going to understand what those numbers mean. And I agree that fine, medium and large aren’t any better, but Badger at least puts a size range for each type on their website. Looking at 1/16" to 2" lets me know quite accurately what the AB should be able to do. Pencil width is almost as useless. Is that a sharp or dull pencil width? [^o)]
I think you just said it all right there, Mike. Take it from the voice of experience - not opinion, people:
I’ve owned Testors’, Badger,generic, and Paasche. I’ve even used Iwata, and none of these expensive ones were any better than the testors. or Badger. The Paasche was the best in terms of ease of use, cost, flexability and features! I was sold on it,even after using the Iwata, and Thayer and Chandler brands. They just have pretty chrome, and nice built in unchangeable paint cups with the “one size fits all” paint nozzles, and the prestige of the name with the high price tag - nothing much more in terms of being better than anything else I’ve tried. I borrowed my friends’ Paasche VL after all the others broke, or wore out, or other problems that I had with them, and I was instantly satisfied with the results after adjusting it to the spray pattern I needed. This took less than a minute.
I understand people swearing by a certain brand because someone else uses it,and turned them on to it. I also understand those who swear by a certain brand because it’s what they’re used to thinking that it makes them a better modeler - but experience speaks for itself for many professionals,and amatures alike. Some companies pander to the whims of popular opinion, and offer something flashy, or shiny and attractive (the newer brands do this) in order to establish themselves in the market. This is just a strategy to get you to buy something that you really don’t need! I’ve used airbrushes for over twenty years, and I’m not just posting to win a popularity contest.
Use your best judgement . Ask yourself a few questions before buying:
Are you going to use this all the time?
What medium are you going to use it for?
What type of budget are you setting for how often, or how much you want, or need to use it?
What type of projects are you using it on?
How proficient are you at airbrushing?
What types have you looked at?
Who can you trust to give you a fair, and unbiased opinion?
How well do you know areosol based spray equipment?
What features are you looking for?
What all is required to use this equipment, and how much does it all cost?
Will this be a good return on my investment?
Does the usage really justify the cost?
How easy is it to get replacement parts when something wears out, or breaks?
What kind of warranty does each of these come with?
What kind of paints/solvents are compatible with this airbrush?
Do you need any special equipment to operate this tool safely?
Will this meet my needs?
Do I have to replace parts often?
Who can show me the difference between the brands on a finished project so that I can compare quality?
Most people won’t think this through to this degree, but read everything you can about the particular airbrush you’re interested in before buying. You don’t need the most expensive model to paint professionally. Start out with an inexpensive, or intermediary model that has more than one head, or tip on it,so that you can adjust, and figure out how to change, maintain, and get the most out of your airbrushing experience before graduating to another model, or more expensive brand. A Rolls Royce in the hands of someone who can’t drive a stick shift is like giving a scapel to someone, and having them operate! It doesn’t make sense to buy the most expensive one when you’re starting out. Just because it’s expensive, that doesn’t mean that it’ll make you a great painter, YOU have to make yourself a great painter no matter whos’ airbrush you’re using.
If you can get a pencil thin line with your airbrush - then that’s a good airbrush!!! No one needs a line thinner than that. If you want to write checks with it - a pen will more than suffice! It’s impracitcal to think that you need a line any smaller than this, and it also means that if you can get a line this tiny, that you’ve mastered adjustment of one of these. If you need something smaller - a regular artists’ paintbrush will do for something as small as a D&D figurine! This means that you no longer need an airbrush, as this is not what they’re made for.
I have a friend that has a Paasche endorsement and I also have a few photos that he sent me using a Paasche on the very projects that got him the endorsement in the first place. I can’t post the photos here as they’re copywritten, but I can give you the website when I get the URL - I’ll post it here.
Here’s where you can buy airbrushes of all kinds: WWW.BEARAIR.COM
~ Cobra Chris
Love the squirrel in your siganture line, Cobra!!
Even with the 40% discount coupon from Hobby Lobby you can do better getting an airbrush on the internet. The prices at Hobby Lobby are inflated so they can give you the discount.
Also you are not limited to Iwata and Paasche.
I have found that Chicago Airbrush Supply has very good prices and includes free shipping.
Tyamada, excellent link for when I want to update Video Studio 11, but I think this is a better link to Chicago Airbrush!:
http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/
[;)]
Could have been a far worse incorrect link!
[whstl]
Soooo, Count, after reading the various input here, are you any closer to making a decision on an airbrush? Just curious as to what you come up with. Whatever the choice, be sure to post your initial comments or “review” (and maybe a few pics of your initial work!)
Sorry about the bad link, didn’t keep my eye on the ball. I went back and corrected the link.
LOL! No harm, no foul.
Done it myself. You copy something, then think you copied something else and paste without really looking. Darned clipboard and it’s darned long memory!
Second.
With the 40% off coupon, the Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS or the HP-CS at Hobby Lobby beats any internet price from other Iwata dealers. They also carries the nozzle and needle for both. Replacement parts will be cheap and readily available when you need them.
Hobby Lobby does not carry the Paasche Talon or the Millennium at my location. The old VL design does not feel as comfortable as the modern ones in hand.
If you consider mail order, the Hardee & Steenbeck at Chicago Airbrush is a very good deal too. I got a Evolution Silverline Solo shipped free and 10% off the price.
No Keilau I am sorry but it is you who are missing the real relevant points here as usual!
The diameter of the needle and tip don’t mean much and I have even heard you say so. Why now are you reversing yourself? I have told you over and over ad nauseam that needle taper is the determining factor of an airbrushes line width and I have also seen you echo that comment as well. Do you think the airbrush manufacturers should also give out the needle taper diameters as a selling point?
Some people really need to get educated on what an airbrush can do and why and stop nit picking the measurement details which mean little to nothing to 98% of those using them! [8-)]
Once you add the sales tax it’s a toss up on the Hobby Lobby price.
As I said before Hobby Lobby only carries Iwata and Paasche, why limit yourself to just two companies.
I bought a HP-BCS at Hobby Lobby awhile back with a 40% discount coupon and found out later that I could have save $10.00 by ordering from the internet.
Mike,
There are 2 issues here.
First, does the airbrush buyer deserve to know the nozzle diameter before they buy. I said “yes”. How much the nozzle diameter influences the line width is not the issue.
The second issue is the needle taper. You are right that it is one of the most important performance driver. The taper of an Iwata Eclipse fine needle is twice (2 times) the taper length of a Badger Patriot fine needle. And I can feel the difference of the two with the advantage going to the longer taper Iwata. The large nozzle needle of the Iwata (0.5 mm nozzle) has a taper that is 50% longer the Badger fine needle taper (also 0.5 mm nozzle).
I am not an aritist and do not do free hand details. But I like the linear, gradual transition of the longer tapered Iwata for the feel of control it gives me in regular modeling. I care less about how fine a line it can draw.
If you are proposing that the manufacturers should spec BOTH the nozzle diameter AND needle taper length, I am all for it.
Just like the displacement and horsepower of an engine does not determine how well a car drives, but the manufacturer should include those information in the car spec.
The poor horse has been dead for a while now…
And if an airbrush cost thousands of dollars, it might be more pertinent. However, so far I’ve never seen any airbrush manufacturer state the taper length on their websites, and while most state the needle diameter, most don’t tell you what that actually means. So as specifications they are useless. As useless as HP specs on cars without some idea of how that HP is applied. All I care about is how thin, and how fat of a line can I spray. Badger will tell me that. Most other airbrushes won’t. Needle diameter and taper is just so much fluff.
Let’s look at it this way, The Porsche 911 GT3 RS has a 3.8 liter flat 6 putting out 450hp and costs $136,000 as a base model. The Lotus Exige SC has a 1.8 liter inline 4 that puts out 240hp and costs $75,000.
Which is faster?
You don’t know, do you? At least, not from those specs. I haven’t told you weight, torque or a whole slew of other specs that will help.
Fact is, they accelerate from 0-60mph in the same 4.0 second time. The Porsche weigh in at 3082 lbs, and the Lotus is a svelte 2077 lbs. The Lotus will show up the Porsche on the track, too.
But the Porsche will make your leggy blond girlfriend much happier! Which is the better car? Much harder to say, as both are created as toys for boys who spend their weekends on the race course. Your leggy blond friend just left with the guy in the Jaguar!
Come on Bill…I can’t believe you missed this one, especially since you gave us the answer! The one that makes my leggy-blond girlfriend happy is obviously the better of the two!!! …to be honest (and killjpy is right about the horse) I’m not sure what the arguement is anymore. As a novice modeller (8 years now), I’ve found what I like and don’t like about my airbrushes. When looking for a new one, the eyes are drawn to both price and needle/nozzle size, as that is what is commonly called out. But you are also right that the size line one can create is what I am looking for (both wide and narrow). Does that mean you are both right?