I posted this on another forum and thought it may be helpful here also.
I have of course updated my post from the other one and changed a few things that I thought were necessary.
I thought this might be helpful to those who ask this question so often.
The size of the airbrush needle and tip are dependent on the medium that is being sprayed. You cannot take an airbrush such as the Iwata Custom Micron and spray Model Master enamels through it and expect it to perform the way you want as the nozzle is too fine for enamels with such big pigments relative to the nozzle size.
Airbrushes such as the above mentioned Micron, as well as the Paasche AB Turbo, and the Badger Sotar were designed to handle very fine pigment mediums such as inks, watercolors, automotive urethanes, and fine pigmented acrylics. These were designed for the finest lines possible, but only with the mediums they were designed for.
Will they work with modeling paints? Yes, but not reliably and not without a lot of problems.
If you want an airbrush that will spray the finest lines possible with paints such as Model Master enamels, and others of similar pigment size then an airbrush like the T&C (Badger)Omni , Vega, Anthem, and 360, along with the Iwata Eclipse, Revolution and others like the Paasche VL are all good choices.
Just because an airbrush has a smaller tip and needle than another model does NOT mean it will spray a finer line, that is a misconception that people have. The finer tip and needle only means that it will spray a finer line with the medium it was designed for. That is why the Sotar with fine pigment acrylics will spray a finer line than my Omni 4000 in capable hands, but if you put Model Master enamels in the airbrush then the Omni will spray better than the Sotar for the most part. So just remember that the finer tip illustrator airbrushes are not necessarily the best choice when it comes to fine lines, it all depends on the medium being sprayed.
The most important factor as always is the skill of the user.
I could give a beginner an Iwata Micron CM and I could use a Paasche VL with a #1 or #3 tip and I bet I could get a much finer line as could many of you.
I think my buddy Scooter who has been in the airbrushing business for close to 30 years summed it up best when he told me recently:
“I can get just as fine a line out of a $10 Ebay sold Taiwanese knockoff as I can with a Sotar or Micron using the same paints. It isn’t the tool so much as it is the developed skill. A Ferrari can be more fun to drive, but a Toyota will get you there just as well.”
Mike thx for the post, Im starting to get a much better feel for airbrushing and if I want or need to upgrade and what i should get if I do. Thx again for all the help.
MikeV has made a very important post here regarding various airbrushes and their “fine tips”. As an example and for the benifit of other modelers I did a performance spray test using two airbrushes several years ago on rec.models.scale I’d like to share with you all to validate the difference between illustration airbrushes with their fine tips and hobby-designed AB’s with their larger nozzle/tips for achieving fine lines.
One of the airbrushes was the Iwata HP-C gravity-feed double action AB with a very small .3mm tip and the other was the time-tested, reliable 'ol Paasche-H single action bottom feed with the #1 tip(approx.5mm). For the test I used Model Master enamels thinned 2:1(paint to thinner) using it’s thinner for consistancy. Because some hobby paints differ in viscosity from bottle to bottle, I chose a color from the Model Master II line which according to Testors Documentation its paint formula is thinner in viscosity than the standard FS colors. To give both airbrushes a fare test I prepaired the paint even futher by shaking , mixing, straining and slightly warming it in warm tap water. Using a scrap model kit as the test subject I began shooting with the HP-C. To get a fine line I had to dail down the air presure a bit to around 9 to 10 psi, then barley pulled back on the trigger releasing a tiny dot of paint on the test models surface. The results was surprising to say the least; the atomization (tiny paint droplets broke-down by airflow) was ok but not the “super-fine” atomized soft mist as I anticipated. Instead there was some spatters along the spray line after every line I sprayed. Next I loaded the Paasche-H with the same paint, this time I dialed up the air preasure as suggested in the instruction manual that came with the airbrush to approx 30 psi. To get a fine line I very slowly turned the knurled knob on the nozzle to release a very tiny dot of paint. The result was awesome!, The spraying line measured approx 1/32 inch, finely atomized, soft mist with no splatters or specks! More impresive with the H is that I could hold this fine line consistanly with little to no clogs. It was evident to me that the Iwata HP-C with it’s smaller tip and nozzle required even thinner paint to get it to spray as advertised(or as I expected it to). So I took the same paint and thinned it 1:1(or 50/50 paint to thinner) , resprayed several lines on the test model and noticed the following significant differences in the paint (on the model). The spray characteristics were similar in the first test only this time the lines were more “satisfactory”, finely atomized and soft, measuring approx 1/32 inch. However the paint didn’t cover well, required several coats for even coverage. So as you can deduce from this simple test, the fact that the Iwatas .3mm tip would sway one to believe that it will produce magically perfect fine lines with our thicker hobby paint was not true. It was the old time tested Paasche-H with it’s larger #1 tip designed for thicker viscosity hobby type paints that acheived the fine lines I was looking for. Keep in mind what your needs are, ie. autos, large or small scale aircraft, sci-fi etc… to determine the airbrush suited for you. In the case of my test I needed to know which airbrush could help me free-hand airbrush the best soft atomized fine lines of at least 1/32 inch to 1/16 inch. I model small 1/72nd scale modern jets , some with intricate multi-color camo. These days the Iwata Revolution HP-CR, Eclipse HP-CS and Paasche-H I own are all designed for thicker viscosity hobby-type paints and provide excellent perfromance. I hope this post helps someone in their modeling endevours! Gook luck.
Thanks for that information, that was very imformative and should be very helpful to many. [tup]
Someday I am going to try a test like that with all of the airbrushes out there. Get somebody to buy them for us and we can both do independant tests and compare notes my friend. [:D][;)]
I had a guy on another forum disagree with me on this topic after I had said that airbrushes like that are specialty airbrushes. He said that he has been using the Paasche AB turbo for 10 years on models and disagreed with my statement that they were specialty airbrushes, to which I say he is wrong and an AB Turbo for modeling is absolute overkill. Maybe you can make it work, but as you found out with your HP-C it is no easy task and the AB Turbo shoots a much finer line than almost any, if not all airbrushes made. I have been told by many that it is the most difficult airbrush made to master and many people get rid of it out of frustration. [:D]
I think that some people buy these illustrators airbrushes just to be able to brag that they have a finer tip than the next guy. [swg]
I love to share what I’ve learned over the years with other modelers and I hate to see modelers make the same mistake I made with regard to selecting an airbrush and their expectations of it. I don’t have all the answers but hopefully it will provide some insite, if not it could be an expensive mistake they will not soon forget…I know I haven’t yet banghead]