I’ve picked-up a lot of interesting factoids in this forum. It’s quite unfortunate that I live in a third world country (Philippines). I have yet to come across some of the brands of airbrushes that most of you recommend (Iwata, Badger, etc.).
The only airbrush brands I’ve seen here is sold at Lil’s Hobby shop, and these are the Tamiya’s. I haven’t seen anyone make a comment regarding this particular airbrush. Maybe some of you have encountered this product and can share your experience.
This will be my first time to purchase an airbrush and would very much want to spend my money wisely. This particular A/B does not come cheap, at about $125.
Also, I have a 2HP air compressor, with a 1/4" air hose exhaust. Any of you guys know how I can couple this to an A/B (whether the Tamiya or another brand, should I decide to buy imported).
Well is you are looking for a GOOD A/B that don’t cost a lot try this link http://www.dixieart.com/Omni.html and look at the Omni 4000. I have that A/B and it’s a GREAT one.
And it also all depends on what you will be using the A/B for. If it’s just for Models then the Omni 4000 it is and it’s cheeper then the one you are looking at.
blu jade, [#welcome] to the forums[:D] You’ll find alot of great & helpful people on the boards.
I see you’re in the Phillippines. Where abouts are you?
Bud’s right & I’ve not heard anything on the Tamiya A/Bs before.
If all you see are tamiya ABs, i’d recommend their HG Double-action (or the newer double-action II with some redesigns to it) as a general purpose brush for any models you through at it. It can still do camos on 1/35 tanks and 1/48 aircrafts. I own the HG Superfine but the smaller cup and spray pattern will make it relatively harder to cover large areas, such as a 1/24 car. The trigger type is like the double action on its spec but is more recommended to do large area single color coverages for car and bike kits. So yea, the decision is gonna be based on what kits you build.
dixieart is based in US. so the shipping would probably kill the bill anyways.
This forum is unlike any of the ones I’ve invested time in. So many replies in such a small amount of time.
arch571, there is an HG superfine available here in the Philippines. I was thinking of getting that one instead of the trigger type HG. When I interiewed the saleslady, she informed me about the limitation of that particular model…saying that it had a miniscule paint cup.
As a background, I’m into Star Wars models right now, building my fleet from the Tie Interceptor, X-wing fighter and the Snow Speeder. I believe that these are 1/32 scale. Would you still recommend the HG super fine? It goes for $100 here. Oh, and by the way, I found a Badger 150 here in the Philippines. Would this be good for my requirements? Thanks a million!
bud, I live in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. I was hoping that there were some Filipinos enrolled here in FSM. I guess I’m wrong. Thank you very much for the extremely prompt reply.
blu jade, there is one modeler I know of in the Philippines. He’s around Cubi Pt. His name is sidewinder77. You’ll find him in Aircraft now & then.
The Badger 150 is a good A/B to use for what you have going. I have the 175 myself & I am happy with it.
If you do a search on here for the Badger 150 you’ll find alot about them.
There used to be a lot of Phillipino activity. IPMS Manilla had a contingent that frequented here. Dwight Ta-ala is from there. Dwight still hangs around, but where did everyone else go??
I’ve only seen pictures of the Tamiya brush your talking about. Iwata makes one too. If you can order from Dixie Art the 150 is a very good brush, so is the 100LG and I’m not just saying that because I own both.
Since this is gonna be a one brush do it all, I’d personally pick the HG Superfine over the 150, unless you can get the 150 for around $50. The reason being that the 150 is siphon feed, while it offers more paint for and overall coat for the larger panels on the X-wing, when it comes to smaller details and more intricate weathering, a gravity feed cup on the Superfine would perform better. Plus the Superfine also offers a preset handle which allows you to get really consistant fine lines. Being a small cup, though not as tiny as the Iwata HP-BH’s, it can still cover most of your kit as this airbrush actually is pretty stingy when it comes to spraying out paints. Another question is also what type of paint you use. If you use enamel paints then you are better off with the 150 with medium tip. If you use Tamiya acrylics, or Gunze acrylics, from personal experience I can assure you the Superfine though having a tiny .2mm nozzle can handle the job without a problem as long as you thin the paint to the consistency of milk. (actually mentioned in the Superfine manual…)
and yea, if you can actually find the 100LG with a medium tip for around $60 or so, go for that. i have used it for a while as well, and to me it’s pretty close to be on par with the Tamiya HG double action.
First off, let me just say that this is the best forum ever. I am at awe at the speed and content of the replies to my posts!!!
When you say that the 150 is at par with the HG, does it mean that it only makes the grade? The reason I ask is that the HG sells for on $100 (no nothing included), while the 150 is being sold at $125, including the hose and some attachments. Is the differnce worth it?
By the way, I also chanced upon a Badger Crescendo 175 set here. Is this any good? Comparable to the 150? How about the HG?
Well it’d be better if I can get a second opinion on this since I am probably the only guy that uses a Tamiya superfine here that’s online regularly… I was a Tamiya addict when I was growing up building models, and the Superfine was bought for sentimental values, aside from the fact that no one else had a clue how its performance are compared to its Iwata cousins. So I had to try it out. And to my surprise, the smaller cup was actually able to go through an entire upper hull of a 1/35 panther tank without a problem + leftovers.
The Tamiya “High Grade” is just a name. That’s the only line they offer… The 150 is built with definitely good quality (The Tamiya/Iwata/Gunze airbrushes have a slightly nicer chrome coating to them, but that’s just bling factors. =P ), I am not gonna question that. My point was that the 150 being a bottom siphon feed airbrush requires you to be using higher air pressure to pick those paint up from the bottle. And all experience ABers know that if you want thinner finer lines, you have to dial down the pressure, most of the time under 10psi. That’s when a gravity cup top feed airbrush shines. The 100 series from Badger is an example of that, together with the Tamiya regular double action one and Superfine. Also to me, a gravity cup is a lil easier to clean than a siphon feed AB since you can see everything. So to find an airbrush suitable for you that does all you can throw at it, with the set parameters (what models to paint, paint type choices, availability, location), it’d be Tamiya double action > Badger 100LG > Tamiya Superfine > Badger 150 > Badger 175. Though one thing that people will always mention to you, is that practice makes perfect. An experience hand can use the 150 to do just as nice work as the more expensive ABs. But for starters, I’d still say keep it simple and get a nicer all round brush to practice with.
The price tag of $125 for the 150 set is high as hell due to the import fees and all. Here the set sells for about 90 bucks with the airbrush itself sells for about 60. Tamiyas are around 100 street/ebay price and a crap load more at retail price tag. The hose is something you definitely will need and goes about 10 to 15 bucks for a separate one. The extra attachment you see are just more jars for the airbrush and a full set of 3 size tip/needle set, from which you will be mostly only using the medium size set anyways, as the fine set are close to too fine to be used for even acrylics since it’s designed for pretty much ink for illustrations. Does that justify the price increase, you be the judge.
Keep in mind you also need to spend more for an aircompressor that’s prefereable with a regulator and a moisture trap, so you need that on your budget list too.
Edited:
Scratch the compressor comment. For a Tamiya AB you can just use any Iwata or Gunze or Richpen compatible airhose since they are the same fitting on the airvalve. The hose that comes with the badger set should be a 1/4 in fitting already so it will fit your compressor without a problem.
Just some on the side stuff for the tamiya brushes, as there is close to nothing more online, since Iwata is pretty much heading the japanese market here nowadays, even though Tamiya and Gunze ABs are from the same factory. Those Richpen apollo series are pretty much the same as the older Iwata HP-B, C line.
A quick though old review from andrew dextras, that half sounds more like an advertisement. haha. but probably one of the best modeler out there who uses Iwata and Tamiya airbrushes (probably endorsed anyways though).
A full article on the leo2 you see in the previous link.
I also have an Osprey published Modelling the M113 Series book written by Graeme Davidson who uses a Tamiya Superfine for general duty and a Iwata custom micron B for weathering.
I have a Crescendo 175. I Learned to airbrush with it, its a fine brush, and its very reliable. The double action can be a little tricky to get used to, but after you beat that, its a great brush! Good luck Blu Jade!
Ryan, Colin, You guys are the best! I’ve already placed an order for the 150 that should be here by mid October (that’s still pretty far off from now, but I’ll be travelling most of the time from now til then). For the meantime, I’ve already purchased the HG superfine. I just have to look for the hose that will fit it. Most of the hardware stores here dont carry the hose needed for these tools. This here is a great community. It just makes feel all the better that I’ve picked-up on this hobby once again. Both of you are right on the button. Nothing beats practice. I guess that’s why Tiger Woods is the number one golfer, and why Maria Sharapova just won the US Open…
Blu Jade, Badger makes adapter pieces to use a 1/4 inch hose. I’m sure if your store can get the airbrushes, they can get you one of those, heck, they might even have one? Another, probably cheaper way, is to go down to your local hardware store and look at the brass fittings in the plumbing section. You should be able to find a varity of fittings to bend, reduce, enlarge, and adapt your current airhose to the airhose on your A/B. I currently have these type of brass fittings on my car for oil pressure and transmission tempature gauges with no problems, and the oil pressure regularly sees over 100 psi when its cold, so I doubt you will have to worry to much about using them for 20 psi of air.