I’ve been making and painting aircraft for years and I’ve always used brushes and now I want to start AB.
I do have a very tight budget to stick to which is under £100. Now I’ve looked on ebay (uk) and I have seen a few that have made look more than once but I would like to know are they any good for a stater. I know also your have to take what they are selling at face value but I need someone to take a look first before I could be throwing my money away. I’ve looked all over Manchester where I live and I’ve been on many websites but I cant get anything on budget.
Is there a chance that anyone can take a look and advise me which one to get.
Many thanks to all that read this. I look forward to a responce.
Im just returning to modeling after a LONG break, & didnt even know there was such a thing as airbrushes before I took the break.
Anyhow, as well as starting a kit stash & getting some tools together, one of my priorities is getting an airbrush - not knowing jack about them & being a sado, I have done quite a bit of research, general opinions seem to go like;
Gravity fed is most suited to airbrushing, don’t go for any plastic bodied brushes, use acrylic paint (for starters anyway), dont go for anything that uses propellant cans.
Have a look at www.airbrush-pro.co.uk for some affordable & apparently reasonable quality airbrushes & compressors, £80 seems to get a reasonable start. On the subject of compressors, if noise is an issue for you, you could consider using a co2 bottle - you can get a bottle & required regualator for about £40 if you local gas supplier is kind enough to wave the cylinder rental.
I’m sure that there are others here who can advise with plenty of experience behind them, but above is what I have learned so far.
Hannants sells the Badger line, and my typical suggestion is the 100LG which shows on their website for £99.99 which is a ridiculous price for an airbrush that sells in the US for $70!
The Airbrush Pro website looks to be pretty decent. The BD-180 looks to be a good buy at £29.95 which is about $62.
See if they sell the AS186 compressor/tank combo seperately (it should go for £60 or so), the tank helps settle the pulsing that the small diaphragm compressors have. The CO2 tank isn’t a bad idea, but I would constantly be worried about running out of CO2 at the wrong time!
The BD-180 looks like a clone of the Iwata Custom Micron C+, Iwata’s most expensive airbrush. The nozz.e size is only .02 larger and the body looks exactly the same. It might be a bit too fine tipped. This is the kind of brush I would use for weathering and shading on armor. It wouldn’t be the best for coverage on models, just tiny details and camo patterns. The BD-182 is an Eclipse BCS clone. I use a BCS for model painting it does fine, despite it’s large nozzle size. Of all the airbrushes on the page, I would reccomend the BD-130A, it meets in the middle with a good nozzle size for modeling. I Believe it’s an Iwata HP-C clone. Ditto what Bgrigg said about the compressor.
Thanks for you responce. You have given me a lot to go on which I do really thank you for. With a bit of luck I might be able to post some of my work on here.