Help me decide between these two Iwatas.

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I am going to treat myself to an Iwata gravity feed and have narrowed it down to these two options.

  1. HP-C plus

  2. Eclipse HP-CS

The HP-C plus is about $40 more. Does it have any real advantage? Is it money well spent? Pros and Cons of these or personal opinions welcome.

This will be used as my fine detail/general painting brush and my Badger 155 Anthem will be my large coverage and Future brush. I will spray mostly acrylics but at times enamels and occasionally lacquer so the odd solvent will go through.

Thanks guys!

2

Uh-oh. My wife thinks if I get a new airbrush she should get a new faucet for the kitchen. But we rent, that would be a waste of money. She thinks having two airbrushes is a waste of money. So then I pointed out how much her smoking costs per month. Wrong answer. Oye.

I don’t drink or smoke, all I have is good food and modeling. lol.

3

I myself am still a novice but have read a ton of older threads which have been very helpful on this very issue. I just ordered an HP-CS from Coast Airbrush (very nice and helpful people, BTW). As I understand it, the HP-CS is real good for the heavier pigments we use with modeling paints. You can also pick up a 0.5 mm n/n combo to spray even heavier paints if one chooses. The reliability of the Iwatas seems to be outstanding, as well. I’m waiting patiently for mine to arrive!

4

HP-CS! Great performance ( hairline if practiced ), parts are cheaper, and as stated, can handle heavier pigments if needed.

E

5

Yes I got it in gear and searched out some old threads.

Looks like it’s an HP-CS.

6

It’s done. One HP-CS on the way. Ordered from an online store in Ontario for 103.99 USD. A good price.

7

My 2 cents:

I use the Iwata Eclipse for just about all General Purpose work (all acrylics). The airbrush it self is top notch: great quality, easy dissasembly for maintenance and easy to use. The only downfall is it doesn’t spray hairline patterns, at least with the factory set-up (or maybe it’s me who is the problem!).

I have to switch to a second AB for fine detail, but if I could have only one, the general purpose Eclipse is a real workhorse. The HP is a step above the Eclipse, but as you said, more expensive. I’d make your choice based on what your airbrushing needs/preferences are.

8

I got the Eclipse and I love it. I swear it has magical properties! [(-D]

9

Hey Niall,

I think you will enjoy and have fun with your new HP-CS.
I’ve been playing around with mine for awhile now and can achieve pencil line to 2 inch patterns rather easily. My friend at his bodyshop has no problem with the hairlines… lot’s more experience LOL. He guided me towards the CS rather than the C+. He proved to me I wouldn’t need the 0.2-mm nozzle, that the 0.35-mm will suffice. Iwata’s folks told me for spraying our heavier paints (not ink or dyes) that I wouldn’t notice much difference between the 0.2-mm and the 0.5-mm nozzles.

I started with the BCS as I spray mostly car models one color (also the wife wanted to do T-shirts and I’m spraying 1:1 car graphics). But the cup on the CS holds enough paint that I am using the CS now for my models. I do use a Vega 600 though for primer or clear top-coat finishes.

Don’t forget - play with the paint consistency, air pressure and distance from the object besides the trigger. [swg]