Iwata HP-CS or Badger Patriot?

[MikeV]

Nice. This was done freehand with the Badger Omni 4000 which is about equal to the Patriot.

The exhaust stains were airbrushed freehand as well.

[garylee]

Great Skyraider!! What did you use for the exhaust stains? Those always give me trouble.

[randypandy831]

It’s totally personal preference. I’ve owned both an HP-CS and a Patriot. I sold the Patriot, and, of my four airbrushes, the HP-CS is my workhorse, far and away.

The Badger’s a fine brush, but had several quirks that I didn’t warm too:

• A tendency to spit when you depress the trigger. My H&S brushes do this too. Not a dealbreaker, but frustrating. Neither of my Iwatas spit.
• All-or-nothing paint flow. I forget if the Patriot’s needle is the double-taper or not, but it’s like the brakes on the Honda CR-V the wife owned. You get nothing, then suddenly you get everything. I prefer the linear action of the Iwata.
• The end cap. The CS comes with a cap you can easily seal with a finger to gargle the paint. You can also get a slick crown cap for it for close-in work. The Badger’s two prong setup you can’t gargle with, and I was always paranoid about catching the needle on the airbrush holder.
• The balled needle that you can only extract out the back. I prefer to extract the needle through the front after an intense painting session so I don’t smear paint all over the internals. Not possible with the Badger.

I’d also add that the CS can easily be converted from the .3mm needle it comes with to a .5mm needle/nozzle - I believe out of the CR or BR. The idea that needle sizes don’t matter is in my experience hogwash, at least on the same brush. There’s a very telling difference between the two on the CS.

It’s totally personal preference. I’ve owned both an HP-CS and a Patriot. I sold the Patriot, and, of my four airbrushes, the HP-CS is my workhorse, far and away.

The Badger’s a fine brush, but had several quirks that I didn’t warm too:

• A tendency to spit when you depress the trigger. My H&S brushes do this too. Not a dealbreaker, but frustrating. Neither of my Iwatas spit.
• All-or-nothing paint flow. I forget if the Patriot’s needle is the double-taper or not, but it’s like the brakes on the Honda CR-V the wife owned. You get nothing, then suddenly you get everything. I prefer the linear action of the Iwata.
• The end cap. The CS comes with a cap you can easily seal with a finger to gargle the paint. You can also get a slick crown cap for it for close-in work. The Badger’s two prong setup you can’t gargle with, and I was always paranoid about catching the needle on the airbrush holder.
• The balled needle that you can only extract out the back. I prefer to extract the needle through the front after an intense painting session so I don’t smear paint all over the internals. Not possible with the Badger.

I’d also add that the CS can easily be converted from the .3mm needle it comes with to a .5mm needle/nozzle - I believe out of the CR or BR. The idea that needle sizes don’t matter is in my experience hogwash, at least on the same brush. There’s a very telling difference between the two on the CS.

nozzles aren’t interchangeable on the CR and CS. they both have a different thread pitch. yeah, weird.

[keilau]

DoogsATX:

I’d also add that the CS can easily be converted from the .3mm needle it comes with to a .5mm needle/nozzle - I believe out of the CR or BR. The idea that needle sizes don’t matter is in my experience hogwash, at least on the same brush. There’s a very telling difference between the two on the CS.

nozzles aren’t interchangeable on the CR and CS. they both have a different thread pitch. yeah, weird.

You are right that the Revolution HP-CR and Eclipse HP-CS parts are NOT interchangeable.

You can use the Eclipse HP-BCS parts to convert the HP-CS from 0.35 mm to 0.5 mm needle/nozzle. You need the nozzle cap (# I 601 1), nozzle (# I 604 1) and needle (# I 617 1) to complete the conversion. I got all three parts for about $18 at Hobby Lobby. There are different between the two Eclipse nozzle sizes, but the difference is small compared to that between the Eclipse and the Patriot.

Interestingly enough, the Revolution and High Performance series needles ARE interchangeable. Cyrus Tan published an article on converting the HP-CR to 0.3 mm tip using the High Performance Series HP-C+ needles for $30. The nozzle and nozzle cap are from the Revolution BR. The article is still on the Iwata-Medea web site, but you cannot nevigate to the article from the site index anymore. I wonder why?

[DoogsATX]

Yeah it’s the BCS/BR parts that work on the CS, then, I think…got the swaps over a year ago so I’ve forgotten since then.

[MikeV]

Great Skyraider!! What did you use for the exhaust stains? Those always give me trouble.

That was thinned Model Master Acryl believe it or not.