Melted Plastic

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I used my Aztek this morning to do some painting. I use MM Metalizer gun metal. After painting I cleaned it out with lacquer thinner till no paint could be seen on the microbrushes I used to clean it. Then I washed the whole thing with soapy water and let it dry. When I went to apply the sealer, the airbrush wouldn’t blow. No air was coming out. I took the airbrush apart and found that lacquer thinner had sneaked into the back of the airbrush and melted pretty much everything but the metal and the body. I don’t know how it managed to get back there, mainly since the soapy water bath didn’t get back into the airbrush. What a waste of money. Now I have no airbrush, and more importantly, no money. I’m looking into buying a cheap airbrush that is easy to clean. I only use airbrushes for large to medium coverage and not fine lines.

I’m thinking of purchasing this one:

http://www.bearair.com/prodinfo.asp?number=100022

or this one:

http://www.bearair.com/prodinfo.asp?number=100182

They are both cheap, but I have read on many sites that the Vega is really easy to clean. Of course, that’s what Aztek says. Iwatas are out of my price range.

2

Ryan - I own the 175 Crescendo and it is a good brush… (it’s what I abandoned my Aztec for) however for about the same prive the 155 Anthem might fit your needs more. What type of models do you build most? The 175 is better suited to overall coverage, it can do some detail work but the 155 is better at it. If you do a lot of armor the 175 will do you more than fine, but if you do 1/48 aircraft and such then another look at the 155 might be worth it as it does both moderate coverage and decent detail…

I haven’t used the Vega although it looks to be a good brush… maybe Mike can give better feedback on that one…

Good luck!!!

3

Iwatas are not much more expensive than what you have listed.

http://www.dixieart.com/Iwata_Revolution_Airbrushes.html

Iwatas for 65. No shipping charge.

4

Thanks for the suggestion Tank, but I don’t want a gravity feed brush, the ones I listed are complete deluxe sets and not just the airbrush with a few accesorries, and I have had bad service from Dixie Art. If money wasn’t a factor, I still would rather have a Badger over an Iwata.

5

A man after my own heart [:p]