I’m looking to buy a paint booth (unless I were to see some great plans) . I’ve been reading the forum, reading peoples’ web sites, etc. for information. Obviously, if money were no option ;-D I’d have a manufacturer custome build me one! So I am looking for something I won’t regret spending the $$ on.
I’ve seen recommendations for Paasche, Artograph’s 1530, Pace Industries Peace Keeper (by PACE Enterprises). I’ve also seen recommendations for a “downdraft” style (like Artographs) vs. an “updraft” or “rear” exhaust. What is the benefit/drawback to each??
I am looking to hear a number of ideas from people as far as what they’ve used (that’s still on the market, of course), what they’re currently using, or what they’re looking for in a new booth.
What do you like/don’t like what you’re using now?
I’ve got an Artograph 1520. My housing has been in flux for the last few months, so it’s boxed up and I haven’t used it in awhile, but here’s what I recall:
The 1520 is a good sized booth (15"x20"; a 1/48 F-14 would be a VERY tight fit, but I had little problem with a 1/48 F-15). The fans come off as being a little underpowered; it’s OK for airbrushing, but I would not recommend opening your double action all the way or at very high pressures, and using rattle cans is almost out of the question.
The downdraft aspect of it is pretty cool… basically, since both gravity and the fan are drawing the air downward, you can get away with a lower air velocity at the face of the booth. The charcoal filters are cool too in that they pick up most of the odors so that venting outside is not absolutely necessary (I didn’t with enamels or acrylics and didn’t seem to have any problems, but I’m not sure I’m courageous enough to try the same with lacquers). (Other booths sometimes use furnace filters, which would be equivalent to the pre- and middle filters of the 1520; the Artographs are the only brand I know of that use a charcoal filter)
The booth comes with a cardboard hood, but I would strongly recommend spending the extra money to get the metal hood with the plexiglas window up top; other retailers like Artograph and Testors repackage and sell the 1520 as their own (usually with the metal hood included, though in my case it was cheaper to buy them separately). It is a bit smaller than the cheaper Paashe, but it’s supposedly a lot lighter and to me fits better on a table.
To the best of my knowledge, the Artograph 1530 is essentially an upsized 1520 with 2 fans, and only comes with the metal and plexiglas hood.
Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with it, and would definitely buy it again.
That being said, a number of plans are available online. For a fairly decent overview, I’d recommend you start here:
I would love to build one however anyone that models big planes …its pretty tough if not impossible.
Do any of you ever spray outdoors in nice weather???
If you build smaller scale pieces I would look at the badger.
one of the guys in my wooden ship building club http://www.rkymtnshipwrights.org built one from stuff around his workshop and i drew up some plans. you can take the blower off and it folds up on itself. big enough for the bluejacket model of uss maine (think 1/350). can send you the drawings if you are interested and he doesn’t mind. we are hoping to get the article published in Nautical Research Guild magazine.
I bought a Pace Peacekeeper (the big one) and it’s big enough to handle anything I need to do in it, and then some. To put it in perspective, the two planes in the booth are both 1/48 scale.
