are they made by the same manufacturer? They look similar… i hope someone can answer this question… Thanks
Yes they are.
yup, same for gunze brushes. though when i emailed Tamiya regarding parts availability they refused to give me any answers.
Haha, it’s kinda like Energizer and Eveready batteries! Same owners,different marketing strategies! knew they looked oddly familiar… BTW,found this site on the net…about Tamiya HG airbrushes…
http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/other/tamair/tamair.htm
Hmm…Interesting…
I use HG and it is a great brush. I had HP-CS in my hands and there are similarities. I think that HG share parts with CR and C.
I have just ordered Gunze airbrush so I will compare and make some report in forum 
I also noticed thad Wave brushes are very similar to Gunze/Iwata so probably they are manufactured in the same factory
Macio
Only my two ( Euro) cents
I too believed it, but someone who seems to know this world ( he has a shop in Paris and seems to know a lot about it) told me that only Iwata, Holbein, Richpen and I don’t remember which other one (not Olympos) were made at the Factory. I’ll quote him now " Tamiya and Gunze are Taiwanese crap, and moreover there is around 350 airbrush manufacturers in China". I don’t assume his words in any way, as I don’t know about it, but from speaking with him, who saw the Factory as he told me, there is a little more mystery in the subject. What does not impede those who are happy with this airbrush or that one to still be happy with it.
Ya know, I am having a good time with my Crescendo, and I don’t see where the reviewer gets that you can’t obtain good detail with anything but a Tamiya airbrush? Seems kinda biased if you ask me. Badger I know is made in the US, but others, I have no idea, I’m sure Tamiya is made in Japan or China, since they are based out of Japan.
Tamiya doesn’t even have a headquarter or assembly plant in China. Their older kits were all made in japan n the newer ones made in the philipines. As for manufacturer I thought BB Rich was based in Japan as well. Since when does production location really matter in these things? If one were to tell you oh hey the iwata custom microns are made in china would you stop getting them? For me as a consumer having the item that suits my need and does just as good of a job, looks and holds just as well, with equal build qualities, warranties (which allow us to exclude all those no name Chinese imitation airbrushes out of this discussion), and cost less available to me, heck I will buy it without second thoughts. Ask any badger 100 owners, and they will tell you that. = )
Just for specs sake, Tamiya HG double action or single action uses a 0.3mm nozzle which, if you really have to bring it up, is equivalent to the iwata HP-C/CPlus/CH. The HG SuperFine uses a 0.2mm nozzle which you find in same size on those HP-B/BPlus/BH abs.
I just started using a Badger 100SG with a medium tip and so far really enjoying it. The small built-in cavity really promotes easy color switching and cleaning when I do smaller details. The medium tip by human eyes looks bigger than the Tamiya SuperFine (own one but not really experienced with it). Comparing to those two the 155 anthemn’s nozzle looked…“huge”. I have a 100LG with a fine tip and a bunch of replacement fine and medium tips/needles on order from dixieart, so I will await to see how fine badger’s fine tip really comes out to be.
Macio4ever: If you have the HG SuperFine and got the Gunze 0.2mm, can you see if those two tips are interchangeable? 'cause that will make things REALLY interesting. of course by no means am I suggesting for you to force one tip into another and kill both brushes.
One interesting fact to note is that… I actually got the Tamiya HG SuperFine brush after reading THAT article. I have seen a bunch of andrew dextras’s works online and those were great. I don’t know if he is really biased towards the Tamiya brushes but what I do know is that guy uses custom microns for his models. There was this Mig15 that almost throw me back into modeling aircrafts.
If I remembered correctly, the author that did the Osprey’s modeling the M113 series book also used a HG SuperFine in it. Okay now it’s getting off-topic.
Why is everyone obsessed with nozzle diameter and always quoting the sizes?
This has become a selling ploy by them to make you think you are going to spray finer lines than the next guy. [(-D]
MikeV, you know how some guys are concerned about the size of their nozzle! [:P]
Ha, I know it doesn’t matter that much since the nozzle and needle matching design also has to be considered. but in a general way no matter how you tweak a 0.5mm nozzle you still can’t do the same line as a 0.2mm under its ideal low pressure low viscosity medium condition. it just doesn’t have the potential. of course being able to do that requires precision master level control anyways but at least gives us hope that one day if we are ever that good the airbrush actually can do its job and it ain’t false hope. Otherwise it’d be a wonder why the custom micron B uses a 0.18mm nozzle.
Mike, dont get me wrong, I do get your point. Heck it was your opinion that I took which led me to the 100 I am using right now. It’s just that Badger had theirs listed as heavy, medium, and fine and that sortar 20/20 as relative size. A 100LG with a fine tip sure will PROBABLY do finer lines than an 360 (both are gravity fed) with its 155 tip. Is that not the same to when you say an iwata HP-B 0.2mm nozzle will PROBABLY do better than the 0.35mm HP-CS? (under a good level of control and good enough experience with paint/thinner ratio)
and those who don’t come well equiped yaps about how “size doesn’t matter”.
Ouch! [BH] [V] [swg]
dude i was SOO kidding there. I see you guys as famiya but am definitely starting to get sick of this endless debate and think I should just learn to let it go like the rest of ya. = )
Me, too!
Well, yes and no.
It is the needle taper that makes the fine lines not the smaller nozzle.
The medium also matters as you mentioned but since we are talking about model paints here for this hobby and not watercolors and inks, it is irrelevant as to whether you use a .5mm or a .2mm nozzle.
With inks the .2mm is capable of much finer atomization and lines because of it’s design but put some Model Master in there and I could reliably spray a finer line than that .2mm could with my Omni 4000. [;)]
Once again the tip size is for the medium being sprayed not for finer lines necessarily.
ahhhhh… see now I am convinced. I definitely could not see that view before on my own. don’t use inks. XP
(I AM NOT THREAD JACKING… just trying NOT to get those two overly expensive hi-line iwatas. =P)
I ditto what Mike says. I own Badger ( 150,155,175,200 ), Paasche, Aztek, and Iwata airbrushes. Each is a good brush in it’s own right and each has it’s own little quirks, even the Iwatas. Okay, so the Aztek may have a little more, but Brett Green is proof that they can be overcome. Badger’s are my favorite for sentimental reasons. However, we must consider that the majority of brushes are marketed for different sectors, i.e. illustration, photo retouching,ceramics, etc. As stated previously, you can’t compare a Micron fill in the blank with a Crescendo ( just a for instance). Not the same class of brush and they were not meant to be. Crescendo and Paasche VL are closer rivals to each other. Iwata HP-C and Badger 150 are more a match than an HP-C and a Badger 350. An extreme example, but the point is made. So which is better? I look at it like this; talked to a guy painting very nice and pricey dog mats one day. He had a small army of Paasche VL’s with the handles removed. I asked why not Iwata or Badger brushes with chrome balanced cutaway handles since he was making a living at this. He said he had heard that both were very nice brushes, but he liked Paasche because that was what he was used to. Bottom line, the right brush for the user given the intended application. Happy airbrushing to all!
E