I have never used an airbrush. Have been researching the subject. But there is a lot of options, not sure which one to get. I have Ridged air compressor. I know I have to buy an extra regulator and moisture trap. Not a big deal for me. Willing to spend up to $100 dollars. I guess I am leaning towards Iwata. Painting 1/35 th scale. This old man needs help!!!
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Any of the big name brands are fine. Just get a dual action gravity feed one, best for us modelers. A brush with a .3mm needle will be the most versatile. If you like airbrushing, you can then get other sizes like .5mm for priming. I recommend a press fit (also called self centering or compression fit ) nozzle and not a screw on nozzle. The screw ons are very small and fragile, easy to break in the airbrush when cleaning. Ask me how I know.
Iwata is going to be a bit more than $100 though except for the neo, which most people will not recommend.
I currently have a iwata eclipse hp-cs (.3mm) and a Gaahleri (.5mm). The later is a newish Chinese brand, most people either love or hate them. For the under $75 brush, I think they are decent.
Once you get one, especially if you use acrylic paint, you will wonder if you will ever learn how to use one. You will spend a lot of time figuring things out and cleaning. But you will get there, patience. When you finally get that first even coat, or faded effect, or freehand camo, it will be the big payoff. Good luck!
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I’m afraid you’ll be hard pressed to find an Iwata for under $100 unless someone is willing to sell you one of theirs used.
I have been using a couple Badger 105 Patriots for many years which do everything I, as a modeler , requires of it. They can usually be found in the $75-80 range.
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Like @waikong said, most Iwata airbrushes go for more than $100. I have one of the Neo brushes, I think I got it for roughly $80. But I have never used it as yet. I’ve been keeping it as a reserve emergency brush, as some time in the last year, I found myself in the unenviable position of having all of my airbrushes down for the count for one reason or another (damage to the tip or needle that I didn’t detect, poor cleaning regimens) and had sent all in to Iwata’s repair service at the same time.
My favorites are their HP-CS and HP-BH brushes. On Amazon the -CS is going for $170 and the -BH is going for well more than I actually paid for it (over $400 currently on Amazon, I paid half that)
This is what I’ve been using from the beginning. Dual-action. I practiced a lot on plastic first. You can find out what pressures works best for you, and how you need to mix your paint to thinner ratios.
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Ok thanks for the advice. I think I well take another look at the badger.
What paint is best for the beginner airbrush user?
Acrylics are probably best suited for you at this point. Be sure to thin them so you don’t clog your airbrush. Check the label on the bottle, but you can likely thin with water. What type of airbrush are you using? Is it a single or a double action model?
I had a cheap single action airbrush at first, it was an absolute nightmare to use. Didn’t help that I was trying to spray Revell acrylics, which are infamously super, ULTRA thick in the pot, and being new to the whole airbrushing thing, I was never able to figure out how to thin them properly.
I switched to Tamiya paints, and caved in and got a GSI Creos PS-289. Got it pretty cheap ( 150euros ). Also got a proper compressor unit with a tank and moisture trap. Way, way better.
I vaguely remember looking for a Badger, but I think I didn’t pursue that option because of the price. Depending where you are in the world, a brand may be cheap or very expensive. Bearcat mentionned a pricetag of 75-80 for the Badger 105 Patriots : it’s double that here ( on french amazon ) :o
There are multiple learning curves, from handling to cleaning, which goes hand in hand with knowing the paints you pour into it and their respective thinners - water based acrylic, alcohol based acrylic, lacquer, enamel…
It’s a jungle. It’s hard to navigate. But once it clicks, it starts being second nature. It’s still a lot more work than grabbing a brush and painting away, though. But it sure offers great results.
Be ready. There’s a learning curve to airbrushing. The biggest headache for me is the cleanup after or between colors. I find it takes me as long to clean up after using it as it does actually painting. Then there is the I guess my problem judging how much paint I’m going to need and what to do with the excess. I spray mostly enamel and lacquer paints, so putting it back into the regular paint bottle is a no no. I suggest getting some cheap card board or poster board to practice on. It’ll keep you from a lot of headaches. Good luck and like me the effects that are available for airbrushing will be a whole new world.
I moved from Snap-On’s Blue Point re-badge of a Badger siphon feed to Gaahleri’s GHAD-39 and their non trigger versions of the Mobius line during the big Christmas sale. The Blue Point worked but I hated cleaning it.
I quite like the Gaahleri air brushes. The GHAD-39 is more or less a standard but high quality Chinese gravity feed while the Mobius line has a fancy nozzle design and better finish through out. I’m not good enough at air brushing to say whether it’s worth it but they are well built and in your price range and I’ve had no issues. They do sell a water based acrylic paint line but right now, it’s only available in automotive, mecha, metallic, and primary colors so it may not be best suited to military, aircraft, and miniatures. Coming from Testor’s enamels, it’s a dream to use. No stink and prethinned. Not as hard as enamel and doesn’t dry as quickly as lacquer but that’s OK with me. They are still on sale as of today, 1/12/26.
If you are doing acrylics (which is what I use), get some retarder. A few drops will dramatically decrease tip trying. This one advice changed my acrylic airbrushing experience.