Werther compressor, good?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I’m looking for a new compressor and found a Werther 3 that seems nice. Does anyone know anything about it?

It looks like this:

I model 1/72 scale modern fighters. I live in Sweden and it’s quite hard to find a hobby shop with a wide range of compressors that are suited for airbrushing plastic kits. I know of some general hardware stores that sell compressors but I’m not sure they qualify. I live in an apartment so noise is an issue. Is the Werther 3 a good buy at 210$?

Do you have any suggestions or alternatives perhaps?
I’m not really a do-it-yourself kind of guy, more like the pick-it-off-a-shelf-and-be-done-with-it kind. [:)]

Any thoughts on this are most welcome!

/Marcus

2

Werther makes very high quality compressors. I believe they are manufactured in Italy and they manufacture all of the compressors for Silentaire which is the most popular silent compressor in the world.

The cheapest Silentaire, the Eco 20 runs $389 from Dixie Art

I just found the info on that Werther here: http://www.compressorsolutions.co.uk/wertherthree.html

It is 54 dB which is fairly quiet, but I wouldn’t call it a “silent compressor.”
By comparison a normal conversation is about 60 dB and a whisper is about 15 dB.
In comparison here are some dB sound levels of other compressors:

Iwata PowerJet - 55 dB
Badger Billion-Air - 30 dB
Silentaire Eco 20 - 30 dB

So that Werther is about the same volume as the Iwata PowerJet which is a popular illustrators compressor.
My Jun-Air by comparison is about 40 dB

I hope this helps [;)]

Mike

3

Thanks for the reply Mike, I’ve done some searching on google and found some info on the Werther 3 here: http://www.compressorsolutions.co.uk/wertherthree.html

It is oil-less, it has a small air tank (0,25 litres) and noise level is 54db. I don’t know what 45db of compressor noise sounds like, but I know that about 22db is almost silent.
More details are always welcome.

/Marcus

4

Marcus,

I revised my post above after you already posted. [:D]

Mike

5

Widen76 I currently run a Werther 3, purchased strangely enough from Compressor Solutions.

This is my first compressor, but so far I have been impressed.

It is pretty quiet, especially if you stand it on a mouse mat to reduce the vibration.

Maximum pressure appears to be about 15-20 PSI, with no pulsing.

It is also very compact, and is a piston as oposed to a diaphragm type compressor, which is unusual in hobby compressors of this size.

You might need to get an adaptor to connect your air hose. I got one with a pressure relief hole for about £5 from an air brush specialist in Worthing in the UK.

Karl

6

Mike, thanks for the info, nice to see some comparisons between different compressors.

KJ200: Is 15-20 PSI enough for spraying Gunze Sangyo acrylics, perhaps with a Badger 360?
Would a quick-connect be suitable to connect the airbrush to the compressor? And why are there two connectors on the front, are both used? How about pressure regulator?
Many questions at one time [:)]

7

I have found an online shop in Sweden that have the Sil-Air range and I was wondering if anyone have any experience of the Sil-Air 15/D or the Sil-Air?

8

Sil-Air are Silentaire and they are top-quality compressors.
I don’t know which model the 15/D is though as I don’t see it on Silentaire’s web site here: http://silentaire.com/sil_air.asp

Mike

9

Widen76 I use Gunze and Lifecolor acrylics with a Badger 200, so can’t see you having any problems with the your set up.

I also model mainly in 1/72, and have had no problems, even on larger subjects like Revell’s He177.

The thing that looks like an extra feed on the front is a relief valve, which I don’t use due to having a bleed hole in the adaptor.

A quick release would make sense, though I manage without at the moment.

Karl

10

Mike: I have also noticed that the Sil-Air 15D isn’t on the website and I don’t know if there are different product ranges for variuos parts of the world, might be. Here’s a link to a PDF-document (requires Adobe Reader) that shows the model: http://www.matton.se/kat7/42.pdf

KJ200:

I also have a Badger 200, but I was considering “upgrading” to a 360 or something in that range.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up, I remember an article in an old copy of FSM that described the method for manually drilling a relief valve in the adaptor, never got to that though [:)]

Thanks again for you answers, greatly appreciated!

/marcus

11

That is interesting. I do believe they have different products for different parts of the world because they even paint them different colors as I have seen.
Here in the U.S. the Silentaire are painted white, but I have seen them in blue on web sites in the UK and the ones you posted are in a red color.
I would send an email to Ernesto at Silentaire and give him a link to that model 15D compressor and ask his advice on whether he recommends it or something else. Ernesto knows compressors better than just about anyone in the country. http://www.silentaircompressor.com/default.htm

By the way, what language was that web site pdf picture you posted the link to?
Was it Swedish? [%-)]

Mike

12

Thanks for the tip, I will do that.

A good guess, Swedish it was. Seeing some of the strange letters of the alphabet in Swedish can be confusing at times (even for me sometimes! [:)]). Letters like the “o” with two small dots over it as in “Bjorn” in Bjorn Borg (the tennis player) are a bit special. You’re welcome to try and decipher the PDF and get back to me! [;)][:)] I’ll give you a hint: The header “Konstnarsmaterial” means “Artist’s utilities”. “Artist” sounds good to me, we’re modelers, right? [:)]