My old Badger 350 has just packed up, leaking air all over the place & refusing to draw paint from the cup. I used it mostly for clear coats where accuracy & fine spray isn’t too cruical.
Consequentially, I’m looking for a replacement, but I’m not sure whether to get another “cheaper” airbrush and continue to use my Crescendo as my main 'brush, or to get hold of a good detailing airbrush, as the Crescendo doesn’t seem that great at fine work, even with the fine tips installed.
I’d like to keep to Badger 'brushes if possible as I know them & have plenty of spare cups, but as always, I’m not entrenched in my point of view.
Well, I have a Badger 175 which’ll be my main brush and, I have a cheapy single action bottom feeder from Harbor Freight which is a 1/2 decent general purpose brush which I’ll use for future coats where accurracy doesn’t really apply. By the way, the it’s similar to the Badger (a copy infact) the bottles work on either. Just my[2c]
Mike - have you tried soaking the tips and heads in cellulose thinner? usually when mine would get clogged like that 30 min to a few hours in the cellulose thinner would eat anything in the way out…
If you are a Badger man, the Omni 4000 is a good brush I hear, but a 100LG with both a fine and medium head assemblies and neeldes would do you good. I would opt for the 100LG should I be in the market for a Badger, one: with both tips you can do anything you want, two: once you get good at it there is margin to get even better with fine lines and such.
What type of modeling do you do mostly? If it is 1/35 armor then the Omni 4000 is a good overall coverage brush with good detail ability as well. If you do 1/48 and 1/72 aircraft however, the 100Lg would be just what the doctor ordered… ability for all over coverage and some pretty good detail with the medium combo and some downright serious ability with the fine nozzle for stuff like 1/72 Luftwaffe mottle and the sort…
Tom - I tried soaking the old 'brush in cellulose thinners, but no joy - if anything, it got worse. It’s of an age where I won’t bother trying to fix it any further, so I think I’ll be dumping the tips on eBay to try to recover a few bob of my original outlay in about 1984!!! It did lie in a cupboard for 20 years while I was away from the hobby, so I don’t think it owes me much [;)]
As to what I model, I mainly do 1/48th scale planes, with a few 1/72nd scale items if they’re the only game in town, or 1/48th would be too big. Yes, I also like Luftwaffe stuff, so I can see some mottle in my future… I’ve experimented with that using my 175 Crescendo, and it seems a little heavy handed (or is that me?) for the task. Sounds like the 100LG could be my option then… will look into it further, thanks [tup]
Mike, I think you’ll be happy with the 100LG from what I’ve heard, it is pretty universal[:D] Don’t think anyone’s had any complaints on it.[tup]
I have the 175 & I’m happy with it & I like the feel of it in my hand[:P] I’ve been doing alot of practicing with it Tom[tup][tup] It has a bit of weight to it but, feel it’s fairly well balanced. I’m currently running at 40 psi but, that’ll change once my regulator comes in this week[swg] Then I’ll be busy turning it down & gettting closer to the surface[yeah]
I think that’s probably something I need to do. Fortunately for me, my compressor, a Sil-air came with a moisture trap & regulator built in, but I do tend to leave the pressure at about 15psi almost all the time.
What sort of pressures should I be looking at spraying Polyscale & Xtracrylix through the 175?
Try starting out around 18-20 lbs and see how that works.
If the paint is being picked up and atomized well it is enough pressure, if not then turn it up a bit more.
The Crescendo with a medium needle/tip will spray as fine as any Badger with that needle/tip combo, the only downside is that the siphon-feed models need a bit more pressure to reliably pick up paint from the cup which translates to having a harder time with controlling overspray.
MikeV, Thanks for that info. This 175 is my first Double-action & I do notice there is a difference between it & that cheapo single action from Harbor Freight I was using. I’m looking foreward to the arrival of the regulator (Paasche) from dixieart.
Yes Mike that is true.
Gravity-feed airbrushes can spray at lower pressures than any other type of airbrush because of the design. I spray mine at 20 psi maximum and usually at around 15 psi normally.
I have been running my 175 at 18 psi for quite awhile, but turned it down a little today, which gives me a little better control. It all depends on the user and how much or how little you thin your paint. I do everything with the 175 and haven’t had any problems, and have yet to use the fine head for it… maybe I should [:D] Oh, if you are going to be getting rid of the extra color cups…
LOL @ you guys fighting over my color cups! Haven’t you spotted the fact that I’ve still got a fully functional 175 that can use the same color cups?[:D]
Plus - I’m over here in the UK, so postage alone would kill ya [;)]
Tell you something though… I wish I’d found this section of the forum earlier. I’ve learnt more about airbrushing here in a few posts than I’ve learned by trail & error on my own [:I]
Oh, and btw - cellulose thinners works beautifully on even dried acrylic paint… eats thru it in no time!
mikeiw, I’ve been following this thread so, I was quite well aware of what you were talking about[^] I knew you were hanging onto the 175… My good buddy eizzle on the other hand has been sniffin’ too much CA glue or, was in direct contact with it too many times[;)] So, I thought I’d have a bit o’ fun with him[:-,][(-D][swg]
Speaking of sniffing chemicals, what do you guys use for a spray booth? I built myself one out of MDF with a bathroom fan extracting the stinky stuff out of the building, but it doesn’t seem to work too well… possibly because the fan is underpowered? I’m mildly asthmatic, and if I ever use even acrylics without a mask, I can feel the difference in my breathing… which can be a bit inconvenient when I’m out on my mountain bike the next day [#oops]
Mike, I do not have a spray booth as of yet[:(] although I’ve been considering building one once I get around to it. Seen some nice ones here & one thing I’ve noticed, people tend to use a kitchen fan in them with somesort of filter system vented to the outside. I don’t recall the size motor to use. Maybe eizzle or, perhaps MikeV can add more on this. I’m faorly new to the world of airbrshing & have been learning a great deal from people such as Tom (tho9900), MikeV and even Swanny just to name a few.