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I just bought my first airbrush compressor

DanKramer1138

DanKramer1138

Member
Yeah, I must be getting into this whole modeling thing pretty hard. I just dropped the cash for this thing when I've never used an airbrush before. :silly:
After I'm sure where my play-money is at when this payment clears, then I'll look at a hose and an airbrush.

My plan is to get a cheap double-action brush to learn with, then upgrade to a name brand nice one once I know what I'm doing.

Any tips for a first time airbrush painter?
 
Tips, practice practice practice. Share your testing with us and we'll be glad to help. I think it's wise to start off with a double action.
 
I watch many YouTube vids, and it was always mentioned that single action just isn't as useful. That's also why I went with a compressor with a tank. I think this will serve me longer without wanting to upgrade to remove any possible pulses in the air pressure.
I have a number of scrap pieces to practice on, so I'll share what I do here. I don't want to screw up all my hard work on the Falcon build with a bad paint job.
 
I think the trickiest thing you're going to run into is how to get the paint thinned enough. An old friend years ago taught me the dip test. Dip a needle or piece of wire in your paint, if it beads up, drop and beads up again but just hangs there, it's thin enough to airbrush. I don't put a lot of stock into exact ratios of paint to thinner, just what works best for you in what you're trying to achieve.
 
I have no idea about that particular air compressor but the tank should take care of any pulses in pressure .

One of the most important thing for me was a regulator and a gage easy to read and set . To me , it is important to have those things within arm's reach.

I learned to ( kinda ) paint with a single action brush but it was not long before I traded it in for a dual action.

What sort of paint do you plan on using ?

Cheers, Christian B)
 
Thanks for the tip Moon Puppy. That sounds like an easy way to check the thinning of the paints.

I'm not sure Phantom II. As far as the generalities, I'm looking at going acrylics so I can paint in my apartment spare work room without concern of fumes and easy cleanup. For brand, I don't really have any yet except for a few bottles of Reaper Master Series I got at a closing Hobby Town USA.

Any good recommendations for someone starting out who's watching his budget? My main kit is the DeAgostini Millennium Falcon that Heaven's Eagle is building, and I'm mainly drawn to sci-fi projects.
I will have that A7V and the planes from chukw as my first military projects.
 
I'm looking at inexpensive starter airbrushes, but I'm not sure what tip size would be good for general purpose and learning. I'm seeing a range from .2mm through .5mm for the most part.
Am I correct in thinking that the smaller the needle, the smaller the spray line it can achieve?
 
DanKramer1138 said:
I'm looking at inexpensive starter airbrushes, but I'm not sure what tip size would be good for general purpose and learning. I'm seeing a range from .2mm through .5mm for the most part.
Am I correct in thinking that the smaller the needle, the smaller the spray line it can achieve?
Click to expand...

You are correct in your thinking,

.2mm is the best option.
 
Not sure on that type of paint since I have never seen it here.

A lot of people are using Tamiya paints and Vallejo as they both seem to be particularly easy to find now days.

They however work with different thinners , so keep that in mind.

If your builds are going to be as large as the Falcon, I would say that somewhere between 3.5 to 5 would be about right for acrylics.

The 3.5 being good for detail and the 5 probably more useful for overall spraying although you will still find yourself making a lot of passes on something that size.

A Badger brush might be a good idea as some of them come with different size needles and some good deal are available. Just a thought .

Try looking on the web site under garage sales .

Cheers, Christian B)
 
The airbrushes I use Dan are Badgers. My first one is an ancient model 100 siphon feed single action. I finally upgraded to an LG100 dual action many years later. While it was a decent airbrush out of the box, I found it needed a tweak in the base area of the cup. Like blueprinting an engine head on a car not all the paint would flow down and out the tip. Once I fixed that it was an awesome airbrush! I still have it and have used it so much the plating on one side is partly worn through.

When I decided to get back into modeling a while back one of the first things I did was to build a paint booth. I used masonite, acrylic sheet, a couple of 4 inch instrument fans and some plastic dryer ducting. It makes a big difference and have an insert I can put in the window to blow all the fumes and dust out.

Currently I have the Badger Krome dual action and really like it. The gravity feed cups are real nice and this has a large cup. I did go ahead and do my smoothing thing in the bottom of the cup. It came with both a small needle and tip as well as a large needle and tip. I think it cost me about $125 which isn't bad for a nice dual action brush.

Another brand that a lot of people seem to like is IWATA. I don't know much about them, but they seem to work well for folks.

There is a lot more, but that is a start.
 
Okay, I took the plunge on a starter brush.
I think this is a good start for me, as it had the double action, gravity feed cup with lid, the hose, and multiple sizes of needles/tips for me to play with and experiment.

So, thoughts? Did I choose okay? :tomato
 
DanKramer1138 said:
Okay, I took the plunge on a starter brush.
I think this is a good start for me, as it had the double action, gravity feed cup with lid, the hose, and multiple sizes of needles/tips for me to play with and experiment.

So, thoughts? Did I choose okay? :tomato
Click to expand...


It sounds good but the defining factors would be what brand and how much you had to give up for it.

Other than that, I think you made good choices .

Cheers, Christian B)
 
Just a heads up, and I might be wrong. Looking at the picture and in the one of the box, it looks like there is a knob on the back end of the airbrush that looks like the paint adjustment knob on my old Badger single action. The needle attaches to that and you unscrew it to adjust paint flow.
Not a biggie as a beginner brush as I came to a point where I could adjust the needle on that first brush almost as if it were a dual action.

I guess you will know for sure once you have it in hand. Otherwise only by using it will you know if it is any good or will work for you.
 
I figured I'd play with this and get a feel for style and needle sizes I like. Then buy a name brand one with the stuff I know I want. And it's not a bad thing to have a second brush on hand as a backup.
 
Not to rain on your parade, but I just want to caution you about expectations with that airbrush.

Airbrushes are an incredibly simple tool, it just blasts air around a nozzle that sucks paint in a controlled stream, thereby atomizing it.

The expensive brushes aren't any more complicated than the cheap, it's just the tolerances and materials are better. Needles are ground finer, nozzle fit is better, air passages are smoother, etc.

Bottom line is a better built brush will be easier to get good results with, a cheaper one will be harder to use and clean. It's the same with starting out figure painting. I see guys all the time struggle with results because they don't want to spend $15 on a sable brush when they can grab 10 brushes for $5 at Michaels. Truth is, that Kolinsky sable brush will make them a better painter and will last a hundred times longer.

My first AB was an Iwata HP-BC2 that was well over $300, 30 years ago. It's still my main brush and a similar quality can be found for a little over $100 these days with the internet and the Japanese market.

Again, I'm not trying to discourage you or spend your money, I'm just trying to keep the frustration level low. If you have a hard time with that brush, don't give up on airbrushing.
 
Point taken. That makes a lot of sense, and I'll keep that in mind as I practice. I do intend to get a good one, I just want to be sure what features I want to invest in.
And right now it's also a money thing. I still need to get paints and a spray booth before I can really do anything with this.
 
DanKramer1138 said:
Point taken. That makes a lot of sense, and I'll keep that in mind as I practice. I do intend to get a good one, I just want to be sure what features I want to invest in.
And right now it's also a money thing. I still need to get paints and a spray booth before I can really do anything with this.
Click to expand...

Just wanted you to go in eyes open.

In terms of a spray booth, you can easily build one that not only will out perform any hobby setup, but will be much cheaper.
The key is a squirrel cage motor. That keeps the airflow out of the the motor area like you'd get with a typical fan. Any flammable paint (including Tamiya 'acrylic') get's compressed in an airflow, acting like a carburetor. Add spark and well, yikes. A squirrel cage is designed to keep the motor outside of the fan (as well as being more efficient). It's the best solution short of a true explosion proof motor, which are ridiculously expensive. When I built my first booth, I set a 350 cfm fan in the bench, vented through a short run dryer hose (less that a foot) and out the wall. You can use a flexible hose and snake it out the window, etc, but the shorter the better. The I cut one side off of a big clear plastic tote and if you turn it upside down and place over the fan, instant spray booth. :D

Back then, I had to go to a commercial place to get the fan, and 350 cfm is a bit overkill (I've had small PE get sucked away into oblivion), but these days you can get them pretty easy and cheap. I just setup another system for dust removable with a small motor, works like a charm. Search for Dayton blowers on ebay. Excellent company, great prices. You can have a killer booth for little cost.
 
I have used the brushless instrument type fans for years. No brushes, no spark, not an issue. When I built my booth I also wanted to be able to collapse it down for storage or transport.

I just posted up some pictures on my Tool Time of my paint booth. Here is the link.
 
Heavens Eagle said:
I have used the brushless instrument type fans for years. No brushes, no spark, not an issue. When I built my booth I also wanted to be able to collapse it down for storage or transport.

I just posted up some pictures on my Tool Time of my paint booth. Here is the link.
Click to expand...

That's a beautiful setup.

But unless you can guarantee beyond any doubt that the motor is incapable of sparking, it's not the best idea unless you are only painting true water based paints (not ether based acrylics).

I doubt anyone would spray laquer thinner through their AB and flick a lighter.

I absolutely don't mean that as a challenge to you in any way, but I'm not nitpicking. I had a colleague that safely cleaned clay off his shop floor for years until that one day the door at the top of the stairs to the basement was left open a few inches. Acetone fumes are heavier than air and crept their way down to the water heater and flashed right to him on his hands and knees.

I'm not familar with brushless motors past the small ones I use in RC planes. They may indeed be spark free, but I personally wouldn't bet the farm on it unless they were rated as such.
 
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