What Is An Airbrush & Buying Advice
November 2, 2014 by warzan
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This is just what I’ve been waiting for! I think you sold me on the Eclipse.
Ah… the information starts here!
Great video, guys; just enough info to fill the gaps in my knowledge without going overboard.
My Xmas letter to Santa is definitely going to have the word “Iwata” on it somewhere.
Now we will look at other airbrush brands over the coming weeks, but I have been asking around a number of airbrushing professionals (outside of miniatures) and all have said that Iwata is their chosen brand of airbrush.
I will however be returning to the whole choice of gravity vs suction fed, so if your not in a hurry for an air brush, it may be worth waiting for that, as it think our industries focus on the gravity fed system might not be as ideal as we think, but stay tuned for that as we learn more.
Same with the car spraying industry, I have friends that swear by gravity fed, while others love bottle fed. Its all a matter of preference at the end of the day, but it seems few people have lots of experience with both systems because once they get used to one they wont try out the other.
I’m actually not far off ( as in buying this week or the next ) an airbrush setup and while Iwata make some blooming nice airbrushes, ( although it’s worth noting they don’t make the Neo, they just designed it. ) I have to say that personally i’m going with Harder and Steenbeck brush. Harder and Steenback are easier to maintain, you don’t have to use a silly wrench thing to remove ( and potentially bust ) the nozzle. And with the exception of the Ultra, all of the needles and parts are interchangable between the different models. Also, the… Read more »
You might need to mix more that’s true, but my feeling at the moment is you actually waste less 🙂
Like I said we’re looking into it:)
Not convinced about that myself. :-p
Will be interesting to see your results. 🙂
I have a Harder and Steenbeck Infinity, but the cheaper ones work just as well. Can’t fault them, you can strip them down without a single tool being needed, they are very reliable (6 years mines been going) and aside from new needles every so often (£12) I’ve replaced the seals twice (£6 for a pack, havent used them all yet). Iowata are great too, but I like the removable cups on the H&S brushes, makes cleaning them a lot easier.
I agree, today’s cheaper ones, mainly the Chinese ones have come a looonggg way since back in the day. The only difference between my Iwata HP-CS and 5$ Chinese is the thinness of lines and the fineness of the mist with low pressure, but for miniatures these two things are not really needed as much.
I’ve got a cheap AB at the moment, so I’m not in a hurry for a new one, but it would be nice to get one that works the way they’re supposed to; it will be nice to see what you think of different brands.
I’m not convinced by the suction fed idea, just because I always thought of it as a mass spraying system, working on three or four models at a time doesn’t seem to worth it to me.
Depends if you use airbrushing on your terrain…
Gah, without warning! 😉
Great video! I loved the review of the components and actual demonstrations of how it affects spray. I was disheartened that there was no weekender, excited to hear about your new addition to the family, and now extremely grateful to find this video uploaded on a Sunday morning! Thanks for this!
Excellent video!
I am already looking forward to the next one.
Are you going to cover the health & safety part of airbrushing?
F.x. Do you need a mask to avoid breathing in the paint particles, or is a fan enough?
And if a fan is needed, how do you avoid it affecting the spray?
PS. I know Brian is a smart guy, but spelling his name Brain in the first line of the description may be a bit much 😉
Yes we’re gonna look at the H&S aspects and work out how you would do your own risk assessment and what your options are 🙂
Try these web sites
http://www.hse.gov.uk/respiratory-protective-equipment/basics.htm
http://www.hse.gov.uk/asthma/bakers.htm
I don’t want to freak people out but the best way to go would be to wear a mask as anything breathed in is bad for your lungs / health be it paint dust or chemicals so its better to be safe than sorry.
This would be the most cost affective type mask as you can renew the filters as required.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazooli-Cartridge-Painting-Chemical-Respirator/dp/B00I8BJRBG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415049230&sr=8-1&keywords=partical+masks
Ideally you want to use a spray booth but If you don’t have room for a spray booth then personally i’d use a mask. ( A proper one with vapour/partical filters as opposed to the cheap painter and decorator type. ) I don’t think a fan would do much other than dry the paint and blow it about a bit. ( Though I could be wrong. ) A lot of people you see on youtube etc, don’t seem to use masks or spray booths but where health is concerned I wouldn’t take the risk. Paint leaving an airbrush is being… Read more »
Also. I should point out that I don’t actually have an airbrush set up yet. ( Though I will soon. ) I have however been doing a lot of research and this is what I’ve picked up.
I’m still looking forward to the BoW take on things though. It’s always good to have extra refferences for things.
A very good video liked the look of the pistol type gun but the trigger looks to small for my big clumpy hands. lol
Yeah.. for £15-20 you can pick up a decent 3M half face mask with filters. So for that price, I say, why take the risk by not getting one? 😉
Fantastic video, very very helpful.
A look into the other brands would be helpful but I can understand why your sticking with the popular and reputable branch
One thing to bare in mind… Anarchy Models actually sell Iwata airbrushes so they’re naturally going to be a little biased. lol :-p
As I said above, I have been double checking this with others (including those nog in our industry) Iwata have always come out top of the list, so at this stage until we have tried and compared it looks like the best recommendation we can make (where you only spend once)
If it’s nozzle/valve removal your interested in, I have been told not to touch them. But I do understand that some folk will want to switch out the valve/needle combo perhaps for a smaller variety.
You’ve been told not to touch the nozzle..?
Er you kind of have to if you want to clean and maintain the airbrush properly.
Just to make sure we’re on the same page here:
I’m talking about the little valve (often brass) that the needle interacts with to create the seal etc.
I’m told these are very delicate and will clean fine with the flush trough of the cleaning agent and shouldn’t be touched unless you need to.
I think a glossary of terms will go on our list to help make sure we identify things correctly, as I’m not 100% confident on it at the moment.
Nope that’s exactly the bit I was meaning. And yes they are very delicate. Which is why a lot of people love the Harder and Steenbecks. They just drop in and self center with no need for a mini wrench thing to get them in place. Every cleaning video that i’ve seen and forum i’ve been on has them removed for cleaning so you can get into all the nooks with a cleaning brush. There are even special pointed nozzle cleaners for cleaning out the inside of them in particular. You don’t have to do a full on strip down… Read more »
Actually. I just remembered something that’s a bit off on a tangent but might be of interest to you…
Flory models reviewed the Iwata cleaning kit in last weeks news show…
http://youtu.be/vUo2s4yY_A8
Crap. Forgot to say. It starts at 17:50. ( Though I could have sworn I asked youtube to start at that point. )
Most of the time a good flush through with cleaner will do the job but at times a strip down will be required as paint will slowly build up inside the gun plus giving the gun a good clean now and again will prolong the life of the gun.
When cleaning the gun always use materials that don’t scratch the parts as that will prevent parts sealing leading to air / paint leeks.
I said this on another thread, but thought it fits here too – I have 2 airbrushes an Iwata Neo and a Badger 105, and have found the Badger to be vastly superior. I spend more time trying to resolve issues with the Neo than actually painting with it. The Badger on the other hand produces very nice results with less than half the effort required from the Neo! 😀
great info thank you 🙂
Good video 😉
The best companies are Iwata and Harder&Steenbeck, I use Evolution Al Plus, Infinity and Iwata HP-B PlUS, good airbrushes 🙂
@giraldez as a man who knows his way round an airbrush, is it (1) possible to paint a typical 28mm mini with only an airbrush & (2) feasible to paint this way or is the hybrid approach (airbrush and brush) the most effective method?
I’m really struggling to get fine enough lines from the airbrush (mostly down to inexperience and not enough skill and practice yet) for it to really work well for me to detail a miniature.
Its all in the needle size. the 0.15mm that comes with the Harder and Steenbeck Infinity along with thin paint makes getting thin lines very easy. Iwata do similar, but as far as I know, you cant change between need sizes on a model, you buy a 0.15 airbrush, whereas with H&S you can change the whole needle set for a different size if you want, say a 0.4 mm for doing terrain.
it depends…. you can paint a 28mm BUT you have to finish the paintjob with brush
for example, you can paint a face with airbrush and then you define this one with brush or if you paint an armour you’ve to paint the edges with brush,etc…
The best method is the combination airbrush + brush.
In my painting book I explain how to paint miniatures with this method.
The secret is practice, practice and practice and also,very important,you’ve good stuff, Vallejo paints and Iwata or H&S airbrushes.
Are you thinning the Vallejo Airs more down or are you using them right out of the bottle?
I started my airbrush experience over the weekend and was successful at thinning down the regular Vallejo paints. But I’am wondering if it’s easier to adjust the color flow with the air colors.
I add some drops of Vallejo thinner, I prefer it 🙂
Great video! I have been using an airbrush for a few months now and didn’t know what the funny looking glass cylinder was for! Hope you cover mixing paint and how to deal to clogging the airbrush which is the bain of my life!!! Maybe using the glass cylinder now might help…
The series is just what I need, my plan was to attend a course, interesting if you get some options about whether this is worthwhole
Very informative, could have done with this years ago!
So since this video series was mentioned, I’ve been looking at the Badger Patriot – which I’ve heard is a good brush, and it falls in about the $100 range – the Iwata Eclipse for about $150; Thoughts? Also, what are the thoughts on used airbrushes? I noticed that aside from scale modelers, make-up artists use these airbrushes and you can find a good number of used Iwata models for sale from cosmetic school students at the end of the year (they need them for class but find they have little interest in either the school or using airbrushes for… Read more »
this is turning out to be a very good series of vids, it’s always good to go back to basics, cheers Warren, Brain comes across as a really good bloke honest in his opinion….yes? i know that Anarchy models use Iwata so Brain may push towards Iwata but to be truthful when it comes to the ‘top brands’ Iwata, Harder and Steenbeck, Badger, Paasche, etc there’s not much in it, they ALL make great Airbrushes and it really comes back to personal preference and they all cover a range from ‘mid’ to ‘high’ price. When buying YOU really need to… Read more »
Great timing with these videos as I just ordered an iwata last week for my first go at airbrushing. Really looking forward to learning along with these videos. Also glad to hear you will look at compressors, as I dont know much about them so the advice will be useful!
Very interesting and enjoyable. Good rapport and Q&A between Warren and Brian.
Great video, the advice you gave was almost exactly what I was given a few years ago and I ended up with an iwata eclipse and a tank compressor.
I don’t know if anyone has some advice on cleaning, I have been told an ultra sonic bath is good for cleaning the cap and needle at the end of the day, is it ok to put those in it?
Hey everyone! thanks for all the nice comments glad you liked it. looking forward to doing more vids with the BoW guys 🙂
It mentions about our new kickstarter at the top, thought you all might like to now its gone live!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/805848592/anarchy-models-hs-stencils-flexible-and-fully-re-u
Perfect timing, i even finally signed up to backstage thanks to this article! I’m waiting on delivery of 6 assorted Rubicon tanks and 4 warlord hanomags and I’ve been looking in confusion at airbrushes and compressors. Depressingly I was looking to spend £75 on both the airbrush and the compressor in total… sad panda…. I’m now so scared I’m gonna have to paint em the old fashioned way!
Welcome aboard @ozzyuk I wouldn’t lose heart mate, some here in the community are working away happily with a Chinese import called ‘Veda’ Now we haven’t tried them, we cannot verify if they are actually any good, and cannot vouch for the reliability or even sincerity of members that post about them. But here is a link to have a look over: http://www.bartsharp.co.uk/home/product-category/airbrush-compressors-complete-kits-starter-airbrush-kits-recommended-airbrush-compressor-iwata-compressor/ Some points to note: Buy a cheap import from china: my concern would be support and spare parts (would you know if it wasn’t working correctly?) Buy a second hand one: my concern is you don’t know… Read more »
Thanks, I’ll be watching this series with keen interest!
Warren, i think i might be one of the community your talking about here mate, before my VEDA i used and still use a NEO for IWATA which like other members on here have found to be not as reliable as i had thought, the NEO is NOT made by IWATA it’s made by another company for iwata? and when you look deeper the build quality is not as good as a branded iwata, i have found the veda to be more reliable, it works for me, has I’ve said before it’s personal choice, I’ve found what works for me,… Read more »
I wouldn’t say that bluesun2517, I think Warren has just seen my statement of confusion and the the price range I was looking at and offered an option – giving a caveat that neither he nor any of Da Beasts (
Have personal experience. I’m sure if any thoughts of dodginess or shenanigans were afoot a link wouldn’t have been offered.
Now where in the ether did this half of my reply disappear to? 🙂
To be clear, I only said I can’t vouch for your sincerity or reliability (as I don’t know you personally)
If I questioned either, I wouldn’t have even posted the link 🙂
cheers for the reply Warren and @ozzyuk , veda will never replace the top brands, Chinese imports do have a bad rep?………….and buying one could put people off airbrushing, and that’s not what this series is trying to achieve, i just think veda may be one of the better ones? ……and you can get spares! anything i post on here is my personal opinion and not my sponsors………………..joking! only joking!
Great show guys, I’m still using an Aztek airbrush, it was a pressie from my late wife. Really easy to clean and has various nozzles, I have had a look at the Iwata Eclipse range and if I wanted to upgrade that’s the one I’d go for.
I feel that all this talk about costly airbrush and complicated setups is part of the shadow of fear that covers airbrushing and stops people from having a go. Yes is great for basing miniatures and doing the larger portion of color but this is what a starter should be doing. 1. 40 liter+ Tank compressor with regulator (must have) built in water trap even better. The bigger the tank the less times you have to fill it, 50 liters at 40 Psi is about 2 hours painting with cold tank air before needing small top up. Handy tool to… Read more »
Ì have a Harder and Steenbeck CX1 ( low end model) and works real fine, 2 sets of needles 0.2 and 0.4 mm and both work great,
Real easy to clean and fast, i realy like my CX1, and for modelling you do not need any “better” more expansive one.
Good stuff! I’ve recently bought some airbrush stuff (got the Neo for Iwata), air compressor with a moisture trap, but I wasn’t aware of the air hose moisture trap, so I’ll be looking at getting one of those.