Opinions on an Airbrush Compressor

[RuneBrush]

I\'ve just started messing around with my (fairly) new Airbrush (Badger 200) and have decided that I\'m going to get a compressor for it. Although I don\'t mind using canisters, I feel that they\'re going to get expensive and as I can\'t buy them locally they\'ll all have to be done mail order (which is a pain and extra cost).

I\'ve come across this range http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/COMPRESSORS.html which are all under the £100 mark. Now I know that its important to have one with a moisture trap, but other than that what\'s anybodies opinion on the one on that page? does anybody know any better ones available in the UK? The site also sells a set with a compressor and 2 airbrushes for a very good price, would it be a good buy or not?

Pete

 

[airhead]

try your local home center (diy?).

Compressed air is compressed air. Often, you can get a \"real\" compressor for the price of a small \"airbrush\" one.

One of the big differences is the noise factor. I have a small airbrush diaphragm compressor that I love. Very quiet, dependable, etc. But it won\'t do 40-60 psi for shirts.

I have a large industrial type compressor for sandblasting, painting houses, and running my airbrushes when I\'m doing shirts. Very noisy. Lives in the garage with a hose strung across the house to get away from the noise.

Just bought somthing in between from Sears. Small piston (quiter than diaphragm) but will let me paint shirts. It won\'t run the sandblaster and will barely air up a tire, but I am loving it.

There area a line of airbrush compressors that are based on rotary compressors (like your refridgerator) very quite, but very expensive.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

I have the same compressor with tank thats the first one listed but corded for American voltage..its a little work horse.

Only thing else Id suggest is you purchase a small mini airbrush filter like on this page. http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/AIR_BRUSH_HOSES_AND_EQUIPMENT.html

the compressor does have a water trap but water condenses in the hose also and this will eliminate it. The slightest amount of water will cause spitting and this will cure it.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by airhead
try your local home center (diy?).

Kevin; The trouble is that this is a very niche market in the UK and \"Home Centres\" in the USA and UK are very differing animals.
Air compressors for Airbrushes and \"Industrial\" uses are supported by differing areas.
Airbrush aimed compressors will be only found in Graphic/Art supply shops while the more \"industrial ones\" will be via B&Q (if you are lucky) or very specialist building suppliers.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by RuneBrush
The site also sells a set with a compressor and 2 airbrushes for a very good price, would it be a good buy or not?

Pete

bloody hell!! is that a complete kit? if it\'s worth it, i would buy that. is it worth it?

 

[El Matador]

that seems quite a resonable price compared to others i have seen. Does anyone have any experience with the company or the airbrush?

Also i was going to start a new topic for this but thought it might be better to ask here, what exactly do people use an airbrush for? to me they always seemed like \"cheating\" and really i never appreciate a piece of work that has been airbrushed as much as one that has been painted using a brush. I can see the use for undercoating and light sourceing, but do they have any other uses?

 

[freakinacage]

i planned on using mine for priming, terrain and vehicles

 

[Jericho]

They are really tough to use very much on infantry sized models (other than basecoating and perhaps a few zenithal hilights or something) but they really are handy for larger models like tanks, Warjacks, monsters etc. You have enough room to work in some blending/hilighting and then just go back for touchups and final shading/hilighting the old fashioned way.

The main thing is to save time and go on smoothly. They are a great way to make the grunt work fo the hobby faster and more painless.

Be warned though, there\'s a decent amount of prep work and cleaning time when using an airbrush so it\'s best to do a few big batches of work instead of doing a little here and a little there.

Re: compressors, I have an Iwata SprintJet. It\'s tiny and really quiet, but it\'s a bit on the expensive side. I got mine at a hefty discount luckily

 

[diddy lemon1]

I bought this kit off ebay and its really good for basic undercoating and tanks, i haven\'t really tried much more than that. And the compressor seems to do the trick.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Spraymaster-Baby-Compressor-Airbrush-Starter-Kit_W0QQitemZ300260109451QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item300260109451&_trkparms=72%3A12|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[generulpoleaxe]

if your in the uk then this is one hell of a good place for airbrushing supplies.

realy good service from them as well.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Having gone through the experience of buying off brand or even cheap brand name airbrushes (Cough..Badger..Cough) and wasting money buying junk. I would suggest that if you truly want an airbrush and you intend on using it a lot, buy a quality brush right out the door. I myself would recommend an Iwata HP-C Plus. You can\'t invest money in a better brush in my opinion for the price. About $140.00- $160.00 USD

Remember the airbrush is the tool, like any tool investing proper money on good tools gets good results. You can always start with a cheaper compressor and upgrade as needed.

 

[airhead]

Those little diaphragm compressors for airbrushes

Upside

They never go bad. I\'ve had one for over 20 years and other than cleaning the metal flappers, it still works and has had nothing done to it.

They are quite. I\'ve only found one commercial unit that could match this for noise. Most home center compressors are very noisy. Ask for a demo before you buy.

Downside

They tend to max at around 20 psi.

They pulse (you can actually see and feel the air pulse). The ones with the tank eliminate that. I\'ve seen a small air resivoir ball sold to screw on the end of the non-tanked ones to eliminate the pulse. I\'ve also added a small air tank in-line between the compressor and me.

They generally don\'t have auto shutoff/on. If you don\'t spray, they pump until they stall (hard on the motor).

***

With any of them, you\'ll want a regulator and a moisture trap. Water is your enemy and it will pull lots of it out of the air and pump it through the air chambers of your gun - ruining your work - unless you have a good trap. I have a big trap at my compressor and another one at my manifold (I run about 6 guns when I\'m painting).

***

@Mike, we don\'t find the little diaphragms at the home centers either - only the graphic supply stores or art supply stores - for way more than you could buy an industrial one at a home center. On-line tends to be much more reasonable.

@DFD, I agree on the off-brand guns. I use Vega\'s for production and HP-B for detail. Vega sold to Badger and the quality went downhill. I\'m looking at the lower end Iwatas for production guns now.

 

[RuneBrush]

Cool, thanks for all the replies, very constructive information - its great to have other peoples experiences on this before commiting

@generulpoleaxe

Wow, very nice site and probably where I\'m going to end up going, I like the inline air filter that they do (and they sell the adaptor to fit my airbrush) so will likely aim to get one of those as well.

I\'m going to be very honest and say I\'m not 100% sure why so many people have hang ups on Badger, I know that mine isn\'t the cheapest they do and that I\'ve not played with it that much, but it does seem to be pretty reasonable so far - I\'ll admit that its not going to paint the pupils on a model Do they have a habit of falling apart or anything else I should watch out for?

Pete

 

[generulpoleaxe]

the reason people go for iwata\'s and Infinity Two In One Harder & Steenbeck is that as long as you look after them they will do everything you want.
basecoating, fine detail, freehand, you name it.

is use an AB as they are damn good for the price £30, as i only use it for afv\'s as well as priming and base coating large model or larger batches of small models.

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by RuneBrush...I like the inline air filter that they do (and they sell the adaptor to fit my airbrush) so will likely aim to get one of those as well.

I\'d steer clear of that. Get one of these at least:

that little in-line thing will not stop enough moisture to do any good and does not regulate the pressure.

You\'ll want to be using much less pressure than max output for most of your painting.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Originally posted by airhead

Originally posted by RuneBrush...I like the inline air filter that they do (and they sell the adaptor to fit my airbrush) so will likely aim to get one of those as well.

I\'d steer clear of that. Get one of these at least:

that little in-line thing will not stop enough moisture to do any good and does not regulate the pressure.

You\'ll want to be using much less pressure than max output for most of your painting.

I run both a water trap and an inline air filter, I was still getting a small amount of moisture through the hose and effecting my paint uling just the water trap. I would get the occasional water droplet/spit. The inline cured it. In a 20-30 min period of spraying Ill see a significant amount of water in the inline filter..

I would highly recommend both.

Remember as air compresses it creates heat and as the air cools as it goes through your hose condensation occurs even after passing a water trap.

 

[airhead]

I\'ll try to get some pics tonight.

When I\'m shooting at home, I run a dual tank, dual moisture trap setup.

My large compressor is dialed in about 75 psi out of the tank, regulator and moisture trap there. Hoses to my paint cart into another tank there, then out to my manifold with another regulator and moisture trap at the front end of the manifold. I can then dial anywhere from 0 to 75 psi at the manifold.

Don\'t forget to drain the water from your tanks.

 

[freakinacage]

is it me or is this kit very similar in spec to thisone but a LOT cheaper?

is it worth getting? i shall be using it for vehicles, terrain and priming

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Originally posted by freakinacage
is it me or is this kit very similar in spec to thisone but a LOT cheaper?

is it worth getting? i shall be using it for vehicles, terrain and priming

Well the second kit has a Harder&Steenbeck brush in it which is of much higher quality than the two in the other kit.

 

[Arma]

I purchased a kit (brush + compressor), I looked into a lot of options but the Iwata compression I got (IS-80J I think it was) was designed for the brush and more importantly; very quiet.

I use the brush in the living room with a lot of people around watching TV etc, so noise was my deciding factor. Just a point in case you go for a hardware store option.