Airbrush

[RogerP]

I thought I might try out using an airbrush to paint some small stuff.

I've previously been using aerosols but now I need a couple of exact colours that are not available off the shelf in aerosols. I've mixed my own and brush painted and it's fine for the colour match and the finish is reasonable but I know a spray finish would look much better.

Any suggestions or comments on airbrushes please?

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

What exactly are you wanting to spray? I would always go for an internal mix, double action airbrush, but it might be overkill if you are spraying reasonably large stuff. Badger do a good range for model making etc which might suit, at various price points. De Vilbiss or Paashe are fine brushes for detailed work, but might be expensive if you do not need fine line spraying. I used to be an illustarator and sign artist before I became a professional woodworker.

Mike.

 

[mouppe]

I've been using an Iwata eclipse for about ten years now. I can highly recommend it.

 

[JakeS]

I would add:

- get a small compressor with a pressure regulator and a moisture trap and don't ever bother with compressed air; it's a complete rip-off, harder to use and more likely to go wrong.

- I used a cheap unbranded airbrush like this one for many years and it was excellent for the price I paid. (Mine had a small open cup fixed to the top, but I don't see one like that on a cursory search.) Iwata's Revolution range is a reasonably-priced introduction to 'proper' quality airbrushes.

- I definitely agree with internal-mix, double-action - unless you're planning to spray large areas with the same flat colour, in which case a siphon feed is more useful just because you can use a larger bottle and thus have to load the paint less frequently.

- Spend some time looking into the best paints to airbrush with whatever it is you're painting. The particular paint you use will make a big difference to how easy you find it to use an airbrush. I used mine for painting model kits, and Tamiya's acrylic range was a lot easier to use than anything else I tried. Really easy to use, but fragile. I've heard good things about various lacquer-based paints (e.g. Gunze Sangyo's Mr. Color range) but I don't like the thinners they use...!

 

[artie]

I bought one of these

http://bartsharp.co.uk/home/Iwata-Airbr ... brush-kit/

for painting model car bodies. I tried it out today. looks like there will be a learning curve.

I did get it going pretty well at one point. The results were passable but I didn't mask well enough so that's the first lesson learned.

 

[rafezetter]

As the responses above, paache and iwata are excellent - but priced more for experienced users usually. If you are thinking on items larger than a scale model then you could consider a "touch up" airbrush. It's larger than a normal airbrush but smaller than a full on gun. I have one which is like this one with a small cup so enough for a trinket box without it taking a long time; which will mean the paint will be drying out even as you lay it on; which in turn leads to problems with the finish.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bergen-Professional-Pressure-Spray-100mm/dp/B006B3PSQG

And it might interest you to know it'll run off a twin piston airbrush compressor (a single will struggle), although you can get 1hp compressors now for much the same money - the only advantage to the twin piston airbrush compressor is they are significantly quieter at 60dB as opposed to the 1hp which are 95dB.

Twin piston Airbrush comp: http://www.everythingairbrush.com/c...receiver-and-dual-switch-for-airbrushing.html

Advantage of a tank is you don't get something called "pulsing" where the air is fed as it's made which can affect the finish because the air isn't constant.

1.5 hp compressor: http://www.screwfix.com/p/impax-walkair12-12ltr-compressor-230v/15318 this one seems like quite a bargain as long as the noise isn't a problem.

 

[RogerP]

Thanks very much chaps for all the suggestions and information, a lot to mull over. Since my first post I've discovered that the son of a neighbour is somewhat of a modeller and uses an airbrush. I've arranged to pop round one evening this week and have a demonstration. From what's been said I thinking I probably need the larger sort of gun such as rafezetter has suggested. I'll know more when I've actually tried out my neighbour's air brush. I'll get back with my decision.

Oh, the items are school science and chemistry demonstration modules, spheres, cubes, tubes all of many varying sizes and colours from about marbles to billiard ball, oxo cube to small cigarette packet and straws.