best budget airbrush

I like my NEO, around $55 or so at Hobby Lobby with the 40% coupon.  But like Tojo says, read Don's articles and make up your own mind, and ask if you get it narrowed down to a couple. 

Really not going to find much in your $30-40 range that is worth bringing home.

Take a look on the painting/airbrush page down below on the main forum page, between that and Don's article, should either help or confuse.

could this work well?https://www.amazon.com/Badger-Air-Brush-250-1-Basic-Spray/dp/B000BPZ536/ref=sr_1_2?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1519252868&sr=1-2&keywords=badger+250

The Badger 250 was the first airbrush I owned. I purchased it around the time I was in the sixth grade with money I had earned delivering newspapers. At the time, it was a big deal for me, but that was over fourty years ago now. 

It worked fine for general applications, such as base coats or sealing my work, but it truly is more of a spray gun than an airbrush. The 250 has a very tough time dialing in thin lines, such as mottling on a Me 109. 

Most of the 250 sets come with cans of propellant, which is another set of headaches that become expensive over time. The plastic body was another point that I didn't care for - it makes things awkward to use with that jar hanging off the end. I replaced it with a metal body 155 before entering high school and haven't looked back since. The 250 went into a box where it stayed until just a few years ago when I passed it on to a neighbor lady who wanted to get into ceramics, which doesn't demand the level of precision and detail that modeling requires.

The advice you've gotten to save your money for a proper airbrush is spot on. 

$30 - $40 airbrush? LOL! You might as well buy a cheap, unreliable, crappy Chinese made airbrush from Harbor Freight.

Head out to Hobby Lobby armed with a 40% coupon and get yourself a nice Neo Iwata airbrush or Paasche airbrush. You can't go wrong with the price.

Or... go to: www.tcpglobal.com and buy yourself a nice airbrush system for under $200. Here's the link:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/Airbrushing-Supplies/Airbrush-Systems/

Will this work well? Paasche H-SET Single-Action Siphon Feed Airbrush Set.

or this one (which is better) https://www.amazon.com/Paasche-TS-3L-Airbrush-Accessories/dp/B003AA0HOG/ref=sr_1_26?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1519264918&sr=1-26&keywords=paasche+airbrush

Do yourself a favor and get a decent AB. The Neo from Hobby Lobby is very good and $48 with a 40% coupon. It's gravity fed and delivers excellent results specially fine mottling.

I have several Badgers and all are excellent ABs that will last many years. I have a 150 I bought back in the late 70s and still works like new.

My first real airbrush was the paasche H. It was good and reliable. It tought me how to use and airbrush, paint thinning, adjust air pressue easily, and did a good job. If this is your first airbrush, ignore all the iwata neo talk. This is much easier to use and clean. It is far more forgiving for a beginner. It is a single action airbrush. Push the trigger, ger paint. The neo is double action where you are both adjusting air and paint when you press and pull the trigger. It is more complicated and easier to get discouraged. Just get the "H" and learn on that. If you enjoy airbrushing and get the knack of it, then you can always move into better and more complicated setups. Good luck and enjoy. Don's site is a goldmine and most here are a great recource too. Welcome!

Don't expect to be able to just set up an airbrush and use it for fancy camouflage on a model you are building.  Airbrushing is a skill you need to develop.  You have too choices.  Set the model aside for awhile and practice on scrap material, or put it aside and build a simple cheap kit or two that you don't mind messing up, and practice on those.  If your first use of the airbrush is a fancy camouflage job, you will likely not be very satisifed with it.

is the H good for camo once I have the skill?

Doing camo is pretty straight forward especially two color camo schemes. . Start your base color with the light color (tan or grey) Then mask off the tan or grey using silly putty for the green. Three color camo can be done the same way. Or use frisket paper (spelling?)

The Paasche H is a very good airbrush. Easy to clean and use, will probably handle 90% of what you do. I would give the nod to a double action for more precise work. If you're doing mottled camo on the 109, you will need to practice before you try it on a model. Thin your paint, adjust your air pressure to find the sweet spot. As others have pointed out, there is some very helpful info out there. 

I still use the 40 year old Paasche H my Dad bought me when I was in High School. I have a collection of fine double action brushes, (Badger, Paasche, Iwata, Thayer & Chandler) and reach for my Paasche (with #3 tip) 90% percent of the time. I also have the cheap Harbor Freight double action I picked up years ago on sale for 15 bucks and it works fine, but I don't know how durable it is as I only used it once to paint a model car for my son. Now you state you have a Paasche airhose so getting any Paasche brush saves you money because NONE of the other hoses are interchngeable at the airbrush connecting point between brands. So if you go buy that 50 dollar NEO you can add another 20 bucks (with coupon) for an Iwata hose. Although the 8 dollar hose at Harbor Freight fits Iwata. Or there are adapters available for about 6 bucks so yo can make your Passche hose  adaptable. Anyway. Paasche H is easy to use, adjust paint, clean etc. It is vitually indestructble too. The ony time I ever have had to buy a replacement tip and cone assembly is because I dropped it nose first onto the basement floor. I will be buried with my H.

Max Bryant

I just bought a set of three needle/ nozzle/ tip combinations for my Patriot. 

$ 35 for the lot.

I've tested all three and they work, gaskets are tight.

.2mm, .3mm and .5 mm.

My first take away is that we all learn to sort of accept the shortcomings of our air brushes.

I am so happy with the superior function of my a/b.

The double action is really different. Paint is applied way back on the double action now, which suggests that a good a/b really improves the game.

Just my opinion.

Bill