I still have the first airbrushes I ever used. Growing up I had three to choose from; a Paasche H and two Badgers, 150 & 200. All three were siphon feed brushes, something I will never go back to for serious work.
I didn't like the dual-action Badger 150 and almost never used it. The Paasche H wasn't that great a performer, so I only used it for laying in basecoats or masked schemes. The single-action Badger 200 turned out to be my workhorse and because of it the Paasche was relegated to the reserves.
The Badgers in general were a PITA because of the little teflon bearing which is buried in the body. They were the cause of most of the problems we had with those brushes and left a real sour taste. But when that single action was working properly I wouldn't have traded it for anything else.
Then I tried out a pal's Iwata Eclipse (gravity feed model) and found that it was the easiest airbrush for me to initially get on and use, despite the fact that it was a dual-action. I hated dual-action brushes because of my early experience with the Badger 200, and from trying out various others; a few different Paasche V's & V Juniors as well as the Badger 175 Crescendo and the Badger Universal 360. But this Iwata was so smooth and easy to use that I mastered it in five minutes. I had to have one, and now one of my catch-phrases is, "I GOTTA IWATA!"
Nowadays I don't use the Badgers at all, but the Paasche does make an appearance now and again for less imporatant projects. The Iwata is it for me and I can honestly say that I don't have to buy another airbrush ever again. I don't
have to, but I probably will...
Fade to Black...