Help me spend some money...

Nothing?...

Maybe everyone is think what they would buy with $500, getting distracted & running to their preferred shop....

Without checking their inventory, I'm go for a good mid-range airbrush + compressor, a batch of paints that will cover the subjects you are looking at, and a couple of kits that you'd like to build, but won't be suicidal if something goes wrong as you learn to use the airbrush! Also, before you put paint to plastic, try that new airbrush out spraying patterns on cardboard or paper just to get the hang of how it behaves.

Agree with VC's suggestions except for one.  test your new Ab/paints on a something plastic.  An old gallan milk or water bottle is great.  Paper or cardboard absorbs the paint pretty fast so it is hard to tell if your coats are too heavy or the paint too thin that might give you sags, runs, spiders etc.

wing_nut

Agree with VC's suggestions except for one.  test your new Ab/paints on a something plastic.  An old gallan milk or water bottle is great.  Paper or cardboard absorbs the paint pretty fast so it is hard to tell if your coats are too heavy or the paint too thin that might give you sags, runs, spiders etc.

(A Flyers fan would just have to disagree!!!! ) Just so long as you try it out on something other than that brand new kit first!

Go with a nice double action airbrush and compressor. Skip single action and start with a decent double action! If you spend sparingly you should have over half of your money left to spend on whatever else catches your eye.

The worst part of air brushing is the clean up.

I got an AZTEC and I really like it because the interchangable head make cleaning much, much easier. And the differant heads make the painting easier. {splatter, heavy, fine, etc}

It also comes with a "how to airbrush" disc you can watch.

Well I found my old VL I bought about 25 years ago. I was very surprised to see it is still being sold and is unchanged from the original. Sadly I never took the time to learn much back then. Now I have much more time. :) I have been interested in modeling since I was 10 years old. My current interest is in making 1:24th scale rock and trail truck machines. No glossy paint here, flats for mud and rust. So my interest is in scale looks, but they actually are RC.

I have started purchasing things for the new shop. I got a big assortment of Tamiya XF acrylic paints.Some accessories like Parma Fasmask, Tamiya Acrylic/Poly Thinner X20A, Testors flat clear (Tamiya doesn't have flat clear?) Finally got the iron paint and rusting chemical set in. :)

I'm ordering the Paasche D220R compressor. I'm torn between getting the #1 and #5 parts for my VL which is #3 now. Or I could get the Talon gravity feed brush. I have been doing a lot of reading. I am afraid the new water based acrylic paints are problematic in airbrushes as it dries before it hits the parts? Any advice on VL vs. Talon? I also want cleanup to be as easy as possible.

Thanks for the replies so far.

Thanks, Jim