Paasche H Review

That was a pretty good review.  The Paasche H was the first airbrush I bought.  I have a Paaschel Millenium double action airbrush now as well.  I still use the H for aircraft with 1 color scheme like the F-15E and clear coats like Future or Testors Dullcote.   It's great for car models too.  There's my

Don Wheeler

I have added a review of the Paasche H airbrush to my website.  Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Don

This Paasche H was the first airbrush that I acquired in the mid 1980's and my only one for the next 20 years. It does the job of airbrushing models, but I never could have figured out a good way of cleaning it. I took it all apart and soak it in thinner in-between colors. Well, not surprisingly, it did not get used a lot. I no longer use it. The Badger Patriot works equally well for larger areas and is easier to clean. For general airbrushing, I go back to the Iwata Eclipse.

keilau

 

 

 

This Paasche H was the first airbrush that I acquired in the mid 1980's and my only one for the next 20 years. It does the job of airbrushing models, but I never could have figured out a good way of cleaning it. I took it all apart and soak it in thinner in-between colors. Well, not surprisingly, it did not get used a lot. I no longer use it. The Badger Patriot works equally well for larger areas and is easier to clean. For general airbrushing, I go back to the Iwata Eclipse.

I have to agree that the Patriot is a nicer airbrush.  But, it sells for $72.95 at Coast Airbrush vs. $30 for the H.  And I feel the Paasche H is still a good airbrush that can meet most modeler's needs.

I am curious about your problem cleaning the Paasche.  I actually timed myself, and I can remove the tip and needle in less than 30 seconds.  And I can put them back in another 30 seconds.  The tip can be cleaned out with a twisted piece of paper towel and some thinner, and the hollow needle with a pipe cleaner and a toothpick and some thinner.  The head can be cleaned with a small paint brush.  I think the whole operation takes less than 5 minutes.  Were you tearing it down more than that?  Did you find that just purging with thinner was not good enough when doing a color change?  Did you see color mixing?  The cup takes a little extra work, but that's true for any siphon brush.

Don

Don,

A very nice, solid review of a nice, solid airbrush. Very typical of your reviews, which I like as they are from a 'users' viewpoint.

But I LOVE your airbrush stands! They are little works of art.

I've yet to build a stand for my airbrushes. I lack a proper work shop and have to wait for a nice day to use my carport, but I've got the piece of wood picked for my 100LG and hope to get to it soon.

Don,

I agree, that's a great review.  As with some others, the H was my first airbrush and still gets the occassional workout.

Can I ask though, how did you manage to remove the (teflon?) washer and the metal washer from the tip?  I always suspected they could be removed, but despite trying have never been able to remove mine.  I kind of gave up after a while, because it had never come out so, i thought, maybe it was never meant to.

I'd be interested to know how you got yours out and whether it was particularly difficult (PS: i always tried with different types of flat head screwdrivers).

Thanks for the review.  Good to see one of such a classic airbrush.

chris.

good review. the first real airbrush I bought was the H. with my home-made regulator setup, it works beautifully. and i can have it shiny clean in about 5 minutes.

Don Wheeler

keilau:

This Paasche H was the first airbrush that I acquired in the mid 1980's and my only one for the next 20 years. It does the job of airbrushing models, but I never could have figured out a good way of cleaning it. I took it all apart and soak it in thinner in-between colors. Well, not surprisingly, it did not get used a lot. I no longer use it. The Badger Patriot works equally well for larger areas and is easier to clean. For general airbrushing, I go back to the Iwata Eclipse.

I have to agree that the Patriot is a nicer airbrush.  But, it sells for $72.95 at Coast Airbrush vs. $30 for the H.  And I feel the Paasche H is still a good airbrush that can meet most modeler's needs.

I am curious about your problem cleaning the Paasche.  I actually timed myself, and I can remove the tip and needle in less than 30 seconds.  And I can put them back in another 30 seconds.  The tip can be cleaned out with a twisted piece of paper towel and some thinner, and the hollow needle with a pipe cleaner and a toothpick and some thinner.  The head can be cleaned with a small paint brush.  I think the whole operation takes less than 5 minutes.  Were you tearing it down more than that?  Did you find that just purging with thinner was not good enough when doing a color change?  Did you see color mixing?  The cup takes a little extra work, but that's true for any siphon brush.

Don

It could just be me using my first airbrush. I just did not learn and develop a good cleaning routine as I should have with the Paasche H. I used the paint cup most of the time and the cup inside was not chrome plated. It made it extra burdonsome to clean.

Knowing what I do now, I will prefer a TCPGlobal Master G22 (gravity feed, internal mix) over the Paasche H (siphon feed, external mix) for beginner use.

Your reviews are always down to earth and extremely valuable to the average modelers. I enjoy reading them so much. (May be it is an engineer to engineer thing.) Over time, I hope that you will include some Iwata and H&S airbrushes too, or even some of the cheap knockoffs.

Good review of a good old reliable AB.  I've had one for at least 30 years & still use it, mostly for spraying primer & top coats.

Regards,  Rick

Thank you for the comments.  I really appreciate them.

Chris -- The tool I used to remove the needle seal is called a screw starter.  You can see one here.  It has a very thin blade.  You could also take a cheap screwdriver and grind or file it down.  Paasche could have easily made this part so that a regular screwdriver would work.  But, for some reason they chose not to.

Keilau -- The only way I could do reviews on Iwata or Harder & Steenbeck airbrushes would be if they decided to send me samples, and that's not very likely.  Besides, I'm more of a low end guy.  The cheap chinese brushes are intriguing though.  But, I understand that their quality is unreliable.  I might be lucky and get a good one and give a good review, which could cause someone to buy one that's not so good.  Maybe I worry too much. 

Don

Don: Read your Paasche review good job I've been using mine for close to 40 years now they have really changed to air release valve in handle. Mine is the old style valve I can still get parts for mine.      Aceses5