Airbrush buying guide

Most of the Hobby shops I have been to over here allow you to test the airbrush and compressors prior to buying. Most got a few compressors and the more commonly sold aibrushes set up as a "hands-on" display.

Many of the staff at HS over here also build models(for mags, etc.), sculpt kits, etc so they tend to have a pretty good idea of what they are talking about.

Personally, I would not buy an airbrush via the Net untested, simple things like balance, etc can make a big difference, IMHO.


Also visit an arts-supply shop and ask if the let you atleast hold the airbrush.

You are very fortunate MMF.

Here there are very few places I know of that will let you try out an airbrush.
I believe Coast Airbrush in Anaheim, CA is about the only one that would do that that I know of. Most of us are at the mercy of the hobby and craft shops who carry very little in terms of choice and it's usually a Badger, Paasche or that Aztek thing.

Unnamed Player,

While all Iwata's may be good I certainly would not recommend many of them for modeling and I still maintain that the Sotar is overkill unless you want to get into illustration or automotive airbrushing with urethanes.

Mike

I want a Sotar. I have a knotwork in mind that would look great painted.

i want an iwata custom micron b

but i only have enough for a revolution cr

QUOTE: Originally posted by unnamedplayer i want an iwata custom micron b but i only have enough for a revolution cr

What are you going to do with a Micron b for modelling that can't be done with an Omni or any other good double-action airbrush?

Mike

i like omni 5000, and vega 1000, but with a micron b, i seriously think you can actually paint INSIDE the panel lines (correct me if im wrong). i know its overkill, but hey, its a hobby. and besides, i need a good (non-aztec) airbrush for my graphics class.

QUOTE: Originally posted by unnamedplayer i like omni 5000, and vega 1000, but with a micron b, i seriously think you can actually paint INSIDE the panel lines (correct me if im wrong).

You could do the same with the Omni. It is the skill of the user, not the instrument that creates the music. Right 'Styrene' (Gip)?

QUOTE: i know its overkill, but hey, its a hobby. and besides, i need a good (non-aztec) airbrush for my graphics class.

The Micron would be a good airbrush for illustration and graphics as you say but keep in mind that this is an airbrush that runs you $300 alone, costs $39.50 for a nozzle and $17.35 for a needle alone. [:0]
If you ever dropped it and need a new fluid head system it will cost you $110 for that.
If you can live with those prices and have the money to play around with one then go for it, but I frankly feel it is major overkill and the true potential of that airbrush will not come through for modeling, that is unless you want to paint your models with inks, watercolors or urethanes.

Mike

Only buy a micron or a sotar if you plan to use watercolors or inks. Enamels are difficult to get through the sotar. The sotar will do thinner lines than an eclipse but only barely and it takes practice. You're not going to just fire it up and be able to do 1/32" lines. It's too specialized to be worth the money in this hobby unless you have it to burn (ask me how I learned this lesson!)

Easiest to use: Iwata
Easiest to clean: Iwata
Just not the easiest to buy

The lessons I've learned after buying 8 airbrushes

hrm... my aztec is just plain crap. this is what i think

Aztec |everything else
good good? WAHAHAHAHA almost everyting
bad a220 to a480 some minor things

correction: 550 american, i live in canada.

besides, ive been using my a220 for like 4 years

and a badger 100 for 2 months before i had to return it; not mine

QUOTE: Originally posted by plum1030 Easiest to use: Iwata Easiest to clean: Iwata Just not the easiest to buy

What makes your Iwata Eclipse easier to use and clean than an Omni, since the Eclipse is a copy of the Thayer & Chandler Vega 2000 which later spawned the Omni.

Mike

I have to second what Mike said. I've owned an Iwata HP-C since 1983 (I think I'm one of the first Iwata users around) and while good, the Omni series air brush will spray and clean just as well as the Iwata. Don't underestimate the Omni. It is what is controlling the brush that has the most significant effect on the finished product.

QUOTE: Originally posted by MikeV What makes your Iwata Eclipse easier to use and clean than an Omni, since the Eclipse is a copy of the Thayer & Chandler Vega 2000 which later spawned the Omni. Mike

I can't speak for the omni in particular (yet) but the iwata is far and away easier than the other 7 brushes I've owned. From the pics I suspect that the paint cup on the omni is similar in design to my badger 100LG which is a pain to clean compared to my iwata. If dixie art ever gets that omni to me maybe you'll see me put asside my iwata, who knows.

Plume, and anyone else,

Dixie Art nomally sends products in record time. I saved the box that Dixie sent my Omni 4000 AB in. I ordered my AB and a couple of weeks later I sent an email to Dixie asking the mailing status noting that I was sure the AB would arrived the day after I emailed them. It did arrive the next day. The same day the AB arrived Dixie sent a tracking number.

This is the reason I saved my box. Instead of the normal Dixie return label on the box the label read:

SHIPPING DEPT
(847) 678-3104
BADGER AIRBRUSH
9128 BELMONT AVE
FRANKLIN PARK IL 60131

My impression is that Dixie does not stock the Omni AB but orders and has them sent directly from the factory or distributor. That could be good; the AB would be the freshest stock and would not have been handled by uncaring customers 'playing' with the brush.

So the slow mailing might not be Dixie's fault but a slow down at Badger's end.

QUOTE: Originally posted by roosterfish So the slow mailing might not be Dixie's fault but a slow down at Badger's end.

That's good to know, however I ordered my omni 4000 on 12/26/03. And yeah, I'm impatient.

QUOTE: Originally posted by plum1030 That's good to know, however I ordered my omni 4000 on 12/26/03. And yeah, I'm impatient.

Karl,

Have you called them? It usually takes only about 7 days for one to reach us out here on the West Coast. [:0]

Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by plum1030 From the pics I suspect that the paint cup on the omni is similar in design to my badger 100LG which is a pain to clean compared to my iwata.

What makes the Iwata color cup easier to clean? Is it the shape, the finish, what?
I am curious.

Mike

Well, I don't know about the Omni, but my Revolution has a shape that makes it awfully easy. The finish is such that paint doesn't really stick to it, and once the needle is out, there are no crannies or anything that paint can stay in. It's smooth with no nooks or bends or anything. It's tons easier to clean than my Aztek was, but those are the only two brushes I have experience with.

maddafinga: which revolution: cr or bcr

and still, i used the aztec pre-thinned paints and still got crappy results. using them at 30psi

I would be on the phone with Dixie Art like Yesterday! I got my Omni in 2-3 days so I guess they had an extra one in stock or something.....MikeV got his fairly quick for being so far off the beaten path LOL.

I didnt even notice the return label on my box.....LOL

QUOTE: Originally posted by maddafinga Well, I don't know about the Omni, but my Revolution has a shape that makes it awfully easy. The finish is such that paint doesn't really stick to it, and once the needle is out, there are no crannies or anything that paint can stay in. It's smooth with no nooks or bends or anything. It's tons easier to clean than my Aztek was, but those are the only two brushes I have experience with.

Yup.
Beat me to it. My Badger 100LG even though a gravity feed, it's much more difficult to clean than my Iwata. The nozzle comes apart more easily too. My Sotar is essentially the same mechanical design as the 100LG with a finer nozzle and probably better manufacturing tolerances.

QUOTE: Originally posted by unnamedplayer maddafinga: which revolution: cr or bcr and still, i used the aztec pre-thinned paints and still got crappy results. using them at 30psi

The cr, the gravity feed one, I'm guessing that the bcr is a bottom feed?

:)...you got it. HP-BCR is the bottle feeder. I've been tempted to get a CR but it almost scares me because of the low price. I've got an HP-C and HP-B and they cost far more then the CR. Why the big price difference? Did Iwata make shortcuts on quality? Or is it the Iwata's competitor's air brushes lower prices finally made Iwata do profit cutting to gain inroads in the air brush market share percentages? Maybe the proven air brush design molds are paid for to the point where Iwata can now sell them cheap.

QUOTE: Originally posted by roosterfish [brWhy the big price difference? Did Iwata make shortcuts on quality? Or is it the Iwata's competitor's air brushes lower prices finally made Iwata do profit cutting to gain inroads in the air brush market share percentages?

That is exactly right. Time for a little airbrush history.

I have told people on this forum many times before about how Iwata copied Thayer & Chandler's design with the Eclipse to compete, and I told a friend in the business about how I try and tell you folks here that the Omni is comparable and less money than Iwata's Eclipse and received this answer:

"As for doing anything an Eclipse or Revolution will do, it's the other way around. Both of those brushes were hastily thrown together and put on the market several years ago just as an effort to save part of the marketplace. The Vega had swept the market, and the Omni was finishing off the other airbrush manufacturers rapidly. Iwata and Paasche threw Vega "knock-offs" on the market to save their butts. True story!"

I think that sums it up well.

Mike

I just got my Omni 4000 in the mail so I'm on week one. First impressions are not good. The Iwata is much more solidly built. The color cup on the Omni looks to be a bear to clean. Pic links below. The iwata cup is polished on the inside and is tapered to match the milling cut from the body of the brush. Breeze to clean. Also the Omni looks nearly identical to my Badger 100LG with the exception that the omni has an open handle for access to the needle. The color cup on the 100LG is designed with a smoother attatchment point, so I'd bet that the 100LG would be easier to clean than the omni. One could say (in a very general way) that the design relation of the 100LG to the Omni is like the Revolution CR to the Eclipse HP-CS.

Here's a pic of the Iwata color cup. Very smooth joint

http://www.plummersmines.com/modelling/iwata_cup.jpg

compared to the Omni. It seems to have been attatched sloppily. Note the rough, uneven attatchment point.

http://www.plummersmines.com/modelling/omni_cup.jpg

Even the sotar cup is smoother (the 100LG is also but I lent it to a friend so I couldn't take pics.

http://www.plummersmines.com/modelling/sotar_cup.jpg

It's hard to tell from the pics but on close inspection the trigger mechanisms and main body structure on the sotar and omni (as well as the 100LG) are identical.

http://www.plummersmines.com/modelling/omni_sotar.jpg

Proof is in the pudding, or spraying and actual cleaning. first try tomorrow.

I would argue that the finish inside the cup bears very little on cleaning speed and is not worth the extra $35 in price for such a small thing even if it was.
It's not like paint gets into some nooks and crannies that can't be cleaned.
Put some thinner in the Omni color cup and take an old paint brush and wipe around inside the bottom area of the cup then spray out the thinner and shoot some more. I can clean mine in about 5 minutes.

Mike

Are you going by "looks" alone or have you tried it. I can do a "quick clean" move onto another color and save the in-depth cleaning for when its time to put it away which as Mike put it, only takes a few minutes and thats if your slow(no offense Mike LOL) Crank open the reg and drain that paint cup.........

I’m sorry Mike, and no offense to your friend whom you quoted, but I can hardly believe that the Iwata, be it Eclipse or Revolution were throw-togethers. Unless, I’m missing the point, I think there is some bias and a lack of objectivity speaking there. I have the Revolution CR and while it’s the lesser of the Iwatas in cost, it is a fine piece of equipment. There is absolutely nothing that I do not like about it. When you look at it and hold it in your hand, you know you’re holding quality. Taking it apart, confirms just that. It sprays like a dream and I wouldn’t be afraid to put it up against any other brush. When I did the research for an airbrush, and I did a lot (mainly on Yahoo Airbrush Forums), the number one recommended brush was by far the Iwata and that is why I went the route I did. I do not regret it. Eventually, I will get around to purchasing an Omni because I am in need of another good brush; have some respect for your opinion; and because I firmly believe in buying American. When I've used both brushes, then I may have something further to add to this topic.

John

QUOTE: Originally posted by John L I’m sorry Mike, and no offense to your friend whom you quoted, but I can hardly believe that the Iwata, be it Eclipse or Revolution were throw-togethers. Unless, I’m missing the point, I think there is some bias and a lack of objectivity speaking there.

I don't think he meant they were not good quality, as he was referring to how they came about into the market hastily. Iwata had no airbrush out even close in appearance to the Vega and Omni until these models became so hugely popular and then Iwata suddenly had the Eclipse siphon-feed to compete in the market that they had no competition in.
The same was true for Paasche who came out with the Millennium to compete.
My friend was part of the team that helped design the Vega and Omni by the way and he has used and owns practically every airbrush ever made from the Walkup airbrush made in 1885 to the present models. Does he have a bias? I'm sure he does as we all do when we like a certain brand.
Check out his collection here on his web site under the 'Collection' link on the web page.
http://www.topgun-airbrush.com/
It's a pretty impressive collection.

Mike

The finish in the cup isn't the real issue in cleaning, my point was the fact that the Iwata cup has almost no nooks and crannies whereas the omni I just got is all nooks and crannies.(see above pics) I can get the cup of my iwata completely clean (not including the needle shaft just the cup) with a tissue and a q-tip in less than 20 seconds. in two minutes I can have the entire brush ready to put away.
I plan to do my first spray with the omni tomorrow. The trigger isn't nearly as smooth in terms of operation as my Iwata, if I'm not happy with first try I'll lubricate it and try again. So many people praise the Omni that I was surprised and dissapointed but it's sloppy construction. Did I get a dud that I need to return?