Probably the same story as many others I've seen here on the FSM forums (and Britmodeller, large scale, etc.): just got back into the hobby after a 25 year absence. Loved building Monogram, Ravell, etc. kits as a teen, though the joy for me was in the building, not the painting. Have a work colleague who produces very high quality WWI and WWII aircraft kits who persuaded me to jump back in. Thought it would be a fairly inexpensive way to spend some time in an activity I used to love... and yes, found out I love it even more, but after a good $500 worth of supplies it's hardly inexpensive. ;-)
Bought an Aztek 7778 kit off eBay and thought it a steal at $60 ($150 new @ Amazon). Even though I'm terribly new to airbrushing I'm getting very inconsistent spray results with identical conditions - thinned acrylic paint with flow-aid and a retarder, desiccant filtered air, consistent pressure from a Senco TC1010, etc. Brett Green made it look so easy. 
I spent several weeks researching kits, tools, and techniques here before buying most stuff, but never really looked at airbrush talk since BG was my video guru to follow. Now that I've done that research I'd have started with something different. The 7779 will stay as the primer / clearcoat brush, as it works great with the white tip at higher (15-20 psi) pressure and a wide-open needle. After handling a similar gun-grip brush and really liking it, I've decided on a Grex. The question is, is there any major difference in performance between the side mount and top mount models? I'm used to the side-mount 7778 and like the idea of potentially using a large capacity siphon cup, but if the gravity feed top mount works any better (especially with acrylics) I'll go that way.
Just finished my first kit in nearly 3 decades, a Hasegawa FW190 D-9 in Papagei Staffel livery, and enjoyed every bit of the 25 or so hours I spent on it. The mottle scheme on the top is pretty sub-par compared to most I see on here, but I still had a blast trying it out. I'm just tired of fighting my brush while trying to increase skill. The latter is hard enough without dealing with the former.