Single or Double Action

IMO, there is only ONE circumstance where I would recommend a single-action airbrush.   That is to the veteran airbrusher who had decades ago started with a single-action.  And their fingers are stuck.  And therefore they're unwilling to change. 

Don't start out airbrushing by locking yourself in to a single-action.  

Go double or don't go at all...

Dual Action.

Not much control with a single and besides you already have a dual.

Paashe has a good tutorial booklet that I received with a Talon that I bought last spring. It gives you some drills to develop the trigger on-off and flow control you'll want to acquire to feel good about your AB before you take it to a project. You should be able to get it from the manufacturer online, or try Chicago Airbrush, their outlet for products and parts.

The modeling community generally embraces other brands; Badger, H&S, and Iwata over Paashe, but don't let that discourage you as you learn. My first AB was (is) a VL that I've owned for about thirty years and I'm really pleased with the Talon I just bought. Point is, there are a lot of good products available, it's really about taking the time to learn how to use the one in your hand.

Hope this will encourage you to pickup that VL and squirt some paint (or practice ink) all over the place and to discover how much control you can realize in a short period of time.

mike

I have both a single and a double, and use the single far more than the double. I use the double when I need very fine lines or a very thin, misty coat.

Yeah, learning to use a DA is a bit more work than for a SA, but in either case it takes a lot of practice, so not sure it really makes much difference.

With EITHER type, do a lot of practice- say at least an hour total of actual spray time, on scrap or old models before trying airbrush on good kit.

I've got a Paashe H single-action and Iwata HP-C Plus double-action. 

Personally, I use the Iwata 9 times out of 10. It hurls a lot less paint and offers a good deal more control than the Paashe. I find the double-action easier to control than the single-action, actually.

The major exception is when I'm going for uniform coverage over a broad area. Clear coats, priming and the "difficult coverage" colors like white or yellow.

And I'm the same as Don, only the opposite. I use my trusty Badger 100LG DA brush for just about everything BUT fine lines, then I pull out my even trustier Badger 200-20 "Detail" brush. I find the ability to dial in the line width much easier to do than trying to control the width with a trigger. I find the SA to be slightly more time consuming to clean, and I mean slightly, maybe an additional two minutes in time.

In reality, there is very little difference between the airbrushes. The head assembly and air valves are the same, and only the needle (length only), trigger and body are different. A flawed analogy is to think about them as transmissions, the DA is equivalent to an automatic (I can change gears easily just by moving the stick) and the SA is like a manual (clutch first, then change). Either will let you drive the car, and once you've become used to them, shifting becomes second nature, so you can concentrate on the drive.

One HUGE difference is that the DA lets you change line width easily, so you can do a flood coat on one section and then hit a tiny spot without changing anything but your finger position. With a SA, you would have to stop, adjust the line width, test on a piece of scrap, adjust some more and continue.

Judicious shopping can let you afford both, I paid $75 for my 100LG and $40 for my 200-20, so pretty much the same as buying two or three kits.

Otherwise Don is correct about practice, and I would like to add that you will need to practice.

Bgrigg,

What size head do you have on that 100LG?  Fine, medium or large?  I've been using Iwata airbruses up to this point, but I've head a lot of good things about this Badger and I'm looking for a good airbrush for primer coats and other large area applications.  How wide is the coverage area on the one you are using?

Thanks in advance.

Bob

I have all three heads available to me, though I only use the Fine and Medium. The Large is just too large for modeling. Its more for T-shirt painting as it puts out a LOT of paint.

In full disclosure I have two 100LG, one with Medium and one with Fine. I use the Medium most often. It sprays out to around 2", but mostly I work closer than that. Its certainly wide enough for the scales I work in. The 100LG is far more than a primer airbrush, and is capable of just about any detail you can imagine. If one of the Iwatas you own is a HP-CS, then don't bother, you won't get anything more out of the 100LG, and would be duplicating airbrushes.

If you want to have an airbrush for large areas, a bottom or siphon feed airbrush like the Paasche H may be better as you can attach a pretty large bottle of paint to it. The Paasche will spray out to 3+"

robtmelvin

What size head do you have on that 100LG?  Fine, medium or large?  I've been using Iwata airbrushes up to this point, but I've head a lot of good things about this Badger and I'm looking for a good airbrush for primer coats and other large area applications.  How wide is the coverage area on the one you are using?

I have the Badger Patriot 105 Fine, Iwata HP-CS and H&S Evolution Sole that the nozzle size are 0.5 mm, 0.35 mm and 0.2 mm respectively. The Badger Fine has twice the opening of the Iwata standard. But the biggest different is the taper length of the needles. The Badger Fine needle has a taper that is half the length of the Iwata and H&S's. It allows the Badger to open up to dump larger quantity of paint a lot faster. It is very good for primer and larger area applications.

You can change the Patriot Fine to medium (0.75 mm) or large (1.0 mm) nozzle set too.