UPS man brought some new toys to play with

I just bought a Badger Anthem myself, I haven't tried it yet as the Model I'm currently working on has a full interior. I have a badger Models 150 and 200 and have been using them since around 1990 with no problems. I bought the badger 200 for spraying base and final coats and the model 150 for detail work. I want to thank you MikeV for your informative posts about air brushes, I've researched alot of your posts and you steered me in the right direction for some new brushes (Badger Anthem 155 and a Thayer and Chandler Omni 5000)

I agree 100% with Cableguy. I'd be lost without the help and tips I get from the forum. You and a lt of other guys spend a lot of time and effort helping us out, and even though we don't say it often enough we appreciate it very much.

Now, we need to see comparisons. And, of course, the Omni must come out on top!

Thanks Scott and Scott.
Two Scott's in the same thread?
I appreciate your kind words guys.
I will try some different paints with these airbrushes and show you the results.
I am almost positive the Anthem 155 and the 360 will spray the same as they are exact internally. The Badger 150 feels real nice too although I have never used one. Stay tuned.

Mike

lucky dog! let me know how that 360 performs, i may just have to purchase one. the itch comes and goes.

QUOTE: Originally posted by saltydog lucky dog! let me know how that 360 performs, i may just have to purchase one. the itch comes and goes.

Chris,

You have an Omni 5000, you don't need a 360 too.
I think the 360 is pretty cool although if you already own a gravity-feed then you might as well get a siphon-feed such as the Omni 3000, Badger Anthem 155, or Badger 150.

Mike

Mike, you may just stop using that omni 4000 as i think that regular badgers are made better and have smoother triggers than my omni. Did badger change how T&C are made when they bought them out? The way you rave about that brush I still feel I must have gotten a dud. While it sprays well, the trigger is rough and construction is sloppy. My Badger 100LG is much smoother, better made and easier to clean, and my Iwata, well, other than price I can't find a downside.

I always let my Badger 100sg sit in a box because I felt my T&C Nailaire just felt a like it was better in the quality department. The little ABs with the cup-less barrels always came in handy when I needed a small area to spray or touch up. So I suppose I could say I like the feel of the T&C over the Badger.

QUOTE: Originally posted by roosterfish I always let my Badger 100sg sit in a box because I felt my T&C Nailaire just felt a like it was better in the quality department. The little ABs with the cup-less barrels always came in handy when I needed a small area to spray or touch up. So I suppose I could say I like the feel of the T&C over the Badger.

I must have gotten a dud.

QUOTE: Originally posted by plum1030 Mike, you may just stop using that omni 4000 as i think that regular badgers are made better and have smoother triggers than my omni.

While the Badger's do seem to have a smoother trigger, I still like the Omni 4000 also.
I don't have a gravity-feed Badger to try out except for the 360 which is both gravity and siphon-feed. They do feel nice I have to admit.

QUOTE: Did badger change how T&C are made when they bought them out? The way you rave about that brush I still feel I must have gotten a dud. While it sprays well, the trigger is rough and construction is sloppy. My Badger 100LG is much smoother, better made and easier to clean, and my Iwata, well, other than price I can't find a downside.

I am not sure on that and you have a good point there as they are not as smooth as they could be. I know they have changed a few things on the Vega's but I don't know how the Omni's were changed, if they were. Let me find out what I can and get back to you.

If you feel your Omni is defective then shoot Badger an Email and see what they say.
Their customer service is excellent and they will make things right if you are not happy.

Mike

Well I tried the Badger's out and the results are below.
I did these tests with Model Master Acryl flat black thinned 2:1 with 2 parts paint and 1 part of a 50/50 Isopropyl alcohol / water mixture.
In the pictures I have put the test pieces next to a ruler with 1/16" increments for us Americans, and also layed a metric ruler alongside that in millimeters for those of you who use the metric system.

I didn't test the Omni's again as that wouldn't really be necessary as this is just a comparison and not an indepth test.
Here is what I came up with:


Badger Anthem 155

Badger 150 with Medium tip

Badger 360 (gravity-mode)

The Badger 360 picture above was used in gravity-feed mode since in siphon-feed mode it was about the same as the Anthem 155 in overall performance.
Notice how much paint it put out for the thickest line? Wow! [:0]
It puts out some of the most paint I have ever seen in an airbrush and is probably about equal with my Vega 2000 in terms of putting out a large volume of paint.

I also did a test to see if these siphon-feed airbrushes would be able to spray at low pressures and they did very well.



The top two were sprayed at 10 psi as you can see, and I also put in the one I did with the Badger 360 at 20 psi in siphon-mode as it came out so well.
The paint must have been flowing great as this is the sharpest thin line I was able to do in this small test.

They are all excellent airbrushes in my opinion and I would be happy with any of them. Although this is not meant to be a scientific, thorough evaluation of each of these airbrushes, it does prove the point that we say here often on the forum, and that is that most all of the good quality airbrushes will perform well and spray as fine of a line as needed for modeling.
This was the first time I have ever used a Badger Anthem 155, Badger 360 and Badger 150 and liked them all. I really like the feel of the Anthem and the 360 as they are hefty but balanced very well, and I have to admit that their triggers are as smooth if not moreso than my Omni 4000. I would say my Omni 3000 is about the same though. The chrome plating is done very well and the fit and balance are perfect in my opinion. Now I want one of each as I love these Badger airbrushes.
I hope this helps some of you out there contemplating an airbrush and wondering what they spray like.


Mike

Mike,
Thanks for all your help, and particularly this latest post.
I gather you ordered these airbrushes online.
Is there a particular site(s) you prefer for your airbrushes & supplies?

QUOTE: Originally posted by kealii21 Mike, Thanks for all your help, and particularly this latest post. I gather you ordered these airbrushes online. Is there a particular site(s) you prefer for your airbrushes & supplies?

You are welcome.
Actually the airbrushes I used were sent to me to try out by the manufacturer and they have to go back when I'm finished with them.
There are a few good places to buy airbrushes and supplies.
Send me an email and I'll tell you how to get a good deal on a Badger.

Mike

Mike, what do you do with all of these airbrushes?? Do you use them all on a regular basis?

QUOTE: Originally posted by kik36 Mike, what do you do with all of these airbrushes?? Do you use them all on a regular basis?

Heath,

Actually I only own four at the moment, an Omni 4000, Omni 3000, Vega 2000, and Vega 1000. I had a Paasche VL at one time also as that was my first airbrush I bought back in about 1992 or thereabouts. The three I did this test today with were sent to me for evaluation since I was unfamiliar with them.
The Vega 2000 I own is the one that I did all of my T-shirt airbrushing pictures with on my artwork page here: http://myartworkgallery.com/mag2/home.asp?member_id=14 .
I then received the Vega 1000 for Christmas one year from my wife for modeling and then about a year ago I bought the Omni 3000 for T-shirt airbrushing also.
Recently I bought the Omni 4000 for modeling also.
If I get serious into T-shirt airbrushing again and decide to do it at flea markets and so forth for some side money, then I will have to buy more airbrushes for that purpose. Most T-shirt artists use anywhere from 6-30 airbrushes at a time as they use each one for it's own color. Time is money and you don't have time to be spraying out between colors when you are busy.

Mike

Mike, you are a very talented artist, my friend!!!! I hope that you do not stop your pursuits of making $$$ through your talents!!!! I used to collect Comics, and I've always loved Spider-Man and Deadpool. My very first comic was a Spider-Man book. I was up to 2000 books, when I decided to get out (I was spending close to $600 a month on books)....now I have around 30, and I still have my first one.....Amazing Spider-Man #331!! I even have a couple of original artist proofs, that they send to the printers!!! LOL Ahhhh good times, good times!!! Are any of your shirts for sale, or are they one of a kind??

QUOTE: Originally posted by kik36 Mike, you are a very talented artist, my friend!!!! I hope that you do not stop your pursuits of making $$$ through your talents!!!!

Thanks Heath, I appreciate that buddy. Actually I haven't sold very many as most were either just practice pictures or they went on my sons wall.
I did a few T-shirts for family members.
I sold two of those Betty Boop shirts on that link for $50 each and they were a lot of work to paint. Took about 2 hours to do one since I only had one airbrush. LOL

QUOTE: I used to collect Comics, and I've always loved Spider-Man and Deadpool. My very first comic was a Spider-Man book. I was up to 2000 books, when I decided to get out (I was spending close to $600 a month on books)....now I have around 30, and I still have my first one.....Amazing Spider-Man #331!! I even have a couple of original artist proofs, that they send to the printers!!! LOL Ahhhh good times, good times!!!

I too was a big comic collector and I still have all of my Thor collection which is about 350 books or so. I had all of the original Silver Surfer's from 1968 and a friend of mine had them at his storage with all of his books as he was having someone look at them to possibly buy them from me. Long story short, someone broke into his storage and stole all of his old Silver Age comics including my Silver Surfers.
I still have my Iron Man #1 and #2, an Avengers #2 and several other older Silver Age books. The prices of comics dropped so bad that selling them would be a waster of money now. Do you remember a young guy named Derrick Roberts that drew X-men for a while and did a character called Nightman? I have a few penciled drawings of Thor and Wolverine that he did for me that look great. I bought them many years ago at the Wonder Con comic convention that they have here in Oakland each year. It's not near as big as the San Diego Con you have down there.

QUOTE: Are any of your shirts for sale, or are they one of a kind??

As I said above the shirts were done for family members except for the Betty Boop ones I sold and I did sell one Tigger shirt, although it is a bad idea to sell any copyrighted stuff on shirts as you can be fined by the copyright holder as some airbrush artists have found out. If I ever started selling in the public then I would not do any copyrighted stuff as it is plain stupid to risk a fine of $1,000 or more when Disney, Harley Davidson or Warner Brothers sends a scout to your airbrush booth to buy a shirt with one of their characters on it and you agree to paint it. [:0]
I may do one or two for people I know though.

I was thinking it would be cool to do some shirt orders for people on this forum that had a design for their modeling club or whatever and wanted a shirt. Just a thought.

Take care

Mike

Seriously, you could make a lot of money painting A/C or Armor!!!! Everyone would like a painting of their favorite vehicle on a shirt!!!! I sold all of my books for around $250.00. It was a real heartwrenching moment!!!! But I saved a few choice ones.....Witchblade #1 signed by everyone on the team.....Witchblade #25 holograph.....Spider-Man #1, by Todd McFarlane....Jay and Silent Bob!!! LOL......have you ever heard of Quantum and Woody? I loved that book.....one year, I won the Wizard anual scavenger hunt (3rd place), and got a few signed books out of it. It's a shame the comic books dropped, but it was inevitable after they started releasing 5 of the same books with different covers, and charging too much to get them all. By the time you bought all of the variations, you paid $40.00 out the door. It's a shame you lost all of those books...people can be evil!!!

QUOTE: Originally posted by kik36 Seriously, you could make a lot of money painting A/C or Armor!!!! Everyone would like a painting of their favorite vehicle on a shirt!!!!

That's true. So I need to get the word out on the forum so I can make some money to support my modeling habit.

QUOTE: IIt's a shame the comic books dropped, but it was inevitable after they started releasing 5 of the same books with different covers, and charging too much to get them all. By the time you bought all of the variations, you paid $40.00 out the door.

They do the same thing to baseball cards and every other collectable. These people flood the market with high priced items and before you know it the price is so high that collectors stp coming to the shows and the collectable dies. Sad isn't it? On the bright side, it is a good time for buyers now as prices are cheap.

QUOTE: It's a shame you lost all of those books...people can be evil!!!

Oh well that's life. I was going to sell them anyway so there was not a big sentimental let down in loosing them. At least I still have my Thor's.

Mike