Just an Observation

Retired In Kalifornia

Double Action brush is essential for mottle painting particularly blend tracing around mottles with base colors afterwards for me, extra paint thinning necessary to minimize splattering - but not too much.

Right now my goal is to achieve at least journeyman results on straight paintjobs on aircraft and cars, especially the glossy paint of a car with minimal orange peel. I don't think I have much of anything in my cache of kits that has a mottled paintjob. If I do, I will cross that bridge when i get to it!

stikpusher

I don't know how you stuck with the 250 for so long. I had one as a teenager and did not use it long. I suppose if I had a compressor I might have. But off the propellant cans it was a big turn off.  

I used it with a compressor for most of the time I had it. I got some OK paintjobs out of it, a couple that I found fairly satisfying after a bit of polishing, but the results were always inconsistent, even though I worked hard to do the same thing each time. At one point I even took notes!

The fact that my wife got it for me made me want it to work for me also.

Don Wheeler

You can get a good paint job with a Badger 250.  But, it actually takes more skill and practice than the more complex airbrushes.

Don

 

That I imagine. With enough determination and practice, one can master any tool. And of course figuring out the techniques required to achieve the results desired. My next project with a borrowed 150 after using my 250 were not much better. It was my 350 where I got serious and was able to achieve the stuff I saw in magazines and in hobby shop display cases. 

As much as a decent airbrush is essential, so is a reliable air source beyond those propellant cans. 

One point I might add, aside from factory applied paint jobs, I think is modelers take more care and finesse on a paint scheme than is found on the real subject when we airbrush. The real ones often show all sorts of sloppiness.

You can get a good paint job with a Badger 250.  But, it actually takes more skill and practice than the more complex airbrushes.

Don

if you don't have a double action, you can achive similar results dialing your pressure down. I have done some decent mottle work with my single action brushes. 

I don't know how you stuck with the 250 for so long. I had one as a teenager and did not use it long. I suppose if I had a compressor I might have. But off the propellant cans it was a big turn off. Later I got myself a 350 and used that for 20+ years. A superb cost effective brush to learn with. I just used it till it was falling apart. Then I picked up a secondhand Thayer and Chandler brush and that one really showed me about fine line work. I tried our AMPS chapter loaner Grex pistol grip brush, but did not care for that one. Now I am using a Master double action that I got for free.., it's not the best, but I've learned how to use a double action (and the different assembly & cleaning) so when it's time to replace it, I'll be ready for a good quality double action.