Is this a good Basic introduction level dual action airbrush

Hey Fotofrank, looked online at Michaels, and all 3 of my local don't carry them anymore, since they piggy back on the US site, that is why they are still listed on there’s. So the nice 40% coupon off wont apply to me boohoo. So back to shopping for me  

Bearcat57

 

 

 

 

Holy cow! $150 would be WAAY too much to pay for a Patriot. Amazon currently has ‘em at $74

 

$150 is approximate retail I think. With a 40% off coupon, I paid way less than retail.

That’s a setup for a T-shirt artist or face painter.  Someone who needs multiple colors set up and ready for quick use.   Perhaps also using alcohol based inks that don’t dry on the tip. 

Last month a pair of face painters setup next to us at a make and take.  They had about 6 brushes each mounted on a board,  whatever fits your fancy.    IIRC they said they were using an iawata brand brush, of course all setup to spray a thicker paint/makeup.  They did both freehand sprays and stencils

Just to scare the crap out of me  look at this beast

https://photos.app.goo.gl/z2amp5ubbIEScn273

https://photos.app.goo.gl/375d7z6RZmGhFM6b2

the kit is $150 cad, so in the same ballpark as the el chepos we/i was talking about

fotofrank

I started out with a Badger 200 some forty years ago. When I got back into the hobby last year I bought another Badger 200. Still have it sitting on the shelf. I have upgraded to a Patriot 105 dual action gravity feed. A very good airbrush and not too pricey, maybe $150. If you have a craft supply retailer like Michael's in Ottawa, print out a discount coupon and go buy one. I just did a search and there are three Michaels locations in Ottawa. 1) 165 Trainyards Dr. Ottawa, ONK1G 3X8 (613) 244-4500. 2) 2685 Iris StOttawa, ONK2C 3S4(613) 726-7211. 3) 2210-F Bank StOttawa, ONK1V 1J5(613) 521-371. Print out a 40% off coupon and save some dough. I was surprised to see that the Michaels herer in Winter Park carried Badger/Patriot airbrushes.

Holy cow! $150 would be WAAY too much to pay for a Patriot. Amazon currently has ‘em at $74

Thought I would throw in my .  I agree with fotofrank.  I have three airbrushes, and my favorite by a long way is the Badger Patriot.  Easy to use, easy to clean, affordable, affordable parts, and backed by a great company.  This is not my first double action AB, but it is the first I felt comfortable using.

That said, AB's are a matter of personal taste, so you will get many opinions.  I still think the Patriot is a great value for the dollar, though.

pppmario

 fotofrank, no such thing as TMI. Looking like i may ask for and early Bday present lol 

 

 

Always good to keep good relations with our friends in the Great White North.

 fotofrank, no such thing as TMI. Looking like i may ask for and early Bday present lol 

pppmario

 

 

Wingman_kz

pppmario, hope I got your name right. I have a Harbor Freight airbrush kit you can have if you want it. Hose and everything except a compressor and a fitting to connect the hose to it. PM me your address if you want and I'll send it your way. It's a siphon double action with cup and jar. Never been used or even opened the package. It came with a compressor I bought a few years ago. I have other brushes and don't need it. Don't know how well it will perform or last but it's free and yours if you want it.

 

 

 

 

You got the name right

Holly cow Wingman_kz Thanks for the great gift! But i am going to save up and get the Badger.

 

The offer is greatly apreciated

 

See, you can't even give them away. This is at least the third time I've tried. Lol.

But you're welcome, just thought I'd offer. Badger is better...

I started out with a Badger 200 some forty years ago. When I got back into the hobby last year I bought another Badger 200. Still have it sitting on the shelf. I have upgraded to a Patriot 105 dual action gravity feed. A very good airbrush and not too pricey, maybe $150. If you have a craft supply retailer like Michael's in Ottawa, print out a discount coupon and go buy one. I just did a search and there are three Michaels locations in Ottawa. 1) 165 Trainyards Dr. Ottawa, ONK1G 3X8 (613) 244-4500. 2) 2685 Iris StOttawa, ONK2C 3S4(613) 726-7211. 3) 2210-F Bank StOttawa, ONK1V 1J5(613) 521-371. Print out a 40% off coupon and save some dough. I was surprised to see that the Michaels herer in Winter Park carried Badger/Patriot airbrushes.

This is probably tmi. Just trying to help...

Wingman_kz

pppmario, hope I got your name right. I have a Harbor Freight airbrush kit you can have if you want it. Hose and everything except a compressor and a fitting to connect the hose to it. PM me your address if you want and I'll send it your way. It's a siphon double action with cup and jar. Never been used or even opened the package. It came with a compressor I bought a few years ago. I have other brushes and don't need it. Don't know how well it will perform or last but it's free and yours if you want it.

 

You got the name right

Holly cow Wingman_kz Thanks for the great gift! But i am going to save up and get the Badger.

The offer is greatly apreciated

That master airbrush is pure garbage. The best bang for the buck would probably be the Mr. Hobby Procon Boy line made by Iwata.

The 175 is a good airbrush; sturdy, easy to care for and parts are cheap.  You might want to have a look at my review.  You'd need a cup, badger hose, and maybe a bottle or two to go with it.  Cups and bottles are pretty standard between brands, but the Badger air hose is unique.

I hope it works out for you.

Don

Don Wheeler

As was mentioned, this appears to be the same as the Harbor Freight deluxe airbrush.  You can see my review of that one on this  page.  Quality can vary a lot on the Chinese made airbrushes.  I have two of them that work reasonably well.  But, you will probably eventually want a name brand brush anyway.

If you buy a used one on Ebay, it may need some work, or at least some cleaning.  I'd pick something with readily available and inexpensive parts.

Good luck with it and come back if you have problems.

Don

 

Hey Don, great study and adventures in airbrushes. just looked on a 2nd hand market site, and there is a Badger 175 for sale, asking is $100.00cad so $75.00us, been up for a month so i hope to drop it by 30%, at $70 i could be in it. no info on the needle or tips.

My first a/b was a Paasche. A dual action siphon feed. It was a good brush, but getting it to consistently work well was very difficult for a beginner. Removing and replacing the needle often caused the spacing to be adjusted a little. The siphon feed created a new set of cleaning actions. I still have it somewhere but haven't used it in a while. I bought it at Michael's with a 40% off oupon for around $ 100.00.

My second brush was an Aztek. A lot of negatives there, not too many positives. I bought a complete set up for about $ 350.00. I still use the compressor, a nice unit.

My third brush is a gravity feed dual action Badger. I bought it for about $ 65.00 using a coupon I got from another hobby site.

It has fine, semi-fine and medium tips. I've replaced the middle one once, only because I've dropped the thing so many times that it can't be bent back straight any more.

If you can manage $ 65.00 or so to get a decent airbrush, it will pay for itself over and over.

Don Wheeler

Great advice from Don, some folks luck out and get a decent cheap Chinese airbrush, most get something of questionable quality at best. Far better choice to buy a quality name brand, Badger is my choice, although I do have Paasche, Iwata and others.

Badger's are inexpensive, when the quality, performance and extreme durability is considered, plus any parts needed are also readily available. Of the 11 Badger's I have purchased, only twice have they required minor warranty work, Badger Company sent the replacements with expedited service, even before they received the ones I sent back.

Buying used is a shot in the dark, the few times I have done it, they arrived with issues that I had to resolve. Usually in a very poor state of cleanliness, a couple of times I had to order several parts in order to make a functional airbrush.

I'd recommend a look at USA AIRBRUSH, I have bought from them and consider it to be a very good seller, at good discount prices. They get high marks from me.

Patrick

As was mentioned, this appears to be the same as the Harbor Freight deluxe airbrush.  You can see my review of that one on this  page.  Quality can vary a lot on the Chinese made airbrushes.  I have two of them that work reasonably well.  But, you will probably eventually want a name brand brush anyway.

If you buy a used one on Ebay, it may need some work, or at least some cleaning.  I'd pick something with readily available and inexpensive parts.

Good luck with it and come back if you have problems.

Don

 

As was mentioned, this appears to be the same as the Harbor Freight deluxe airbrush.  You can see my review of that one on this  page.  Quality can vary a lot on the Chinese made airbrushes.  I have two of them that work reasonably well.  But, you will probably eventually want a name brand brush anyway.

If you buy a used one on Ebay, it may need some work, or at least some cleaning.  I'd pick something with readily available and inexpensive parts.

Good luck with it and come back if you have problems.

Don

Well Thanks for all the Info and Opinions.

I consider this thread now over, Time to save up and get a Badger saw one 2nd handed somewhere...

The only reason i am looking at 2nd hand, is that i am on a very fixed income.

There is usually nothing “good” about an “introduction level” airbrush. Those tend to serve to put budding airbrushers off more than anything else. 

It’s like introducing a possum into your home to see if it would make for a good introduction level pet.

If you’re interested in having a serious go at airbrushing, do yourself a favor and lay out the additional cash for a known quality brand. It doesn’t have to be their top of the line model, but stay clear of the cheap junk that you find in such places as Harbor Freight and Canadian Tire ferhevvinsake. Give yourself a fighting chance.

I wouldn't recommend an airbrush in this pricerange, as it'll only frustrate you and possibly turn you off of airbrushing altogether.  

I would recommend one of the big airbrush manufacturer's (Iwata, Badger, etc).  I have the Iwata Revolution CR and I love it.  Easy to use, easy to clean.  It was pricey ($180 Canadian), but I will never buy another airbrush, this is all I will ever need.  For me, that's worth the extra money that it costs.  

I think with most things, it's alway better to pay a bit more and get quality, which will reduce headaches in the future.  Plus, with those cheap airbrushes, you're just going to eventually replace it anyway with a better one.  Just skip that step and get the better one.

Mastercraft airbrush... you get what you pay for. Cheap and garbage.

This airbrush was discussed in an earlier thread. Never owned one. Did some reading on airbrush forums, plus the OP member of the other thread. Seems the seals break down in a year, they are hard to clean.

Agree with Ed.....have a NEO and love it.  If you can order online from Hobby Lobby you can get one for around $50 US with the 40% off coupon.

That airbrush is pretty much the same as the cheapo double action brush sold in the States by Harbor Freight Tools.  That brush is essentially a disposable item.   I have used the HF brush,  and I did learn (or tried to learn) how to use a double action brush using a HF brush. They work fairly well out of the box but when they are disassembled for cleaning they do not ever work as well.   I threw several away  While replacement smaller guage needles are avilable from HF mailorder they really cannot be adjusted to spray finer patterns   

I bought an Iawata NEO and never looked back. Cheaper in the long run. I also have a Badger Omni 360.   Both are top feed, allowing work at lower pressures.  Bottom feed brushes have to run at a higher pressure to suck paint into the airflow.   

My last functional HF brush is relegated to only spraying Future

Buy the best tools you can afford but be aware that sometimes you are just paying for junk

pppmario

The hiccup?

Mastercraft Air Brush Kit has been designed to work exclusively with the Air Brush Compressor Kit (058-9805)

[quote user="modelmaker66"]

They are probably garbage. Gravity feed brushes are better and can be used at lower pressure to give better detail. Learn on a decent airbrush to learn good habits. Iwata or badger are my suggestions. For the price these coat you can get a badher Krome or patriot or and Iwata neo or cs.

I read this earlier and i thought you had put it was $150, was that an error or did i misread that.

While the price is nice, i would have to agree with the above. I went from a cheap single action brush to a badger 150 and never looked back, that was over 20 years ago and i still use it as my main brush and have a Badger 100 for detailed work.