Good airbrush for laying primer, wide coverage & easy to clean?

I like my Paasche VL for priming and base coats (using #1 needle, .5mm nozzle). I also like its needle adjustment wheel. For gravity feed, you may like the Badger 105 with its .5mm needle, get a fine detail conversion (.3mm) for finer camo patterns while you’re at it. It also sprays a fairly wide pattern even with .3mm nozzle.

Pretty much any airbrush with .5 needle set or larger should work well. I use either the .5 or the .7 on my Badger 200 and as I mentioned in my other post, the .7 in my Paasche H. I actually could probably use the fine needle set in the Paasche because that is either .55 or .6 but at any rate plenty large enough.

Edit: the Paasche H #1 needle set is apparently .45 and the medium .6 as it turns out. So I use the medium for primer which has worked very well for me.

 

Thanks all for your replies, much appreciated and a lot of great information to ponder.

I agree with those who said to go for spray-can primer, and it's much easier in the end and bottled primer just leads to messy and tedious strip-downs and clean-ups. But wider, even coverage for paint is what I'm really after so I googled around about the Paasche and the Badger...

 

 

Apparently the Paasche H is popular with car modelers because it basically sprays like a beast and is perfect for painting car chassis in no time flat. It's also simple, inexpensive and tough as nails. But more googling revealed that, if you're not laying down that sort of heavy wet coat its old-fashioned design does not atomize paint as finely as modern airbrushes, which leads to a more granular finish. I use acrylics and this seems a red flag to me. I'm also not thrilled with the siphon feed, bottles, etc. and cleaning and stocking all that in a tight workspace.

 

 

In many ways the Badger looks ideal; I like the gravity cup and in the US the price is really appealing, but I'm in Europe and it is a rare import which costs more than the Iwata so I had some serious sticker shock. Also, only the fine-needle is available which starts to make it look eerily similar to... the Iwata. Buying medium needle parts just sends the final price into the stratosphere.

 

 

Which led me to think (light bulb goes off, then slight embarrassment at the retrospective obviousness of it), Why not just put a .5 mm needle assembly into the Iwata and call it a day? Iwata parts definitely aren't cheap but it's dramatically less than the Badger set-up, and I assume the increased flow and a higher psi will get the coverage I'm after. And you can swap needles for fine work, 2 for 1, happy camper. If anyone uses this set-up for an Iwata I'd love to hear your results and if I'm on the right track here.

 

GMorrison

The medium nozzle on the Badger 105 is also useful for that. If you like a gravity feed brush as I prefer.

 

I second that!

I use the Iwata NEO trigger style airbrush for all of my airbrush work. It is good for larger areas and does decent fine work as well. (not great at fine work but decent). It is relatively inexpensive and a breeze to maintain. Give it a shot! BTW....I also agree with most of the other posters on this thread....Primer out of a rattle can is hard to beat. Great coverage, Bigger cans and does a great job

I agree with Tojo72.  The primer in a rattle can does a great job, especially Tamiya or Mr. Color.  No need to use an airbrush.

Second on the H.  And I use a quick disconnect on my air source (CO2).  Requires additional hoses but super convienient.  

FWIW a Badger will require an adapter to get to 1/4" as well.

Tamiya Extra Fine Primer or Mr Surfacer 1200 in the rattlecan,easy to control,levels out nice,doesn’t obscure details on 1/35 armor,so should work for 1/32 

Why spend cash on a single purpose airbrush.

 

The medium nozzle on the Badger 105 is also useful for that. If you like a gravity feed brush as I prefer.

You're describing a Paasche H with medium nozzle set. Just get a Paasche to 1/4 adapter. Done deal.