Single-use dedicated airbrushes?

the Baron

Yeah, for me, I don't see getting multiple airbrushes.  But I am thinking of getting a second airbrush.  I have a Paasche VL, double-action, siphon-fed.  It's a good brush, a workhorse.  But I can't do some of the finer work I want to be able to do with it.  Also, I want a gravity-fed brush with the cup in line with the brush.  I'm getting tired of having the paint cup in the way.  If I do get another brush, I won't discard my Paasche, but use it for those jobs it's good for.

It's akin to having several paintbrushes for hand-painting.  For painting figures, I have 2 different sizes of sable rounds, because they do differnet things.  But I don't have a dozen different sizes and shapes, that's unnecessary.

But to each, his own.

 

Ya the VL has gusher nozzles with the small being .55. I know Paasche doesn't make it for the VL but I find a .2 or .25 nozzle/needle very useful, I really like how that .25 sprays more opened up too.. And side cup too is very valuable on my Badger 200 which is a siphon gun ( that I believe Paasche made for the VL as well). That gets the dangling bottle out of the way when working close in and paint flow is a touch more free too.  All that to say, I wonder if you really feather that needle off the seat on the VL with the .55 if just a side cup might get you out of the woods in doing fine work. If you can get in close enough it might just do it for ya...

Yeah, for me, I don't see getting multiple airbrushes.  But I am thinking of getting a second airbrush.  I have a Paasche VL, double-action, siphon-fed.  It's a good brush, a workhorse.  But I can't do some of the finer work I want to be able to do with it.  Also, I want a gravity-fed brush with the cup in line with the brush.  I'm getting tired of having the paint cup in the way.  If I do get another brush, I won't discard my Paasche, but use it for those jobs it's good for.

It's akin to having several paintbrushes for hand-painting.  For painting figures, I have 2 different sizes of sable rounds, because they do differnet things.  But I don't have a dozen different sizes and shapes, that's unnecessary.

But to each, his own.

The only reason I have two airbrushes is for different types of painting.  My standby is a SA that is easy to clean, and with adjustable flow locked with a nut, I find it easier to get a uniform thickness over large areas.  I use my DA when I want to do camouflage or varying shading. 

 

I can't argue with the "just do it" sentiment....I have a bad habit of overthinking and overpreparing and delaying what should be a simple decision...appreciate the shove in the back.

As far as the 2 part paints, I believe I pulled the trigger on the 2K clear out of curiosity more than anything....watched a few videos on YouTube of guys that swore by the Gravity 2K clear product.  I guess the 2K primer and clear were sort of a "nice thing to have if I need it" purchase....hopefully I'll convince myself to take the plunge and spray something this weekend because collecting parts and tools and paints is enough already :)

avgatbest

Older,

I think that's where I am - the single action Paasche H's for primer (one for 2K, one for the others), one of the single action Mr Hobby's for base, one for clear...and then the Neo for detail/weathering work...now I just need to stop watching tutorials and put it into practice :)

I'm sure once I start using all this stuff, I will gravitate towards one or the other...probably would've been best to grab just one of each rather than grab so many beforehand, but it's water under the bridge :)  I just need a paint booth now, but that's another headache...do you plop down a bunch of cash on a SprayTech table top booth with 3 layers of filtration and big motor, or go on the cheaper end of the spectrum with a Paasche table top or something similar....decisions, decisions.

Thank you for the response 

 

The Paasche booth would be fine I'm sure, people use lesser ones and are quite happy. . My booth is home made, as are several others booths around here. The nice thing about home made is you make it as roomy as you like. The lousy thing of course is well, you have to literally make it lol.

For years I just shot in the basement with an exhaust fan ( been considering going back to that for my wood working). My garage at one point had an exhaust fan where I shot 1/1, clear coated clocks I built etc... Course that's a rental apartment now. Heck way back when my wife and I were first married I shot at our kitchen table in our apartment we rented with a house fan mounted in the window to draw the fumes out. That was in the days of Floquil lacquers, worked quite decent actually. Covered the table with news papers, kids in another room for an hour and had at it. Everybody grew up normal and healthy, even the dog, the wife has asthma and it never bothered her. Actually it stunk up the apartment far less than her nail polish.  My home made booth has double furnace filters in it just to not gunk up the fans. If I go back to the basement I'll probably build one against the wall that hangs from the floor joists, with the exhaust fan above it oout a basement window. I'm getting older now so not sure I have that much ambition or it feels even that important if I'm honest. Actually sitting out on the patio with the supposedly wild turkies hanging out while spraying sounds about as reasonable as anything else these days. I guess my point is make do but do it. Get painting, don't get caught up in extensive preparations. Just do it somewhere.

By the way, two part paints is why I got out of 1/1 painting, why would I drag that into my home then ? We got to where we sprayed with suits on and pressure masks because the stuff is dangerous. The particles embed in human tissue and cure there, especially lung tissue. I know a lot of guys play with it for the wet look clear coat but they don't know what they're playing with. You can clear coat with Tamiya X-22 and get the wet look, just polish a little bit is all. In 1/1 the big deal about 2 part paints is weather and ultravilolet protection. Do we really need that on our models ?

Older,

I think that's where I am - the single action Paasche H's for primer (one for 2K, one for the others), one of the single action Mr Hobby's for base, one for clear...and then the Neo for detail/weathering work...now I just need to stop watching tutorials and put it into practice :)

I'm sure once I start using all this stuff, I will gravitate towards one or the other...probably would've been best to grab just one of each rather than grab so many beforehand, but it's water under the bridge :)  I just need a paint booth now, but that's another headache...do you plop down a bunch of cash on a SprayTech table top booth with 3 layers of filtration and big motor, or go on the cheaper end of the spectrum with a Paasche table top or something similar....decisions, decisions.

Thank you for the response 

Seems as though you have sufficient airbrushes for your needs already. There is a pretty good argument for taking one of those H brushes and set it up just for primer. Put the .35 nozzle set on the Neo for finer work. And shoot a .4 or .5 or whatever for your clears sometimes. That still leaves two more airbrushes. I'd personally put those up for spares or if something goes down then you have a backup.

Totally different side note, sometimes we just grow into the brush we end up favoring: I will say I get a lot of use out of my 45 yo Badger 200 SA with a .25 tip on there most. I just really like that combo, I can use a side cup and thin paint and cut that needle back to where I don't even see the paint coming out but if I get real close to the work you see things starting to change color. An H can't do that. I could easily live with just that 200 which is a set with all three nozzle sets, the fine, medium, heavy. .25, .5 and .7. In fact it is what I used for decades. I have other brushes but they came to me over 50 years or so. Been modeling for 62. Sometimes we just like a tool enough to learn how to use it !!!!!

Disaster,

I definitely plan to treat them well after use...I even went the extra mile and got paint-specific and brand-specific cleaners and thinners for each type and brand of paint I plan to use.  Overkill?  I think I realized that already, but in my defense I did shop around and didn't go completely nuts.  The Paasche brushes ended up being like 30 bucks a pop, and the Mr Hobby ones I grabbed on HLJ for about 50...

Thanks for the help

Tojo72

Disaster,

Your work is a prime example of not needing a plethora of airbrushes to turn out high quality work !!! 

 

Absolutely, keep it clean.

Disaster,

Your work is a prime example of not needing a plethora of airbrushes to turn out high quality work !!! 

Tojo72

not saying someone can't have more then one, many here do, but its not necessary.

I agree.

 All the money spent for those extra airbrushes could be used for other things such as kits, compressor, tools, paints .....uh, another pair of glasses?, etc.

The most important thing is to keep it clean.... Just keep it clean, don't fudge on it. I treat mine royally after every use with a 3/16 stencil brush, a pipe cleaner, paper napkin and 91% alcohol _{^{(or laquer cleaner)}}.

Except for the laquer thinner and maybe the napkins, all from the dollar tree.

I have two airbrushes that I currently use. One is an old Iwata HP-B which still works quite well and the other is a brand new Tamiya Spray-work HG Airbrush III Superfine which I just love to death. I bought it last December from ebay for just $95 and free shipping.

My new Tamiya Spray-work is just the best airbrush I've ever had.

 With this brush I can seriously dilute (91% alcohol) Tamiya paint and set my compressor for about 3psi (yes, that's three psi and (thanks to the 0.2 tip, the paint flow preset adjustment in the handle and using without the nozzle cap) i can spray (very close to the surface) the tiniest consistent lines that very closely compare to thin threads without any problems.

 Of course larger areas do better with a larger needle, higher air pressure and a different dilution ratio.

Well, that's just my 2 cents for this week.

I have a bunch of airbrushes. Not because I need them, because I like them. You can specialize as much as you like, it's your money, but you don't need to. Whatever brush or brushes you buy, make sure it has a solvent proof needle seal and then you can spray whatever medium you like through it. Other than that, needle and tip size for the types of paint you use and painting you do are the controlling factors. For most of the painting I do I prefer a brush with a small cup. I use an Iwata HP-BH. If I have large areas to paint I'll switch to a Revolution CR. Or a Badger Patriot.

not saying someone can't have more then one,many here do,but its not necessary.

Having different airbrushes for different types of paint is complete unnecessary, in my opinion. I have only one main airbrush and I've sprayed all common types of paint through it: acrylic, enamel, lacquer, clear, metallic. The only thing I haven't sprayed is the two part (2k) type paints.

Spraying different types of paint through the same airbrush is not a problem: they are made to accommodate multiple types. I've heard some folks use a separate airbrush for metallic paints, but that too isn't necessary. If you are getting metal flakes in your non-metallic paint, then you aren't cleaning your airbrush thoroughly, plain and simple. Just learn the right way to clean your airbrush and spend your money something else.