Probably a dumb question but....

in that case, I will "obtain" saltydog's iwata's and replace them with omni's

QUOTE: Originally posted by saltydog if you have the money and you are looking at iwata for this hobby, choose the HP-CS, if you don't want to spend the money, the omni 4000 will be my choice for nearly the same performance and nearly half the price. later.

Chris,

I am pleased at your honesty in this post.
You just told everyone that the Omni 4000 is as good as the Iwata HP-CS and is roughly 1/2 the price. [:0]
I think you are coming around to see the light and may one day leave the dark side.
There is still hope my friend that you may come out of copycat land to the real airbrush innovators.

Mike

Well friend, the iwata hp-cs is a mighty fine airbrush of chioce for modelling. Everybody here has given excellent advice, stay away from the Hp-c for modelling. i'm not saying you can't do models with it, its just extremely finicky when spraying model paints. the pigment in model paints just don't work well through the .3mm n/n combo offered by the HP-C. i own an iwata HP-C and the HP-CS. with the .35mm n/n you can accomplish any line that you're gonna need when it comes to modelling. i do have a couple of conversion kits that i bought for the 2 iwatas that i have that work well in given circumstances, but with a little practice, you can do just as well with the .35mm factory needle/nozzle combo. if you have the money and you are looking at iwata for this hobby, choose the HP-CS, if you don't want to spend the money, the omni 4000 will be my choice for nearly the same performance and nearly half the price. later.

I use Badger brushes, so I may be off base here, but I think the 0.2 and 0.3mm nozzles / needles are for inks or very, very thin paints. Saltydog can provide more information since he's the Iwata freak around here, but I think I remember him saying that he uses a 0.5mm combination (or maybe it was 0.35mm).

Internal mix, double-action, gravity feed with solvent-resistant O-rings are definitely the way to go though.

Thanks for the responses. Can you all offer any clarity on what features I should be looking for that make for good for models. I've gathered that I want a dual action gravity fed model with internal atomizing. I am also assuming that I should look for ones that are more resistant to solvent based paints (e.g. o rings etc. are not as affected). What I am not clear on is the optimal needle size .2, .3, .35 etc. The reason I was focusing on the Iwata HP-C plus was that it can use either .2 or .3 needles (the larger needles are better for thicker paints but provide for less detail?) and this model now uses teflon internals instead of rubber. In short I can't see what would make the eclipse models you all recommended better (though I am not disputing you, I just don't understand).

Thanks,
Scumofscotland

Hem, I sprayed Alclad with my HP CH with no problem at all but I must add that those ones are equipped with 0.35 needles and nozzles as standard so question remains open

If thats the Iwata with the MAC valve, dont go near it for modelling, its a different kinda animal all together. That is made for watercolor and inks only.

Yep the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS and HP-BS are the gravity ones that handle model paint. I guess you're looking at HP-C Plus for fine detail duty? The Eclipse gravity feeds will do it. I have the HP-BS. It does everything so well, it's hard to find an excuse to buy an additional airbrush.

SaltyDog (Chris) could answer this better than I from a hands-on viewpoint but when they say it is not recommended it is because from the factory the needle and tip in that airbrush are too fine to reliably spray modeling paints.
With a different needle and tip it would be able to spray well enough but that is even more money.
If you want an Iwata I would forget the HP-C and go with the Eclipse CS instead as it is designed more for the paints we use.

Mike