Best airbrush for enamel paints?

I have three airbrushes; an old Badger 200 (siphon feed), an Omni 3000 (siphon feed), and an Omni 4000 (gravity feed). Most of what I spray these days is acrylic but I do throw in a bit of enamel from time to time and I've never had any problem with any of those three handling enamel or laquer paints.

I know MikeV uses a lot of enamel in his Omni and Saltydog uses a lot in his Iwata (not sure what model he has) with no problems. If you the paint thinned properly you really shouldn't have any problems unless the airbrush has a very fine nozzle that is just too small for the paints that we use.

Edit ... I saw in a post below that Saltydog uses an Iwata HP-CS. Thought I'd throw that in.

yup, any airbrush can shoot enamel through it... depending on the needle/nozzle assembly you use. for my Badger 175 I have heard you would have to ridiculously thin the enamel to get it to spray well so I haven't tried it.. but with the med needle I do just fine!

Look down on the page and maybe go to the second page of the Painting/Airbrushing topic and you can read MANY posts about airbrushes and comparisons etc...

If you are stuck on gravity fed (thats what I am getting next, but I still would use my siphon fed Badger 175 and 155, eventually I just want to try a gravity fed for the details...) Iwata and Omni both make very good gravity feeds.

Badger has the universal 360 which is a fine airbrush as wel, you can use it siphon fed OR gravity fed, but some have complained about the small paint cup it has...

Good luck!

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 for my Badger 175 I have heard you would have to ridiculously thin the enamel to get it to spray well so I haven't tried it.. but with the med needle I do just fine!

Tom,

I am assuming you mean the fine needle/tip in the quote above correct?
Not only does the paint have to be thin enough for the fine needle/tip combo, it also has to have pigment that is ground finely enough to flow through the airbrush reliably and that is usually difficult to obtain with model paints. The fine needle/tip combos were designed to spray things like inks, gouche, urethanes and water colors that have extremely fine pigments. As my friend Scooter says, trying to spray some of these paints through a fine nozzle is like trying to get a boulder through the opening if you look at it from a microscopic level.

Mike

Many thanks for your thoughts guys, I'll check out some of the other posts you mentioned too. Do acrylic paints go through fine tips/nozzles with greater ease? I'm wondering because I want to improve my painting skills and would like to be able to spay very fine lines.

Thanks,

Darren.

QUOTE: Originally posted by MikeV Tom, I am assuming you mean the fine needle/tip in the quote above correct? Mike yeah I did forget to include that didn't I? yeah through the med tip/needle paint just flows through with ease... ---Tom--- O' brave new world, That has such people in it! Reply MusicCity Member since January 2004 From: USA Posted by MusicCity on Sunday, October 24, 2004 10:56 AM QUOTE: Do acrylic paints go through fine tips/nozzles with greater ease? I'm wondering because I want to improve my painting skills and would like to be able to spay very fine lines. I don't really think that they do. The pigment is probably about the same size, adn the viscosity when you finish thinning them is about the same. The size of the nozzle may have some affect on the ability to paint thin lines, but the vast bulk of the ability comes from the person behind the airbrush and lots and lots of practice. Stop and think about it ... the difference between a .35mm nozzle and a .5mm nozzle is only 0.15mm, slightly more than 1/8 of a millimeter. The spray comes out in a cone shape, and the taper of the needle and how it shapes the opening between itself and the nozzle mean more than the actual diameter of the hole. Scott Craig -- Nashville, TN -- My Website -- My Models Page Reply TANGO 1 Member since December 2002 From: A secret workshop somewhere in England Posted by TANGO 1 on Sunday, October 24, 2004 2:08 PM Thanks MusicCity, I see your point. I guess when I get the right airbrush, I'll need to take plenty of time to practice with it to achieve the results I want. Right now I'm taking a good look at the Iwata HP-C it seems to be suitable for what I want, but I'm going to get some more info on the badger ones before I make up my mind. Regards, Darren. C.A.G. FAA/USNFAW GB Reply Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, October 24, 2004 2:53 PM I don'tsuggest the hp-c for modeling,since it has a small .3 n/n. I recommend the hp-cs and cr if you like IWata, the Badger 100 LG medium n/n, and the badger 155. all are excellent choices for modeling Reply Edit 9x19mm Member since December 2003 From: Phoenix,Az Posted by 9x19mm on Monday, October 25, 2004 6:36 AM I have a badger 100 and 200 both gravity fed and love both of them. Reply Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 2:36 PM i have a badger 155 and it works good for me although not gravity feed if you really want gravity feed i have herd that the badger 360 is pretty good and is able to do both siphon and gravity feed gian Reply Edit Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 2:44 PM There are many good A/B(Tamiya, Gunze, etc) that work well in the modelling world with a .3 n/n, I even got one that uses a .2 n/n with no problems. To be honest I don't think my LHS has any A/B with bigger n/n. There are quiet a few modelers here that produce sterling finishes with that n/n size. Don't let people scare you away from those A/B. Reply Edit Delbert Member since December 2002 Posted by Delbert on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 5:08 PM I have the 175 and used it for enamals for quite a while.. I got another airbrush to compliment it because while for me it was good enough for single color's I really couldn't get down fine enough for detail work with it.. (that prob was prob just me and not the airbrush.... I still use it for some things but the best airbrush I've used is The Badger 360... it is exactly like the 155 people keep praising on here.. except that it has a rotating paint cup so that it can be used as a gravity feed or siphon feed..... I use almost mostly Model Master Enamals with it with no problems at all.. I also use tamiya paints also... I like the gravity feed option for when i do a small part or 2 or a bit of touch up and don't need more than a few drops of paint.. Reply Tankmaster7 Member since August 2004 From: Nowhere. (Long Island) Posted by Tankmaster7 on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 8:37 PM badger 155 good for everything -Tanky Welcome to the United States of America, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation, in partnership with Halliburton. Security for your constitutional rights provided by Blackwater International. Reply Anonymous Member since November 2005 Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 9:59 PM ^^ agreed Reply Edit JOIN OUR COMMUNITY! Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account. Login Register SEARCH FORUMS FREE NEWSLETTER SIGN UP By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy. FORUMS PRODUCT REVIEWS READER GALLERY HOW TO VIDEOS SHOP ABOUT US FREE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER SIGN UP By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy. More great sites from Kalmbach Media Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy