New to the board and ready to purchase my first airbrush!

Lady Jem,

I own an Iwata Eclipse BCS, which I recently bought after about two months of research and consideration of various brands.  It is truly a well made airbrush in all respects, and I find it very easy to use and clean.  It seems to be able to spray anything you put to it.  I bought mine at a Pearl Paint store in NYC, where they sell all the models you are considering.  What sold me was the airbrush artist who was working the counter.  When I arrived in the store, he was using an Iwata himself to paint a portrait of a woman, and his results were impressive.  He demonstrated the brush for me, then took it apart.  I'm an engineer by profession, and a little picky when it comes to fit and finish.  I've been using mine for almost three months now, and still discovering what it can do.  The BCS model is a bottom siphon feed, which I wanted because my wife uses it to paint signs and custom decorated chairs, and she often requires more than 1/4 oz. of paint in the cup.  The BCS accomodates the larger bottles.  While Iwata does not make color cups, the Badger and Paasche cups fit.   My brush came with a medium tip, and even with that, I can do pencil-thin lines.  I understand that the Revolution series is a little less pricey than the Eclipse series, but I took a look at the Revolution and was equally impressed.  Unfortunately, I have no experience with the Badgers.  Good luck with your research and ultimately, your purchase!

First of all welcome!  And of course you are welcome here!  Your's is a much asked and just as difficult to answer. 

In my opinion if you are wanting fine lines up to broader coverage, either the Iwata HP-CR or the Badger 100LG with both a medium and fine nozzle and needle would fit the bill well.   Both brushes would be similar as far as cleaning, and the 100LG with the medium nozzle and needle would be able to spray the same paints as the HP-CR.  I am not certain on the Omni's but from what a few have mentioned about it, it might be a SMALL bit less adept to finer detail as the other two.  Spare parts for the HP-CR and the 100LG would be similar in price, as is the price of the brushes. 

I do recommend www.dixieart.com as a source for your buy.  They have EXCELLENT customer service, prices are the lowest I've seen around, and shipping is free with a purchase of $45.00 or more.  At their site the 100LG with fine tip is $64.95 with a hose costing about $14.00, and a medium tip and head combo costing 11.85 and medium needle at $4.00  The Iwata HP-CR is $64.95 with a hose costing anywhere from $11.00 to $18.00 and spare needles at $7.20.

I own the Revolution CR myself and it is a fine brush, very well made as was mentioned above, and it also feels very comfortable in your hand.  It does nice crisp lines, nice broader coverage with acrylics which I assume is what you will be spraying costumes with.  It is very easy to clean as well.  So far this is the airbrush I use the most out of the three I have.

I have many friends on here who own the Badger 100LG and they have produced some astounding pieces with that brush.  If you decide on this one, I would recommend getting the 100LG with the Fine tip and order the medium tip and nozzle as well for larger coverage.  This would involve you having to change the needles and nozzles when going from fine lines to broader coverage but it is really not a big thing, you unscrew the handle, unscrew the needle retaining nut and pull the needle out, unscrew the nozzle assembly and exchange it for the other one, push the needle back in and screw the retainer tight.  That's it, just a few steps!  The only advantage the HP-CR has is you wouldn't have to change needles.  The flip side of that is the 100LG with the fine needle can do a bit finer detail work.

My honest recommendation is to find an art store near you that carries both types of airbrush and go down there and ask to handle them.  A lot of the end results you get will be how well you can control and manipulate the airbrush.  One that is too bulky or feels front or back heavy to you might not work as well as the other.  A lot of hobby shops will have either one or the other, or both.  You could do the same thing there.  If neither is available to you, not being able to see the real thing in action shouldn't be a big handicap, both brushes are probably similar in feel.

As far as the other questions, yes the 360 has a permanently mounted color cup but it is only 1/8 of an ounce which would handicap you when doing broader coverage or any long lines as in that costume you showed, the bottle would allow for that but it is a small bit more involved as far as cleaning.

With whatever brush you chose I would order a spare needle and possible head assembly in case of bending or breaking.  If there is not a source for parts closeby waiting 4 days or so for a replacement with 100 costumes left to do wouldn't feel good!  And since you are going to probably be mostly spraying acrylics a bottle of needle lube will help.  It helps the paint not stick to the needle as much as you are spraying.  Acrylics are problematic with that.  The bottle costs about $5.00 and lasts forever!  (I've had mine more than a year and it is still almost full)

Good luck to you and I hope you do find just the right airbrush.  Maybe some of my friends who are 100LG owners can expound on that brush some more.  Let us know what you decide!

 

 

oh yeah... a much shorter message this time... have you thought about an air source?  or do you already have a compressor picked out?

Tho9900, thank you so much for that very helpful information!  I feel as though I have much more direction after reading your post (I can only imagine that I'll know exactly how to go if I receive more replies!)  I will be eager to hear more firsthand accounts of the Badger.  Thank you for the recommendation of the extras; I wouldn't have known what was neccessary to purchase on my own.  Would I be better off purchasing the hose, lube, needles, etc. through Dixie Art, or through a local hobby shop (if they carry what I need?)  I had planned on ordering my brush through Dixie (after reading about it at this forum) but I'm unsure if the extra parts/accessories tend to be priced higher online or at art/hobby stores.

Yes, I've done quite a bit of research on air sources, and will be purchasing a compressor (rather than a C02 tank or propellant cans).  I've just started shopping around my local stores (Lowes, Sears, Walmart, etc.) but if I decide they are just too noisy, I've found a quiet mini airbrush compressor online through an eBay seller that is within my budget.

Thank you again for all of your help, and if anyone would like to expand upon Tho9900's information, please feel free!  Too much info is better than too little.

Lady Jemima, first off

to the forums! Pull up a keyboard and stay a while.

Tom's given you some good advice. If noise is a concern then stay away from the garage style compressors as they are LOUD! I have one, but am lucky enough to have it outside in a box and run an airhose into the house. I can barely hear the compressor. I'm happy, but more importantly, my wife is happy!

I can give you first hand experience on Badger airbrushes, but not on the 100 series. I have a couple of Badger 150 siphon fed and they are excellent except for very very thin lines that require little air pressure. for that you need a gravity fed brush, and my (hopefully short-term) plan is to buy the 100G for such finicky work. Since I will be spraying small amounts of paint, I have opted for the G instead of the larger cup of the LG

Do buy your airhose at the same time as your brush, the cost at Dixie Art is better than I've seen in stores, same with needle lube and spare parts. Tom is very correct in having you purchase extra needles, as well as ordering both fine and medium heads. Better to have the spares on hand then be scrambling to meet a deadline.

I would order a spare needle and possible head assembly in case of bending or breaking. 

Tom, I don't see 'head assembly' listed under either Badger or Iwata's spare parts.  What exactly should I be looking for?

Also, a question about changing needles.  Why does the Badger require a needle change to obtain smaller or larger flow, when the Iwata's needle does not need changed? 

here is the page I found them on:

http://www.dixieart.com/Iwata_Revolution_Parts_and_Schematic.html 

it's the Needle Cap and Nozzle Cap

for the Badger it's:

http://www.dixieart.com/Parts_for_Badger_Models_100X_and_150.html

You have a choice of Head only or tip and head.  It would be smart to buy one of both fine and medium for the 100 if you go with that one.

As far as changing needles MikeV could probably give you the best info on this if he stumbles over this topic.  The Omni's the Iwatas and the Badger 155/360 all use the one needle/nozzle does it all design.  I think they are designed to work in a range common to most people, whereas the 3 needle/nozzle assembly allows everything from large painting like murals down to fine ink illustration with the fine.

Welcome Lady Jemima, might I point you towards some interesting reading before you make your purchase? I too have just recently joined the airbrushing arts & crafts hobby with my wife. I mostly paint models with my son and my wife paints T-shirts, canvas', jackets, etc... So we both read a lot and talked with many people. I borrowed this book from our library - Ultimate Airbrush Handbook by Pamela Shanteau I do plan on purchasing it for reference. Also here is Pamela Shanteau's web site.

1. To use an airbrush to achieve a light color base on a nylon/lycra unitard.

Painting on fabric? Called "Textile", that is what you will want an airbrush that excells in. Usually has a medium to large needle/nozzle (.35mm - .5mm) and an air pressure of around 60 PSI's.

2. To use a thinner lines (1/16 - 3/16 of an inch)

Most airbrushes can make lines that thin, even gravity-feed.

3. To color in stenciled areas.

How large of an area? Having different size paint bottles to chose from might be benificial instead of being limited to one cup size.

how do the following four brushes compare?

Info taken from the company web sites.

--Iwata Revolution CR

Designed for spraying Textiles (.5mm nozzle), moderate detail to background spraying (Fine-Line to 1-1/2").
Better choice:
Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS - .5 mm (.35mm optional) nozzle, hairline to 2".
Iwata Eclipse HP-CS - 0.35-mm (.5mm optional) nozzle, hairline to 2".

--Badger 100 LG

They can spray the media, but not recommended for the application.

--Badger Omni 4000

They can spray the media, but not recommended for the application.

--Badger Omni 6000?

They can spray the media, but not recommended for the application.

Badger Application Chart

Badger models recommended for T-shirt/Textile applications:
150-Heavy, 155-Anthem, 175-Medium, 360-Universal, Omni-3000, Omni-Matrix and the Vega-2000.

Unless I misunderstood what it is you are planning to spray on - "nylon/lycra unitard" that is a fabric correct?

Might I also suggest calling Badger (800)247-2787. I called them with some questions and they were very nice, they spent an hour on the phone with me and answered all of my questions. It's too bad for them I bought an Iwata. 

Thank you Tom for the links and Jhande for the helpful info.  Yes, the unitards I paint are fabric, made from a blend of nylon/lycra (that absorbs paints fairly quickly). Stenciled areas will probably never be larger than 6" x 6".  I'm curious why you recommend the Eclipse rather than the Revolution?  Can it handle textile paints better?

The Eclipse can handle high viscosity/high paint flow a little better than the Revolution. The Revolution series is designed for thin to medium viscosity paint under moderate air pressure. It is a high performance, entry level, general purpose brush that uses needle taper and a .5mm illustration style nozzle to go from fine to medium with lines. The siphon fed Eclipse, the BCS, is a .5mm cone nozzle airbrush designed for T-shirt painters although we modelers tend to adapt everything to our own use. It uses a combination of needle taper and nozzle design to go to an even wider paint line, i.e., textile paint type spraying. Same needle but different nozzle for different applications. Also the Eclipse has a cutaway handle to blow out clogs that tend to happen with the thicker paints. The Badger equivalent for this application would be the Anthem and the Crescendo. If the finest lines were not your concern, the Crescendo is the way to go. Much more forgiving in it's sturdiness. The Iwata's are more precision machined and if you are one who likes to take your brush apart, the Badger's are much easier to work with in assembly and disassembly. I own two Iwatas and five Badgers and have broken them all down for cleaning. The Crescendo is also great for kids, because the parts are big enough for smaller hands and it's a double action and it will throw out a lot of paint with the medium and the large heads.

 

E

You mentioned painting lines possibly 1/16".
The Revolution's specs are from Fine-Line to 1-1/2"
The Eclipse BCS & CS specs are from Hairline to 2"
Also the Eclipse offers the option of switching nozzles for different sizes and medias that you might spray.
I think for the few extra dollars it gives more flexibility and growth/options in the hobby.

Something to look at: Iwata Uses - Textile Paints

Eclipse HP-BCS $79.97 vs Revolution BCR $64.97 difference of $15.00
Eclipse HP-CS $109.97 vs Revolution CR $64.97 difference of $45.00 (something to think about).

Maybe sharing some of the information that I had gathered from contacting different airbrush companies and online stores for their recommendations might help shed some light.
Our needs:
I'll be spraying enamel paints, both on models and auto/motorcycles.
Wife spraying mostly textiles, some temp tattoo and maybe eventually nail art.
We might try our hand at murals, whether on walls or large vehicles, not sure yet.
Something that's not too expensive because we might lose interest and they will become paper weights or used just for models. But yet good enough quality that it would not hinder our ability to produce quality results. Don't want to have to buy better quality later as our skills increase.
Recommendations:
Since we will be spraying mostly medium to heavy medias we will need an airbrush with a medium to large (heavy) nozzle/needle (.3 - .5mm) for general spraying purposes.
We'll need something that can go from fine detail to a medium coverage area without having to change out the needle/nozzle constantly or use two airbrushes during a project or while spraying.
Because my wifes T-shirt interest was as high on the list as my model and auto painting, the Eclipse HP-BCS with the optional nozzle was the first and highest on the list by many.
The next airbrush recommended and only because of finer detail work, and if smaller projects, was the Eclipse HP-CS because of being gravity-feed you can lower the air pressure for finer lines.
If nail art or really fine detail work was the staple of our projects, then the High Performance Series HP-B Plus (1/64" fine line) with it's .2mm nozzle and .3mm optional nozzle was the recommended choice, but that's $159.00 without the optional nozzle. Something we're still thinking about.

NOTE: I'm only repeating the specs as they were given to me. Like I said, I contacted many companies including Iwata, Airbrush-Depot, Airbrush City, Dixie Art and Badger.

I already listed some of the Badgers that were recommended to me.

Something else I found very helpful in making my decision, I paid a few visits to my local hobby shop (even though they only sell the Aztek line). I talked to a few people that actually use airbrushes for similar projects and got there likes and dislikes about the airbrushes they use. One gentleman even worked at a bodyshop around the corner and was there buying a small bottle of paint for some custom work. He invited me back to the shop. I spent the rest of the day there. He even let me spray some scrap sheet metal to see how I liked the feel of a few airbrushes that he had. That's what finally sold me on my Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS. Plus I made a new friend in my old automotive field.

So far we're having fun with our Eclipse BCS. My wife loves the way she can just swap the bottles of paint from one color to the next (well after she runs the cleaner through of course). She bought some replacement caps with tubes in them that screws right onto the paint bottles and have little red caps to seal them (looks like these). So when she wants to switch colors, she just grabs one bottle setup with water and windex, sprays until clear, switches to another with just water, then grabs her color and goes, all in a matter of a couple of seconds. By the way, she's spraying this in an old 5 gallon bucket, not on the carpet LOL.

I wish you the best of luck in picking the airbrush that's right for you.
Once you do... Happy AB'ing...

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we can spray paint?
We are running out of ideas and things... even the kids won't come out of their rooms anymore.
Just last night I seen my wife chasing the cat, I hope she doesn't paint it to look like a skunk.

After being fairly certain I was going to purchase a gravity feed brush, I'm now considering a siphon after reading the last two posts.  What exactly are the differences between the two, other than achieving a finer line and needing less pressure for the gravity feed?  Switching colors quickly would be a plus, and easy using the method you described, but is cleaning the bottles themselves difficult? H3nav mentioned that the Badgers are very easy to take apart; do you find the same with the Eclipse? (I have small hands that are delicate due to health problems and would like a brush that is fairly easy to work with in regards to taking apart.)

Thank you so much for all of your time; I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!

I wonder why they don't recommend the 100 series for textiles, and recommend the 150?

I've searched through the parts list for both trying to spot the difference, and other than the obvious difference in bodies (siphon, side feed or gravity) the parts are identical? Would it just be simply because the gravity feed brushes are limited in how much media they store? The great news (to me!) is that the parts ARE identical, same head, needle, washer, valve and trigger. Which means I am totally justified in getting the 100G to augment my two 150s, since I only need to have one set of spare nozzle, washers and needles on hand!

The difference between gravity, side and siphon are simply how the media is delivered to the brush. Gravity being the simplest. The reason it can spray thinner lines is less to do with the delivery and more to do with the simple fact that less air pressure allows a finer line. Side feed is really made for photo retouching. You can use the brush horizontally or vertically merely by twisting the color cup. It would require slightly more air pressure than gravity feed, but not much more. Siphon feed requires the most pressure, though it isn't that much more, and due to the delivery method you can attach larger bottles of media to the brush. I presume you could attach a hose and stick the end in a bucket if you cared to!

The cleaning of the brush and bottles is based on what media you are working with. Acrylics clean up with soap and water. I use Windex for initial cleaning of the brush. I squirt straight Windex through then follow up with distilled water (I live in a very hard water area and have nightmares of calcium build up inside the valve!). A quick wipe with a moistened Qtip for the nozzle (retracting the needle!) and that's that. After a particularily long session I also remove the needle, wipe down with Windex and water, then smear on some needle lube, and I'm ready for the next session.

Enamels and lacquers are a bit harder, and since I don't use them, I'll leave the commentary for someone who has experience.

Well, let me start with...
The gentleman that let me spend the day at his body shop and spray his airbrushes had an extensive background experience with many different AB's, I know... I seen them there. I sprayed a gravity-feed while there and it was easy to reload with paint and easy to clean. Anyway, he explained to me that although there might be a bit of a difference in the line thickness that I could spray between the Eclipse HP-BCS & the HP CS, it wouldn't be overly noticable and not worth the extra expense of an addition airbrush. However the line thickness would be noticably different between the Eclipse HP-BCS and the High Performance Series HP-B Plus with the .2mm nozzle.

I haven't used my airbrush more than once yet, only to test it. I spray enamel and don't have my spray booth finished yet. My wife has been cleaning the brush as she uses it and she has no problems. How can I say this without getting into too much trouble...?? After 20+ years she still burns my toast and can't clean the car, but she can clean the airbrush in a matter of a few minutes. Go figure! Seriously, it's really easy once you do it a couple of times. Actually here's an Iwata how-to article.

My wife doesn't actually clean the bottles. The bottles that came with our kit she uses for the cleaning solution (water & windex). She uses the bottles that the paint came in, she originally bought a few of the small 2oz. size paint bottles. Now she is going to replace them with the bigger size and fill up the 2oz. bottles so she can attach those to the AB. She just pops the paint bottle off, wipes the tube clean, slides the red cap on and puts it back on the shelf. She then grabs the bottle with windex, sprays in a bucket until clear, swaps bottle for one with water and sprays again. Then attaches next color. All that takes just a matter of a few seconds. At the end of her spraying day she follows the Iwata how-to article and she has that done in less than ten minutes.

I should add that my wife paints near a partially open window and everything is fine.

I would image that comparable Badgers would be just as easy to clean and give just as good of results.

Originally I was looking into purchasing a Badger, but a few things that swayed my decission towards an Iwata instead -
1.) Iwata is what I sprayed at the body shop.
2.) Iwata's had two needle/nozzle options instead of Badgers three.
3.) Other people I talked to leaned towards Iwata's being a notch above Badger (don't know if it's true).
4.) After talking on the phone for an hour with Badger, they couldn't tell me about an airbrush that was "on-sale" on their web site.

If it wasn't for 1 & 4 I might have bought a Badger.

An interesting read - Airbrushing T-shirts
You might want to research what type of paint you can spray on the fabric you are interested in, but I think it will be the same. If I remember correctly, my wife was told to use the same paint even for when she sprays leather. 

Good, I'm glad some other people with a little more knowledge in the area came in on this.

That is odd on the 100/150 thing.. especially the 100 with the medium tip.  One thing I noticed on the chart though is sometimes areas where it doesn't have rankings or is rated low (like in hobby for the 100LG fine) are a little off.  The 100LG fine is used by a lot of people on here and they almost have me talked into getting one.  (although I am debating several similar airbrushes at the moment)

I own both the Badger 175 Crescendo and the 155 Anthem, of the two my favorite is the 155.  The 175 is about as large around as a cigar roughly, which at first seemed like a good thing since I have big hands, but for me it proved to be harder to control it in fine areas because of that.  The 155 is slimmer, maybe the diamer of a tootsie roll or just a tad fatter.  It was easier to hold it and manipulate.  Maybe the 175 would work for someone with smaller hands, I'm not sure.  Like I mentioned earlier actually holding some of the airbrushes mentioned would give you a better feel.  I do know it was mentioned by someone on here that the 175 and 155 were designed for T-shirt artists.  The 155 will do fine lines with up to 3" coverage on the wide end.  That should be enough to cover almost anything!

On the Iwata side, I did some checking and actually the siphon feed BCS and BCR are recommended by a few T-shirt artists.  Here's one with some examples of his work with the HP-BCS and other Iwata brushes:    http://www.bigairbrush.com/

That polar bear was really impressive to me!

Tom, I can answer your question with one word; Marketing! The chart is designed with not only line ability in mind, but overall paint capacity. The 100/150 thing is just as it seems. Basically, same spray performance due to the use of the same head assemblies and needle sizes, but the 150 can spray for a longer period with the same color due to the attachable bottles, whereas with the 100 series you would have to refill. I've never airbrushed a T-shirt, but I would imagine for large volume work, the bottle would be better. Let us know what you think! By the way, what brushes are you considering for 2006.

 

E

2.) Iwata's had two needle/nozzle options instead of Badgers three.

If having fewer head assemblies to choose from is important, the Thayer and Chandler Omni series (manufactured by Badger these days) only has one to choose from.