Multi brands of AB's, 1 air compressor... hookup...?

Jim,  check out dixie art
http://www.dixieart.com/MiscAccessories.html#anchor105499
they have manifolds, quick releases & I'm no expert but, some bottles will work  on some guns.
Someone will be along shortly to answer this more accurately.

Jim,

I have the Badger QC hose and all 12 of my airbrushes connect to it as they all have the male QC on them. It is a nice, long hose also which I prefer over the standard ones.

But will the Iwata with a QC fit on the Badger QC hose?

I assume the Vega uses regular Badger paint bottles?
I'll have to look and see if Badger & Iwata can swap bottles... I don't remember.

Thanks guys

Jim, what are you going to do with so many A/Bs at one time? Just curious Are you a paint-a-holic & have like 8 arms?

**EDIT**
I just found a previous post in which explains the 1st question [regarding the different uses.] But not the 2nd

jhande wrote:

But will the Iwata with a QC fit on the Badger QC hose? I assume the Vega uses regular Badger paint bottles? I'll have to look and see if Badger & Iwata can swap bottles... I don't remember. Thanks guys

Yes it will, I have an HP-CS with one on it.
Not sure about the bottles or not but most all siphon-feed bottles fit each other.

Hippy-Ed wrote:

Jim, what are you going to do with so many A/Bs at one time? Just curious Are you a paint-a-holic & have like 8 arms? **EDIT** I just found a previous post in which explains the 1st question [regarding the different uses.] But not the 2nd

Hehe, no Ed I only have 2 arms and 2 feet... and have a hard time using more than 1 at a time actually. 

What I'll be doing with so many AB's (2 now, 3 eventually) is working on other projects besides modeling. My wife is painting scenery's on canvas and doing T-shirts. I'll be going back to spraying auto's, helmets, race car graphics and trailors, etc... Having the different AB's on hand and ready to go during a project will just make life somewhat easier. And for $25. (including S&H) I couldn't refuse having an AB that can spray a base coat or a top coat without the need to clean my HP-BCS and swap bottles.

Plus I think the new single-action Vega 600 (the $25 AB) will be easier for my 12 year old son to spray his one color paint scheme car models. He's used to spray cans and is having a bit of trouble adjusting to the dual-action BCS.

MikeV wrote:

Yes it will, I have an HP-CS with one on it. Not sure about the bottles or not but most all siphon-feed bottles fit each other.

Thanks Mike, I'll wait till I receive the Vega and test fit the Iwata bottles. Then I'll rig up that QC hose. TNX again!

Anytime Jim.

Thanks Jim for clarifying the arms & such. Had to be sure I know what ya mean about having the extra guns "at the ready" on a project. Having watched a gal do T-shirts at Circus Circus in Reno not too long ago. I was impressed with the fact she had 6-8 guns  (Iwata Eclipse) with different colors in them.  When she wasn't busy, I talked shop with her & she handed me 1 of them  & she even set up a T-shirt for me to "give it a whirl" Man, that got me to thinkin' bro!! Any money in it?

Sounds like you've got it goin' on

Hippy-Ed wrote:

Thanks Jim for clarifying the arms & such. Had to be sure I know what ya mean about having the extra guns "at the ready" on a project. Having watched a gal do T-shirts at Circus Circus in Reno not too long ago. I was impressed with the fact she had 6-8 guns  (Iwata Eclipse) with different colors in them.  When she wasn't busy, I talked shop with her & she handed me 1 of them  & she even set up a T-shirt for me to "give it a whirl" Man, that got me to thinkin' bro!! Any money in it? Sounds like you've got it goin' on

Ed,

Some T-shirt artists make $80k a year in a busy mall.
It's tough work though with long hours.

MikeV wrote:

Hippy-Ed wrote: Thanks Jim for clarifying the arms & such. Had to be sure I know what ya mean about having the extra guns "at the ready" on a project. Having watched a gal do T-shirts at Circus Circus in Reno not too long ago. I was impressed with the fact she had 6-8 guns  (Iwata Eclipse) with different colors in them.  When she wasn't busy, I talked shop with her & she handed me 1 of them  & she even set up a T-shirt for me to "give it a whirl" Man, that got me to thinkin' bro!! Any money in it? Sounds like you've got it goin' on Ed, Some T-shirt artists make $80k a year in a busy mall. It's tough work though with long hours.

Yeaowzza! very interesting Mike. I didn't realise it was that good!

That is the not the norm Ed.
The key is selling names and quick designs that take less than 10 minutes to do so you can paint many per hour. They charge on average about $1/minute for the design plus the profit on the T-shirt itself so they can do well if they paint 75-100 shirts a day.

Ok, thanks Mike It's a thought & I might just give it a whirl sometime once I get comfortable with my skills with the A/B Might just do up a few for myself & might  get hooked on it for a p/t income

Here's a couple I did years ago.

Hippy-Ed wrote:

Thanks Jim for clarifying the arms & such. Had to be sure

No problem Ed, anytime I can help... LOL 

 

I know what ya mean about having the extra guns "at the ready" on a project. Having watched a gal do T-shirts at Circus Circus in Reno not too long ago. I was impressed with the fact she had 6-8 guns  (Iwata Eclipse) with different colors in them.  When she wasn't busy, I talked shop with her & she handed me 1 of them  & she even set up a T-shirt for me to "give it a whirl" Man, that got me to thinkin' bro!! Any money in it? Sounds like you've got it goin' on

Well, Mike covered the T-shirt thing pretty well.
But we are taking a slightly different approach since both my wife and I are still slow and only doing this part time for now.

We have a few race tracks close by that are sanctioned together - same owners, racers go to both, points count at both towards final. We also have a bunch of Mom & Pop shops that sell home made products - maple syrup, knick knacks, all kinds of tourist crap too. Plus we're still planning on the little hobby shop. That said, Mama is slowly painting some T-shirts and matching caps of the local favorite race cars (yep, I talked to the owners/drivers and worked it out). I'll be spraying some matching graphics on the trailors, trucks and race cars of a few of the local guys. Most of them have been using the computer generated stick-on graphics, which on the race cars have to be totally replaced after a wreck. So they like the idea of touching up a paintjob instead, return revenue for me. I'm rusty and slow, but some of my skills are coming back and I painted a test panel to show the guys at my friends body shop that has tons of AB's. Actually he's the one giving me the push to get back into the flow of things again.

So right now it's a balancing act with money since I've been on Workman's Comp for 3 years (long story) and Mama has been struggling with her small income. So my rehabilitation with a canoe is on hold, stocking up on the hobby shop supplies is on hold while I setup shop to try to... oop's while Mama tries to increase our income since I can't earn anything yet. 

Sorry for the long story and the ranting

MikeV wrote:

Here's a couple I did years ago.

Nice work Mike

What AB(s) did you use?

jhande wrote:

MikeV wrote: Here's a couple I did years ago. Nice work Mike What AB(s) did you use?

very impressive Mike

Jim, I understand what you're saying & thanks for the input. We have the 99 Speedway here in town & from what I hear this is their last season I have met a few of the drivers in the past few years as I would pick up their scrap metal... once I get the hang of using the A/B I might go and talk to them about a similar "hook up" asyou described... I just need to practice,practice & practice some more

jhande wrote:

MikeV wrote: Here's a couple I did years ago. Nice work Mike What AB(s) did you use?

Those were all done with a Vega 2000 which is all I had at the time.

Hippy-Ed wrote:

We have the 99 Speedway here in town & from what I hear this is their last season

Oh no Ed...

I couldn't do without my occasional fix of Friday or Saturday night racing during the summer. But my mother is to blame for that. She got me hooked why back when I was still in diapers.
We have a few tracks here in NH - few more than what made it on this list. Plus I live on the border of VT and there is a track about 30 minutes from me - Bear Ridge Speedway. It kind of helps knowing a few of the guys that run at the local tracks.

MikeV wrote:

Those were all done with a Vega 2000 which is all I had at the time.

Guess thats kind of similar to my HP-BCS? That's one of the reasons I picked up the Eclipse BCS, I was told it would be a good AB for doing T-shirts also.

Yup, it is quite since  word has it thar some fella by the name of A.G. Spanos bought up the property to build more houses. (he owns aot of this city & the S.D. Chargers)  I knew that NH had a few tracks but, not that many! There's a couple in the areathat I know of (Altamont Speedway & Believe Modesto has one)

When I was in Reno & got to spray a T-shirt up there, the gal had 6 Iwata Eclipse A/Bs at the ready so, I s'pose it's good for doin' T-shirts

Hippy-Ed wrote:

When I was in Reno & got to spray a T-shirt up there, the gal had 6 Iwata Eclipse A/Bs at the ready so, I s'pose it's good for doin' T-shirts

Yes, that is what the Eclipse was designed for.
It was made, actually copied, from the Vegas which were so popular at the time.
Only 6 Ed? Some artists use 20-30 airbrushes for T-shirts.

MikeV wrote:

Hippy-Ed wrote: When I was in Reno & got to spray a T-shirt up there, the gal had 6 Iwata Eclipse A/Bs at the ready so, I s'pose it's good for doin' T-shirts Yes, that is what the Eclipse was designed for. It was made, actually copied, from the Vegas which were so popular at the time. Only 6 Ed? Some artists use 20-30 airbrushes for T-shirts.

I only seen 6-8 of them lined up under the easel she was using.  Course, it was a small booth on the Midway & right next to her was a booth for A/B tattoos. They were tied in together iirc.

At a mall in CT there was a small booth setup with a talented guy doing T-shirts. He only had a few AB's, if memory servers correctly (been years), I think he had 3 gravity-feeds and 3 siphon-feeds. But he did have lots of bottles loaded and ready to go, plus bottles of colors to load the paint cups. I watched him for awhile, he was spraying a '57 Chevy with a sunset background. He sprayed, cleaned, swapped colors and had that shirt done in about 15 to 20 minutes. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was gorgeous. His second shirt was a portrait of the girl who ordered the shirt, again same thing, done in 15 to 20 minutes.

I remember asking him when he wasn't busy - "How the heck do you spray so quick and they look so great?" He said - "Years of practice my friend and gallons of paint". I then asked him - "Why 6 airbrushes, wouldn't one work or a few more so you wouldn't have to change colors?" I remember he kind of chuckled at me and said - "Most shirts I try to paint with roughly 6 colors, if I need more it's easy and quick enough to clean and swap colors. Besides, at about $100. an airbrush I think I have enough invested for now".

Well, the questions & answers are pretty darn close to how I remember them. 

I'll never forget that experience, it left an impression for sure. That was the second thing I've seen that really sparked my interest long ago in airbrushing. The first was watching someone doing a mural on the side of a van. Absolutely amazing... I was hooked. Just wish I stayed with it. Oh well, getting a second chance LOL.

jhande wrote:

At a mall in CT there was a small booth setup with a talented guy doing T-shirts. He only had a few AB's, if memory servers correctly (been years), I think he had 3 gravity-feeds and 3 siphon-feeds. But he did have lots of bottles loaded and ready to go, plus bottles of colors to load the paint cups. I watched him for awhile, he was spraying a '57 Chevy with a sunset background. He sprayed, cleaned, swapped colors and had that shirt done in about 15 to 20 minutes. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was gorgeous. His second shirt was a portrait of the girl who ordered the shirt, again same thing, done in 15 to 20 minutes. I remember asking him when he wasn't busy - "How the heck do you spray so quick and they look so great?" He said - "Years of practice my friend and gallons of paint". I then asked him - "Why 6 airbrushes, wouldn't one work or a few more so you wouldn't have to change colors?" I remember he kind of chuckled at me and said - "Most shirts I try to paint with roughly 6 colors, if I need more it's easy and quick enough to clean and swap colors. Besides, at about $100. an airbrush I think I have enough invested for now". Well, the questions & answers are pretty darn close to how I remember them.  I'll never forget that experience, it left an impression for sure. That was the second thing I've seen that really sparked my interest long ago in airbrushing. The first was watching someone doing a mural on the side of a van. Absolutely amazing... I was hooked. Just wish I stayed with it. Oh well, getting a second chance LOL.

Same here Jim.

People told me that I could be a good artist if I wanted but I just don't have that drive to be that.
I sure wish I did as I would prefer that to operating heavy equipment for a living.

jhande wrote:

At a mall in CT there was a small booth setup with a talented guy doing T-shirts. He only had a few AB's, if memory servers correctly (been years), I think he had 3 gravity-feeds and 3 siphon-feeds. But he did have lots of bottles loaded and ready to go, plus bottles of colors to load the paint cups. I watched him for awhile, he was spraying a '57 Chevy with a sunset background. He sprayed, cleaned, swapped colors and had that shirt done in about 15 to 20 minutes. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was gorgeous. His second shirt was a portrait of the girl who ordered the shirt, again same thing, done in 15 to 20 minutes. I remember asking him when he wasn't busy - "How the heck do you spray so quick and they look so great?" He said - "Years of practice my friend and gallons of paint". I then asked him - "Why 6 airbrushes, wouldn't one work or a few more so you wouldn't have to change colors?" I remember he kind of chuckled at me and said - "Most shirts I try to paint with roughly 6 colors, if I need more it's easy and quick enough to clean and swap colors. Besides, at about $100. an airbrush I think I have enough invested for now". Well, the questions & answers are pretty darn close to how I remember them.  I'll never forget that experience, it left an impression for sure. That was the second thing I've seen that really sparked my interest long ago in airbrushing. The first was watching someone doing a mural on the side of a van. Absolutely amazing... I was hooked. Just wish I stayed with it. Oh well, getting a second chance LOL.

Jim, that's about the same as I was told by the gal in Reno. I wont forget the experience either. She left an impression on me & I look foreward to my next trip up there so I can learn some more from her She is quite talented & friendly too and I think what surprised me the most was the fact she handed me the Iwata & set up a T-sirt for me to try it out! I was totally floored by that. She said I showed "promise" at it so, I s'pose I did a good job.

MikeV wrote:

Same here Jim. People told me that I could be a good artist if I wanted but I just don't have that drive to be that. I sure wish I did as I would prefer that to operating heavy equipment for a living.

Those T-shirts looked really nice Mike! I'd have to say you have it in you.

I started as a mechanic in a Buick dealership after my military tour. We only had one guy in the body shop and when he became really busy the boss would send me in because I knew about body work and spraying cars already. Besides just collision repair, our body shop would do some custom work too. I watched as the other guy (Pete) used the airbrush. There was a lot of after-hours jobs for the custom stuff and I stayed to make the extra money (I loved filling my roll-a-round toolbox back then). Things finally slowed down at nights and I started bringing in my '66 Nova. When I finally finished it come fall I showed it to the Pete. He liked the car and asked where I had it done. I told him here, at night, I did it. His jaw hit the floor - "No way, I never even let you touch the airbrush". Well I practiced and took my time, if I screwed up I would sand it off and spray again. Pete said I had a knack for it and should keep doing it.

Instead I bounced from auto mechanic to carpentry to architectural designer / CAD operator and back to mechanic. 

Now at a somewhat disabled 47 years old, I'm dabbling in it again. 

Humm... almost full circle 

P.S. I got to play with my artistic abilities again doing the architectural designer. Just in a different way than with an AB, LOL.

Hippy-Ed wrote:

Jim, that's about the same as I was told by the gal in Reno. I wont forget the experience either. She left an impression on me & I look foreward to my next trip up there so I can learn some more from her She is quite talented & friendly too and I think what surprised me the most was the fact she handed me the Iwata & set up a T-sirt for me to try it out! I was totally floored by that. She said I showed "promise" at it so, I s'pose I did a good job.

Ed, I had a similar experience with a guy I met up here not long ago in my LHS. You might remember me posting about it. He over heard me asking about the Aztek airbrushes in the LHS. He was buying some model paint next to were the AB's were and kept shaking his head no. He waited for me outside and talked with me for about 30 minutes. Explained that the Azteks were really junk and for the same price or less on the internet I could get Iwata Eclipse series. He invited me to his body shop to see his equipment and some of his work. He let me feel some of his AB's, he even loaded a few with paint and let me spray some scrap medal to see how I liked the feel of them. He had Badger's, Paasche's, a couple of SATA's and quite a few Iwata's. I've been there quite a few times now. He let's me practice whenever I want - I have my own hood leaning against a wall hehe. He's been showing me some tips & tricks, how to work with stencils and masks and different types of newer paints. Imagine... water based paints on a car!    And he said you can drive it in the rain and wash it after it dries too. LOL

Oh yeah, we build the same type of model car subjects too. 

I was amazed how that entire scenario went down. I mean, I'm from more of a city area, people aren't normally that friendly - unless they are gay and, well, not me, forget... But he's married, noticed I was a car modeler, I was interested in getting a quality AB and over heard me mention about spraying real cars. So he did the right neighborly thing and help a person out with like interest. After all, that's what they do up here.

Don't forget Ed... practice, practice, practice. 

Oh,oh... 4:43 am I better sneak into bed or the wife be having a fit. I'm supposed to go shopping with her after the kids get on the school bus at 7:30 and I have to see my rehabilitation counselor at 11. Maybe I can sleep tomorrow... I mean tonight.

Later

LoL Jim, ya better git yer butt back ta bed before the wifey thinks yer upto no good Come to think of it,... isn't that why you're in here anyways?
Yup, I hear it all the time... Practice, Practice, Practice and when ya think ya got it down,... Practice some more
I do recall that posting as well. Think that was the one I was thinking of when I edited one of my earlier posts here...

I was talking with a guy yesterday about the different things one can do with an A/B as he's into R/C and has done a little bit with the A/Bs.

Hippy-Ed wrote:

I was talking with a guy yesterday about the different things one can do with an A/B as he's into R/C and has done a little bit with the A/Bs.

Before I bought my Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS I was doing tons of research and talking with lot's of people. I realized you can't get one AB to do everything, but I wanted something that my family and I could experiment with doing different subjects. After testing out a bunch of AB's at the guys garage, at first I was going to go with a Badger, until he stuck the BCS in my hand. It felt a little more comfortable and I seemed to get a slightly better spray from it. I found out that the BCS was considered a very good "general-purpose" AB that could handle everything we wanted to try doing. After some price checking it wasn't much more expensive then a Badger equivalent.

So now that we've had a chance to get our feet wet and try a few things to see what we like doing with an AB, I'm getting a couple more to help us along.

Have: Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS for general spraying - $79.00 (Kit - $299.98)
In the mail: Vega 600 (sold out) to spray base/top coats or large areas - $20.00 ($5. S&H)
Next to purchase: Iwata Eclipse HP-CS for finer detail work - $109.97
- OR - the Iwata HP-C Plus for finer detail work - $159.00

The wife and I figured as a Christmas gift to each other last year, we got the $299.98 Kit. She could try her occassional canvas paintings, my son and I could do our models and my daughter could try what she wants. Ok, so it was mostly for Dad LOL. So now we're thinking, for an investment of $213.97 plus paints we can try to expand our spraying and possibly make a few bucks with it too. [I'm not counting the hobby compressor as we'll use my garage compressor for serious spraying and save the hobby compressor for models and stuff]. If not, I'll have fun spraying everything around the house and maybe even my truck.

Oh I stopped in at the local Marina while out shopping today. I found out what paints they use on canoes, humm... 

Having recently acquired the Badger 175 [from a friend here on the boards] I have enjoyed the feel of it in my hands. The Eclipse I had the pleasure of using in Reno was a very nice "fit" as well. Both are pretty good brushes from what I've been hearing & from my own experience (which says alot since the only other A/B I've used is the $5.00 special from Harbor Freight) I think if I were to get another A/B it would be the Iwata but, I've gotta get some use outta this one first I need to practice some more
There are alot of decent A/Bs out there & none are the Holy Grail of A/Bs each has it's advantages... iirc the HP-C Plus is a gravity feed? I believe that's the one I've been reading alot about here...

**EDIT**

I think it is what I thought. Just popped over to dixieart.com
http://www.dixieart.com/Eclipse.html   think their prices are a bit lower & of course, anything over $45 is free shipping They are good at getting their orders out.