Airbrush Choice

That is a good choise too... Its the first Real airbrush I bought too (after realizing that the Aztec was a hunk of junk!) from   www.bearair.com    Its a good airbrush with External mixing of air/paint ratio and you can adjust the paint flow up front above the bottle for the paint/air mix.. It is, easier to clean...It will do a good job of painting your overall models and you'll be happy.. Untill you want to get a even better paint job of a Internal mix of air/paint atomization of the Badger 200's airbrush's ......  Ive put my Paasche H in the same box along side of my Aztec....

 "It's like the difference between a Caddy and a Lincoln....They both get you there, but only one has class!".....Ha, ha,ha...Ive become a Badger guy... Blame it on Mike V...I've been reading his info on them for the last almost two years......ha,ha... I tried it and liked it better.....  I borrowed this from bearair.com for you  

Good luck Mate' and have fun painting......"RC"

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Item Number: 100124 Unit Price: $39.00 Compare At: $74.00 In Stock Quantity

As a former Aztek user and current Paasche H / Badger 200 user, I can say that any of your three choices would be preferable to the Aztek.

The Paasche H is actually quite suitable for armor and A/C particularly if you are modleing in the 1/35 and 1/48 scales.  In spite of being a single action, it's fine line capability with its No.1 tip is more than adequate at those scales.  And for broad coverage, with its No.3 or No.5 tips, it can't be beat.  Of the three, it will be the simplest to break down for complete cleaning.

The Badger maybe has a slightly better fine line capability than the Paasche H and theoretically should have slightly better paint atomization although I can't really claim to have obeserved these effects first hand.  To my eye, the actual painting performance of the Paasche H vs the Badger 200 seems quite similar.  The Badger is a little more work to fully break down, although it really isn't all that bad.

Since you describe your skill as quite ordinary which puts you in the same boat as me, I would be inclined to recommend getting the Paasche H.  It's easy to use, easy to clean, and would provide enough performance to exceed your airbrush skill for some time to come.  At some time in the future, when you are a master of the airbrush and want to do things that the Paasche cannot deliver you can always pick up a good fine line airbrush like the Badger 100 and relegate the Paasche for base coats and what not.

Andy

Menthol Moose wrote:

I am pretty sick of my aztek airbrush and am after what many people here would call a "real" airbrush. I have the following options at my local store. Paasche H single action Paasche VL double action badger 200 single action. I am after something simple to use, min and easy cleaning for my quite ordinary skill level. The badger is quite expensive but can its cost be justified ? I am mainly trying to model armor and aircraft.

 I have gone to the Badger airbrush model 200-20 Medium needle and 200SG fine needle  & 200NG medium needle... They are the same as the Badger 100 & Badger 150 & 155 Anthem tip....Only in a single action instead of a double action, where you push down on the trigger to get air and pull back to get paint to flow.. The farther back you pull, the more paint you get..My coordination isnt that good and  I can never get the Same air/paint flow when using my Badger 100LG or Badger 360 that is both gravity and bottle feed the 100lg is gravity feed.. But has a huge cup in front which I dont like! Its in the view of what I'm trying to paint...With the Badger 200's you have the same needle setup's as the 100's and 155 ana 150..And the "Same spray pattern's" Too ...AND... I only had to pay $45.00 for the 200SG and $40.00 for the 200NH bottle feed & $51.00 for the 200-20 from   www.dixieart.com  Any airbrush you buy or anything in their catalog is shipped free  if its $45.00 or more...So I bought two Badger 200's for less than I paid for the one Badger 360 double action.. Their so easy to use and easy to clean..They have a pre-adjusted paint flow or You can adjust your paint flow from the knob at the back of the airbrush..... Dixieart also has a E-Mail set up with UPS and they send You a E-Mail to you, telling you what day it will be delivered to your delivery address ...I recived both of my new Badgers today..I ordered them 6-14-06.. Today was 6-20-06....Six days !..I use my Visa Debt card.. Their here in America and I only use them any more!..I buy my paints and all airbrush supplys from them. with not one complaint about them, no broken or missing parts everything is perfect for me.. . bearair.com is good too.. Ive used them, but they don't send a e-mail to let you know when your getting your supplys  you have to wait and wonder...So I don't use them anymore.. Their prices are sometimes cheaper... But I like knowing.... My local hobby shop sells their badger 200 for $91.00 Sad that the LHS's want so much when you can buy a top of the line double action airbrush for that from www.dixieart.com    I also build Armor and big rig tractors the Badger 200's are perfect for me and my skills too You donot have to break them down everytime you paint with them! You just wipe out the gravity color cup or disconect the bottle and put your thinner in the color cup spray till its clean and wip it down to dry it.. Same with bottle ad a thinner to a bottle and hook it back up and spray till it running clear and take off the bottle ansd wipe it down .. I only take mine down after four ot five paint jobs ....Its so much easier than that junk aztek piece of you know! you have one too! ha,ha....  Have fun painting.. I use to hate it, till I got my Badger 200's....    ................."RC"

Though I haven't used the passche vl personally, from the parts break-down it's just as easy to clean as a badger 155 and easIER than badger 100LG due to the self-centering tip design.  It has 3 choices of tips, I'd get the medium for general use and the fine head/needle parts on the side if you want to try even more detailed painting later on as well.  The fine set will require you to thin the paint a little more to get a good flow.  It will all come to you with more practice as many had emphasized.  Give this thread a day or two and the passche users plus a lot of others will come to your aid to help you make your decision on it. 

Check out this article done by scott (musiccity) here on airbrushes.  He also has a bunch of other well done airbrushing-related articles on the same site as well.

http://www.craigcentral.com/models/ab.asp

Welcome to the forum.  If you search through this section forum and you will get numerous threads for airbrush recommendations in the recent several month.  Since you do armor and aircrafts which sometimes have intricate camos, a double action is most of the time recommended.  Check out dixieart.com if you can order stuff online, and think again before thinking that badgers are expensive.  Though less pricey the badger 100LG with the medium tip is among the most often recommendation here for a low-budget-general-use option to paint models.  It's built well enough (way better than the aztek), easy to clean, and not as tempermental with either enamel or acrylic paints.  Also the replacement parts are also widely available at low cost down the line.