So I was thinking about an airbrush and compressor

That Eclipse is a wonderful brush, I got one a couple of months ago to augment my HP-CR and love it!  I have the inline cup on mine but I am sure the side feed works well.  If you wait till tomorrow or Monday to order you could see if Hobby Lobby is having another 40% off sale next week and pick up the hose cheaper there.  They carry Iwata HP-CR's and the hoses are the same for the two...

I would order an extra needle and tip just to be safe (#3 and #17 on their schematic of parts, about $27 total), if you spray acrylics some Medea Super Lube or Badger Regdab needle juice also would be a good buy.  It helps cut down on tip dry and makes spraying a more pleasant experience!

As far as venting outdoors you could still get you a spray booth and build you some sort of insert to go into the windows you could place there when spraying.  I was thinking a sheet of plywood with a hole cut for the hose and just place it in the window and let the pane rest on the plywood, just take it down when not spraying!  Also a good respirator designed for organic particles is a must.  You can pick one up in the paint department of most hardware stores for about $25.00...

Good luck to you and looks like you are starting out with a good setup!

My spray booth lives on my covered deck in the warmer months, so venting is not a problem. In winter my long suffering wife puts up with the booth in a corner of our kitchen and I vent it out the window like this:



The board has weatherstripping on it to eliminate any air leakage and is also the entry point for the air hose from the compressor. I can pull the pipe from the vent and close the window without actually removing the entire assembly. Just the piece of wood on the right hand side comes out. It's held in by friction alone and keeps the pane from falling inside the house. It only gets to 20% below in Kelowna, so I usually just keep it in place (and button up the top button of my cotton shirts!).

thx guys!