Any thoughts on this air brush?

I haven't used it, but I've read where folks say it essentially sprays about like a rattle can.

If you can stretch your budget a bit, this set from Harbor Freight might be something to consider. 

Run.  It's a low cost entry level sprayer.  It's technically an airbrush, but not really.  It's on the same level as Badger's 250.  Better use of funds for the long haul on an entry brush would be a Paasche H or Badger 200NH.  If a double action is your fancy, then a Badger 155 Anthem or an Iwata Revolution would be good economical choices.

E

Dutchmodler wrote:

But I'm able to upgrade from the 200NH to the 100LG in the furture right?

If by "Upgrade" you mean buy a completely new airbrush, then sure! The 200NH doesn't share parts with the 100 series, only the other 200 series and not the head/needle/tip assemblies, though I don't see why you couldn't replace them with the "old" parts. 

Check out Badger's Garage Sale! http://www.badgerairbrush.com/garagesale.htm 

The "old" style single action Vega with the 200 series head for $25 is a bargoon! So is the T&C for $35! WOW!!

BTW the 200NH is a great brush, you didn't make a mistake. It's purely my choice to spend more money for what I perceive as a more versatile brush. The 200NH will give you years of great service. 

Best advice for the novice? PRACTICE! Not on paper or cardboard, but on plastic milk jugs or windshield washer jugs. Lots of compound curves and it reacts to paint pretty much like styrene does.

Here's some more of MusicCity's great advice (which is where I ripped most of my knowledge!):

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

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

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

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

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

Dutchmodler wrote:

Does anyone have any opinion on this, for a first air brush?

Ah, the Testor's A220.  That brings back memories because that was my first airbrush!  It actually works a lot better than one might think.  It's basically a miniaturized garden sprayer, but actually sprays a nice coat of paint.  Its good points are that it is cheap (mine was $19.99 at the corner drugstore) and extremely simple to use.  Its one nifty feature is that the spray nozzle (such as it is) is contained in the spray bottle cap.  The bottle/spray cap is then screwed into the body.  After unscrewing the bottle/spray cap assembly from the body, you can screw a little lid over the top of it, so you actually don't have to clean it after every use.  Even after I had stopped using it for general painting use, I continued to use it for gloss and flat coats.  I just kept a couple of bottles of thinned gloss and flat handy, so all that was needed was to screw the bottle/spray cap assembly into the body, spray, unscrew the bottle/spray cap assembly, cap it and I was done.

The downside, is that it is no more adjustable than a rattle, so everything has to be masked and subtle weathering effects are not really possible.  I also found that beacuse of the overspray, it is fairly wasteful of paint.

As a first airbrush, I would seriously recommend it for a 6-8 year old child.  It is that easy to use.  For anyone into their teens and beyond, I think that it's limitations would quickly outstrip its simplicity and cheap price.

For an easy and versatile airbrush, my usual recommendation is the Paasche H.  It's not much more complicated than the Testor's A220, but it can do fine lines such as what you need for freen hand camo in 1/72, subtle weathering effects, as well as do broad coverage.

Dutchmodler wrote:

......I appreciate the feedback, and hope you will continue to offer more as well as any advice you can offer......

Probably not gonna happen..... Bill's kinda quiet and don't post much.....

jwb wrote:

Dutchmodler wrote: ......I appreciate the feedback, and hope you will continue to offer more as well as any advice you can offer......   Probably not gonna happen..... Bill's kinda quiet and don't post much.....

Yup! That's me! Quiet, shy and unassuming!

I'm still nervous about my first airbrush, I hope I made the right choice since there were so many options to choose from!

YIKES!

Dutchmodler wrote:

I'm still nervous about my first airbrush, I hope I made the right choice since there were so many options to choose from! YIKES!

That is a good airbrush, just take your time and learn it as all airbrushes are a little different. 

Dutch, what did you end up getting?

E

That's a good choice Dutch.  I have the same airbrush which I use for all my enamel airbrushing, and it is an excellent unit: well made, flexible, easy to use, easy to clean.  My first time out with mine, I did a quite passable freehand camo on a 1/72 Tiger tank.  I was surprised how easy the 200 NH made it go. 

Andy

I am glad to hear from someone else that has the same airbrush as I do.  Guess I did a pretty good job, but also had a lot of help from the people in the forum. 

What do you use to thin your enamels and how do you clean your brush.  Any additional tips or feedback would be appreciated!

Dutch

You definitely did alright with the Badger.

For thinning, lately I've been using ModelMaster airbrush thinner.  I got a large bottle and was curious to see if it performed any better than the cheap miner spirits that I can buy at the local home center for about a fiftieth of the cost.  Having used it for many airbrushing sessions, I find that it seems identical in paint performance to inexpensive stuff, and after my jar of ModelMaster thinner is used up, I'll go back the cheap stuff.

For cleaning, contrary Aztek mythology, you don't actually need to fully disassemble and breakdown the airbrush after each and every use.

When you're ready to clean, discard your left over thinned paint.  (You can can store it for a few days, but for much longer than that it will spoil and become useless.  Do not pour your thinned paint back into the jar of original paint because that will kill the entire jar of paint.  You can search this forum and find several threads detailing the evils of storing thinned enamels.)  I then use some thinner and an old paint brush to clean the bottle or color cup that I was painting from.  I'll then use a plastic pipette (Testor's sells them in packages of three) to squirt some thinner into the the airbrush's paint chamber to clear out the bulk of the paint.  I'll also use my cleaning paintbrush to brush inside as well.

At this point the easy thing to do is simply spray thinner though it as specified in the instructions.  When I do this, I spray into my Testor's aribrush cleaning station.  Basically this is a small jar with a filter pad.  You spray the A/B into it and the thinner collects in the jar and the filter catches most of the fumes, thus not wasting a bunch of thinner.  Lacking that, you can do almost as good by pointing the airbrush into a large jar and holding a paper towel over the opening.

About all this thinner that would seem to be wasted during cleaning, I recycle it.  I have two large jars.  Into one of the jars I pour all the dirty thinner and thinned paint that I discard.  After several days, all the paint particles collect, forming a sediment on the bottom and leaving clear thinner above.  I then CAREFULLY pour off the clear thinner into the second jar which becomes my source jar for cleaning thinner.  Using that recycling process, a quart of cleaning thinner lasts for literally years.  After a while, the thinner takes on a greenish hue, but it cleans just fine.  

WOW, Thanks for the feedback, I know this will be very helpful.  I hope you will keep in touch if I should ever have any questions or problems with my 200 NH.  I can't wait to get it and try it out!

OOOPS a question already!

Do you use it for base coat and for camo on tanks, what do you use you A/B for?

Thanks,

Dutch

It works great for both base coats and detail work.  The 200NH (as well as its double action counterpart 155 Anthem) has only a single needle, rather than fine, medium, and large needles, and it can spray essentially as wide a pattern as you wish down to as narrow as something under 1/8 inch.

Basically open up the needle by unscrewing the adjustment knob at the back and moving the brush out from the model for wide coverage.  Screw in the needle and move in close to the model for tight lines.  It's just a matter of experimention and practice to get the hang of thinning your paints, the right air pressure, needle position, and painting distance from the model for whatever you are trying to do.  

As I mentioned before, I use my 200NH for all my enamel airbrushing, whether its spraying basic Russian Green on a 1/35 T-34 or doing free hand camo on a 1/72 Tiger. 

Dutchmodler wrote:

I already asked someone else from the forum this question, and I'm going to ask you the same.  Do you offer classes?  I'll pay! ;o)

Aside from the benefits of my experience which I share for free on this forum, I don't offer classes.  If I were teaching, the main thing I would want convey is that you need to just dive in and do it.  You'll make mistakes and sometimes get frustrated, but as you gain experience, those issues will become a lot more rare.  When I started airbrushing, it was a hit or miss affair and I sort of dreaded painting.  It didn't take too long though before I got the hang of it enough that I could confidently pick up my airbrush knowing that I was going to have a good result.