Airbrushes from Harbor Freight?

Harborfreight brushes seem to be hit or miss.  I know people that have used them for years with no problem, but I also know people who had terrible problems right out of the box.

My recommendation would be an Iwata Revolution BR.  Iwata performance for only $70.  It's been my mainstay brush for a year or so, replacing my Eclipse bottom feed.  Though I may get an Eclipse gravity feed soon as I just love the way the Eclipse series handles.

Plus, if he decides that the Revolution isn't for him, maybe you could offer to buy it at a slight discount

-Fred

There's an old saying "You get what you pay for".  I wouldn't buy a Harbor Freight airbrush for modeling.  It just sounds too cheap.  I would recommend spending about $40 on a Paasche H or Badger 350.  These airbrushes are good to learn with and don't cost a lot.  As your friend's skills and experience increase, he can move onto a better and more expensive airbrush.  Many modelers have gone this route.  The old airbrush can then be used to lay down single colors, primers and clear coats leaving the new, expensive airbrush for finer work.  Just my opinion.

Jesse

I have bought 2 of them in the past and only have one word for them, JUNK!!!!!

First one out of the box didn't even work period! second worked but spit all over cause the needle was bent and parts for them wern't available, Harbor Freight said I had to write to the company in China.  Tell your friend to check out Bearair.com, very reasonable prices for the name brands, I use paasche and have never had any complaints about their brushes or their customer service. 

I have one of the cheap plastic ones, and for flood coats it works. Not great, but works.

You can buy a Badger 200 for around $40 at Bear Air, or you can go to Badger Airbrushes website and click on the "Garage Sale" button and buy an old style Vega with Badger head for $25. You do not need to spend hundreds on an airbrush to get a decent brush. 

Got a Hobby Lobby near you? Clip their next 40% Off coupon and visit them, check to see what brushes they have in stock. What ever you buy it will be a good deal. They sell Iwata, Paasche and Badger (I think).

Have him look into a Paasche 'H' starter set. 

Thanks to all for the great insight!  I told him he could go either route and come out on top.  If he invested the money in a GOOD airbrush then there will never be any regret.  If he got an airbrush from Harbor Freight and it worked then so much the better.  If it didn't then he'd only be out a dozen bucks (less than a couple of burger meals at Mickey D's).

Gerald, that is a GREAT idea about the 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby!  That's why I wanted to write to all you guys!  There's always someone out there with something you haven't thought of before.  Everyone who responded to my question gave wonderful advice.  In fact, I'm actually going to copy/clip the responses and forward them to him.  I hope everyone is okay with that.

Thanks to everyone for the great thoughts and suggestions!

Eric

Not to take any business from Hobby Lobby but if there's a Micheals near you they always have 40% off coupons too. Sometimes 50%. The one near me doesn't have a large selection but they usually have 3 or 4 different Badger brushes on hand. 

I got a smokin' deal from them(Micheals) about this time last year. They had a Badger Crescendo in the cabinet and the cellophane had been torn off the package. A salesperson, who turned out to be the manager, asked if there was anything I'd like to look at. I asked to see the Crescendo. When he handed it to me there was also a Badger 200NH laying in the box. The Crescendo was clean and looked unused but the color cup was missing. All the needles, tips, hose, paint jars, even a can of propellant were there. I think it was priced at $54. Not a bad price. I had a 50% off coupon and asked could I use it since the item was already marked down. He said sure, it wasn't a sale item, just marked down because it was open with a missing part. While I was looking it over he had been trying to find the box the 200NH went in. When he couldn't find it he tossed it back in the box with the Crescendo. I asked was he sure? He said yep, take 'em. So I  ended up with both for about $30. The 200 had been dropped and the back end of the needle was bent but the tip was fine. I straightened the back end and it's like new.

Also, http://www.dixieart.com/ has decent prices and free shipping on orders over $60 in the lower 48.

Tony

I purchased a couple of the ones you can get on sale at times for 4.99 for my kids. I think they are junk as someone else stated. After giving the kids the crappy airbrushes i went and bought them their own Paasche H3 brush. I have been using the same H3 my dad bought for me over 30 years ago so I knew they were getting a good solid brush. I have several other airbrushes both single and double action from Paasche, Badger etc. I still use my trusty H3 95% of the time. Your friend may get a Paasche H and be satisfied for the rest of his life.

BTW I bought the Harbor Freight double action brush just for laughs as I got it on sale for about 16.00. I have a higher opinion of that one than their single action brush. My only concern would be parts availability. While it looks like a Badger knock off, I don't know if Badger needles and parts would fit. Harbor freight claims you can order needles through them.

I would stick with a name brand.

Max Bryant   

Go to http://www.badgerairbrush.com

Go now.

Click on Garage sale.

You will not be disappointed.

Gary 

echolmberg wrote:

Thanks to all for the great insight!  I told him he could go either route and come out on top.  If he invested the money in a GOOD airbrush then there will never be any regret.  If he got an airbrush from Harbor Freight and it worked then so much the better.  If it didn't then he'd only be out a dozen bucks (less than a couple of burger meals at Mickey D's). Gerald, that is a GREAT idea about the 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby!  That's why I wanted to write to all you guys!  There's always someone out there with something you haven't thought of before.  Everyone who responded to my question gave wonderful advice.  In fact, I'm actually going to copy/clip the responses and forward them to him.  I hope everyone is okay with that. Thanks to everyone for the great thoughts and suggestions!   Eric

I used oneto spray some touchup paint on my truck once.

The paint ate the airbrush.

David

garys wrote:

Go to http://www.badgerairbrush.com Go now. Click on Garage sale. You will not be disappointed.   Gary

Yep..... I picked up a 200SG for $16! 

I have actually had really good luck with the $5.99 model from Harbor Freight.  I don't expect much detail but for laying a basecoat on a larger model, or terrrain project, they work fine.

Additionally, I use 'em to blow future on a model, and even hard coat after.  At the price, if they get gunked up, I toss it, and buy another.  I keep two or three on hand at all times.

So yes, you get what you pay for, and I would never advise someone to use this as a primary brush, but it has it's applications.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=47791

Badger 350 is as good a thing to start with as they come. Paasche H is great as well :)

Newbie to airbrushing in 1984- You should have seen how well the F-105 camo job came out for a first try- Paasche is best for the beginner!

Harbor Freight is for buying tools, not airbrushes! Nuff said :)

My son called me to ask for help with an airbrush problem...long story short he purchased one of those premium units from Harbor Freight and it literally fell apart in his hands before he could even spray paint with it. They wanted something cheap to do some decor on the walls of their house...only thing is now he has a pile of parts and I even tried to reassemble it for him. The spring broke into three pieces and the moving parts just bend. Hard to pull on a trigger if is just folds over on itself.

He hasn't yet asked if he could borrow one of mine...I'll probably give him one of my spare VL or Hs. I think he would have learned his lesson when purchasing tools from HF...took five tries to get a compressor that actually worked for more than a day. Hard to roof a house if the compressor quits after a couple clips of nails. I will say they replaced all but the last one...it took me to purchase one, hook it all up and shoot nails in a board while the manager watched to see it too sieze up...all money was refunded and we took our business elsewhere.

Funny how the Northern Tool catalog showed up in todays mail when I am thinking of getting something tool related.

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

Funny how the Northern Tool catalog showed up in todays mail when I am thinking of getting something tool related.

Hmmmm, my Wife got 3 Victoria Secret sales catalogs in the mail today ! I wonder ?    

I retired as  Mine Hvy Equipment Mechanic, I watched a lot of  "so called" mechanics trying to do their trade with Harbor Fright Tools, well Lets say they were about a good as the tools they used... 

Summit wrote:

HawkeyeHobbies wrote: Funny how the Northern Tool catalog showed up in todays mail when I am thinking of getting something tool related. Hmmmm, my Wife got 3 Victoria Secret sales catalogs in the mail today ! I wonder ?     I retired as  Mine Hvy Equipment Mechanic, I watched a lot of  "so called" mechanics trying to do their trade with Harbor Fright Tools, well Lets say they were about a good as the tools they used...

Ain't that the truth...been there supervised those types too....Victoria's Secret...hmmmm so much for getting any modeling done!