Missing badger 150 part or not?

Awesome, Thanks for the detailed reply Phil_H.

Just wanted to make sure so i could replace it if necessary and it sounds like i don't have to go through the trouble.

Now that i'm not worrying about faulty equipment I can get on to the next step... practice.

(while waiting for a reply i managed to build an airbrush booth out of some old canvas boards... I'm going to attach  a generic bathroom air vent fan which i had lying around, the only thing left is to wire the switch and plug. hopefully no more headaches

The needle bearing is buried down the threaded hole that the head screws into. It's factory fitted and is not meant to be user-serviceable, meaning that installing or removing this part is a "return to base" job.

My understanding is that the manufacturer has a special tool used for setting or removing this part, and that under normal circumstances it should not fall out on its own. It can be dislodged by overzealous cleaning and reportedly has been successfully reinserted by a number of users, but as mentioned above, it's not usually a user-accessible part.

Your airbrush may not have worked "out of the box" for a number of reasons, but frequently this happens because of an incorectly set needle or a loos needle locknut. Once you have these things sorted out (and it sounds like you have), it should be near bulletproof.