Airbrushes

[trapper]

Hello all, has any body used master airbrushes? If you did how did you like them?

[peteski]

Never had one, or heard of them (that I recall). I use Badger.

I also like to offer a friendly comment: Your subject line of this thread is very vague.  If you were to edit your initial post (while you still can - there is a time limit), and changed the subject line to something possibly like "Master Airbrushes - what is your opinion about them?", that will likely attract more members who actually have some experience with the subject.

[LL3 Model Worx]

1 hour ago, trapper said:

Hello all, has any body used master airbrushes? If you did how did you like them?

I have one that I use on literally every model I build and have for over 3yrs.

Mine is the G22 model I believe? 

I think it is an excellent airbrush especially for the price...

I've sprayed all types of paint through it without issue after the neccessary adjustments.

You will have folks put it down because it is a clone of an Iwata, and honestly it's not on that level of quality... or price. But it will absolutely get the job done.

I've had mine over 3yrs and would buy agian if it ever fails.

Buy with confidence.

[Dave G.]

There were a couple of videos out there on youtube on tuning those up, also on Harbor Freight brushes..Basically boiled down to polishing the needles up a little and sealing parts when you push together or screw together, as the case may be, with bees wax or chapstick. This is a good idea with any brush really, I do the same on my badger and Paasche brushes. I also have another import much like Master and I do the same with that. They all spray fine for me. Some of the knockoffs like mine have no parts support but on that count Master actually might have at least needles and such things.

So I don't directly own a Master but a knockoff of probably Iwata also. And I've also never seen much for complaints on the Master airbrushes either. If I painted three models the same with my three brand brushed you wouldn't be able to tell which one was used on which model. It comes down to comfort/what you like, preference in use ( I have gravity and siphon fed brushes) and service or parts availability. And believe it or not just your favorite one, what you are used to using.

[trapper]

Thanks allot guys I really appreciate it!

[Pete J.]

On 1/9/2020 at 7:01 AM, Dave G. said:

If I painted three models the same with my three brand brushed you wouldn't be able to tell which one was used on which model. It comes down to comfort/what you like, preference in use ( I have gravity and siphon fed brushes) and service or parts availability. And believe it or not just your favorite one, what you are used to using.

Very old saying -- The magic is in the magician, not the wand!  The Giza pyramids were built with primitive tools used by skilled craftsmen. The only difference is that a quality tool makes the job more pleasurable. You don't need a top end airbrush to learn how to use it.  You will make the same mistakes with a cheap airbrush as you will an expensive one.  Just over time you will come to appreciate the quality tool.

For hundreds of years craftsman have treasured a quality tool.

 

[Dave G.]

3 hours ago, Pete J. said:

Very old saying -- The magic is in the magician, not the wand!  The Giza pyramids were built with primitive tools used by skilled craftsmen. The only difference is that a quality tool makes the job more pleasurable. You don't need a top end airbrush to learn how to use it.  You will make the same mistakes with a cheap airbrush as you will an expensive one.  Just over time you will come to appreciate the quality tool.

For hundreds of years craftsman have treasured a quality tool.

 

No argument from me Pete ! But I'm very happy with my Badger 200 I've owned since 1975 and my Paasche H too. Arguably not the top of the line but very functional tools for me. The other one I own is double action, gravity feed etc but I'm just used to my originals.

[Pete J.]

Just by way of explanation, I have owned more than a few airbrushes.  I started with a Badger 250 external mix brush back in 1974.  That is the very cheap plastic one with a bottle on the bottom and a nozzle that screwed into the bottle lid.  You adjusted it by screwing the nozzle up or down to move it into the airstream.  For the time, I got some decent paint jobs.

I then went to the Aztek double action plastic brush(still quite cheap).  Spraying lacquer through it worked but the plastic swoll up so I had to keep buying tips.   Both of these brushes used canned air, which was very frustrating! 

When I realized that I was spending as much on air cans as a good airbrush and compressor would cost, I bought a Badger 275 Crescendo.  My first metal airbrush. Still rather inexpensive, but it solved the problem with the plastic nozzles.  I painted many a contest winner with that brush(including a Best of at Tamiya/con).

  When I damaged the Badger, I went to a Tamiya HG and an HG Super fine.    I also have a Iwata LPH-50 mini touch up gun.  None of these gives me a "better" paint job, but all have something that they do better than the others.  Do I need all of them?  Oh, heck no!  If I had to, I could do what I do with the old Badger which I repaired after it was damaged.  But having dedicated brushes for specific tasks means I can handle each task much easier.  Example:  The Iwata has a nice wide pattern for spraying large areas.  It is great for 1:12 scale car bodies!  It would take forever to spray them with the narrow pattern of the Badger or Tamiya's but I could do it.  

So pick out whatever you can afford and as you get better, you will come to understand if a better airbrush is called for.