Very Cheap Airbrushes. A Recipe For Frustration?

[Bugatti Fan]

There is an old adage 'You only get what you are prepared to pay for!'

There appears to be a great void price wise between what are considered quality brands and the dead cheap airbrushes appearing all over the market place in recent years.

Never used any thing apart from a couple of Badgers and Devilbiss Aerograph models to date that have proved very reliable, but initially expensive to buy.

Would be interesting to read users and readers opinions, horror stories whatever about those cheapo air brushes ?

[bobss396]

I do airbrush now and then. I have a couple of names brand single-actions that work well. I have also a new brand X single action I have tried and it works well too. YMMV.

[Papaof2]

I bought a Neoeco SJ83 from Amazon when starting out to see if I could master spraying. Bought a couple of name brands since, Paash and Iwata, but I always pull out the SJ83 when I'm ready to spray. Works well for my needs painting models. Probably would not satisfy an artist's needs. I am very satisfied with the results I get. I know how it reacts and what to expect.  I use Tamiya X and XF acrylics exclusively with Mr Color leveling thinner. Replacement parts are available from NEOECO and are easy to obtain. Multiple needle sizes available.

[johnyrotten]

My setup is from point zero, 3 brushes and compressor. The compressor is tankless, with a water trap/regulator. Its been rock solid, no complaints other than pulses, to be expected without a tank.Two double action brushes that appear to be knock-offs of name brands, and a single action. No real complaints so far, I've noticed some less than stellar machining on the  threads of one of the end caps. They have seen all types of paints, except 2k clear, and used pretty regularly. I recently did some shading work with a waterslide decal on a motorcycle tank for friend, no issues. I'll consider myself an educated novice with them, I've searched out tips,knowledge and information as it's something I have a great interest in learning. For a hundred bucks, I think it was a good starter kit to learn with.

[NOBLNG]

Quality control is probably the biggest issue with cheapos?

[johnyrotten]

1 hour ago, NOBLNG said:

Quality control is probably the biggest issue with cheapos?

That's my thoughts. 

[Bill Eh?]

My only disappointing experience with a knock-off was with a Veda airbrush. I always learn to disassemble new airbrushes, prior to use. After using and then cleaning the Veda, I started the reassembly process. I was reinstalling the needle chucking guide back into the body. When properly installed, the threaded portion should stop turning. It did not with this airbrush, and the needle chucking guide just kept advancing in the airbrush body until it was way forward of the trigger location. That airbrush was cannibalized for useful and usable spare parts (needle spring, needle chucking nut, etc.). It was no great loss as it was $20 something when purchased. It was a lesson learned though, with no cheap airbrush purchases to follow.

[Bainford]

4 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Quality control is probably the biggest issue with cheapos?

Yes, and manufacturer support is frequently poor, or not at all. That includes parts availability.

[Skip]

As long as you polish the needle and tip with any airbrush you should be good.  I recently wore out my last Harbor Freight De Luxe which they discontinued like almost five years ago, tip finally split out.  I used that one for tons of sign painting work spraying anything from enamels thinned with lacquer to acrylics even urethanes.  For model work it sprayed lots of MCW paints, enamels thinned with lacquer thinner, lacquers, acrylics and any other stuff on hand. I also own several of each Miller single action, Paasche, Harder & Steenbeck, Iwata, Badger, and toss in another handful of no-name brands collected since I started airbrushing back in Jr-Hi in the early 70’s.  So, with a cursory clean and adjustment I can probably grab any single or double action out of the toolbox and spray away for either production or model work. The oldest airbrush in the roll-a- way is a pre- WW II Paassche double action given to me by an old sign painting buddy, who is now long gone both his Paasche sprays on occasionally, just to remember how heavy had those old airbrushes were!

For production stuff, those El-Cheap-O specials work great right out of the box and sort of go down hill from that point. They will however teach you all about the minor adjustments or will end to work on their more expensive brothers. Stuff like air pressure +/-, distance to the painted surface, trigger control on the double actions.. most of if you can learn to break down and clean cheap airbrushes and develop good maintenance habits; you’ll do just fine when you graduate up to the more expensive name brand brushes…  

My recommendation for years to anyone wanting to begin airbrushing is to start cheap and work your way up to a name brand airbrush. First, not everyone likes using an airbrush. Second, not everyone likes airbrush maintenance and cleaning with every use. Third, not everyone is mechanically inclined enough to tear down their airbrush and reassemble it again. I can’t begin to count the times some guy has brought a pile of parts that should assemble into an airbrush, crying for help to put  their expensive baby back together! I’ve got some pretty good deals along the way and flipped quite a few of them for a buck, especially when they lost a part or two.  I don’t take advantage of them and make a low ball offer either, if I buy one it’s always offered for sale to me. Friendship is always worth more than a killer deal!

Bottom line - Don’t go whole hog and get the Iwata right off the bat! Buy the cheaper airbrush. Learn how t spray with it. Learn to clean, maintain and adjust it. Decide whether you like airbrushing or not, then go from there!

Edited June 2 by Skip
Autocorrect’s English must be its second language!

[johnyrotten]

7 minutes ago, Skip said:

As long as you polish the needle and tip with any airbrush you should be good.  I recently wore out my last Harbor Freight De Luxe which they discontinued like almost five years ago, tip finally split out.  I used that one for tons of sign painting work spraying anything from enamels thinned with lacquer to acrylics even urethanes.  For model work it sprayed lots of MCW paints, enamels thinned with lacquer thinner, lacquers, acrylics and any other stuff on hand. I also own several of each Miller single action, Paasche, Harder & Steenbeck, Iwata, Badger, and toss in another handful of no-name brands collected since I started airbrushing back in Jr-Hi in the early 70’s.  So, with a cursory clean and adjustment I can probably grab any single or double action out of the toolbox and spray away for either production or model work. The oldest airbrush in the roll-a- way is a pre- WW II Paassche double action given to me by an old ign painting buddy, who is now long gone both his Paasche sprays on occasionally, just to remember how heavy had those old airbrushes were!

For production stuff, those El-Cheap-O specials work great right out of the box and sort of go down hill from that point. They will however teach you all about the minor adjustments o will end to wor on their more expensive brothers. Stuff like air pressure +/-, distance to the painted surface, trigger control on the double actions.. most of if you can learn to break down and clean cheap airbrushes and develop good maintenance habits; you’ll do just fine when you graduate up to the more expensive name brand brushes…  

my recommendation for years to anyone wanting to begin airbrushing is to start cheap and work your way up to a name brand airbrush. First, not everyone likes sing an airbrush. Second, not everyone likes airbrush maintenance and cleaning with every use. Third, not everyone is mechanically inclined enough to tear down their airbrush and reassemble it again. I can’t begin to count the times some guy has brought a pile of parts that should assemble into an airbrush, crying for help to put  their expensive baby back together! I’ve got some pretty good deals along the way and flipped quite a few of them for a buck, especially when they lost a part or two.  I don’t take advantage of them and make a low ball offer either, if I buy one it’s always offered for sale to me. Friendship is always worth more than a killer deal!

Bottom line - Don’t go whole hog and get the Iwata right off the bat! Buy the cheaper airbrush. Learn how t spray with it. Learn to clean, maintain and adjust it. Decide whether you like airbrushing or not, then go from there!

This is pretty much the path I took when I bought mine. I've read and heard those exact words from many others.  It's a skill, it must be developed.  It's true, with most things, buy once cry once. Purchasing an expensive high end tool for a hobby and then giving up or worse, is a far bigger waste of cash and time to me. I'm the guy that hunts those deals down and reaps the rewards of that frustration. 

[NOBLNG]

34 minutes ago, Skip said:

My recommendation for years to anyone wanting to begin airbrushing is to start cheap and work your way up to a name brand airbrush.

Bottom line - Don’t go whole hog and get the Iwata right off the bat! Buy the cheaper airbrush. Learn how t spray with it. Learn to clean, maintain and adjust it. Decide whether you like airbrushing or not, then go from there!

You might get lucky with a cheap one, or you might get a dog that turns you off airbrushing for life. I would suggest getting a simple (not necessarily cheap); as in single action-external mix one for starters. Why spend the money twice…assuming you just want to paint models and not do artwork etc.

Edit: Just for clarity, my definition of cheap is an off-brand unit with no after market parts or support.

I bought an Iwata Eclipse for my first airbrush. It’s a beautiful piece of equipment. Then I bought a Paasche H and have not touched the Iwata since. While not the cheapest airbrush, it is not expensive either. I would recommend it as a first (and quite likely only) airbrush. It has a cup for small chores and bottles for larger jobs and/or mixing colors. Badger has a similar unit that users rave about, but I have no experience with it. JMO.🙂

Edited June 2 by NOBLNG

[Bainford]

39 minutes ago, Skip said:

 My recommendation for years to anyone wanting to begin airbrushing is to start cheap and work your way up to a name brand airbrush.

I guess there are different ways to approach this. My recommendation when buying any precision instrument, including an airbrush, is to always buy quality. Especially true if one has no experience with an airbrush. This doesn't mean buying high-end, but it does mean buying a quality brand name. When anyone is on the steep end of the learning curve, buying quality eliminates many potential performance variables and second-guessing, and support is available when needed. Not to mention, parts availability and service advice. Given the plethora of surprisingly inexpensive airbrushes from the big name brands, there is little reason to buy a knock-off whittled out of chinesium. Additionally, a quality-brand airbrush, even an entry-level model, will perform well for a life-time.

When buying a cheap knock-off, you are on your own. And any performance issues could quite possibly be poor manufacturing quality. Or not. Without experience, how do you know.

Furthermore, it is worth considering supporting the people who make our hobby the joy it is, rather than those who are out to make a quick buck at our expense, while simultaneously ripping off those companies who put the hard work into engineering and manufacturing a proper airbrush.

[Bugatti Fan]

Very interesting responses to my original post guys airbrushes

The differing viewpoints about cheap airbrushes has made for a lively debate. Just shows how people's experiences of them varies.

A good friend of mine only  has one airbrush a single action Badger 200 that he has been using for over 30 years. He turns out models with a beautiful finish. I asked him recently about whether he had considered anything more up market. His reply was that what he already has served him well all those years, the quality of his airbrush is good, spares are readily available and said that there is not much a more sophisticated airbrush would do over what he does with what he already has. He sees no point in buying anything else !

Edited June 2 by Bugatti Fan

[johnyrotten]

1 hour ago, Bainford said:

Furthermore, it is worth considering supporting the people who make our hobby the joy it is, rather than those who are out to make a quick buck at our expense, while simultaneously ripping off those companies who put the hard work into engineering and manufacturing a proper airbrush.

This statement made me think. This is a small, niche industry we all rely on for a past time. 

[johnyrotten]

5 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Very interesting responses to my original post guys airbrushes

The differing viewpoints about cheap airbrushes has made for a lively debate. Just shows how people's experiences of them varies.

A good friend of mine only  has one airbrush a single action Badger 200 that he has been using for over 30 years. He turns out models with a beautiful finish. I asked him recently about whether he had considered anything more up market. His reply was that what he already has served him well all those years, the quality of his airbrush is good, spares are readily available and said that there is not much a more sophisticated airbrush would do over what he does with what he already has. He sees no point in buying anything else !

I tend to find information everywhere on the forum,if and  when the time comes or me to upgrade, I've got a good list to choose from.  

[Bugatti Fan]

Don't forget John that the airbrush was primarily designed initially for artwork, not model makers. 

Although having said that the model making market is now more of a prime target as airbrush type artwork is being done on computers these days. Badger sort of latched onto the modelling market in the early seventies and I think was the first airbrush manufacturer to aim at model makers.

Edited June 2 by Bugatti Fan

[Shark]

I use the cheap Badger, the one they don't lock up in the case. Usually $20 to $25. I shoot mostly lacquer paint and it does well.

[johnyrotten]

25 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Don't forget John that the airbrush was primarily designed initially for artwork, not model makers. 

Although having said that the model making market is now more of a prime target as airbrush type artwork is being done on computers these days. Badger sort of latched onto the modelling market in the early seventies and I think was the first airbrush manufacturer to aim at model makers.

I've know the Badger brand name all my life, wanted one as a kid in the mid-late 80's. There's a ton I've learned here in the past year. 

[Bainford]

1 hour ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Very interesting responses to my original post guys airbrushes

The differing viewpoints about cheap airbrushes has made for a lively debate. Just shows how people's experiences of them varies.

A good friend of mine only  has one airbrush a single action Badger 200 that he has been using for over 30 years. He turns out models with a beautiful finish. I asked him recently about whether he had considered anything more up market. His reply was that what he already has served him well all those years, the quality of his airbrush is good, spares are readily available and said that there is not much a more sophisticated airbrush would do over what he does with what he already has. He sees no point in buying anything else !

The badger 200 is a great all-round work horse. I cut my teeth on one at the age of 15, and used it as my only airbrush for the next 39 years with hardly an issue. The only thing that occasionally annoyed me was the throttle response with the siphon feed under certain conditions. I only bought a different airbrush a few years ago when I finally pulled the trigger (so to speak) on a much-coveted gravity feed, which, from an engineering standpoint, makes a lot of sense.  If Badger had created a version of the 200 IL as a gravity feed, it just might be the ultimate model builder's airbrush.

[Mike C]

The first airbrush I bought was a Paasche VL. I also use a Grex Tritium.

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 hours ago, Bainford said:

I guess there are different ways to approach this. My recommendation when buying any precision instrument, including an airbrush, is to always buy quality. Especially true if one has no experience with an airbrush. This doesn't mean buying high-end, but it does mean buying a quality brand name.

I agree completely!

My first experience was decades ago with a cheap Testors airbrush, which was nothing but trouble from the onset.

Following that experience, I begged off of airbrushing for probably another 10 years before I decided to try again with a simple Badger 200 single action siphon feed brush, and then it was off to the races!

I never looked back!!

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Very interesting responses to my original post guys airbrushes

The differing viewpoints about cheap airbrushes has made for a lively debate. Just shows how people's experiences of them varies.

A good friend of mine only  has one airbrush a single action Badger 200 that he has been using for over 30 years. He turns out models with a beautiful finish. I asked him recently about whether he had considered anything more up market. His reply was that what he already has served him well all those years, the quality of his airbrush is good, spares are readily available and said that there is not much a more sophisticated airbrush would do over what he does with what he already has. He sees no point in buying anything else !

He’s got a good point, and I totally agree with him

There’s absolutely no need to spend gobs of money, or to have a stable of a half dozen different airbrushes, unless you’re doing something particularly specialized.

A simple, basic brush will do just as well as some big fancy multi-hundred dollar machine if it’s in the right hands.

Just like many things in our hobby, I think people seem to be prone to overthinking simple things.

 

 

Steve

[NOBLNG]

And don’t forget about the other half of the equation….you need an adequate, stable supply of clean dry air. Sometimes the airbrush gets blamed when the air supply is causing the issue.

[Michael jones]

I have about 6 or 7 of those cheap 0.5mm nozzle dual action gravity fed airbrushes from aliexpress. They work great, however sometimes you need to drill out the nozzle cap slightly to let the correct amount of air flow through. That is the only issue I have found with them. I have an airbrush for whites only, colours only, blacks only, clears only etc etc. This is a major advantage. 

I also buy the replacement nozzles just in case there is ever a problem.

Some of these airbrushes have done years of work and still go great.

Edited June 3 by Michael jones

[Beans]

This was my first airbrush....I still have it....I still haven't figured it out.  

From there I moved to Badger and Paashce and finally a Grex.  I still have and use all three because I am weird and each one is for a specific paint.  What I ended up learning is that it wasn't the cheap airbrush that was causing me to have lousy results.  It was the cheap compressor and my lack of understanding and patience.

It took a little while for me to get good results but once I did, I could use almost any of my airbrushes with success (except that aztec one).