Airbrush advice

[DaveGage]

Hello,

 

I'm looking for an airbrush and was wondering if I should go for something like the Paasche H or the Iwata HP-TR. In other words do I need the big nozzle size or is 0.5 just perfect for car modelling?

[Bainford]

It's been my experience that different airbrushes vary with how a given nozzle size works with them. However, on any airbrush I've used, 0.5 is plenty large for 1/24 scale car models. 

[johnyrotten]

Most guys here will point you towards the paasche. Tried and true brand. Best advice I will give is get a compressor with a tank and water trap. 

[NOBLNG]

The Paasche H can be had with both a 0.5 and a 0.3 nozzle and needle. The larger is plenty big for 1/24 scale bodies, the smaller is nice for details. I would highly recommend that you start with it.

Edited Tuesday at 05:31 PM by NOBLNG

[sidcharles]

not sure what you have used before, but my suggestion, whichever airbrush you decide upon,

is to get a reliable air source. that is, Not a hobby desktop compressor on demand. get a big box store contractor style unit with a

reservoir of a couple of gallons. remember, a two gallon tank doesn't give you two gallons of air to use, but only the draw-down amount which might only be a half gallon before the compressor kick on again.

the adjustment on bigger units is made at the pressure switch, but smaller units have either built it systems w/ 2 adjustments, or factory setting and you live with it. get an air/ moisture separator, too.

these units are sometimes less $$$ than the hobby size compressors.

 

[peteski]

There are gazillion of opinions and answers on this very subject in this sticky thread:

My suggestion is to check it out. That thread is 12 years old.  No need to go back that far - looking at the most recent couple of pages should give you some general ideas of what members here recommend.  Or we'll be just rehashing the subject here.

[Dave G.]

16 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

The Paasche H can be had with both a 0.5 and a 0.3 nozzle and needle. The larger is plenty big for 1/24 scale bodies, the smaller is nice for details. I would highly recommend that you start with it.

Well not really though. The #1 tip is .45. The #3 tip is .64 and the #5 is 1.0, actually 1.06 to be more exact. But you can't really make a behavioral connection between those orifice sizes and other airbrush designs and their sizes. There are other factors at work besides orifice size. 

Bottom line, the Paasche H is a great airbrush for spraying model cars. It's funny, in the H I use the #5 tip most, where with my Badger 200 I use the .25 tip most ! The Badger 200 is another very fine airbrush for spraying model cars. The key is knowing your tools.

 

[NOBLNG]

9 minutes ago, Dave G. said:

Well not really though. The #1 tip is .45. The #3 tip is .64 and the #5 is 1.0, actually 1.06 to be more exact. But you can't really make a behavioral connection between those orifice sizes and other airbrush designs and their sizes. There are other factors at work besides orifice size. 

Bottom line, the Paasche H is a great airbrush for spraying model cars. It's funny, in the H I use the #5 tip most, where with my Badger 200 I use the .25 tip most ! The Badger 200 is another very fine airbrush for spraying model cars. The key is knowing your tools.

 

I stand corrected. Thanks for the clarification Dave.🙂

[Andrew McD]

The H is a good choice; simple design, easy to clean and maintain and versatile.  I don’t think having a good reliable and consistent air supply can be overstated.  I found learning to use the airbrush took a lot of practice trying to balance distance, viscosity of the paint, correct psi, etc. A reliable  pressure source can be solved by purchasing a compressor with tank thus eliminating at least one variable in the airbrushing equation.