The Energon Pub

Getting into airbrush painting now due to Gundam and more advanced TF customization.

I know I want to get one of the Mr. Linear Air compressor/regulator kits, and I see a lot of Iwata airbrushes as the common denominator for most artist. But out of their product line whats the best investment? I understand multiple airbrushes might be necessary as well. Thanks in advance for the info!

While I don't know enough about Iwata AB's to recommend any (still using a budget Tamiya basic AB which has served me pretty well so far), I do recommend getting one or two single action AB's, and one double-action AB, if you do plan on buying more than one.

The reason behind this is that single-action ones are simpler and have less parts to clean. They're useful and convenient for simple one-color paint jobs or priming. You can buy a couple of those and load both up with different colors. That way, you don't have to clean out the AB to spray another color in the same session.

And since you'll be buying more than one, it's good to stick with single action for this purpose because they're cheaper than double action ones, and you don't need to do anything fancy with straight-up paint jobs.

The double-action AB is best used for effects such as post/pre-shading, filtering or painting exhaust stains, due to the ability to control the air pressure and amount of paint. As you probably already know, double action AB's require more skill to use and require more time to clean due to the extra parts.

Some people complain about getting finger cramps when using traditional "pen-type" AB's. I don't know how true this is, since I use a trigger-type AB. Both Tamiya and Iwata (who makes the AB's for Tamiya anyway) have trigger-type AB, so you might want ot look into those, too.

They'll be somewhat more expensive, though.

Hope this helps some, even if I wasn't able to answer your main question.

You should start with the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS this gun will do what you need for model making, easy to keep clean works when you need it to, I used it for years and have 2 of them parts are easy to find and not to expensive I got there combo with the compressor was a great deal and the compressor has been flawless and quiet.
good luck
Clusterprime

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:While I don't know enough about Iwata AB's to recommend any (still using a budget Tamiya basic AB which has served me pretty well so far), I do recommend getting one or two single action AB's, and one double-action AB, if you do plan on buying more than one.

The reason behind this is that single-action ones are simpler and have less parts to clean. They're useful and convenient for simple one-color paint jobs or priming. You can buy a couple of those and load both up with different colors. That way, you don't have to clean out the AB to spray another color in the same session.

And since you'll be buying more than one, it's good to stick with single action for this purpose because they're cheaper than double action ones, and you don't need to do anything fancy with straight-up paint jobs.

The double-action AB is best used for effects such as post/pre-shading, filtering or painting exhaust stains, due to the ability to control the air pressure and amount of paint. As you probably already know, double action AB's require more skill to use and require more time to clean due to the extra parts.

Some people complain about getting finger cramps when using traditional "pen-type" AB's. I don't know how true this is, since I use a trigger-type AB. Both Tamiya and Iwata (who makes the AB's for Tamiya anyway) have trigger-type AB, so you might want ot look into those, too.

They'll be somewhat more expensive, though.

Hope this helps some, even if I wasn't able to answer your main question.

That was a solid explanation into an ideal starting set-up for ABing with some great insights, thank you very much I appreciate it!!

Clusterprime wrote:You should start with the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS this gun will do what you need for model making, easy to keep clean works when you need it to, I used it for years and have 2 of them parts are easy to find and not to expensive I got there combo with the compressor was a great deal and the compressor has been flawless and quiet.
good luck
Clusterprime

Awesome! the HP-CS was one I had my eye on. Thanks again for the recommendation. So you like their compressor kit, I was worried about a choice on compressors. I want a very low volume comp. due to living in an apartment. The Mr.Linear seems like a solid one and done comp but if I can get by for cheaper that would of course be ideal.

So you like their compressor kit, I was worried about a choice on compressors. I want a very low volume comp. due to living in an apartment.

The Iwata one I have was perfect for that I lived in apt and did a lot of late night painting the compressor is so quiet the wife in the next room does not hear it, going on 5 years on it and the brush.
Single action is just that one action,duel action is more like 100 actions you can adjust the flow of paint by pulling back on the trigger, the idea is to spend more time painting and less adjusting.
you can start with whatever you like but if your serious about airbrushing you will end up with an Iwata in the end.

Clusterprime