Airbrushes

[Chris F]

Hi Chaps, I've recently joined the forum. I'm an artist in the traditional sense, by that I mean I use brushes to apply paint not Airbrush.
A number of years ago I was given 4 airbrush guns, that belonged to a friends brother, who sadly passed away due to a short but aggressive illness .My friend said at the time " Give them a go you may get into it" That was 8 years ago and I've still not used them. I'm in half a mind to perhaps sell them, and give the proceeds back to my friend but keep one just in case I decide to peruse it after all .
I've no idea of the value of the second hand airbrush market so any help would be most welcome.

I have a Olympos HP-100 C , nozzle 0.3 mm
a Olympos HP-100 B nozzle 0.2 mm
A Olympos SP-B nozzle 0.2
and a Sprite precision Airbrush

Thank you for your time.

Best wishes

Chris

 

[Malky]

Hi Chris

First of all, sorry to here of your friend's brother's passing.

There is absolutely no harm at all in putting these brushes up here, they are all very decent brushes, but have you tried using any of them at all, if you haven't I would recommend having a little play around with them before you decide let them go, your friend's brother chose these particular brushes for a reason which would be that the whole collection was what he needed to do whatever he did, the collection seems like a very purposeful put together set, each one with a purpose, so I think if you at least gave them, or a couple of them a little try out you might just like it, for you and your friend they have sentimental value so I would hate to see you lose them now and pay for other brushes later if you did get into this art, we all stand ready to help you should you need it, so you won't be short of advice, whatever you decide, please just have good long think.

If it's a case of these brushes touching a nerve when you handle them, that's very understandable and maybe selling them on is wise in that case, however if you are absolutely sure you want to sell may I suggest some photos of what you have, anyone interested in buying them would want to see what they are buying, whatever happens I hope you find a solution that's best for you, if you do keep one, in light of having little or no experience with them, I would suggest you keep the 0.3 Olympos since smaller nozzles can be very unforgiving for beginners, whereas, 0.3 is generally a decent all rounder.

I might have interest in the sprite, but as I said, only if you are absolutely sure.

 

[Mr.Micron]

As Malky said first off sorry to hear of your friends and yours loss .
Your friend thought maybe the dark side (airbrushing) would take over the light side (Hairy brush ). We have had traditional painted cross over and a few that turn out master pieces using drawing , paint brush and airbrush . Google search Lorenzo Sperlonga and the amazing pin up he turns out.
An airbrush is just another tool in the world of art. the more tools you learn or at least try the more you free you mind .

No on the sell part , Most time if they have been used and being you are not sure if they are in working order or not look up the current new price and divide it in half , That will be considered a fair price plus shipping of course.

 

[Nessus]

I would say keep them, as it's a nice and as noted purposeful collection. However if you're not sure when or even if you'll ever even try them, selling may be well justified. It all depends on how likely you estimate that "when/if" it be. If you can actually picture specific things you might want to try with an airbrush, keep them, of you can't and are just projecting a general "what if" principle, then sell, IMO.

In the latter case I'd still say keep one, at least. Olympus is one of the really high quality brands, so those are good brushes to have. Better to keep one, than to sell them all and end up having to buy something lesser later.

If you decide to keep one, I'd nominate the HP-100 C. That'll be the most beginner friendly and versatile* one, due to the cup and nozzle size. The B models are more specialized for fine detail work, while the C is an "all around" brush that do both broad strokes and detail. The C can likely do the same level of detail as the B's, just a bit less ergonomically.

*The Sprite looks like it has a rotating midsection similar to the Badger 360, which would make it very versatile in theory. However it's a vintage model that may be hard to get replacement parts for, so maybe more valuable as a collector's item than a working brush, especially if you don't know how good the condition is.