tatocorvette
Detail Decepticon!
Hello,
Way before airbrushes, I've been into photography for decades. I've been restoring vintage cameras for a long time. I have hundreds of cameras, but there are a few in particular that stand out:
1954 Asahiflex Tower 23/Asahi-Kogaku 50mm f3.5 lens
a 1967 Pentax SV with a Super Takumar 55mm f1.8 lens
and a 1937 Kodak Junior six-20 Model II among others.
Why these? These cameras will NOT do anything different that most others. However, I consider them jewelry that happens to take pictures. The shear beauty, the mechanical precision, the tactile feeling, the weight, the balance, the process... I can go on and on.
This same concept applies many other things. A Ferrari or a Rolls Royce will take you to the same places a Chevy Cobalt or a Toyota Yaris. A Rolex will give the same time as a Casio. But that's not the point for their existence.
Same with airbrushes. I've been a scale modeler all my life. I've been airbrushing for over 30 years. But for my application, almost any airbrush will do. I am not an illustrator. All I want is a nice consistent coat of paint. In fact, for decades my one and only airbrush was a CP1500, a cheap Korean knock-off of the Badger 150.
Then I started into this rabbit hole of collecting and restoring airbrushes (Jim's fault
). I love the history and the research involved in this.
In the current world of airbrushes, Harder and Steenbeck stands out as one of those jewelry feeling tools. The finish, precision, performance, etc. are all top notch.
So I succumbed to the lure of another jewelry that happens to be a tool in the form of a Harder and Steenbeck Grafo T2.
Dave has a very nice thread about the Grafo line where it is discussed in detail.
These airbrushes have a peculiar dual action system where the trigger is not pushed down for air. When you move it backwards, it initiates the air and then pulls paint. This is somewhat common in other German airbrushes.
Grafo is a very old name in airbrushes, dating back to the early 20th century. Long story short, Harder and Steenbeck owns it since around 1996.
Currently, H&S offers 3 Grafo models: T1, T2 and T3. The T1 is an A cup gravity feed. The T2 and T3 are side feed sharing the same body.
I just received this T2:
This airbrush has a 0.4 setup, not the original 0.2 from the factory. The nozzle, needle and cap are the older style. I'd guess this is from the early 2000s maybe?
@DaveG , any idea? Serial number is 6437 but not sure if that helps.
On very close inspection it has some minor pitting on one side. I tried a light polishing but it did not help. Will try later a careful machine buffing. But it looks gorgeous. It was very clean. A light buff and it was pressed into service.
Oops! Missed a spot there to clean!
Works beautifully. I did not find the trigger system awkward at all. I'll do a separate thread about what I did with this airbrush.
Your comments are always appreciated.
Thanks,
Ismael
Way before airbrushes, I've been into photography for decades. I've been restoring vintage cameras for a long time. I have hundreds of cameras, but there are a few in particular that stand out:
1954 Asahiflex Tower 23/Asahi-Kogaku 50mm f3.5 lens
a 1967 Pentax SV with a Super Takumar 55mm f1.8 lens
and a 1937 Kodak Junior six-20 Model II among others.
Why these? These cameras will NOT do anything different that most others. However, I consider them jewelry that happens to take pictures. The shear beauty, the mechanical precision, the tactile feeling, the weight, the balance, the process... I can go on and on.
This same concept applies many other things. A Ferrari or a Rolls Royce will take you to the same places a Chevy Cobalt or a Toyota Yaris. A Rolex will give the same time as a Casio. But that's not the point for their existence.
Same with airbrushes. I've been a scale modeler all my life. I've been airbrushing for over 30 years. But for my application, almost any airbrush will do. I am not an illustrator. All I want is a nice consistent coat of paint. In fact, for decades my one and only airbrush was a CP1500, a cheap Korean knock-off of the Badger 150.
Then I started into this rabbit hole of collecting and restoring airbrushes (Jim's fault
). I love the history and the research involved in this.In the current world of airbrushes, Harder and Steenbeck stands out as one of those jewelry feeling tools. The finish, precision, performance, etc. are all top notch.
So I succumbed to the lure of another jewelry that happens to be a tool in the form of a Harder and Steenbeck Grafo T2.
Dave has a very nice thread about the Grafo line where it is discussed in detail.
These airbrushes have a peculiar dual action system where the trigger is not pushed down for air. When you move it backwards, it initiates the air and then pulls paint. This is somewhat common in other German airbrushes.
Grafo is a very old name in airbrushes, dating back to the early 20th century. Long story short, Harder and Steenbeck owns it since around 1996.
Currently, H&S offers 3 Grafo models: T1, T2 and T3. The T1 is an A cup gravity feed. The T2 and T3 are side feed sharing the same body.
I just received this T2:
This airbrush has a 0.4 setup, not the original 0.2 from the factory. The nozzle, needle and cap are the older style. I'd guess this is from the early 2000s maybe?
@DaveG , any idea? Serial number is 6437 but not sure if that helps.
On very close inspection it has some minor pitting on one side. I tried a light polishing but it did not help. Will try later a careful machine buffing. But it looks gorgeous. It was very clean. A light buff and it was pressed into service.
Oops! Missed a spot there to clean!
Works beautifully. I did not find the trigger system awkward at all. I'll do a separate thread about what I did with this airbrush.
Your comments are always appreciated.
Thanks,
Ismael
