Iwata HP-TH/Kustom TH?

[Nessus]

http://www.iwata-medea.com/products/iwata-airbrushes/kustom-series/kustom-th/

"Kustom TH" is what it's sold as outside Japan, but the Japanese market edition called the "HP-TH" is also easy to find online (and less than half the price).

I got curious about this model after seeing it mentioned in passing in a video. Seems to have some features that would be useful to me (good for larger scale projects, fast opaque coatings, and thicker/coarser paints), but I can't find hardly any reviews or discussions of it online. Just a tiny smattering of unboxing videos and happy-but-uninformative Amazon reviews, but nothing that really delves into the performance and/or limitations.

Does anybody have one of these, and if so, what do you think of it?

 

[JackEb]

I've no personal knowledge of the TH, but why not opt for the Eclipse HP.BCS instead ?
http://www.iwata-medea.com/products/iwata-airbrushes/eclipse/hp-bcs/
It has the .5 needle like the TH so your thicker paints will be easier but even with the TH you'd probably need to reduce some paints, it has the bonus of being a siphon feed so if you're doing larger projects you're not restricted to a smaller gravity cup and its a LOT cheaper $146.52 for the Eclipse Vs $561 for the 'TH'
the only real difference to me is the trigger set up. ..
just thinking out loud.....

 

[Nessus]

The price for the Japanese import edition is about the same as the BCS (140-150$). The gravity cup is removable, and larger cups are available in the form of the Kustom TR cup (21ml) and the TH2 cup (130ml). The TH2's .6 nozzle & needle set looks like should be cross-compatible as well, provided I can source them. The TH2 is Japan-only right now, so sourcing individual parts is more of a hunt, but the cup at least is easy to find.

The gravity feed aspect as I understand it can help with spraying thicker/coarser paints. Plus the one review of any substance I was able to find cited this specifically as allowing much better control with spatter effects with this brush.

The fan spray pattern is very much part of the attraction for me as well. That is something I'd have use for, and the only other brush I know of that can do that is the Paasche Talon, which I tried to buy around two years ago with VERY negative results (bad enough to turn me off to Paasche completely).

I've been over the specs and costs and think it looks good on paper, but on paper and in practice are two very different things, so I'm very interested in hearing from anyone who's actually used one before I decide to save up for one.

 

[Ramon Gibbs]

I was also interested in the HP-TH for the exact same reasons, so much so I purchased one. The thing is assume. It performs exactly as the limited reviews on the Web and Youtube suggest and so much more. Using the round cap you can spray unbelievably fine lines for a .5mm particularly while assisted with the MAC valve. And like other iwata's stippling effects can be achieved with both round and fan cap offering a much larger stippling coverage in one pass. The effects are incredible and I'm very pleased with it.
The MAC valve seems to allow for a .4mm or less response using the round cap and the fan caps spray pattern can offer about 1 inch or less up to the 3 inch pattern spec. Coverage can be a gentle mist to heavy simply by dialing the MAC. So I opted for this and the poor man's micron, hp-ch as the perfect duo form iwata.

 

[Nessus]

Yeah, I got mine not long after my last post in this thread (almost a year ago), and I love it. Definitely a good purchase for what I needed.

Only thing there I'd quibble with is the bit about "unbelievably thin lines with the round cap". "Unbelievably" of course means how thin you're actually talking about is relative to your expectations, but I don't find in practice that it's a good brush for thin lines. With the round cap on, I can get lines down to about 2mm, but they're fuzzier than what I'd get with my HP-CS. With the CS, I can get lines down to around .3mm with good paints. But what really prevents it from being used for smaller lines is the width of the round cap. To get fine lines you have to get close, and that cap completely obscures everything in a 1cm radius around the needle, so you can't see to place your lines precisely. Since the cap so wide and flat, I also wouldn't want to attempt fine lines on any surface with concave topology.

I also have a .5 needle/nozzle set for my HP-CS (the BCS needle/nozzle, as mentioned above by JackEB), and that does fine lines far better than the TH. In fact with the CS, the tip/needle size doesn't really make a difference in how fine you can make the lines, rather it just makes the amount of trigger travel to go between fine lines and full blast much shorter. It requires a lighter, more careful touch to get as fine a line with the .5 tip as with the 3.5, but it's just as doable.

But fine lines are not the purpose of the TH, so that all's academic. It's AMAZING for broad coverage, and as good as the CS at mid-range/workhorse tasks (actually it's a little better, as it has finer atomization). It flushes clean better than the CS, and disassembles almost as easily (it uses a screw-in nozzle, but that's the only relative downside). It's also a gourmand when it comes to paint types: I can run un-strained craft paints and other things you'd never want to use in a regular airbrush through it with ease. This is because the needle has an extremely blunt double-taper, so it actually opens up a lot wider than, say, the Eclipse's (BCS) .5 setup.

Like you, I've got my all needs pretty well met between the TH for broad/general stuff, and a side-feed SOTAR (my poor man's Micron) for detail. I love my CS, but it's been relegated to backup brush status.

If you're a modeler looking to do weathering and camo as your most detail-oriented spraying, this is all the brush you'll ever need, and it'll do your primer/base/clear spraying better than anything else. If you're a makeup artist, this'll be amazing.

As a heads up though, You'll definitely want to buy a 13mm crescent wrench (necessary for a full tear down, but not included), and the larger KTR color cup. IMO this brush and the KTR have their default color cup sizes swapped from what they should be, dunno why.

 

[Ramon Gibbs]

Guess I'm not the only one that really likes the HP-TH.
If memory serves, I read on Iwata'spaner site that the new HP and Kustom series have matched heads as do the micron series do better atomization. And I found two other cups Iwata makes for the TH.
HPA-CB1 is the 15mm it comes with I believe.
HPA-CB2 is a 30ml or about 1 oz
And
HPA-CB3 whish is 130ml or just over 4oz.
Also, I didn't know the Sotar was available in side feed. I once owned a Sotar that performs very well but I didn't like the feel.