Looking for New Airbrush

Joe Pacelli

Young Tutorling
I'm a beginner airbrusher. I mainly use it for priming my miniatures.
My wife has also started airbrushing. She is using it for japanese anime garage kits.

Since this was my first airbrush and didn't want to invest to much purchased a airbrush with a compressor from Jerry's Artarama. Creative Air

Now I'm looking to get a better airbrush for me and mainly my wife. I have been looking at Iwata HP-CS but then started to look at Harder and Steenbeck Infinity 2-in-1

The nice thing about the airbrush we currently use is it came with 3 needles .2, .3 and .5
The H&S also comes with 2 needles
.2 & .4 mm needles and a 2ml and 5ml cup
or
.15 & .4 mm needles and a 2ml and 5ml cup

where as the Iwata only comes with one needle .35

So the question is I know H&S has other needles so if I purchase the one with .2 and .4 can I also purchase the .6 separately and use it within this airbrush?

Can I do this with Iwata also, because I heard you can only use the needle it comes with, so .35 is the only size, if we want smaller or bigger needle I need to purchase additional airbrushes from Iwata with those sizes

Is this true?
 
upgrading your brush is a good idea but I'd probably look at upgrading your compressor first. If you upgrade that then both you and your wife can airbrush at the same time without need for doubling up. many compressors in those kits are a small tankless one that will constantly run and get overheated and burn out.

As for brush choices.... look toward some of the "Creos" brushes. they are budget friendly and most reviews I've seen have been positive.
H&S brushes are nice brushes but reports say the nozzles can be a little fragile although I've seen recent reports that they have improved recently.

Spraygunner has a great reputation so head to his website and check out some of the brushes.
https://spraygunner.com/airbrush/gsi-creos-mr-airbrush/double-action.html


Before you hand over cash let us know what you are thinking of purchasing and what you are planning on using the brush for and we can help guide you in the right direction and hopefully save you spending $$ you don't need to.

Having a brush that you can change needle sizes sounds like a great idea but not always practical in real life. sometimes having two or three brushes of different needle sizes is a better option.

the Iwata HP-CS is the workhorse of choice for many of us and with practise you will be able to do some detail work with it. It has a good size cup if you are priming a small model and parts are readily available (needles and nozzles are an ongoing cost - more when you are learning due to 'stabbing' what you are working on and bending the needle tip or splitting the nozzle)
 
Hi there, the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS can be converted to 0,5 mm by using the needle,nozzle and nozzle cap from the Eclipse HP-BCS. The Eclipse is not so fussy with reduction and can do some extreme fine lines but it can also cover larger areas with ez.
 
upgrading your brush is a good idea but I'd probably look at upgrading your compressor first. If you upgrade that then both you and your wife can airbrush at the same time without need for doubling up. many compressors in those kits are a small tankless one that will constantly run and get overheated and burn out.

As for brush choices.... look toward some of the "Creos" brushes. they are budget friendly and most reviews I've seen have been positive.
H&S brushes are nice brushes but reports say the nozzles can be a little fragile although I've seen recent reports that they have improved recently.

Spraygunner has a great reputation so head to his website and check out some of the brushes.
https://spraygunner.com/airbrush/gsi-creos-mr-airbrush/double-action.html


Before you hand over cash let us know what you are thinking of purchasing and what you are planning on using the brush for and we can help guide you in the right direction and hopefully save you spending $$ you don't need to.

Having a brush that you can change needle sizes sounds like a great idea but not always practical in real life. sometimes having two or three brushes of different needle sizes is a better option.

the Iwata HP-CS is the workhorse of choice for many of us and with practise you will be able to do some detail work with it. It has a good size cup if you are priming a small model and parts are readily available (needles and nozzles are an ongoing cost - more when you are learning due to 'stabbing' what you are working on and bending the needle tip or splitting the nozzle)

Thanks for the information. Yeah I've checked out Spraygunner previously and also https://www.midwestairbrush.com/
These are the 2 sites other than Amazon I've looked for Airbrushes.
But with the pandemic it seems everything is out of stock like crazy, but that's fine it gives me time to do the research.

As far as projects, my wife has been using the airbrush more than me. She has started to paint those Japanese garage kit's
Myself I use it to prime miniatures mainly. I've not tried it for anything else yet, but have some larger miniatures which I might try on

The compressor that came in the kit is a TC-80 which I've noticed is also the same one that comes from other companies. They just put their housing on it. Right now it works fine as we both don't use it at the same time ever. But your advice is good and I will look into another one in the future.
 
Hi there, the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS can be converted to 0,5 mm by using the needle,nozzle and nozzle cap from the Eclipse HP-BCS. The Eclipse is not so fussy with reduction and can do some extreme fine lines but it can also cover larger areas with ez.
Like your name Nightwish - Is it for the band Nightwish?

So your saying if I go with an Iwata HP-CS I can get a 0.5mm needle set and swap between the .35mm and this?

If so, that's not too bad.

But, would that be the recommended solution. Do I get something like the H&S Infinity which has .2mm and .4mm and we swap as needed.
Or do I purchase 2-3 airbrushes
1 for fine detail (.15mm-.2mm)
1 for the medium (.3mm)
1 for priming (.4mm and >)

If I go this route then I could look into another compressor with 2 hookups minimum. Then we can swap faster.

I'm not going to say budget is not an option. I sold a large portion of Magic the Gathering cards so I can easily spend 1K if need, or each a little more if needed.
 
Not to sound like a jerk here, if you are spraying primer on a small miniature do you really need a double action AB? If the AB you have now sprays the material you use I am fairly certain a Paasche H with the number 5 needle/nozzle would also. You can find good ones pretty cheap. They are EZ PZ to clean too.

I can understand wanting a better DA for detail work.

Just a thought.
 
Yes it's for the Band, I just love there Music. For primer I would go with Mr.Micron for sure. As for coverage or detail with paint I would chose the HP-CS it's an allrounder that's capable of both. Easy to clean and not so funky with reductions. You can always add AB's after time if needed. Get to learn your brushes and the paint your using and progress from there. Every brush is unique in it's behavior. The most important thing is use what you got and have fun:thumbsup:
 
So this weekend the wife and I went to Hobby Lobby since she needed something and I saw they sold airbrushes. They had an Iwata HP-CS airbrush kit. It came with the brush, and the following items
  • 1 - 1 oz. Bottle of Medea Airbrush Cleaner
  • 1 - Tube of Iwata Airbrush Lube
  • 1 - Iwata Pistol Grip Moisture Filter
  • 3 - 1 oz. Com-Art Acrylic Colours (Opaque Carmine, Opaque Hansa Yellow, and Opaque Ultramarine)
It was $149 which was actually a very good deal. So we picked it up and when I got home I swapped the needle in the Creative Air Airbrush from the .3mm to the .5mm and this will be used mainly by me to prime my miniatures and the wife is now using the Iwata. She says it's better than the Creative Air, but still learning the paint viscosity.
 
So this weekend the wife and I went to Hobby Lobby since she needed something and I saw they sold airbrushes. They had an Iwata HP-CS airbrush kit. It came with the brush, and the following items
  • 1 - 1 oz. Bottle of Medea Airbrush Cleaner
  • 1 - Tube of Iwata Airbrush Lube
  • 1 - Iwata Pistol Grip Moisture Filter
  • 3 - 1 oz. Com-Art Acrylic Colours (Opaque Carmine, Opaque Hansa Yellow, and Opaque Ultramarine)
It was $149 which was actually a very good deal. So we picked it up and when I got home I swapped the needle in the Creative Air Airbrush from the .3mm to the .5mm and this will be used mainly by me to prime my miniatures and the wife is now using the Iwata. She says it's better than the Creative Air, but still learning the paint viscosity.
Congrats the CS is a good all a rounder brush.
I never use the AB lube due to I noticed it gets gummy after a while of being in the pivot points of the brush.
 
Sounds like you were in the right place at the right time :)
Comart paint is very newbie friendly and generally sprays very well. I agree with Herb though, generally no need for lube, the older blue Iwata lube was always put straight in the shed it was shocking in the airbrushes, caused more problems than it solved. The clear one may be better. I honestly haven’t used lube in years.
 
Not to sound like a jerk here, if you are spraying primer on a small miniature do you really need a double action AB? If the AB you have now sprays the material you use I am fairly certain a Paasche H with the number 5 needle/nozzle would also. You can find good ones pretty cheap. They are EZ PZ to clean too.

I can understand wanting a better DA for detail work.

Just a thought.

I have one, and I don't recommend it personally. It's "ok" for large stuff, but it's not nearly as good as even a decent entry level DA, even for simple stuff. Atomization and spray cone are coarse, and it's harder to get in close for nooks and crannies without overspray.

And in my experience, the stuff about it being easy to clean is false. It can't be flushed, and the needle is full of internal "gotchas" that are a PITA to clean. A decent gravity feed DA is actually much simpler.

IMO the model H's moment of glory was the 80's and 90's when the major DA brands were in a quality slump. Today there's no real point in choosing one even for simple stuff.

I do mostly models/miniatures as well, and for priming I use my HPCS. I've tried a lot of primers over the years, and my current favorite for resin, metal, vinyl, and whatever that odd plastic is that CMON and other "board game" miniature makers use is Badger Stynlrez. It's thick, so it needs more psi than regular paints (don't reduce primer: you don't want to weaken adhesion, as that's the whole point of it), but it doesn't require me to switch up to a .5 needle. I've heard Vallejo primer is similar, but haven't tried it.

For polystyrene/ABS kits, I like lacquer primers, as they actually fuse the the plastic. Which means they're basically you actually can reduce them without worrying about adhesion. Gotta be fastidious about cleaning the brush when going from lacquer to aqueous paints/primers though (not so much when going the other way).

ComArt is water-rewettable, so very resistant to tip-dry, but that also means you'll want to be really sure to clear coat it afterward, especially if your models are going to be handled (like gaming minis)

As others have said, you don't really need lube. I've tried a few (Iwata SuperLube, Badger Regdab, and K33), and the best by a wide margin was the Badger. Iwata SuperLube, as others have said, tends to dry and turn gummy in the brush. K33 doesn't dry, but it doesn't make any major difference to the brush action. Badger lube works REALLY effectively... but that's not to say it's necessary. It's just a minor QOL thing, not an essential.
 
Not to sound like a jerk here, if you are spraying primer on a small miniature do you really need a double action AB? If the AB you have now sprays the material you use I am fairly certain a Paasche H with the number 5 needle/nozzle would also. You can find good ones pretty cheap. They are EZ PZ to clean too.

I can understand wanting a better DA for detail work.

Just a thought.
When I say priming miniatures I'm not talking about 1 28mm miniature for my gaming. I'm talking more like 10-20 miniatures at once from Reaper Bones 4 or 5 Kickstarter. Or some of the larger miniatures. Also priming my Tabletop world gaming terrain from their Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/project...orlds-graveyard-28-32mm-modular-resin-terrain

But if it was only a single 28mm here and there, yes a dual action AB would be overkill just to prime it
 
When I say priming miniatures I'm not talking about 1 28mm miniature for my gaming. I'm talking more like 10-20 miniatures at once from Reaper Bones 4 or 5 Kickstarter. Or some of the larger miniatures. Also priming my Tabletop world gaming terrain from their Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/project...orlds-graveyard-28-32mm-modular-resin-terrain

But if it was only a single 28mm here and there, yes a dual action AB would be overkill just to prime it

Depends on how thorough you want/need to be in your coverage. A double action allows you to get in closer than a single action. Not because of the action, but because of the nozzle shape and length of the exposed needle. A double action (with the air cap off) has a conical shape tapering to the needle point which can be maneuvered around parts up-close, while a single action has a relatively broad ring surrounding the needle tip that acts like a roll-bar, preventing this.

When priming (or painting) a mini, you end up with a lot of areas where one part of the mini shades other parts. Like an arm shading the side of the body, or even the head and/or shoulder shading the neck. With a spray can or a single action, you often end up with a lot of areas where you can't get more than a misting in the shaded part without heavily overspraying the part doing the shading. The tapered tip of a double action lets you target into such areas for complete, even coverage.

Single actions are adequate for larger figures (like 1:20 and up), vehicles, and terrain, but for gaming minis they're pushing "unfit for purpose" IMO. You can make do with one, but there's no reason to saddle yourself with the extra hassles if you can get a double action instead.

Really the only benefit of a single action IMO is cost (and TBH, for the same money, I'd rather get a Chinese DA). They aren't actually any easier to maintain than double-action (and can actually be the opposite), and since most double actions come with a needle limiter these days, they don't have any ease of use advantage either.
 
Since I am not familiar with what it is you use your ABs for I probably should have just kept quiet. You know far better than I what will work for you.

The HP-CS should be a great brush for you. Congratulations!
 
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