Looking for detail airbrush

I agree with most of the above. Unfortunately, the word "detail" can be very subjective in this circle. A new user will have a hard time reaching the same level of "detail" with any airbrush (not just a "detail" oriented brush) compared to putting the same airbrush in the hands of an experienced artist. I can achieve very fine "detail" lines with my Iwata HP-CS with a .35mm needle and nozzle set and do so pretty much daily (that is my workhorse).

When it comes to new users, I almost always suggest spending less of your hard earned money on a good quality mid-range airbrush to start with. Quality, as you've realized, is very important. Once you've spent the time to learn good fundamental control of that airbrush, I think you'll be very surprised at what you can actually do with it. When you reach the point that you need something more, then it's probably time to start looking at the better "detail" oriented airbrushes. Make no mistake, those airbrushes do have their place in our industry. I own Micron's and the PS770. The reality is, many purchase those too early and can't really take advantage of what they are capable of. Buying a "detail" oriented airbrush does not make one a better artist. You have to practice.

Trevor makes a really good point. Like him, I too can get the same hair line thick detail lines out of my trusty 30 year old Eclipse as I can from my Microns. That being said, doing it with a micron is a lot easier. But if you can't do it on an Eclipse, you're probably not going to be able to do it with a Micron. The airbrush doesn't do it FOR you. What it does is can make some detail techniques easier to perform with less overspray. You still have do develop the "hand" for it, and that is best done with a quality general airbrush.

Honestly, something like the eclipse is much more friendly and useable in a general context than a micron. It has a wider range of paint thicknesses it can handle, a wider range of spray cones, much easier to maintain, etc. So I'd recommend one of those to someone in a beginner to later intermediate level of trigger control before I'd recommend something like a Micron. Once you're comfortable doing detail on one of those, and have had time to save up your pennies, then moving to something like a micron or H&S Infinity makes more sense and is a much more natural progression.

So if you're looking to save money, it might be worth first spending the time to first push an "intermediate" brush to it's limits first. You'd be surprised what you can do with one.

I guess it's a bit like anything. Take bicycles for example. I live on the west coast where there is a huge bicycle culture, maybe because we usually kind of "skip" winter. So everyone has a bike, but there are these bikes that cost more than most people's cars for super serious riders. You know, the crazy folk out cycling at 4:30 am every morning rain or shine. My brother is one of them.

Those things cost a fortune, and with them, folk on those can go faster on the open road than most cars. But give me that bike, and I am not gonna be able to peddle as fast or get those kinds of speeds, because my body isn't trained for it. I'd probably get a heart attack even trying. LOL.

So that extra 10% performance that you get between my $300 mountain bike and my brother's $5000 mountain bike would be completely wasted on me. What's worse, is that, with carbon fiber frames and super fancy clutch shifters and so on.... well, most likely outcome is me damaging the bike as well as having a heart attack. I'm just never gonna be able to use that extra 10% at my training level.

I think airbrushes are a lot like that. Until you have trained your trigger control to the level that you can lay a hair line down with something like an eclipse consistently, well, you're just spending a lot of money on something you're not gonna get much use out of, and might actually make it harder for you to learn control and get the results you are aiming for. Money is better spent on a quality intermediate brush, than on a high end detail brush, until you actually need it for regular, long period detail sessions, and have the "hand".
 
Nope. The side feed the produced is the PS276. It is a .3 brush with a larger, screw-on side feed cup. Very good performing brush. I converted one to a .2 including an adapter to use Iwata style side feed cups.

Hi Dave, which sidefeed adapter did you use? Was it the Grex AD31 sidefeed adapter? I'm thinking if getting one.
 
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