Airbrush recommendations?

I have a really crappy single action suction fed airbrush that I've used with my big, noisy pancake compressor -- I probably had the pressure up too high when I did it as well. I had thought that all airbrushes were like that and only suited for doing base coating for vehicles and minis. (I did some Grey Knights that I thought turned out well in a grey mixed with Pearl Coat, but could only do base coating.)

After seeing some of the painting videos from places like TPC and APJ -- and getting scoffed at by Mathieu Fontaine :) -- I realized how wrong I was. I'd like to try some of the techniques for doing airbrushing of models, but I need better equipment. So, does anyone have any recommendations on airbrushes and/or hobby compressors? My understanding is that dual action is pretty much a must to get beyond base coating, and something that could go very narrow to broad would be good. Also, I think I read somewhere that gravity fed was better than suction fed, but can't find it again.

Thanks for the info and any help you can provide!

I have a pasche double action and I like it. Be sure to get a double action it allows better control.

http://thepaintingcorps.blogspot.com...ush-types.html
http://thepaintingcorps.blogspot.com...mpressors.html
and
http://thepaintingcorps.blogspot.com...h-mash-up.html

Mine is double action, gravity-fed. I love it. You should go with that setup. Mine's an Iwata Custom Micron, so you'll probably want to go with something a bit cheaper, though.

Thanks.

I have a Paasche Millenium
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pas/pas...source=froogle
and my article on the subject
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/...ush-setup.html

So, it sounded like gravity fed was the way to go, but when I was reading your article, it basically said they're both cool for various reasons. What makes the siphon fed easier to switch paints? I'd have thought without having the "straw" it would be easier...

On the siphon, the bottle is self contained. So if you know you'll be working with multiple colors and have both mixed up in siphon bottles, you can just unplug one and plug in another. The siphon bottles typically hold more, so they are good for larger models or large batches of models.

If you are working on a single small model, then the gravity fed will be better because there will be much less waste.

How is this impacted for those siphon brushes that have the metal cup hanging off the side? Do those also come with multiple cups, or is that kind of a grey area? :)

I am in one of those positions where I actually have some cash to spend that has to be spent on fun stuff, and I am really leaning towards spending some of it on an airbrush. I want to make sure that I get something that will be useful for me for a while so I don't "waste" my money. So I really appreciate the help with all these questions!

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Originally Posted by sorri

How is this impacted for those siphon brushes that have the metal cup hanging off the side? Do those also come with multiple cups, or is that kind of a grey area? :)

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Its about the same. I have a Badger Anthem, which is a siphon, dual-action airbrush with a variable needle opening which makes it useful for all sorts of different materials and projects from minis to large terrain pieces. I've run all kinds of paint through it and it is pretty clog resistant, but isn't especially good for small details on small 25mm figures.

If you are going for something nice, I recommend the "German airbrush" that Matthieu uses: Harder & Stenbeck Infinity. It comes with both a .15mm needle and a .40mm. Use the .40mm for bigger stuff and the .15mm for smaller projects like individual details on 25mm dudes.