My 11 yr old daughter has asked for an airbrush kit for Christmas. I don't know anything about them, and any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ken
I still have a single action Paasche H series from my model airplane days. Single actions are supposed to clog less than double action.
Since she's starting, I'd suggest a single action. Dbl action is more flexible, but a sharper learning curve as well. If you have a hobby lobby nearby, check out their selection. I use iwata airbrushes, a nitrogen tank(for ab'ing when lil medic is asleep) , 2 compressors and a spray booth. The N tank is absolutely silent, and a few bucks in air supplies let me do the same as my compressors. It's $30 a refill, but lasts me a year at a time. The one thing I would suggest to stay away from is compressed air cans. They are a pain to maintain constant pressure with, not worth the hassle. Also, I strip my airbrushes down and clean them after every session. It's much easier when the medium is still fresh and wet, as opposed to dried out and caked. Trust me on that one. Good luck. If I wasn't posting from my phone, I'd send you some links, but it's not anyplace google won't send you.
Personally I live the Iwata line. I agree with a single action for a first gun but if she takes to it, you will be buying a double action very soon. Best prices I have found are at tcpglobal.com. Like most quality brands, there are a few lines to choose from. Also, stick with a gravity feed (top cup), easier to clean, wastes less product, etc. Looking at the Iwata lines, the Revolution or Eclipse are good starter setups. Kenny
Scenic artist friends of mine also preferred Iwata which they used painting scenery & backdrops. I ended up with an Iwata on their recommendation that, as a beginner, I had good luck with.
I have not done it in quite a while....I did models and such. I am not sure if I missed it but make sure she wears a mask, and is an area that gets lots of air flow. If you go with the compressor make sure you get something to dry/seperate the water out of the air. Does not matter if you paint cars or toy airplanes water and paint don't mix real well. There are some good youtube videos out there, you don't need a huge setup expensive paints or any of that mess...buy here a half dozen sheets of poster board....perfect to play on and lear how to control the flow...double true if you go with a double action. And if you set her up in the garage hang a sheet to seperate her "booth" from the cars. It really is fun, and you can get amazing results out of it....what is she wanting to do?
I bought a single action and set my daughter up with food coloring and cardboard to learn on. She has not used it in a while though.
Her plan at this point is facepainting, nails, some cake stuff. I'll try to get a bunch of different stencils and paints to try various types of painting to she what she likes. I have a compressor and some car painting equipment and I've painted a few cars yrs ago working for my father. So i may even try it myself. I found an unused iwata CR with accessories in a local classified for 60 obo. I'm going to try and snag it over the weekend.
I did a lot of airbrush work when I was at school and then as a job from time to time (as a ID and/or illustrator).. For this big drawings actually I used a super cheap Badger Gun (not even a real airbrush) even if I have my Paasche at the ready it was just to small to cover this big areas, plus I was using automotive paint and I did not want to damage my little gun (I mostly work with translucent mediums like Ecoline, W&N but they get expensive in a hurry) Sorry I don't have a better picture My point is that you can learn all the technics with a big and cheap gun and after some times graduate to the dual action, for smaller more precise work, after all the masking and angle of spray are all the same.
Iwata is hard to beat. I've used them all, and the least expensive Iwata is head and shoulders above anything else I've used from other manufacturers when it comes to quality and ease of use. Siphon-fed airbrushes require a lot more air to draw from the paint jar. A top-fed airbrush with a built-in cup requires a much lower psi, so you can do super fine details that a siphon fed airbrush would struggle with. My favorite of all time would be the HP-BCS. I've been using the same one for over 15 years with automotive urethanes. It's a very tough and very precise tool. Don't even waste your time with a single action. It will find it's way to the shelf, and eventually the trash can.
The Grex line of airbrushes are very nice too - they have a pistol grip model that's very comfortable to use.
I was going to suggest Craigslist or something, I see lots of them on the local one all the time. In fact, it's where I got mine. It's a Mac Tools, (IIRC made by Iwata), but it has a trigger like a big paint gun, rather than the little button that is on most AB's.
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Awesome, and I don't use the word lightly. Penny tech at it's best ! I do wonder what the moisture in his breath is going to do under the paint. Can't be good.