Jump to content

My thoughts about Airbrushes.


Eagle Driver

Recommended Posts

I enjoy this, thanks for doing it.

My first AB was a knock off Iwata, then it broke (my fault) and I bought an actual Iwata..what a difference!

Now I do own a cheapo Siphon feed that Im trying to learn...maybe a better one would work better lol and be less frustrating

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a lot of people do not understand is the fact a chain is only strong when all its links are strong!

 

The airbrush is one link, the painter experience, source of air, air pressure control, paint quality, diluting product, possible retarder and all the environmental conditions being the others.

 

So using an excellent airbrush will not necessarily give you an excellent result but getting an excellent result without it will clearly be far more difficult if not impossible for some specific schemes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

What a lot of people do not understand is the fact a chain is only strong when all its links are strong!

 

The airbrush is one link, the painter experience, source of air, air pressure control, paint quality, diluting product, possible retarder and all the environmental conditions being the others.

 

So using an excellent airbrush will not necessarily give you an excellent result but getting an excellent result without it will clearly be far more difficult if not impossible for some specific schemes.

I often say that in my vids:

A system is ultimately defined by its weakest link.  But my point is, 150$ airbrush is not that bad. Actually is pretty comparable with 5-600$ gun.

And that is because those specific qualities featured in the most expensive gun will be left unused or, if being used that will be .5% of the time.

So the mid-level, even low level airbrush will work perfectly fine and won't be definitive of the system.

Just like the crappy nozzles in ZM F-4 kit do not ruin the kit itself. Although they are beyond thick.

 

Also, I am thinking through the options of making couple of other videos with that tune and I am interested to hear what people would like to hear about.

Judging at contests and What makes a kit GOOD are one of my main subjects at this point. 
Any input from folks here would be appreciated though.

Edited by Eagle Driver
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My little piece of wisdom about airbrushing, learned over many years, is that the raw quality of an airbrush is not nearly as important as having multiple airbrushes, or multiple needles for a single airbrush.

 

I.E., I would rather have 2 cheap airbrushes with .15 and .5 or .6 needle sizes, than 1 "good" airbrush with a .3 needle, which is kind of lost in the middle of the useable range.  Not fine enough for Luftwaffe camouflage work, not really big enough for large areas, priming, or gloss coats and clear coating.

 

I find that people don't really talk about this, but needle size is hugely influential in the quality of your airbrushing, depending on what you are doing.

 

Keep in mind I do all kinds of modeling with all kinds of different airbrush needs.


I might need to do fine camouflage work on a 1/72 aircraft, or lay down gorgeous mirror-like gloss coats on a motorbike or car model, and everything in between.

 

 

 

 

Edited by ringleheim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/23/2021 at 12:35 AM, thierry laurent said:

What a lot of people do not understand is the fact a chain is only strong when all its links are strong!

 

The airbrush is one link, the painter experience, source of air, air pressure control, paint quality, diluting product, possible retarder and all the environmental conditions being the others.

 

So using an excellent airbrush will not necessarily give you an excellent result but getting an excellent result without it will clearly be far more difficult if not impossible for some specific schemes.


Using a quality airbrush instead of a knock off removes some variables from the equation, allowing even a mug like me to concentrate on the other factors that you’ve mentioned. 
I’ve managed to build up a stock of great airbrushes, a good compressor with tank and filters, now I just need to find a shop that sells talent :unsure:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Smokeyforgothispassword said:


Using a quality airbrush instead of a knock off removes some variables from the equation, allowing even a mug like me to concentrate on the other factors that you’ve mentioned. 
I’ve managed to build up a stock of great airbrushes, a good compressor with tank and filters, now I just need to find a shop that sells talent :unsure:

With whatever it is always 95% work, 5% talent. Sometimes even less.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...