Thread started by StarForce
Dan MHi everyone, I'm looking for some opinions regarding airbrushes and paints. More specifically what brands do you like/use (and why).
First, let me tell you what my issue is. Lately I've not been able to complete much of anything mostly due to time constraints, but also because of some issues with my "spraying paint" habits. I'm using two cheap Iwata clones made by Fengda. Yes, I know, not a good idea, but at the time I bought them I didn't want to spend too much and Iwata is incredibly expensive in my country (probably between 1.5x and 2x what they cost in US). They worked well for a time but lately one of them is no longer working at all and the other one works ok when I start (for like 10min) and then I have to completely clean it up. And even so it doesn't spray very well the paint. And since I really don't have that much time for painting if I spend it all trying to convince the airbrush to work then I'm really not going to be able to do any painting at all.
The funny thing is they all worked very well in the beginning. Nothing changed in my setup, I still use the same compressor, the same paints, in the same room with the same temperature/humidity settings etc. It looks like the cheap clones start deteriorating after a while. So I'm now thinking instead of spending huge amounts of money on tons of kits maybe I should invest in a better airbrush. I'm looking at a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution one. Any opinions ? Seems to be cheaper here than Iwata.
As far as the paint goes I have been using Vallejo Model Air. Mainly because I can't stand enamel or laquer-based paint smell (and that includes Tamiya or MRP). It's also advertised as non-toxic and it's very easy for me to find it here. Unfortunately it also seems to clog the airbrush very fast (or maybe it's the cheap airbrush fault?). I've been trying some AK paints, they seem to clog less than Vallejo but what I don't like about some of them is that they seem to be pre-thinned too much, they are almost transparent and require many more layers to cover evenly the previous coat of paint. For example: on my Warrior IFV I had to use a lot of paint (think almost half the bottle) of a sand yellow paint in order to cover my gray primer properly. The green ones seem to be less transparent though.
Phew, lots of text 🙂
First, let me tell you what my issue is. Lately I've not been able to complete much of anything mostly due to time constraints, but also because of some issues with my "spraying paint" habits. I'm using two cheap Iwata clones made by Fengda. Yes, I know, not a good idea, but at the time I bought them I didn't want to spend too much and Iwata is incredibly expensive in my country (probably between 1.5x and 2x what they cost in US). They worked well for a time but lately one of them is no longer working at all and the other one works ok when I start (for like 10min) and then I have to completely clean it up. And even so it doesn't spray very well the paint. And since I really don't have that much time for painting if I spend it all trying to convince the airbrush to work then I'm really not going to be able to do any painting at all.
The funny thing is they all worked very well in the beginning. Nothing changed in my setup, I still use the same compressor, the same paints, in the same room with the same temperature/humidity settings etc. It looks like the cheap clones start deteriorating after a while. So I'm now thinking instead of spending huge amounts of money on tons of kits maybe I should invest in a better airbrush. I'm looking at a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution one. Any opinions ? Seems to be cheaper here than Iwata.
As far as the paint goes I have been using Vallejo Model Air. Mainly because I can't stand enamel or laquer-based paint smell (and that includes Tamiya or MRP). It's also advertised as non-toxic and it's very easy for me to find it here. Unfortunately it also seems to clog the airbrush very fast (or maybe it's the cheap airbrush fault?). I've been trying some AK paints, they seem to clog less than Vallejo but what I don't like about some of them is that they seem to be pre-thinned too much, they are almost transparent and require many more layers to cover evenly the previous coat of paint. For example: on my Warrior IFV I had to use a lot of paint (think almost half the bottle) of a sand yellow paint in order to cover my gray primer properly. The green ones seem to be less transparent though.
Phew, lots of text 🙂
All comments (22) » 13 November 2017, 09:50
