My airbrushing existence consists of two very different parts - the beginning was in @1985-86, lasted for 3 or 4 years, and then there was a 26 year break. I decided to start painting again in the winter of 2015, and purchased my first new airbrush in beginning of 2016.
When I first started, I was working in an art dept. for a company that would give us bonuses based on the sales of the designs we produced. I received a nice fat, bonus check, and headed right for the art supply store. On a complete whim, I decided to buy an airbrush to learn how to use. That was a Paasche V side feed brush, a small Paasche diaphragm compressor, and a set of Doc Marten's concentrated watercolor colors. I used the brush that first day with some decent results. The next day I went to try it again, and could not get the brush to spray a bit of paint. I called Paasche, and all they could tell me was that the brush must be dirty... I tried all day to get that thing to work like it did on day 1, but by days end I was back in the art store, and purchased a Badger 100 side feed. Never touched the Paasche again... Within a few weeks I purchased an Olympos MP-200b Micron in a fitted case, with spare head assembly, and needle that had come from Japan as a special order item. The owner of the art supply store had ordered it for someone that gave a deposit, but never did return to purchase the brush. He gave it to me for the difference between the deposit and the wholesale cost ;-) I spent a few years painting a ton, and learning what I could as fast as I could. I purchased just about all of the Badger 100 series brushes, all the Iwata HP series brushes, a Thayer Chandler, and a complete Aztek brush set. I then had a family, and life changed, so all of the airbrush stuff went away...
Skip ahead about 26 years, and I have spent a career working with computer graphics, raised a family, and gotten old ;-) I am now a full time caregiver for my wife who became disabled. I decided to take up painting again in the winter of 2015, and asked my wife for a set of acrylic paints for the Holidays. Once I started, I struggled to get the look I was after, and thought that an airbrush would help ;-) In January of 2016 I purchased a Paasche Talon set. Then a Badger Sotar to replace one I had picked up somewhere over the last 20 years that needed rebuild... then I just had to replace that Olympos MP200B that was my first true love, then an Iwata Micorn to compare it to; a Harder and Steenbeck CR+ 2 in 1 was a good experimental piece to try - a year later and I have @ 30 brushes ;-) They range from top shelf, to bottom drawer - but are all brushes I will use, or I do not keep them.