DaveG
Airbush Analyst
Before I start, I should say that I have a rather large collection of airbrushes. I have everything from Iwata and Olympos Custom Microns, Iwata HP's and Eclipse's, to Badgers, Harder & Steenbeck Cr+ airbrushes, Paasche, and Grex airbrushes - the list goes on. I like them all, and use the ones I have, or I do not hang on to them.
I wrote about a "Master G48" airbrush that I purchased for under $40.00US. For me, the experience was a good one, and left me wondering about other possibilities. My original impressions can also be found in this section (airbrushes) on this forum. So, I ordered a larger brush (basically a clone of the Iwata CM-C+) from the same company as the first brush I ordered. While it was through E-bay, the company was TCP Global, and the two brushes ordered were branded as "Master".
The brush I received as a G444 and marked "Master" was definitely not made by the same company that made the "Master G48" that I had had such a good experience with - no way, no how. More will be documented about this later. So, it was back to the internet to research and order, searching for the brush I was looking for.
I found one I wanted to try on E-bay, and placed the order for $21.90US, with free shipping. When the brush arrived it was not the one I had ordered, but was in fact an unbranded version of the G48 that I had ordered from TCP Global. I took it out of the box, and had the same impression of this one, as I did with the first - that it felt like a decently made brush, trigger was easy to make very nice. I tried it with some Createx Illustration mixed with reducer, and got basically the same results out of this one as I did the first one I received. I chose to slip a needle from an Iwata HP-B+ into the brush, and started this small piece -
The brush works well enough that I am keeping it. Besides, when I contacted the company to inform them that they sent me the wrong item, the refunded my money, and told me to just keep it.
While I was waiting for this brush to arrive, I had also spotted one on Amazon that I though looked like a match, so ordered it for $20.50US. Figured it couldn't really hurt - This arrived a few days later:
I removed it from it's box, gave it a look over - My initial impression of this brush is that it is pretty darn nice. I removed the needle - and on this one, unlike the two previous ones I tried, the needle packing was VERY tight. It caused me to flinch when the needle came free of the packing, and i actually wound up bending the tip of the needle. Shame, because unlike the other two, this needle seems very smooth. I used the included tip wrench and a metal ruler on my bench to coax the needle back towards straight, and loaded the brush with Createx Illustration, and reducer. Interesting side note - the first and third brushes were ordered from two different companies on E-bay. The fourth through a different company on Amazon, but was shipped from the the third company on E-bay .
Atomization seems very smooth, as the brush lays down a very even gradient transition without any odd looking graining. Fine lines are a tad ragged, but quite thin, and easy to maintain.
I played with this brush more, breaking it down (it was actually quite clean inside), removing the factory lube, which looked kind of like vasaline (and not overly done) and applied my personal go to stuff, which is K33 Needle Balm from Foxy Studio. I backed the air valve spring out about 1.5 turns, and the needle spring out about 4 full turns. Trigger action is really quite nice. I tried one of my Iwata HP-B+'s as a comparison, the Iwata trigger is like butter compared, but still, this Chinese brush (oh, it is branded PointZero) has a very nice trigger. I prefer it over say, a Badger, or Grex trigger... and it is easier to regulate than my Iwata Eclipse.
I then opted to try some Golden Hi Flow with the addition of a flow release to reduce it a little, and the brush works very well. I pulled my usual routine here, and slipped an Iwata needle into the brush, and really did not see enough of a difference to warrant the swap, so put the original Chinese needle back in.
Full disclosure here, I had ordered this brush with the express intention of adding an F3 head assembly from Olympos along with a .23 needle. It does screw right on, and I did try it, but did not see enough of an improvement to warrant the change. I in fact had an easier time pulling fine lines with the original head. In order to get the paint flow, I had to increase air pressure with the Olympos components installed, making it more difficult to control. Granted, the lines were cleaner with the Olympos pieces, but for me, not enough so to make it worth it.
Now, I am not saying for $21 you get an Iwata CM - What I am saying is that for $21 I got an airbrush that I really like the feel of the trigger action on, balances well in my hand, is responsive, and will be a brush I place in a holder on my work station for the foreseeable future. Out of everything I own, I would say that I would reach for this brush just as readily as I would for any of them in the $100-$175 range, and never think twice about it - may even reach for this one first . I will start a piece using just this brush, and perhaps the smaller brother, to really get into the nitty gritty with them, but do not foresee any problems based on the use I gave it today.
Shoot, thought I was done, but do not want to leave stones unturned - The TCP brush listed as Master G444 is not he same brush as this PointZero, even though they look the same -
PointZero on the bottom - even the diameter of the brush bodies differs. The PointZero is slimmer, and shorter, has a much better overall build quality, and finish - I would not use the Master G444 to spray water on my plants - I did start to get some good results with it, with a .5 head and needle installed, but it quit working - like it was clogged, and I have not been able to get it to perform the way it initially did for the 5 minutes it was working .
I wrote about a "Master G48" airbrush that I purchased for under $40.00US. For me, the experience was a good one, and left me wondering about other possibilities. My original impressions can also be found in this section (airbrushes) on this forum. So, I ordered a larger brush (basically a clone of the Iwata CM-C+) from the same company as the first brush I ordered. While it was through E-bay, the company was TCP Global, and the two brushes ordered were branded as "Master".
The brush I received as a G444 and marked "Master" was definitely not made by the same company that made the "Master G48" that I had had such a good experience with - no way, no how. More will be documented about this later. So, it was back to the internet to research and order, searching for the brush I was looking for.
I found one I wanted to try on E-bay, and placed the order for $21.90US, with free shipping. When the brush arrived it was not the one I had ordered, but was in fact an unbranded version of the G48 that I had ordered from TCP Global. I took it out of the box, and had the same impression of this one, as I did with the first - that it felt like a decently made brush, trigger was easy to make very nice. I tried it with some Createx Illustration mixed with reducer, and got basically the same results out of this one as I did the first one I received. I chose to slip a needle from an Iwata HP-B+ into the brush, and started this small piece -
The brush works well enough that I am keeping it. Besides, when I contacted the company to inform them that they sent me the wrong item, the refunded my money, and told me to just keep it.
While I was waiting for this brush to arrive, I had also spotted one on Amazon that I though looked like a match, so ordered it for $20.50US. Figured it couldn't really hurt - This arrived a few days later:
I removed it from it's box, gave it a look over - My initial impression of this brush is that it is pretty darn nice. I removed the needle - and on this one, unlike the two previous ones I tried, the needle packing was VERY tight. It caused me to flinch when the needle came free of the packing, and i actually wound up bending the tip of the needle. Shame, because unlike the other two, this needle seems very smooth. I used the included tip wrench and a metal ruler on my bench to coax the needle back towards straight, and loaded the brush with Createx Illustration, and reducer. Interesting side note - the first and third brushes were ordered from two different companies on E-bay. The fourth through a different company on Amazon, but was shipped from the the third company on E-bay .
Atomization seems very smooth, as the brush lays down a very even gradient transition without any odd looking graining. Fine lines are a tad ragged, but quite thin, and easy to maintain.
I played with this brush more, breaking it down (it was actually quite clean inside), removing the factory lube, which looked kind of like vasaline (and not overly done) and applied my personal go to stuff, which is K33 Needle Balm from Foxy Studio. I backed the air valve spring out about 1.5 turns, and the needle spring out about 4 full turns. Trigger action is really quite nice. I tried one of my Iwata HP-B+'s as a comparison, the Iwata trigger is like butter compared, but still, this Chinese brush (oh, it is branded PointZero) has a very nice trigger. I prefer it over say, a Badger, or Grex trigger... and it is easier to regulate than my Iwata Eclipse.
I then opted to try some Golden Hi Flow with the addition of a flow release to reduce it a little, and the brush works very well. I pulled my usual routine here, and slipped an Iwata needle into the brush, and really did not see enough of a difference to warrant the swap, so put the original Chinese needle back in.
Full disclosure here, I had ordered this brush with the express intention of adding an F3 head assembly from Olympos along with a .23 needle. It does screw right on, and I did try it, but did not see enough of an improvement to warrant the change. I in fact had an easier time pulling fine lines with the original head. In order to get the paint flow, I had to increase air pressure with the Olympos components installed, making it more difficult to control. Granted, the lines were cleaner with the Olympos pieces, but for me, not enough so to make it worth it.
Now, I am not saying for $21 you get an Iwata CM - What I am saying is that for $21 I got an airbrush that I really like the feel of the trigger action on, balances well in my hand, is responsive, and will be a brush I place in a holder on my work station for the foreseeable future. Out of everything I own, I would say that I would reach for this brush just as readily as I would for any of them in the $100-$175 range, and never think twice about it - may even reach for this one first . I will start a piece using just this brush, and perhaps the smaller brother, to really get into the nitty gritty with them, but do not foresee any problems based on the use I gave it today.
Shoot, thought I was done, but do not want to leave stones unturned - The TCP brush listed as Master G444 is not he same brush as this PointZero, even though they look the same -
PointZero on the bottom - even the diameter of the brush bodies differs. The PointZero is slimmer, and shorter, has a much better overall build quality, and finish - I would not use the Master G444 to spray water on my plants - I did start to get some good results with it, with a .5 head and needle installed, but it quit working - like it was clogged, and I have not been able to get it to perform the way it initially did for the 5 minutes it was working .