What airbrush?

Woodpecker

Double Actioner
Howdy folks,
I guess this is a common question, but there are so many makes & models of ab's out there, how the fornicate are us newbies supposed to decide???
No point asking what we'll want to ab, 'coz most of us just want to ab!
Here in Ireland there are no shops that stock ab's, nor paint! So touching, looking, is a no go from the start. Everything has to be purchased from the net. There's no useful assistance here, and anyone that ab's here seem to stay hidden.

So I'm asking for real helpful advice here. I'm looking to purchase a good ab, and am completely confused. If they're all good, then why so many models from 1 maker........iwata for instance.
 
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For beginners I say have a budget in mind and stay with in that budget.
The Iwata Eclipse CS is a work horse of an airbrush.
As far as why so many models from say Iwata is because over the years they listen to what the folks that use them offer as advice on how to improve it. Same with Badger , While I only own the Krome by Badger it is also a great airbrush.
One thing to look at too is if you can change nozzle sizes. Iwata Eclipse CS comes with a .35 but you can put the .50 in from the BCS
The Krome comes with a .20 and a .30 so it is like getting 2 in one.
Same with the Infinity 2in1 .15 and .40 with 2 paint cups you can change out.

But I am sorry to say that there is no right answer.
If you tell us what airbrushes peek your interest we can tell you the pros and cons of them .
 
@Woodpecker the neo for iwata is a good wee brush if you on a tight budget bout £50 delivered, wer bouts you live? Im from belfast. If you google SM designs they are in ballymena and the stock some stuff altho i found it cheaper to buy from england. I use airbrushes.com they are quick on the deliverys
Hope this helps a bit

Oh and no offence meant to SM DESIGNS
 
For beginners I say have a budget in mind and stay with in that budget.
The Iwata Eclipse CS is a work horse of an airbrush.
As far as why so many models from say Iwata is because over the years they listen to what the folks that use them offer as advice on how to improve it. Same with Badger , While I only own the Krome by Badger it is also a great airbrush.
One thing to look at too is if you can change nozzle sizes. Iwata Eclipse CS comes with a .35 but you can put the .50 in from the BCS
The Krome comes with a .20 and a .30 so it is like getting 2 in one.
Same with the Infinity 2in1 .15 and .40 with 2 paint cups you can change out.

But I am sorry to say that there is no right answer.
If you tell us what airbrushes peek your interest we can tell you the pros and cons of them .
Krome & iwata cm+
Initially paper work, but hoping to move onto automotive work. Detail work essential.
 
@Woodpecker the neo for iwata is a good wee brush if you on a tight budget bout £50 delivered, wer bouts you live? Im from belfast. If you google SM designs they are in ballymena and the stock some stuff altho i found it cheaper to buy from england. I use airbrushes.com they are quick on the deliverys
Hope this helps a bit

Oh and no offence meant to SM DESIGNS
No budget. If it's for me I'll take it. Looked at both those companies, they're not phone friendly, and again, they give the same patter as every seller of the same ab's.

From my own limited research the 2 I named above are my chosen so far.

I'm not alone in this dilemma, 1000's start ab'ing every year and are where I am at some stage.

If I were asked the same question regarding large spray guns, I'd give 1answer........devilbis.
 
I love my CM-C+ and spray guns I only use SATA .
Krome pros parts are affordable , Great tech support and great warranty on MFG defeats .
CM-C+ parts come with a big price tag so more care is needed to avoid needing to replace head units , Granted some have just changed the nozzle and had luck but some have not .
Both will handle automotive urethane , Both are pretty easy to clean .
1-888-KOLOR-IT (888-565-6748) not sure if it is toll free for you but call Dave Monnig at Coast airbrush ,
He can answer any question you have regarding any airbrush .
He also ships internationally But I am sure there is some place closer that may be better priced with the shipping and import fees.
I mainly use my Eclipse CS for everything and when I want the fine detail I bring out the Micron CM-C+ or the Infinity .15
My Krome pretty much sits in the box for the most part.
 
Krome & iwata cm+
Initially paper work, but hoping to move onto automotive work. Detail work essential.
The two companies you mention here are definitely goers, however since you say will start on paper and would like to move onto automotive, from own experience it's handy to have more than one brush, generally a smaller 0.15 - 0.2 for detailing and 0.3 - 0.5 as a workhorse filling in larger areas and such.

And since you say no budget to worry about one other you might want to consider, and I base this recommendation on the fact that you stated somewhere you would prefer a brush that you can hold as you do your spray guns, the Colani form Harder & Steenbeck, This one http://www.harder-airbrush.eu/colani/ one of our members @jagardn has one and seems to like it, perhaps he will chip in here, the colani can take 0.2, 0.4 and 1.2 nozzles and I think it is delivered standard with 0.4.

The choice is yours at the end of the day, and I would personally stick the two you mentioned, the only other thing I would consider is the ability to change the head, unfortunately they don't all give that freedom.

It is the immense number of choices of airbrush combined with immense number of uses that makes it difficult for any one person to recommend the right model for you and it will be your own personal needs or desires which will decide which is best for you.

Oh and I'm with on the devilbis answer.
 
I love my CM-C+ and spray guns I only use SATA .
Krome pros parts are affordable , Great tech support and great warranty on MFG defeats .
CM-C+ parts come with a big price tag so more care is needed to avoid needing to replace head units , Granted some have just changed the nozzle and had luck but some have not .
Both will handle automotive urethane , Both are pretty easy to clean .
1-888-KOLOR-IT (888-565-6748) not sure if it is toll free for you but call Dave Monnig at Coast airbrush ,
He can answer any question you have regarding any airbrush .
He also ships internationally But I am sure there is some place closer that may be better priced with the shipping and import fees.
I mainly use my Eclipse CS for everything and when I want the fine detail I bring out the Micron CM-C+ or the Infinity .15
My Krome pretty much sits in the box for the most part.
Sata would be my next choice after devilbis.

Why does your krome stay in the box?
 
The two companies you mention here are definitely goers, however since you say will start on paper and would like to move onto automotive, from own experience it's handy to have more than one brush, generally a smaller 0.15 - 0.2 for detailing and 0.3 - 0.5 as a workhorse filling in larger areas and such.

And since you say no budget to worry about one other you might want to consider, and I base this recommendation on the fact that you stated somewhere you would prefer a brush that you can hold as you do your spray guns, the Colani form Harder & Steenbeck, This one http://www.harder-airbrush.eu/colani/ one of our members @jagardn has one and seems to like it, perhaps he will chip in here, the colani can take 0.2, 0.4 and 1.2 nozzles and I think it is delivered standard with 0.4.

The choice is yours at the end of the day, and I would personally stick the two you mentioned, the only other thing I would consider is the ability to change the head, unfortunately they don't all give that freedom.

It is the immense number of choices of airbrush combined with immense number of uses that makes it difficult for any one person to recommend the right model for you and it will be your own personal needs or desires which will decide which is best for you.

Oh and I'm with on the devilbis answer.
I'm beginning to think I will ultimately have more than 1 myself.

The ab you link to looks nice, but when I went to dealers, and clicked on a couple from the UK, one showed nothing but 30 euro cheapies, and the other gave no info except that they are dealers for them. At that point I thought, "sod off". I ain't dealing with nonces.

So at this stage I'm going to go for an ab that is suitable for the finest detail work. I shall decide upon a larger size nozzle at a later date.

So you've all assisted me to this point so far. Now we're narrowing it down.
 
I'm beginning to think I will ultimately have more than 1 myself.

The ab you link to looks nice, but when I went to dealers, and clicked on a couple from the UK, one showed nothing but 30 euro cheapies, and the other gave no info except that they are dealers for them. At that point I thought, "sod off". I ain't dealing with nonces.

So at this stage I'm going to go for an ab that is suitable for the finest detail work. I shall decide upon a larger size nozzle at a later date.

So you've all assisted me to this point so far. Now we're narrowing it down.

As I said the choice has to be your own, but since you were wise enough to ask first, the choice you do make will be a fairly informed one.

Ifyou have your eye on the Micron, lion art here in Holland is doing a great deal on them, lion art is member here and a main Iwata dealer, check out his website
http://www.lion-art.nl/contents/nl/d4.html#p3508
 
As I said the choice has to be your own, but since you were wise enough to ask first, the choice you do make will be a fairly informed one.

Ifyou have your eye on the Micron, lion art here in Holland is doing a great deal on them, lion art is member here and a main Iwata dealer, check out his website
http://www.lion-art.nl/contents/nl/d4.html#p3508
Ok, checked it out. Cannot translate the page/site. Which of those models are you pointing me to?
 
Ok, checked it out. Cannot translate the page/site. Which of those models are you pointing me to?

If you scroll right the bottom of the page you can change the language to English, the model you're looking for is cm-b for 235 euros
 
Ok, checked it out. Cannot translate the page/site. Which of those models are you pointing me to?
You can also message him here on the forum, his English is good, he is well respected here in Holland and delivers all over the world.
 
You can also message him here on the forum, his English is good, he is well respected here in Holland and delivers all over the world.
The cm c plus seems more suitable for me. Is the €400 one the latest model?

Anyone like to share some sort of comparison between krome and cm c plus.
 
First of all congratulations on asking before buying. Wish I'd had the foresight to so that myself. As a newbie you maybe haven't decided what are of ABing you'd like to get into, t-shirts, fine art, automotive etc, or you may (like me) want to have a crack at all of them. The reason there are so many models, well I guess some are more suited to different types of ABing than others, for example the creme de la creme are specifically for super fine detail for photorealists and the like, some are large nozzled for thicker paints for fabrics etc, and some have different sized cups for bigger areas, some are siphon fed and can hold large amounts of paint for bigger areas, some are more affordable, and are basically intro brushes for those who aren't sure if they want to commit and spend a lot of money. And in truth I'm sure there are some that are just there to persuade people to part with money who have already got other models, but they are probably improved versions (mustn't be too cynical Lol)

Most people recommend buying the best brush you can afford that suits your needs. You get what you pay for with airbrushes, they make look similar, but the quality of materials and build make a huge difference. It's a big learning curve anyway, so you may as well learn with a quality tool (it will also eliminate the "is it me or the brush?" question when trying new techniques), and if for any reason (doubtful lol) you decide it's not for you, a quality gun has resale value.

For an awesome all rounder, that is capable of super detail (with practice of course), and great valur for money, I would personally recommend the Iwata HP-CS. Everyone has their personal favourites, for various reasons, some prefer one particular brand over another, or prefer the wight and feel of certain brands etc. But I recommend this brush for these reasons - it is easy to clean and maintain, the self centering nozzle I find much easier, and the trigger mechanism breaks down into fewer parts and again is less fiddly to strip and put together. It has a 2inch to hairline (it can go surprisingly fine), making is a very versatile brush, it has weight to it, but is not too heavy, the trigger isn't too close to the paint cup so you don't keep hitting it (the last few points are my personal preferences), and it is a brush that grows with you, the better you get, the more you can get out of it. I am a big fan though, so am totally biased. lol:laugh::)

As money doesn't seem to be an issue, I think the brush people aspire to is the custom micron, the pros use them (although they are probably sponsered to - oops cynical again LOL) and I would love one!

Also have you tried SMDdesigns? They are in NI so, not Ireland, but Simon Murray is a good bloke, very helpful, have competetive prices, and are happy to ship. He also does courses I believe.
 
The cm c plus seems more suitable for me. Is the €400 one the latest model?

Anyone like to share some sort of comparison between krome and cm c plus.

Yes the 400 euro one is a newer version, complet new design, which is why the others have become cheaper.
 
@ squishy.

Thanks for the info, appreciated.
I'm a little reluctant to purchase models which are being superseded. I'm spending quite a bit of wonga, and really want to spend it wisely. I totally agree that if it all fails......haha, (which it will not, as I'm determined to keep at it), then I have a good resale value.
I'm even considering getting the latest @ 400.
I know I'm a complete novice at ab'ing, but hopefully my investment will last me till the grave......[emoji56] and I will not be able to blame the tool. I have already exceeded the limitations of finesse of my knockoff, and I'm just using it for general practise.
I have a far better idea now, thanks to you good people here, of what I require.
I'd still like more info on krome v iwata.........Cheers.
 
Yes the 400 euro one is a newer version, complet new design, which is why the others have become cheaper.
I like the idea of the Mac valve. A common sight on large guns......now all we need is fan width adjust...haha[emoji6]

I saw a review on utube of that 400 one, pretty nifty, and the red metal box is so.....red.
 
Sata would be my next choice after devilbis.

Why does your krome stay in the box?
I am very heavy handed and I like a heavier airbrush. The Krome feels too light in my hand .
That is the only reason it is not my go to .
 
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