how old are my airbrushes

[blair]

hey guys , new here .... i have a HP c and a HP-SB both came in very nice little black wooden boxes , ..they both have never been used ... the sb also has the letters EH under it ... on the black boxes are the words iwata air compressors mfg co ltd

any ideas would be great thanks

 

[JackEb]

Hi Blair,
welcome aboard, but how about heading to the intro section here - http://www.airbrushforum.org/introductions/
and letting us know where in the world you are, what you plan on doing with your airbrushes and what other brushes/paint you have, it helps us get to know you a little better,

As for your brushes here are the codes for year /month of manufacture so if yours states EH then it would be 2005, August

 

[blair]

hi , thanks , was just abourt to type up a intro in that section , .... my hpc has no other markings on it , .... anyway to date that one ?
cheers

 

[JackEb]

I'm not sure if the older airbrushes had the date stamps on them, can you post a picture ? i thought they all had the serial stamp on them, if now then maybe someone with knowledge could ID it from the photo. my guess would be its an older HP-C, the newer ones are a HP-C+

 

[blair]

went and had a look at it , and sure enough it has DK 4335 on it , why the number ? cheers

 

[JackEb]

went and had a look at it , and sure enough it has DK 4335 on it , why the number ? cheers

No idea what the 4335 could mean

@DaveG, do you want to join in on this one ??

 

[blair]

do i have to have a 3rd party host to post pics , ? no direct from comp ? i can email to someone if they can post them

 

[JackEb]

do i have to have a 3rd party host to post pics , ? no direct from comp ? i can email to someone if they can post them

use the 'more options' button alongside the 'upload a file' and upload from there, If it doesnt work just PM me ( the envelope in the top right corner of the page) then I'll send you my email

 

[Vladimir]

went and had a look at it , and sure enough it has DK 4335 on it , why the number ? cheers

The number means it's very old version of HP-C. I'd say it's from the time when Olympos ABs were manufactured. Later HP-C were without number, after that HP-C+ appeared (also without the numbers).

 

[DaveG]

No idea what the 4335 could mean

@DaveG, do you want to join in on this one ??

Sorry, I really don't know much about trying to date them, especially without picts - sometimes there are small manufacturing clues that help to date... As Vladimir mentioned, if the HP-C has a serial number on it, I would guess it do be prior to Iwata going with the date codes. For what it is worth, man of my Olympos 100 series brushes have 4000 seieres numbers on them as well...

 

[blair]

hopefully these pics show , when did they stop using the little wooden boxes

 

[DaveG]

I've looked at this some more, and I do think the letters on both brushes are the date codes of manufacture. The boxes, you got me on that - I have been buying Iwata brushes since the 80's and have never seen a wooden box.

 

[JackEb]

i have received some photos from Blair, i'll get them up in the next few minutes


Here we go.......... The wooden box does look nice, a nice little piece of history there

 

[JackEb]

If you sent those photos to Iwata i'm sure they could give you a time period that they would have been available.

 

[DaveG]

If you sent those photos to Iwata i'm sure they could give you a time period that they would have been available.

I found a listing for a HP BS that comes in the wooden box, that was purchased in the late 90's. I too would think with the letters and numbers Iwata would give you exact dates... I am still guessing early 2000's

 

[blair]

how about the hpc , ... i see iwata is releasing the 5oth annerversary one that looks identical .....

 

[Jurien72]

mmm airbrush porn

 

[DaveG]

how about the hpc , ... i see iwata is releasing the 5oth annerversary one that looks identical .....

it looks identical because they are still making it... The HP-C has been in production since the 60's. I notice the one pictured is missing several parts, including the air valve and trigger. I am almost certain that the two letters are the date of manufacture code, followed by a serial number...

 

[blair]

i pulled it to bits to look it over , .. it is very complete

 

[blair]