Newby Airbrush Wannabe
 

Hi

I have a dozen cans of Rustoleum's Painters Touch Ultra cover 2X canned spray paint.

I have gotten some very nice results with this stuff!

I am ready to move on.

I own a 33gal Craftsman Air compressor which is probably OVERKILL for using an airbrush but that's all I have.

All I want is an alternative to using canned spray paint to paint my rockets. Nuttin fancy for now but can someone recommend an airbrush set up for someone who'll quickly learn to us it and will probably go on to master basic airbrushing?

thanks in advance

A really quick-n-dirty way to get into airbrushing is to visit a nearby Harbor Freight store, and look for their basic airbrush kit. It's an overseas-made knock-off of a Badger 350, single-action external-mix, and it works generally well, though the construction is not quite the same. It's cheap, but so is the price. You can often find these on sale for less than $10. I have found them for about $6, and picked up four to have a few spares.

Once you get familiar with something like this one, you can decide how much you want to invest in a better item, like a (true) Badger, or a Paasche.

Caveat: Toss the jars and adapters that come with this brush, and go grab some real Badger jars and adapters. These fit the intake just like they would a real Badger unit.

thanks for the reply!

What models Badger, or a Paasche?

Will my shop compressor work for an air brush for painting my rockets?

Your shop compressor will work, but is HUGE overkill.
Make sure you invest in an inline water-trap for the air pressure supply to the brush if using a shop compressor with a big tank.
A small $80-$100 airbrush compressor pretty much eliminates the need for this as there is no real air reservoir.

Thanks for the reply!

I have all those regulators and such in place now I just need to choose an airbrush .

The harbor freight thing is good , we have a local store,but much of their stuff is disposable!!!

probably need to go to the library and check a book out!

thanks

Like I said, cheap knock-offs, but for getting a feel for an airbrush these "work". They're far from perfect, but then, even the Badger 350 was a 'cheap' airbrush. I paid about $45 for mine nearly 15 years ago, and I've worn out several tips over that span of time.

As far as which Paasche to look at, I'm not up on their product line. With either brand, you've got choices between External-Mix and Internal-Mix (how the paint and air come together) as well as Single-Action and Double-Action (all-at-once, or a two-position button allowing for air to come on first, then the paint). There are also 'quality levels' within each brand, so you pay for what you get. Paasche is probably the more-expensive of the two, but the quality is professional-grade, too.

The OP lists Novaar in his sig, so he has to deal with very humid conditions for part of the year. A water trap should be used with any compressor in a humid environment.


Bill

One thing I can tell you is, you can NEVER have too much air... too LITTLE air, SURE, in fact that's usually the case, but not TOO MUCH air... I learned this the hard way after watching Dad and Grandpa "poor boy" it on the air compressors for 30 years, working several of the poor things to a slow death and NEVER having enough air... I FINALLY bought a big twin cylinder single stage shop compressor with a 70 gallon tank and plumbed in an air system in the shop and now I've got PLENTY of air for anything I need to do... even picked up an old 20 gallon LP gas fuel tank from a tractor at the tractor salvage co. my brother used to work at, and converted it into a wheeled air storage tank I can pull behind the golf cart-- filled with 130 PSI of air, it'll run a standard 1/2 inch impact wrench for five minutes, which is usually enough for pulling a set of wheels off an old car or trailer on the other end of the farm somewhere...

When I finally bite the bullet and get into airbrushing, I can just either 1) fill the storage tank and drive it over here to use the airbrush at the house, or 2) do the airbrushing at the shop and plug directly into the air system. Moisture traps and regulator is set up to be portable...

Later and Good luck! OL JR :)

I have two Aztec airbrushes-they have nice models too! And don't forget if you have a Michaels or A C Moore near you a 40% and sometimes 50% coupon is usually available every week. That's how I got my airbrushes and the 'blue' Aztec compressor. Really a sweet deal.
They also carry the Createx lines of paint which are already at the right mixture for airbrushes. Lots of cool colors, pearls, fluorescents, metallics.

Also my AC Moores now carries rockets, they've sub-leased space for hobby stuff. Now expanded plastic model, rocket, and train sets.

I went down to Harbor Freight this morning and they had 3 different kits all under $10.; They sell such low grade swag that I just couldn't make myself buy then. I am a moron I guess , soon parted with my money. They were all HF's brand name and didn't see AZTEC. :confused: I think I really need to check a book out on airbrush technique so I know what i need to buy.... I appreciate the responses.