I am looking at buying an airbrush and I am considering several of the Badger models. In particular the Anthem 155-7, the Omni 5000 DA gravity feed, the Crescendo 175-7, and the Omni 4000 gravity feed.

Dos any body have experience with these models?


What are the good and bad points of these airbrushes?

Should I consider other models or brands?

I know this may open up a debate but I would like to be informed before I put down my money.

Why an airbrush? It'll take forever to paint an R/C model with an airbrush. It you're dealing with a highly pigmented paint you may have problems pushing it through an airbrush.

I personally prefer my Paasche VL dual action. Its a VERY versitle brush, and will handle many different media. It'll hande laquers, enamals, & latexs just fine. It has a couple of different sizes of siphon cups and will do gravity if you need it. Its a good detail brush. For larger areas, I'd get one of the low cost HVLP auto units sold at harbor freight.

Chip_mull

I have a gravity feed HVLP touch up gun I use for large items, but I am looking for something to do weathering and detail.

Omcusnr
Thank you for informing me about the Paasche VL. The only Paasche brushes I have seen were the flat sided or box car stile. I just didn’t think they looked very ergonomic. I do like the looks of the VL series.

I wish that I could play with some of these airbrushes for a while to decide which one I like best. That is not an option so the next best thing is the vast experience of the RCU community.
Thanks for the help

A lot of people complain about the Aztec because it looks like a cheap plastic toy. I have 5 or 6 airbrushes - some of them were WAY expensive. My worst is a badger 150 that spits no matter what. It spits paint that any of my other airbrushes will spray smoothly with no problem. More thinner, less thinner, plain water, nothing makes a difference. Needless to say, the badger doesn't get used.

The Aztec on the other hand is my most used airbrush. It's very easy to clean and unless you need extremely fine lines - like weathered panel lines on a 1/72 model plane, then it will do almost anything a modeler needs an airbrush to do.

The body of mine died after about 5 years of heavy use and per their warranty I received a new body for free no questions asked.

Anyway, there are a lot of good airbrushes out there, but if you spend a lot of money on one and you're not an airbrush artist making the big bucks then you're buying way more airbrush than you need.

I have a page on my site that discusses them in more detail.

[link=http://www.airfieldmodels.com/information_source/model_building_tools/air_brushes_and_air_supplies.htm]Airbrushes, Spray Guns and Air Supplies[/link]

If you want a killer airbrush at a great price look at the vega 2000, you will not be dissapointed, I think the kit is only around 60 bucks..you won't regret it..

I guess what I like best about the VL is that it'll handle so many different types of media. Watercolor & gauche - it'll give a solid 1/64 line if you're good. With the larger tips it'll handle the heavier media like latex. It has a 3oz jar, 1oz jar, and will gravity feed. Its a dual action and very easy to hold & operate.

Also air supply is something you never want to scrimp on. Make sure you have a good, accurate regulator, a 10g tank (this will smooth the air supply out so you don't get pulses), and good water trap. With an AB, you'll probablly never shoot over 25 psi even with the heavy stuff.

omcusner,
If you ever have a few dollars burning a whole in your pocket try the vega 2000. I have 2 vl dual actions, and 2 vegas, I am not sure I even would bother cleaning the vl's after using the vega brush. The vegas trigger is SO much smoother up and down, back to front, it travels twice the distance ..smoother..your airbrush control will double immediately. Also the vega will do detail, and nearly spray like a spray can when you swap needles and tips. You know how fragile the tip is on the vl detail brush? How easy it damages when cleaning it? the vega tip is WAY stronger, and holds up with no problems, Also the vega has an O-ring around the front cap, so it doesn't tend to leak air, or make mess like the vl will, (or mine did anyhow)

Anyhow I am sure there are even better types out there now, but I am so happy with mine for the price I haven't looked further....

I curently have the Cresendo. Pretty good for what it is. No complaints with it so far..

One day, I'll get the Iwata HP series!!

Air source is important, as mentioned; steady even pressure, and no water! a solid regulator is a must!

I've had a 150 for a long time. Never any trouble with it, as long as its maintained. Seems this is the crux, proper maintenace & cleaning.

dr_wogz - my 150 never worked properly from day one. Maybe I just got a bad one, but basically it's the tip and I've changed tip and needle assemblies and none of them work without spitting. If it were just the one tip then maybe, but all three sets?!?

And as I said, it doesn't matter how much I thin the paint. It can't even spray water or alcohol without spitting.

OK, I just finished using my 150 to spray the base coat on the uniform of a 1/4 scale pilot bust. I chose it because it allows me to use a bottle and because it's a double-action airbrush I can spray the uniform around the face without getting a lot of paint (black) on the pilot's face. There was some but that's my lack of skill, not the airbrush.

So anyway, I have to apologize to the Badger company. The 150 is working like a champ right now. I don't know what I was doing differently before that was giving me problems with it but it was probably either water in the line or improperly thinned paint.

The last time I used it I was stationed inn Germany and using a compressor I bought there and a fairly cheap regulator/water-trap. My setup right now isn't much different and it's far more humid here in Florida. So I'm guessing I didn't thin the paint properly even though my other airbrushes sprayed the same paint just fine. Maybe the 150 is less tolerant. Who knows.

Anyway, I was bashing them and I was wrong. Sorry for passing along bad information. I'll update my website with the same info.

An airbrush is only suited for touch up and trim. The pattern is way too small to paint an airplane in a reasonable amount of time, the pattern is about the size of a quarter. Considering a 50% overlap you can see that it will be slow going!

I would NOT buy a dual action airbrush unless you are an artist. The extra controls and adjustments are uselss for painting planes unless you are getting into real detailed work. Single actions are cheaper, simpler and usually easier to clean.

I owned a Paasche VL brush that was nothing but problems from the first day. There was an almost microscopic pin that kept coming loose inside and causing a loss of control with the button. Paasche was no help and claimed it was a common problem with that model.

I bought a Paasche H (single action) airbrush and after using it for the first time I threw the VL in the trash!

I later bought a badger automotive touch up gun which is much larger and now use the Paasche airbrush only for trim and touch up. The automotive touch up gun is great, the spray pattern is much larger and the cup can hold enough paint to paint the entire aircraft.

The real question is what are you going to use for paint? Not many choices these days for fuel proof paints.

I agree with you omcusnr. I have a couplle of Paasche that have worked well for years. Dual action is the onlyway to go, I feel they give you better control.