Scott Lodder compares three 'Starter' Airbrushes in this indepth feature.



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Great article, been waiting for this one for awhile. Do you know if anybody in the States sells the Premi Air G35. Would love to get one. Again nice review, Andy.

I'm not sure about US distribution right now. Check thier web site or email them to see.

Nice review Scotty.
Enjoyed the videos,
you sound like Staff Jim on them.

Really informative and concise review. The video additions are great.
Cheers,
Charles

The premi Air is airbrushes.com own make of airbrush, currently only available from them, it costs £29.99 so in us dollars that works out at approx $48.12 plus shipping.

I would contact them direct and see how much shipping is, but it is a darn good airbrush for the money. Just don't forget to mention Armorama when you talk to them

cheers

Keith

Great article.

Very informative.

This is a very useful article, and I wish it had been available three years ago when I started airbrushing. It would have saved about two years of frustration and disappointment.

I am currently looking for a cheap but solid airbrush to donate to my local club, so that modelers without an airbrush can try one out and learn, and all three of these look like excellent candidates for the job. I was leaning toward an Iwata Revolution using a 50% off coupon at Hobby Lobby, but the G35 looks very competitive.

-Doug

If you can get a G35 in the US - go for it. If not get the Iwata at a coupon price and you'll be fine. That would be my second choice.

Scott,

Super job!

Concise, detailed, the YouTube videos greatly enhance this feature!

Superlative Feature - 'nuff said!

great read gave me alot to think about thanks for the info

Hi Scott,

Thank you for your effort - it was very interesting to read this review.

Just wanted to bring to your attention that Paasche is also offering fine nozzle/needle combination for the Talon. Please see the link here: http://dixieart.com/Paasche_Talon_Airbrush.html

I wonder if the Talon could show better results in terms of fine detail spaying with these ones.

Some idea: another airbrush worth looking at is Peak C-5 carried by bearair.com - it is made on Iwata's factory in Japan, has a 0.3 mm aperture and is basically a little bit altered old Iwata HP-C model with a needle travel adjusting knob thrown in.

Just for information of everybody, if you are interested in a more affordable airbrushes, you can look at PrecisionAire at Bear Air, Master airbrushes at TCP Global at http://www.tcpglobal.com/airbrushdepot/abdbrand.aspx#G22, and Airbrushcity Airbrushes at www.airbrushcity.com.

You can find affordable air compressors at www.harbourfreight.com

In none of the cases I cannot comment on the quality.

HTH,

Regards,

Doncaster

must say im quite geard towards getting the premi-air for xmas, anythings better than me old badger, plus for 100 £ i get a compressor with it

I'm currently using the Paasche VL double action airbrush. It is a good tool, though there are several things I dislike about it, including the open gravity cup (moving about I have spilled a lot of paint!), the fragile needles that are often damaged by the need to remove them for cleaning (spraying any clear acrylic, for example, gunks it up big time), and the lack of any instruction manual that has left me to figure most things out for myself.

The three airbrushes reviewed here are all similar, but I noticed the Iwata is an entry-level product. I. I am interested for recommendations on something for a more-advanced modeler, though I can see the Paasche is supposed to cover the gamut. I know the Iwatas are admired, but I don't know which model would be best.

FYI I'm using the Paasche D500 30 psi compressor which seems fine with the airbrush I'm using.

Hey guys

Can someone tell me if this is true, the rumors i have heard are that the Talon cannot shoot enamels? I really liked the look of the Talon and down the road was thinking about getting one but i use strictly enamels only.

Thanks in Advance.

Jerry

Nice artical. However he did not mention that you can get the Iwata Revolution with a larger cup size and a .5mm nozzel for painting larger areas. I use mine for base coats and an Iwata HP-C for my fine work.

That's a great article. One question, how would you evaluate the G35 for larger scales/areas to cover?

Matt

I've been using a G35 for ages and I find it covers large areas with ease. The paint cup isn't too large though, so if you are doing a ship or a big base or something then a couple of re-fills will be needed but the actual spraying is brilliant- it is a real workhorse of an AB.

Hi Matt,

I've got a G35 and use it for all my 1:35 tanks. It can take multiple passes to cover big areas, but then again I tend to "layer" my paint in thinned coats anyway to get some tonal variation so it's ok if I fail to get a good overlap. However, where I've needed a good solid coat it did the job well enough. If you're doing really big stuff and need to solidly cover more than a half-inch-wide stripe with each pass you'll probably need an external-mix firehose like the old Badger 350 that I also have.

Hope this helps!

Tom

I may have to get one. My Badger is beginning to break down and I've been looking for a solid, reliable airbrush for basic use as a replacement. That prices is awfully hard to beat!

Matt