I'm just thinking about this. Why are Airbrush so expensive? Our branded airbrushes here (Badger) costs around Php 6000 or 120 USD. What's with them and why are they so expensive. Luckily for me, I bought a generic, single action Airbrush which only cost Php 400 or 8 USD. Pretty cheap and useful :-)

I'm guessing the amount of labor to get the fine tolerances for a quality airbrush. I'm also guessing that there is no insignificant wasteage of needles damaged in manufacturing and packing. Having partially disassembled my AB's to clean them, I canattest that the assembly process is labor intensive. I had a 8 USD style AB for my first. It is acceptable for single colors and for use when masking tape is used, but for fine, thight, soft edges, you really do need a quality AB. A quality AB will allow you to get in close enough to paint the jacket and pants of a 54mm figure different colors with no overspray.

I am not saying there isn't a serious mark up on ABs, but, combine the tolerances that have to be met with the assembly time and you have some there just in labor costs. Tear a Paasche VLS completely down, and then put it all back together. You got some time (labor cost) in that. I'm not going to go off on an economics rant but airbrushes are like divorces, they are expensive because they are worth it.

Shaun

You pay for quality Shonster, you pay for quality. Much Like A Chevy truck. You pay for quality!

~CHip :-) :-) :-)

because them pesky people how make them know we will pay silly money for ultra thin
feathered edges nah but think of the machining of parts to get such fine holes in the neddels and stuff

I agree that there are probably good, technical, reasons that mean that airbrushes are going to be a bit expensive. Don't you think though that there is always the case of anything that is "hobby" related costing more than the same thing for other uses? I was looking at a box to store my paints and stuff. A pretty purple one at Hobby Lobby, presumably for artists and modelers, sold for $39. The EXACT same box, but in green, sold at Wal Mart in the fishing department for $10. I KNOW that H.L. marks some things up but I blame the market on that price difference. Some people just assume that they have to buy things made JUST for hobbies, and will pay extra for them. I'd be willing to bet that if mechanics used airbrushes in fixing cars that they would sell for less than "model" airbrushes.