hey guys, i proudly own my 150. It basicly my second ab having owned an aztek before. I have to admit lovign the badger, it became my favriote toy . But since its brand new for me i play around with it and noticed somethign having to do with the needle. that screw you have in back of ur ab can tighten or losen the needle and when you puch the needle in and out you get diferent, now how can i say this: frequencies. itl spray for a few seconds, stop and start again, with a lapse of time. i guess you understand what i mean. so how do i fix this to spray evely?

Frank

Hi Francois,
Been using a Badger 150 since the 70's so got a little experience with them.
Hopefully you got an owners manual with it.
It not only functions as a double action air brush, when you push down on the trigger you are relasing only the air, as you pull back in the trigger you now control the paint flow. The farther you pull back, the heavier your paint flow will be. Thus you get more control over the airbrushing. When you release, trigger, the spring forward movement shuts off the paint flow,and air. If you mover the trigger forward as you keep the trigger depressed, you decrease the paint flow. Don't worry, with practice it all becomes a natural movement.
It also acts as a single action air brush. Meaning if you set the needle in a set position, it will spray the same pattern each time, as soon as you depress the trigger.

To set your needle is really simple.
1. loosen the back screw and make sure you needle is gently seated in the tip. GENTLY, unless you enjoy replacing tips. Then tighten the needle in place, using the rear thingy. Once this is set, you don't need to adjust it again until you take apart the brush for cleaning.
2. to set for single action, on top, just in front of the trigger there is a tiny little screw. turn this in until you get a spray pattern when you depress your trigger. Adjusting to spray pattern you want. You can now use it as a single action brush, each time getting the same basic spray pattern when you depress the trigger. Of course if you suddenly need to, or wish to revert to double action, in the middle of a spray secession, simply pull back a little on the trigger and you go to double action.

I don't know what set up you got, hopefully the one with the three heads and needles. Don't expect to get tight small spraying from the large (HD) head, and don't expect to get large coverage from the Fine (F) head. For general all round modelling, inbetween, the Medium (IL) head works fine for most general modelling work.

Remember to clean your airbrush and keep it clean. When you remove the needle, be careful you don't bend the needle or damage or bend the point. (the fine one is easily bent) Same thing when reinstalling it.
When you remove the head, there is a little white teflon gasket, becareful you don't lose it, and never over tigthen and smash the gasket when reinstalling the head. Also be careful when cleaning the head, the tips are fragle, and will split or distort easily. (usually the major cause for bad spray patterns).

I use many different airbrushes.
Badger 150, Badger 100G, Iwata HP-B and Paashe VSR90, and the Badger 150 is a great all round modeller airbrush, easy to clean, cheap and easy to get parts for. My original Badger 150 was replaced earlier this year with a new one, and the old one was passed on to a modeller friend. The only replacement part ever needed other than tips, and needles, was a new air valve, and that was 20 years ago.

Good luck, and looking forward to seeing your work here at Armorama.

One thing i have to say! Dave is an amazing guy! he sent me a detailed pm and re-wrote the whole thing on this thread!!!! Dave: YOUR AWSOME!

Thanks a lot(AGAIN!)
Frank

AND YES!!! iam planing on getting some pictures!!! maybe borow my friends cam... i doubt hte quality of the pics will be good, but its better than nothing.

Frank

Well i got back from my garage with good news my AB works like a charm! thanks to Daves tips

Frank

Hi all,

I've narrowed my choice in airbrushes down to an Iwata Revolution, or a Badger 150- (stepping up from an Aztec).

A few simple questions for you 150 users -

Dixie Art shows the 150 with a siphon cup- the ad mentions 'metal color cup' Is this a gravity feed cup? and does it attach at the bottom?

How hard/easy is it to clean a 150? Specifically Tamiya paints?

I almost exclusively use Tamiya paint (ease of use and ease of cleanup) I rarely use solvent based paints (such a pain to cleanup in a small apartment, fumes etc)

How hard is it to clean up solvent based paints?

How fine a line can you paint with the fine needle?
I do alot of 1/72 armor, and the fine tip for the Aztec just isn't fine enough...

Thanks for any info,

Peter

Man, I am glad this post happened, I have a badger 150 and was having all kinds of issues with that back screw on the needle...(plus the fact that I am apparently unable to thin paints properly)...anyway, good info dave, and very appreciated. Turns out I was pretty much doing just what you said, but wasnt sure if it was correct....now if I could just get the whole paint consistency thing down I will be in business...heh.

The 150 is a bottom feed, with detachable color cups, or bottles.
Fairly easy to clean, it normally doesn't take me more than a few minutes to do a general cleaning, and maybe a little longer to completely strip it down, clean it and put it back together. I really don't use acrylics that much, so wouldn't be able to answer too many questions on them, but I personally clean all my airbrushes with lacquer thinner. I suggest if you use lacquer thinner you put a small fan in the window to get rid of the fumes. (I do)
As for the fineness of the spray, with really thin paint, and low pressure I can get pretty fine lines, using the fine (XF) head and needle..... Not quite as fine as I can with my HP-B, but needles and tips are a lot cheaper, and usually avalible at most hobby and craft stores.
If you want a decent affordable top feed, check out a badger 100G. This is much easier to clean than the 150, and uses the same heads and needles, but has the color cup bulit in on top, sorry I forget the exact amount it holds, but it is a little larger than my Iwata top feeder cup. Problem with a top feeder is they are a lot easier to spill on your work. (yep done that a few times too!)
I don't have a magic formular for thinning, Just what has worked for me, and what hasn't. I do thin more than most modellers, and I do spray at a lower pressure than most modellers. This is simply because I first learned to use an airbrush using inks, so I just got really use to spraying really thinned paint. And it's still, thin and test, before spraying my models. The idea is to get the spray pattern you want.... before you spray your model. I do this on cardborad or foam board scraps. If I run out, I simply mix a little more, using the basic mixture I just used. I also found over the years that no bottle or tin of paint thins exactly the same. (ex: I can open a new bottle of OD from Model masters and thin say 70/30, and open another new bottle and then need to thin this bottle 60/40) Hense the need to test before you spray your model. As I said I use cardboard, but feel free to use an old model to practice on.
Just remember it's really 90% practice, the more you use your airbrush, the better you become using it, and the things you think about now, will eventually just become something natural, and you'll do it without thinking. ( I actually have to sit here and think about what exactly I do, before I type it, but when doing it, I just do it..... if that makes sense.... hopefully it does. well to me it does)
Good luck and have fun.... build a model.... and get to know your new friend.
I've never met an airbrush I didn't like..... except aztek's.

hi bishop, well glad to know daves post helped both of us isnt the 150 amazing to use after having an aztek? anyhow. i am considering buyig a new ab il jsut have to go to that car store and get another 50% percent of my aibrush :-) :-) how awsome is it when your dad gets good deals?

AND YES! those darn feed cups make messes!!!! i had to re-paint my whole spitfire because i spilled some paint on it! had to re-paint a few models actualy. but i found a way to fix that!!!! get some hooks on your ceilinng and when ab a plane or tank hang it up! saves me everytime!

Seems liek dave is saving all of us with our ab question! and i think we ow him an aplause! br /><

Thanks,
frank

When using the badger 150 you have to be carefull with the paint cup. For some reason mine has self-detached two times now, ruining an afternoon of spraying fun!!!. (lastnight the damn thing fell off while spraying my revell u-boat, spilling deckcoloured paint allover the hull which is sprayed in camo and has three different colours... Luckily I was able to wipe most off because I had already given the model a few coats of clear varnish.
And I have to agree with Francois, hang the model somewhere where you don't have to position the airbrush above it, or especially the paint cup.
You'll be lucky 98 % of the time, but the other 2 % really really ruin your day!!!!
I've been using the medium head with the fine needle, and it works perfectly also. (the fine head was bent because I was trying to clean it with a bit to much enthousiasm.
I can still get a line of about 2.5 mm minimum thickness out of it, which is not to bad looking at the combination I think.

Check for paint build up in the opening where the cup or bottle fits, since only a tight metal to metal seal is forms when installing the cups, this area and the nipple on the cup really need to be clean of dried paint. I have found that a slight turn of the cup with pressue sets the cup properly, and have never had a cup or bottle come lose.

Hello,

I have an Aztek and a Tamiya HG SF and am thinking of getting another general purpose AB to replace the Aztek.

Does the Badger 100 / 150 fit the bill? How does it compare to the Iwata Revolution or the Tamiya HG in terms of the following:

-control
-ease of clean-up
-consistent performance

I build 1/72 armor mainly and use acrylics (mostly Tamiya). On occasion I might need to use the general purpose AB to spray solvent based primers such as Mr. Surfacer.

Cheers,

Richard

Well, I'm not an acrylic user, using mostly enamels and lacquers, but find both my Badgers no harder to clean than cleaning my Iwata or Paasche. I actually find that the Badgers and Passches take a better beating in the tip department than my Iwata does, and are a lot cheaper to replace when worn or damaged. For ease in cleaning a top feeder is the easiest, reguardless of manufacturer, also uses less paint, lower pressure, and you can get in closer. Badgers appear to all be coming with the crown caps now, allowing closer useage. (use to be a separtate part to buy)
But if you are experiencing spilling your color cups with a bottom feeder, you need to learn to over come this before going to a top feeder, because you are surely going to spill a lot, until you get use to using the top, uncovered cups, when you move in close for tight patterns. Most top feeders have a much smaller color cup.... (the VSR90 I use has two different size color cups)
Badger has a website showing all their airbrushes, parts lists and parts diagrams, for anyone who doesn't have them........


http://badgerairbrush.com/

If you search around they have an extensive chart giving a general idea of what each airbrush is able to handle.

i spray tamiya acrylics no problem, better than model master enamels. soem people have problems with them because they "dry to fast" but iam guessing they dont thin it with tamiya thinner, its quite costy, but worth the buy!

i have ot agree with Dave, the 150 is realy easy to clean, and once you've taken it apart once or twice, takes only a few seconds to put it back together

hope this helps,
frank