Airbrush FAQ/Tutorial

The first thing you want to consider after you've decided you want an airbrush is what kind of airbrush you need. There are two types; single action and double action airbrushes. Single action airbrushes have, as one might gather from its name, a single "action" you can perform with the trigger; pressing it down to make the paint spray out at a set size/rate. Double action airbrushes allow you two "actions" to control paint flow; depressing the trigger (Causes the airbrush to spray only air, no paint) and pulling it back to make the paint flow. You can affect the amount of paint coming out and the size of the area you cover; pulling the trigger back a little will cause a little paint to come out and cover a very small area, pulling the trigger back all the way will make a lot of paint spray out and cover a larger area. How large an area you can cover with your airbrush can also be affected by how close or far away you hold the airbrush from the part; in many cases, holding the airbrush farther away from the part will result in a paler color, but wider coverage.

Double action and single action airbrushes obviously have their pros and cons. Single action airbrushes are easy to clean, simple to use and are pretty cheap to purchase. They do not, however, offer you the delicate control over paint flow that a double action airbrush provides. So if you want to do preshading/MAX-style shading, you'd be better off with a double action airbrush. Double action airbrushes can be expensive, depending on what you want (Really, you don't need an overly expensive/complex airbrush set-up to get nice results.), and require slightly more maintenance than single action airbrushes. I used to say that double action airbrushes were the way to go if you wanted to create delicate shading effects and such. These days however, more and more single action airbrushes come with a host of optional nozzles and such, giving you a wide variety of spray patterns, from heavy flow/wide cover set-ups to extra- fine spray set-ups. My personal preference still lies with double action airbrushes however, since I find constantly changing out parts to be a bit of a hassle, not to mention single- action airbrushes, despite their many option parts now, usually cannot spray as finely as double- action airbrushes (Which can give you pencil-thin lines in many cases). Ultimately, the decision lies with the person who will be using the airbrush, of course. However, if changing parts to get different spray patterns doesn't bother you, you may find you like how some of the newer single action airbrushes work, and people new to airbrushing may find it somewhat less overwhelming to not have to worry about controlling the paint flow constantly as one would if they were using a double action airbrush.

Within double action and single action airbrushes, there are 2 other aspects to consider; internal mix or external mix. Internal mix airbrushes mix the air and paint together inside the airbrush right before it is sprayed, and external mix airbrushes mix the paint and air outside the airbrush. Double action airbrushes are usually the former (Though there is an exception, more on that shortly) and single action airbrushes are usually the latter. The external mixing of paint and air outside the airbrush in single action airbrushes is the reason why they are easier to clean. Double action airbrushes have to be partially disassembled for a thorough cleaning, and some parts have to be oiled from time to time. Still, that shouldn't put you off from considering a double action airbrush; airbrushes in general are not terribly complex creatures, and when in doubt, reading the user manual can usually answer your question. And that exception to the internal mix rule for double action airbrushes? It's the Paasche Turbo. But as you can see from reading, it's primarily used for retouching photo negatives, not something you'd really use for painting a model kit. My personal airbrush set-up is an Iwata air compressor (Smart Jet compressor, though I am hoping to upgrade to a Power Jet very soon) and an Iwata Eclipse (bottle feed, double action) airbrush. I like the Eclipse series in general because it gives a really wide spray pattern with one nozzle and needle (Pencil line to 2 inch diameter, I believe), and the bigger needle/nozzle size means I can spray heavy paints, like paints with pearl pigments in it. I had a great (Also cheap) little Badger single action airbrush that I used to spray Future and any other topcoats, but after 5 or so years of beginner's mistakes and abuse, it went belly-up despite my best efforts to save it. For a while I was using the Eclipse for everything, but making sure all that Future was cleared out of it at the end of the day was a bit of a nuisance. So, I now have a Badger 350 single action airbrush, which is just a little bit fancier- looking than my old reliable Badger airbrush and does the job just as well. I've personally tried Badger double- action airbrushes and I don't care much for them, mainly because they don't seem to fit my hand very well. Other brands I've heard good things about are Paasche and Aztek.

One more thing to consider before we get into air source discussion is whether you want a bottle feed or a top feed airbrush. With a bottle feed, you'd pour the paint you want to spray into a bottle, then attach it (usually) to the bottom of the airbrush. With top feed aibrushes, you pour the paint into either a small notch in the top of the airbrush, or more commonly, into a small color cup located either on the top or side of the airbrush. The main pro to bottle feed airbrushes is that you can work with a large amount of paint in one session, while its main drawback is that if you only have a little bit of paint left, you kind of have to get inventive if you want to spray every last bit of it. Top feed airbrushes are really great for spraying that aforementioned tiny amount of paint, but its main con is that you can generally work with a little paint at a time. The solution? Buy one of each :p! While that's not an option for everyone, I personally prefer bottlefeed airbrushes; sometimes I don't get my airbrush completely in the holder when I put it down and it slips out. If it were a top feed airbrush, my paint would go all over the place, but since it's in a bottle, the paint stays where it should. And, like all good modelers should, it's a good idea to get in the habit of mixing too much paint for a model than too little; you can then avoid running into the "tiny bit of paint left, but the bottle's nozzle can't reach it" problem. Now, onto air source discussion