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Air Brush Recommendations

DRD

DRD

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I have found this forum a great place for recommendations on de-soldering stations, tools etc

Is there a sensibly priced air brush that folk could recommend please ?

I am thinking of buying some frisket, mixing up paint (so when dry it matches the faded original) and very gently touching up a 3 colour Bally SS cabinet as opposed to stencilling it. They were crudely airbrushed to start with, some paint is quite thin (making a brush touch up more likely to stand out) so airbrushing touch ups looks logical to me. The odd controlled bit of light overspray will be very much in keeping with the shoddy original paint job anyway

Thank you
 
Depends on your budget an iwata neo can be had for around 50 or you can get an expensive iwata China rip off on eBay for around 20 but the rip off ones arnt very reliable and are hard to get set up reliably. My useual and about 15 year old brush is an aztec which you just remove the tip and swap out for another depending on what u wanna do fine line, spatter, med coverage ect but they go for about 150 for the set
 
RudeDogg1 said:
an iwata neo can be had for around 50 or you can get an expensive iwata China rip off on eBay for around 20
Click to expand...

Cant find one for less than £45 on Ebay, plus thats gravity fed (which i thought were a pain....)
 
No gravity fed are the way to go. Hence why all the expensive ones are gravity fed you'd rarely find a siphon fed one even most auto ones are gravity
 
I to use the Iwata neo and found it a great all rounder tried a few cheaper ones first and a friend lent me a couple of his really expensive iwatas I eventually came to the conclusion was the best for its money by a long way keep it clean and you'll have it for years
 
I've got a Harder and Steenbeck Evolution which is a nice mid-range one. Like Rudi says, avoid anything off ebay that is priced too good to be true (in fact, probably just avoid buying from anywhere other than a specialist shop/online store) because they will likely be **** Chinese rip-offs.
 
I think if you're masking and spraying the side of a cabinet... a cheap Chinese one is just perfect.

If you're thinking of doing something more precise, or actual artistry. Then yes, spend the money. But if this is likely just a one of... Why waste money? Mine was a cheap Chinese thing. Works fine for the BSD cabinets I've resprayed.
If anything, the most artistic and difficult part of respraying a cab, is the application and cutting of the frisket. After that the airbrushing is a doddle that even my 10 year old daughter could manage with a quick tutorial.

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Thanks for the advice.

Do you go for the pencil type ones ? Or the pistol grip ones ?

I would anticipated touching up old Bally cabinets and potentially some playfield work
 
Mine is a pencil type one. The pack I got included compressor and two brushes (one siphon fed, one gravity fed) Only ever used the gravity fed one though.
Looks a lot like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/370268372610

Have done some playfield artwork with it too. I use enamel for cabinet work (with a little thinner), and acrylics for playfield work.
 
Still working on this! Slow progress (started it years ago!) but may get back to it soon

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I use a sharp scalpel knife, lots of patience, and a gentle touch. Hardly any pressure at all when cutting.

Or as Swiss Tony would say. Cutting frisket is like... making love to a beautiful woman
 
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Wizcat said:
Mine is a pencil type one. The pack I got included compressor and two brushes (one siphon fed, one gravity fed) Only ever used the gravity fed one though.
Looks a lot like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/370268372610

Have done some playfield artwork with it too. I use enamel for cabinet work (with a little thinner), and acrylics for playfield work.
Click to expand...

Yup China knock offs **** if you use an airbrush a lot not very good atall for getting any decent kind of control. They do seem to work ok with enamels if thinned suitably ive used one to do planes but then that's not for detail. Personally I wouldn't use enamels on a pf due to long curing time may feel dry after 6 hours or so but they don't actually cure for weeks and most clear coats are designed to work with acrylic type paints
 
RudeDogg1 said:
China knock offs **** if you use an airbrush a lot not very good at all for getting any decent kind of control.
Click to expand...

That's the thing though. Most of the artwork on cabinets (and also on old playfields) is block colour artwork. Very rarely would you need the fine control for a gradient style spray

That said.. I was considering respraying the side of my TZ (gradients of red and yellow) and would have felt quite comfortable doing it with the cheap brush I have. Would have been interesting to see how that worked, but... sold it now.
 
I guess I'm just used to using decent ones as I use em a lot. With acrylics they seem to clog up and ur forever having to adjust em so prob y you haven't had issues
 
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