Just wondering what you guys think about name brand air brushes vs cheaper, I will say I know someone that uses a lower end (master air brush) that does very nice work painting crankbaits, let me know what your thoughts on that is, thanks.

I have the Iwata Neo, the cheapest name brand airbrush.  If you buy it from Hobby Lobby you can use their 40% off coupon.  You can always print one off on their website (limit one coupon per person per day).  Using their coupons you can get an Iwata Ninja compressor and a Neo gun for around $150.  That's cheap and a name brand.

I have a badger patriot.  Its typically far less expensive than the Iwatas and generally very well regarded.

I have an in at a eclipse. A pretty good airbrush. The reasoning for getting that one was when I started out everyone said to buy a high quality. The best you can afford. But I wish I would have tried out one of those master airbrushed cause I hear good things from them. Then I would have saved some money.hah

Just wondering what you guys think about name brand air brushes vs cheaper, I will say I know someone that uses a lower end (master air brush) that does very nice work painting crankbaits, let me know what your thoughts on that is, thanks.

In my experience (which is limited to Badger Patriot, Master, and Badger Krome), the Badger airbrushes work better.  The master seemed to always get tip dry and clog regardless how thinned the paint was.  Plus it was a pain to take apart and clean.  The two Badger brushes were a lot more simple to clean.  For the most part, just run some hot water through them and they are good to go.  Depending on how many baits you plan to paint, the Master might work for you but I hated using it.

I use badger, 150 and patriot.

Love both... The patriot has the fine needle and the 150 medium.

just to try it i got the harbor junk tools and got one and tried and tried and never worked so now its in a box with all the paints some where in my house! spend the money dont waste it on "trying" becuase now if i want to try again i got to go spend the money all over again!

A Great Brush To Start With Would Be The - Iwata Eclipse HP-CS.

 

My 2 Cents

 

Mike

How well Airbrushes work depends on how well their tiny parts are machined and fitted.  In the end, you get what you pay for and among all brands, Iwata is known for its high made-in-Japan quality.  For me, a brush with a .3 to .35mm tip size is ideal for painting crankbaits.  That tip size is small enough to permit good detailing but large enough to shoot heavier pearls and flake paints.  In the Iwata line, the Revolution BR fits and is priced in the $85 range, among the least expensive Iwatas.  After all of the pros and cons of specific brushes, the truth is that airbrushing is more about the artist than the airbrush.  I've seen museum quality art done with cheap airbrushes and crap art painted with $300 brushes.  A better airbrush just makes it easier, with fewer limitations and more durability.  I've used Badger, Paashe, and Iwata brushes and they are all good workhorse brushes - but I prefer the Iwatas.  Note:  Paasche and Badger brushes often come with tip sets whose sizes are not specified beyone fine/medium/large. 

I just threw all my AB's away and ordered 2 Paasche Talons and a Iwata HP C +. The Talons come with .28, .38, and .66 so that should cover the whole spectrum. I just got tired of the inconsistency. Wife said why not spend the money up front and get something to last and work, gotta love her for that as she lets me buy anything I want and even tries to get me to buy stuff I am on the fence about.

I think the problem with the cheap airbrushes made in China is their inconsistency, both out of the box and later as you use the brush, clean it repeatedly, and need to order a replacement part.  Some guys get ones that work just fine, some are not so lucky according to the reports I've read.  Order a name brand brush and you know it will work right now and next year, and if you need it (and you probably will), you can get replacement parts for it from a variety of sources.  You really do get what you pay for and the sweet spot for quality versus cost seems to be in the $75-125 range.  More expensive brushes have smaller precision tips and various add-on features that are nice to have but not essential to good basic airbrushing results.  Tip size is critical to various art types - cartooning, graphic art, etc, etc.  There's nothing you can't do with a .3 or .35mm airbrush on a crankbait in my experience.  Bigger is too big for some details and some shading tasks.  Smaller is too small to shoot some of the flake and pearl paints that are popular on crankbaits.

I have the Iwata Neo, the cheapest name brand airbrush.  If you buy it from Hobby Lobby you can use their 40% off coupon.  You can always print one off on their website (limit one coupon per person per day).  Using their coupons you can get an Iwata Ninja compressor and a Neo gun for around $150.  That's cheap and a name brand.

Thanks for the heads up. I took the wife and a couple of those coupons and picked up 2 of the Iwata Eclipse HP-CS kits for a great price. Now I have 4 top quality ABs for all my painting needs!