Tamiya Airbrushes or something better?

What do you think about this airbrush???

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=500/216388hg_airbrush.jpg

Is there anything else that better than this?
Because there are so many airbrushes, I dont know which one is good or not. How should I select a right airbrush in a various kinds and prices?

Tamiya Airbrush are overpriced. You should get an Iwata for cheaper

But its not about the price, its about the quality...

Iwatas are top notch brushes.

Side by side, Tamiya and Iwata look praticly the same. Iwata are the best quality. I don't know why Tamiya still make Airbrush, at the price they sell them, they are totally overpriced for nothing more

Badger makes some good quality airbrushes as well. I will be investing in one later this moneth

Can I buy Iwata airbrushes in Japan?
And if I can which one is good? or best?

Iwata airbrushes are made in Japan! So I'd imagine they are readily available :dunno:
For modeling the Revolution CR is perfect, all you will ever need. Bloody marvelous airbrush.

In Japnese hobby shops there are only 2 brands available. Tamiya and Mr. Hobby.
Have you hear about Mr. Hobby airbrushes?
Anyone got it?

Confirming about Iwata... they are the best. That's the brand the artist use on motorcycle and most of the time they clear coat with Devilbiss. Not too sure about the necessity of such an airbrush for modeling though !? Badger Anthem 155 or the Universal 360 (which can be bottom feed or gravity feed... nice feature + pieces fit the Anthem too) or even the 150 is quite good for modelers and less pricy (compared to an micron from Iwata). Iwata CR is quite a good guess (price seem right) but like most of the gravity feed airbrushes, the cup are much smaller than bottom feed.

I have several airbrushes (for different purposes) and for modeling, a good single action is quite right for body spraying (I use a Badger 250 with a 3/4oz jar most of the time) and a double action for detailling... depending on the job I have to do, sometime the Badger 360 with his top feed configuration and sometime the 155... My Iwata (I have only one) is use to do fine art because of it's impressive pulverisation... I tend to spare this one for an unknown reason because I found myself with the Badger 360 in front of a white canvas more than once !! I still love my Iwata (it's a Micron so... ) !!

Mr. Hobby ??? NEVER HEARD !!! Probably a single action copied from a real company !!

If you have to chose between those two, I'd go with Tamiya... but still prefer to order another brand from those guys...

dixies (http://www.dixieart.com/)

Paasche's are good too. I use the H set single action.

Iwata Badger Paasche (in order)

Mr. Hobby airbrushes are made by Gunze Sangyo and are excellent pieces of equipment. You can find em on HLJ.

I could be wrong on this, but I believe that Tamiya airbrushes are made by Wave, which are in turn made by Iwata. Therefore, Tamiya airbrushes are Iwata airbrushes, but only with a big markup in price.

I have a "Mr. Colour" Gunze Sangyo Procon boy LWA (Double action)! It is capable of spraying 0.5mm lines as thin as a lead pencil! Great piece of equipment!!!
http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljpage.cgi?GNZPS-266
Just two concerns:

1) It is very hard to get parts, ( I had it for two years without any problems)
2) you are required to get "Mr. Joint Set for Mr. Air Hose" for other band name compressors.
http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljpage.cgi?GNZPS-241

Hope that helps.

a little off the topic, what's the difference between single and double action brushes?

*EDIT* found the answer

> vladaruz
If you are in Japan, you can't go wrong with Tamiya. You should be able to find it at pretty good price like 10-20% off easily, which makes it even better deal.
Or, check Yahoo Japan auction. That's where I got my Tamiya airbrush for 30% off.

alright, since my brush recently perished, i'll be getting a badger 155 anthem and a 250 (thank you martbee!). sounds like a good match-up to make sweet cars. i will also be accepting any and all donations to buy these airbrushes at the following address.....

Thank you for all your replies.
I still cant find a web store that sells Iwata airbrushes in Japan. So its ok of I get Tamiya airbrush?
As krebs128 posted, what is single and double action brushes?

Single action: The airbrush allow you to control the pressure you'll have at the "air tip" (in fact most of the single action are kind of on/off you push the trigger and the air flow arrives). This air will pull the paint through a straw which will be lead to a metal or plastic tip (I'll call that a "paint tip") that you can screw up or down to have a less or more paint contributing in a finner or a wider spray (this is a external mixt/bottom feed classic airbrush, there's other but will stick to this one for a start). Most of the time this is good when you want a "same larger" kind of spray. Like a body shell or a big surface to cover... or even little "air line" spray but to change the patern of the spray you'll have to turn you airbrush off and turn (screw or unscrew) the little "paint tip" or you'll have your hand pretty sticky by the end of the process !! OK, you can also bring the airbrush closer to the surface and back and "kinda" control the spray patern but it won't do what a double action will do OK?! The single action is, in my opinion, a charm to clean. They are easy to put together or in pieces because there's less piece in it. The airbrush is quite simple and will let you enjoy this art for a long time because of it's simplicity. Especialy if the "paint tip" is in metal... unlike the Aztek or Testor airbrushes(don't get me wrong here, they are good airbrushes but...). Plastic "paint tip" sometime react with solvent or paint and once the are ruined, you'll need to replace it or you'll have a fuzzy kind of spray and the airbrush will be useless.

Double action: Well... like the name said... it gives you double of the action ! At the trigger, you'll be able to control how much air (the air pressure is often more controlable than the single action) and how much paint you want at the end of the airbrush. Generaly, the Double Action will be internal mixt (it has to be?!) and controled by a slim needle in Stainless Steel and different setting of that needle. When you push the trigger straight down (in a neutral position), very little paint will be push through the "final tip" (or no paint at all depending of the setting) but a lot of air. If you're still push all the way down and pull that same trigger in your way (toward the end of the airbrush), the needle will travel and will let more paint entered the internal mixing chamber resulting in a increase of the spray area because it have the full air flow to work with. So you can play a lot more with your spray, a 50/50 mixt of air/paint, a 70/30 or a 30/70... everything is possible and every setting will give you different result. You're the "spray boss" ! Double action are the way to go when you want to change drasticaly your spray patern while you're spraying. But with all power comes great responsability and the Double action are (compare to a single action external mixt/bottom feed) a pain to clean. Beware of that little needle... it's pointy and have to be... if you give it a tortion or if you bang the tip of that needle, you'll need another one. There's a lot more pieces in a Double thant in a Single action airbrush so be carefull when putting this apart. Double action are mostly in metal and can carry a little more weight than a single action but with all the fun you'll froget this.

Hoooooooouuu man, I hope I made myself clear... reading back at this and I'm not sure !!?? :banghead:

Well, at least, when you'll have both in hand it'll be clearer and I hope you'll say..."Ok, that's what that weird guy was trying to explain !!" :disappoin

Martbee, you can't be clearer than that...

except when you talk about needle (Aztek don't have this) and different setting of needle (beside Paasche andBadger Crescendo, must of the other have a single nozzle and needle (like Iwata and Badger Anthem and 360)

Check out this link.

http://www.missing-lynx.com/reviews/other/tamair/tamair.htm

Looks like Iwata, Tamiya and Mr. Hobby are made by the same company call BB Rich. Personally I owned 2 Tamiya Airbrushes (HG Trigger and HG SF). Essentially they are equivalent to the Iwata HP-Plus series. Since I can get the Tamiya airbrush cheaper then the Iwata one (about $20 difference) so I went with the Tamiya one. As for Mr.Hobby airbrush, I only saw them when I was in Hong Kong and they looks similar to the Iwata Hi-Line series ($$$$).

Martbee, you can't be clearer than that...

except when you talk about needle (Aztek don't have this) and different setting of needle (beside Paasche andBadger Crescendo, must of the other have a single nozzle and needle (like Iwata and Badger Anthem and 360)

Did I say Aztec had needles ?? houuu, my head hurt then !

I was refering to the exchangeable spraying tip... 1 for different setting of spray patern. Well, that's the Aztec that I know... maybe there's other one out there without this configuration.

For the needle setting... well, I don't know if I want to try to explain all of it but it's that little 2 way screw that lock your needle and control the distance that the needle will travel... it can be set to travel less and is a way to control the ratio of mixt paint/air.

That's about it... hope I help somebody to do a wise choice. If not... then I'm a :loser: trying to explain something that can't be explain in my own words !!! But like I said... if you have it in front of you maybe you'll know what I'm talking about.

A last advise for those "big bucks/high quality" fan... don't settle for a cheap hose. Go for the good braided hose with a moisture trap if you can afford it...

I heard that Tamiya airbrushes are made by Iwata, so there is no difference between the two, basically.

I heard that Tamiya airbrushes are made by Iwata, so there is no difference between the two, basically.
Basicaly yeah... except the price of it !! But if you find it at a price that can compete with other brand then go ahead, I'm sure Tamiya is grade "A" quality stuff like almost all their other products.

The other thing is spare parts... you'll find Iwata all over the world (even in a little art store) and the Web... getting a Tamiya is more complicated and MrHobby even more... so think twice... 'cuz in the end, you'll be the one resolving with your approvisation problem. :2cents:

But maybe the part are so alike they all fit together ??

Think so ?? :disappoin

> vladaruz (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=216388)
Why don't you stop at Mr. Craft in Ebisu? I believe you can try using some of them.
The difference between cheap and expensive airbrushs is that the high end ones (like $150-400) are hand assembled, and hand tuned by master craftsmen, while the cheaper ones are assembled by a machine. That's why expensive ones perform so well and lasts for a very long time. My Olympos (another quality brand in Japan) is 20 years old, and shows no sign of deterioration whatsoever.