Thankful For Small Blessings

Shock news! The shonky airbrush supplies company I ordered a Badger Sotar 20-20 from way back in January have finally broken down and sent me an airbrush.

Not the version I actually ordered, mind — I ordered the Fine needle/tip, and they sent me a Medium — but at this point I'm prepared to call it a partial victory and just close the book.

Somehow I don't think I'll be doing business with Midwest Airbrush Supply again any time soon. Maybe this is an indication they're getting their act together, maybe it's because I demanded a refund, or maybe it's just a response to the fact that I was making my displeasure known across a range of internet platforms where airbrushery types hung out. I don't know, and at this point I don't much care.

I do have to say, even though they sent me the wrong version, the Sotar 20-20 is a stunningly fantastic airbrush. I'm almost afraid to use it, it's so gorgeous. The finish on all the parts is beautiful, and the action is the smoothest I've ever felt on an airbrush.

I shall have to put some paint through it and see how it sprays.

I knocked up a stand to fit it in Blender.

The STL can be got at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3205896

Here's the very first output from the Sotar, with its Medium tip and needle set installed. this is all freehand airbrushing, no masking. The model is a Zvezda 1/100 scale Jagdtiger, it's about 70mm long (not including the gun barrel).

Badger 105 Patriot - review

I took an opportunity to get myself another airbrush from Chicago Airbrush Supply (no longer in business, alas), an airbrush I've wanted for a while now, the Badger 105 Patriot. It was on special at CAS, and thanks to one of their periodic holiday vouchers I got it even cheaper. So, score! It got here very promptly too — just five days from ordering to appearing on my doorstep here in New Zealand.

The stand doesn't come with the airbrush. That's a soldering-iron stand.

 It's a double-action gravity feed brush with an integral paint cup. It also comes with a plastic push-on cap for the paint cup, for those who are likely to be moving the brush around a lot while they're painting, though that's not likely to be much of an issue for me.

It's roughly equivalent to the Paasche Talon I bought a while ago, but so far I'm finding it superior in almost every way. The machining of the components is excellent, the action of the trigger is smooth and easy, and the open tip makes it easy to get in very close without back-scattering air and paint from the painted surface into the tip cup. The Talon uses a skeleton tip shroud to achieve the same thing, and that does work OK, but I still found myself having to be very careful about the amount of air and paint I put through in close-up work. The cup of the Badger has a lower profile than that of the Paasche, so it interferes less with one's sight-line while working in close — for my purposes, it could be even lower. The weight and balance in the hand is very nice, and the skeleton back-cap gives instant access to the needle for pre-set paint flow adjustments and the like. Plus, for maintenance, you can dismount the needle without having to disassemble the whole brush, which is a bonus.

I've added a converter to this airbrush's valve stem so that I can use it on my Paasche hose.

Speaking of the Badger's open tip, here it is right here. And this is one place where one has to be a bit cautious: the needle stands proud of the tip, and like all airbrush needles it's a delicate thing, easily damaged. You do need to take care not to ram it into your paint surface, or inadvertently drag it across your sleeve or anything. It is often possible to re-straighten a bent needle tip, but it's not all that easy.

When not in use, the tip is protected by a spring-fit metal cap, which you can see in the first photo. It goes on and off very smoothly, and stays on firmly. It's nice.

Badger claim this as a "universal" brush, that will paint a line from pencil-thin to broad, heavy coverage without the need for changing tips and needles. That seems to be true, up to a point. It will certainly paint a nice fine line, but I find the spray pattern to be a bit more granular than that of the 150 or 200 with XF (extra-fine) tips and needles mounted.

Overall, I like this airbrush a lot. It's very flexible, and it's easy to clean and maintain, which I appreciate a lot. I think it'll be my go-to airbrush for just about everything bar ultra-fine or super-broad painting.

Badger 250

While I'm talking about airbrushes, I suppose I should mention this in passing. It's the Badger 250, and it's really about as basic as you can get. It's not really an airbrush, but a small spray-gun.

I very seldom use it; in fact, I can't remember the last time I did. I have much better tools for the job.

I should note that Badger don't make any pretence that the 250 is anything more than what it is, and what it is is a cheap tool for spraying paint without any particular precision.

Paint flow is governed by turning the nozzle rising up from the paint reservoir. In theory, you can moderate the amount of paint being squirted out, but in practice I've found it to be pretty much either on or off. Air flow is set at the compressor.

You can pick one up for about $25, but even if you don't want to go the whole hog into airbrushing, I'd really recommend spending just a little bit more and getting a decent single-action airbrush — it will be a lot more useful to you in the long run, and it will only set you back another twenty bucks or so.

Badger 200 - first impressions

I just bought another new airbrush, as usual from Chicago Airbrush Supply, who have yet to fail me. They rock.

This time it's a Badger 200GF, a single-action gravity-feed internal-mix airbrush. I bought it with the Fine (F) head/needle, which will do lines down to less than a mllimetre thick.

Paint flow is adjusted via a knurled knob on the end of the brush, while air flow is controlled directly from the compressor's regulator.

Thus far, I've only done a quick test-sheet in watercolour on 300gsm laid paper (see below), but already I can tell that this airbrush and I are going to get along swimmingly. It's my favourite brush of all that I've tried so far, and even though it's a humble single-action, I doubt that that will often be any kind of issue.

Even at very low air pressure (I went as low as 6psi for my test-sheet) its spray is fine and even, and its lines are pretty even and regular.

The only serious problem I've noted so far is that my hands are revoltingly unsteady, so straight lines are more a matter of fluke than intention. I can't reasonably blame that on the brush though.

It cost me about $45 from Chicago Airbrush Supply, which I consider to be a very good price indeed.