Airbrush dreams

I have always wanted an airbrush.  Not sure why, it just seemed like a really cool tool to paint things with.  Perhaps it was looking at airbrush art and not seeing any brush strokes or colour transition lines that influenced me.

My first attempt at buying an airbrush was a total failure.  I, like many others got conned by the cheap no-name brand single action airbrushes sold in hobby stores that use air cans.  It came in a little kit with two bottles, air line, etc for $30.  Bargain I thought.  No.  The little cans of compressed air are terrible value (around $20 each) and hell to use.  The air pressure is all over the place and you are limited to quite short bursts.  But the biggest issue was the airbrush itself.  The needle wasn't aligned properly with the airflow so the paint splattered everywhere.  The cheap plastic body of the airbrush was warped and twisted.  At that time I was using enamel paint to test which in hindsight made things harder.  After a few tries the kit got packed up and the dream was lost.

A few years later my father gave me his old (probably around 25 years old now) Paasche model H single action brush.  He use to use it for spraying stain on leather work.  It comes with a air hose with a 1/4 inch connector which didn't connect to the little air can I had so it just sat in the cupboard for awhile.  I could have purchased a large garage type compressor but given the terrible results I had previously and space restrictions I didn't seriously consider this an option.

Then one day at my local game store someone was using a small air compressor which didn't look like the normal $300+ ones I had seen for sale in Hobbyco.  That got me all inspired to have another look at the Paasche airbrush.  This was when I discovered that the cheap airbrush kit came with a 1/4 inch to air car connector so I could actually use the Paasche (via two air lines connected back to back).  Yes, I just hadn't looked at things the right way first time round.  So five minutes later I did a test spray and it worked.  Paint was sprayed, not splattered and everything was working like it should.  To reduce the complexity further I also purchased a pot of Vallejo air colour as that paint range is already at the correct consistency for using in an airbrush.  Everything was smiles.  However after 10 minutes the air can was done.  But my faith was restored and I knew I wanted to try airbrushing properly.

Not willing to spend $300+ on a hobby air compressor or $20 on each air can I did what all people do and checked out ebay.  Pretty soon I found that 1/6 hp air compressors with and without air tanks were everywhere and quite cheap (under $100).  Also all the extra bits (air lines, cleaning gear, pipettes, quick connectors, etc) were available too.  In addition the metric system seems to have skipped airbrush land and everything is still imperial.

1/6 hp compressor with 3L tank

For the compressor I wanted one with an air tank.  Having an air tank reduces the pulsation in the air line when the motor is running and thus you get a smoother flow of air.  The standard model with a 1/6hp motor had a 3 litre tank and also had regulator attached.  The motor was the same between those with an air tank and those without.  Some of the air compressors have some sheet metal around them which I suspect is an attempt at noise shielding.  Since I was going to do any spraying in the shed this wasn't much of an issue.  From the same supplier I also purchased a 10ft 1/8 inch female to 1/8 inch female air line and some cleaning brushes.  Three days later there was a knock on the door from the courier and I was in business.

10ft 1/8 female to female air line