Sweet deal on a airbrush


funnelfan

Member
A few weeks ago I picked up this airbrush from a local Harbor Freight Tools store for under $15;

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95810

I wanted to give it a extensive workout before I mentioned it here. But after a few weeks painting up some structures, weathering dozens of cars and a locomotive. I can honestly say it's a great airbrush and well worth the price. It's a double action, all-metal construction airbrush that is well manufactured. I modified the siphon so I can shoot straight from Poly Scale and Floquil bottles (which share the same lid with Testors line of model master paints, and the addition pack of bottles and paint siphons). The double action trigger offer very fine control over the amount of paint applied, which is a must for weathering. The airbrush has preformed great for all tasks that I've tried with it. It operates the same as the Badger or Pasche airbrush, but is much more affordable. I would also strongly recommend the 10' braided nylon airhose and a 1/4"NPT-18 quick release fitting to hook it into your air compressor. This new setup has worked wonderfully for me. I can now just slap on a Polly Scale bottle of the color I want and go to town on the model. Or custom mix a color in a Testors bottle and use that. Clean up is even easy, I just slap on a bottle of rubbing alcohol and spray until the the brush is clean and clear.
 
Very cool. It looks like a Chinese knock-off of a Pasche double action airbrush. As long as it's well built, that's a heck of a good price.
 
People on another forum pointed out it's almost a dead ringer for a Badger model 155 airbrush. I can attest that it is well built and well worth the price. The Badger equivalent is $140.
 
WOW !!!:D I'll be near a harborfrieght sometime satruday I will check it out at that price it may be worth picking up one or two and just using them for weathering and or priming thanks for the tip :D:D:D:D
 
Thanks! I think I'll order me one, my wal*mart special, Testors Aztek knock off (not the external mix one, which I have also) internal mix brush is acting up...
 
There have been several threads concerning this airbrush recently. What surprised me most about it was the quality of the finish I can get out of it. It definitely rivals my Passche and my Badger XF100.
 
Ok, while out and about I swing by harbor freight and pick up the air brush:),get home and I'm like wow:D not bad feels great light and smooth then I give it the real test...painting!! Nice flow great control gave a nice even finish.I think for the larger scales its the best bang for the buck but for N scale I found I had a wee bit of a hard time to get it down to a super fine spray this could be due to the size of the needle,being that I paint alot of black and also build plastic ships in 1:400 up to 1:550 scale I think it will work out great:D.So if your new to the hobby and want to get your feet wet you can't go wrong with this set up,just remember to make a copy of the ad before you head off to buy it:D:rolleyes::cool:
 
Thanks for the heads-up, Ted. I picked one up this weekend. I've been a Paasche guy for the past 20 years (still on my first H from back then), but at this price I had to give it a whirl.

I still need to get another hose and some quick connects next time I'm at HF and then I'll be in business. I'll have to compare my results with yours then.

Thanks again.
 
That's the hose I bought for mine. I also picked up some brass quick connects so I can easily switch between the Paasche and the HF airbrush.

So far, the HF airbrush works very well and it's easy to clean. The only thing I don't like about the airbrush is the color cup. It draws from a point above the bottom of the cup, and it's a straight shot into the airbrush. This causes problems in getting all the paint out of the cup since relying on the vacuum pressure from the airbrush leads to intermittent flow toward the last bit of paint. The straight shot from the cup to the airbrush is also uncomfortable compared to my Paasche airbrush since I have to roll the airbrush on its long axis to keep the cup level. That's not bad in and of itself, but having to untrain 20 years of painting to adapt to this airbrush has led to a couple spills.

If you don't use a color cup and instead like to bottle feed your paint, you'll have no trouble with the HF airbrush. I'm going to see about finding a replacement color cup.
 
I didn't like the design of the cup either, but have used it anyways. I was thinking about super-gluing a thin piece of plastic over the siphon hole leaving just a small opening near the bottom of the cup. A Badger cup may fit the HF airbrush as well.
 
This will be my first airbrush. Now I need a compressor.

Edit...they had a kit that has this Airbrush and a 1/5 HP compressor. Only $84, so what the hell, I picked it up too. For that price, I am hoping the quality of the Airbrush also translates to a decent compressor.
 
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I just picked up this Airbrush. After reading all the good reviews I couldnt pass it up.


You should get commision!
 
its finally starting to warm up here in NJ. im soooo hoping i can get the brush out soon and try it out with some primer first. Then get a huge drawing board just to do some practice painting, getting used to adjustments and so forth.
 
Yep' I jus' picked up one too....no longer on sale at the store so it was 19.99 but what the hey for a reasonably good working double action you can't go wrong!
Wish i had noticed the post on the air hose ,found the braided hose for my Paasche has a smaller fitting,so its off i go back to HF for that and some quick disconnects. No Biggie!
 



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