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We are considering getting a air brush and air compressor for our print workshop (Cardiff Print Workshop). My partner Red Thunder tells me that there is a weatlh of knowledge on this topic here in Singletrack World. My Partner asked me to post this question.... "The one we are thinking of getting is the Badger Airbrushe Airbrush Compressor with Air Tank and a Badger Model 350 air brush. It needs to have a good recovery and deliver acrylic to cover the flat surface of a metal plate to a 50/50 to about A2 size (42 x 60cm). It must also be easy to use and clean! https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/badger-airbrush-compressor-air-tank/ https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/badger-versatile-airbrush-set/ Would anyone be able to advise whether these would be good products or whether there are better options available? Thanks!"
It's so long since I'd thought about airbrushes that I thought you were talking about dust blowers!
I don't know specifics about those two things in particular but from a scale modelling/miniature wargaming perspective that's not an ideal airbrush. It's a single action airbrush, which is fairly basic and offers less control than a dual-action airbrush. It's got a siphon feed, which isn't good for work on small things like scale models and gaming miniatures, but is probably more suitable for larger work so that side of things depends on how you want to use it.
I personally have two moderately expensive Iwata airbrushes but in the past few years there's been an explosion of cheap but well featured airbrushes coming out of China. They've been all over Amazon at times for example. I personally don't know much about them but I do know people who have them and speak highly of them. The issues that their relative cheapness cause seem mostly to be to do with their long term robustness so it might be worth getting a dual action one of them, seeing how you find airbrushing, then considering if you want to spend more in the future.
My first airbrush was a single action siphon feed one, also from Wonderland Models and possibly also from Badger. I was using it on scale models so that's different to what you want one for, but I did not have a great time with it.
I have less to say about the compressor. It has a tank, so the compressor will cut off when the tank is full, so isn't running constantly when you're using the airbrush. Compressors can be loud, so this is a nice thing.
That is a pretty decent area to cover with an artists airbrush. The 350 is an external mix brush which, being generous, don't produce the most consistent results.
Assuming you just want to cover the panel with a single solid colour you might be better with a mini/micro spray gun.
Neo and Sparmax do a half way house between a spray gun and an airbrush. I know nothing about them and they are about 4-5 times the price of that badger but it may be worth a look.
Like jon said that's very big area for an airbrush. I'm not clear exactly what you'll be covering it <with>, ie is it lots of smaller details building up to a big area, or is it a relatively simple job of spraying which would allow a bigger gun?
If it were, say, a 40x60 panel that had to be sprayed one colour or just a couple of colours in large areas, imo that's a job for a small paint gun and fullsize compressor (doesn't need to be a massive one, my little 100 litre could do it fine). Mini gravity gun, like people use for smaller car jobs and the like. They can still handle pretty good detail too. It might seem unsubtle but if you want a consistent finish then unsubtle is good.
Or, put it a different way, airbrushes are for small areas. The question is, whether your big area is made of small areas.
Oh yeah I'd bet money that no matter what, Wonderland are an expensive way to do it. Lovely shop, not cheap.
All I can see on the OP’s post is a big white rectangle, so I can only infer from context the query, but way back in my first job in print and publishing, I used to use a DeVilbiss dual-action airbrush, without a paint cup on top, just a cutaway to put pigment into. For modelling, it’s easier to use a single action, where you can adjust the needle for pigment spread, and use the trigger for airflow, controlling both at the same time is rather tricky, and really requires quite a lot of practice to do detailed shading.
Still got the airbrush, when I finally left the company I was the only person left who even knew how to use it, I’d borrowed it to do some retouching and the company folded shortly afterwards. I ought to get a little compressor, those cans of propellant are a pain in the ass, they go frosty and lose pressure. Also, the needles are incredibly easy to damage and the nozzles get clogged and sometimes split as well.