Beginner air brush set up.. what'd you all start on?

I'm looking to be able to do air brush accents for body art, and air brush stencil tattoos at fairs and parties.

Right now I'm looking at an Iwata Silver Jet and the Iwata Neo gun. I looked at the Neo air compressor, which seemed really good value until I noticed it shuts off after 10 minutes use. Not so great!

I know I can't run multiple brushes on a Silver jet, but I want to get started on a very limited "new toy" budget. It's not ideal, but I'm ok with having to clear the gun all the time in the short term.

What do you have and love? Or alternately, is there a system you would NOT recommend?

cheers

I use the aircompressor and airgun from temptu. The only downside is that the compressor will run a little slow if you get a bigger airgun. It works great for learning though. I use the temptu dura ink and the temptu water based ink for the face. I have two guns and my compressor runs a little slowly with the big gun but it gets the job done.

If you are going Iwata, I prefer the Eclipse to the NEO. I started with a compressor but quickly decided I prefer CO2 and use that now.

Whatever you use, try to make sure there is a .5 nozle and use that option.

My recomendation is not to necesarily buy a "System" but equipment you like and that works for YOU and one that you cna readily get replacement parts for. If you get to a place where you use your brushes a lot, it is cheaper to buy two or 3 extras that you plan to tear apart for parts, than to buy the equal number of replacement parts.

The Eclipse is a GREAT brush, though a bit deilicate (IE easy to lose pieces, break it if you are heavy handed) The Talon by Paasche is my new favorite, though I DO notice that the screw in threads leak a bit and require waxing.

Buy a ncie ultrasonic cleaner (About $300) when you can.... you will LOVE yourself for doing so as it makes cleaning easy and most important...
Never... Never.... Ever!!!! use alcohol paint in a brush you have just used water based paint in.... it will clog in seconds and you will want to throw it out the window.

Do you think an airbrush gun and compressor could ever just fall from the sky and land in my back yard?

Hey, it could happen.

But only if ya'll rub your unicorns for good luck for me...

Thanks Dean, that's really useful. i will make sure i remember the tip about ink followed by water base paint. That's exactly the kind of noob mistake i would have made. I guess maybe i need two guns to start with.

I keep looking at the eclipse and revolution. I want, just not sure i can afford atm. Especially if i need two. Everyone i know is an iwata snob... Is Paasche a good brand?

I saw the temptu battery powered one Wndrwmn. Sooo tempting for those school fairs where there's never any power!

I kept hoping an airbrush set would land in my yard too... But so far no such luck.

The only Paasche I have tried is the talon, and that was for VERY specifc reasons including that it had a .6 nozzle available. I am very pleased with it though and wiull buy more. I only use the crown cap and the .6 needle/nozzle combo though.

leapinglizards wrote:
Never... Never.... Ever!!!! use alcohol paint in a brush you have just used water based paint in.... it will clog in seconds and you will want to throw it out the window.

Side note - buy a totally SEPARATE GUN if you are going to also be using silicone based makeup. You can't really get the gun clean enough from silicone residue and you end up with massively AWFUL clogs!!!

Thanks tamarielpaints! Note taken.

I am hoping i can get away with using one gun for ink and water for now as long as I'm not doing both at the same time... Ie. one day, ink tattoos at a fair, another day, water based masquerade masks.... With a serious clean out in between. Cross fingers, coz i just spent $700nzd on a baby compressor and 1 gun. Sometimes i wish i lived in the states!

Here's the trick... if shooting water... clean it out good with water and soap and so on. Then blow it out and let it dry. Before you shoot with alcohol paint, or hybrid, fill it with 99% alcohol and run tat through it.

Then, if going from alcohol to water based... clean thoroughly, run a cup (the cup on the airbrush if using a top feed) of 99% alcohol through it at high pressure.. then let it dry, and follow it with a cup full of water before putting water based paints in. SHOULD prevent issues- your mileage may varry

Ok, so it Looks like most of the airbrush paints are hybrids rather than pure water base. I'm assuming that means they clean out of the gun with alcohol?

Looking at fab hybrid, eba vibe and Wolfe e-flow.

Inks i think the Phoenix sample pack is my best bet right now.

This is exciting and scary at the same time. If i get the wrong paints i will end up hating airbrushing... Or so i hear

Vibe is NOT a hybrid, it is water based. Wolfe E flow has both, water and hybrid- limited color choice. Graftobian FX air is Hybrid.

I recomend Vibe to learn with.... it is DREAMY!

I thought I could get away with 1 or three airbrush guns when I started airbrush whatever. but, I quickly learned that I can't deal that way. I ended up getting the zero g II for ease of use and quick color changes. The other airbrush guns drove me nuts. I now think it was my neo air + the endurance or vibe I was trying to use. In much the same way you were.... Trying it out.

I am selling my neo air if someone wants it. I use CO 2 now. I'm going to give it another chance with a different brand AB FP.

I am keeping a couple of airbrush guns for details and body painting white or black. But, if you want to try mine out and see I you like them let me know. I have a neo Iwata and a Iwata revolution.

I ended up with a Smart Jet Pro and a Revolution gun. I knew I'd want more guns after about 24 seconds, but it will have to wait until there is money. My paints that I ordered didn't arrive in time for the steampunk ball I was painting at on Saturday so I had to free hand all my masquerade masks. Freehanding machinery sucks, it all took forever, but never mind, it was a fun day and my customers were happy.

VictoriaS wrote:I thought I could get away with 1 or three airbrush guns when I started airbrush whatever. but, I quickly learned that I can't deal that way. I ended up getting the zero g II for ease of use and quick color changes. The other airbrush guns drove me nuts. I now think it was my neo air + the endurance or vibe I was trying to use. In much the same way you were.... Trying it out.

I am selling my neo air if someone wants it. I use CO 2 now. I'm going to give it another chance with a different brand AB FP.

I am keeping a couple of airbrush guns for details and body painting white or black. But, if you want to try mine out and see I you like them let me know. I have a neo Iwata and a Iwata revolution.

I can get away with 2 guns because I only use my airbrush for makeup, but if you are doing body work/temp tattoos 2 guns aren't going to fly.

I was debating an Iwata system, but I just sank a ton of money into a KETT compressor b/c I needed something more lightweight and portable.

And Dean, your tip for going from water to alcohol with a complete dry time in between is excellent...too bad I've never been able to actually do it on the job. I need to buy another airbrush gun. As long as people are praying for things to fall from the sky, can I put in a request for some cash?

I am using my zero G finally (not on jobs yet). I had never used an airbrush before, so I have nothing to compare it to but I do love this little gun. I just pop a different color bottle in when I need a color change, no cleaning, clogging and what not.

I hope someone awesome will come to my area soon teaching an airbrush class. I will be there.

the paint bottles are way more expensive though right? or do you only need to buy the connectors once and then the paints are the usual ones? Maybe that's a better way to go!

PaintedFaces wrote:the paint bottles are way more expensive though right? or do you only need to buy the connectors once and then the paints are the usual ones? Maybe that's a better way to go!

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. The empty bottles without nozzles are about 4-6 bucks each. Nozzles w/ bottles are $75-80 each I think. If you want to quick change you need a nozzle for each bottle/color you're going to use. I'm going to be testing out some new things today and tomorrow. I'll post updates. I know when I was researching it was hard to get road tested info online.

Someone was kind enough to let me know, so I'll pass it on "Hobby Lobby" carries Iwata and the 40% off coupon is accepted. Each week I've bought one since our local store only carries one a week. Eclipse bcs for $101 with hose, quick connect and bottle. YES! I scored...no shipping to boot. Now have 9 guns and it makes life easier. Looking to put together another setup for staff take to another location. Proaiir from Donna Nowak rocks and the smell all the kids say smells like bubblegum, just know when I start spraying I love the smell. Donna's new stencils coming out May 20th will be great for me since palm tree and sunsets are big sellers for us. Do hardily disagree with those who felt they could not be creative with stencils. I am having a ball, it took doing it for a while to get a feel of how to switch things out and to add teardrops from one stencil to another design. Looking forward to the summer growing in airbrush, since this new makeup works well in humid weather and on sweating bounce house faces. WARNING, airbrush is stessful, maintaining guns, at least for me...was a real learning curve...not painting...maintaining. Would love any hints...we spray alcohol thru guns at end of every event and use sonic cleaner.

Opps! Forgot to say, just last week got more BASS from forum shop and doing awesome eye designs with them for airbursh. Spray color in the eye area and then black on the animal patterns and it looks fantastic. Spray rainbow look on eye and use any of BASS and you have a great design. On ebay vendors selling "stickers" to make eye designs like this for the makeup world and now we can do it with airbrush.