Why my airbrush hates me (and visa versa)

When I first started painting model horses, like so many I started with an airbrush. I tried for years to try and make it work for me, and tried several different types of airbrushes and types of paints, but we never got along. It was a love-hate relationship... I would have LOVED for it to work, but each time I used it, I HATED it. It was early in 2007 that I pitched my airbrush into the garbage and started fresh painting by hand. And this I believe was the biggest turning point in my work.

Although I will never attempt completing a horse by airbrush again, it wasn't long before I realized that base-coating by hand took me FOREVER. So, I caved and decided to get another airbrush for base-coating purposes only. I did some research and found the Paasche H, which has an external mix and a gravity-feed cup.

For those of you who love your airbrushes... who take good care of them, and meticulously clean them after each and every use... now would be the time to look away, lest you run screaming into the night...

And with that disclaimer, here is how I keep my poor airbrush. It sits in a Windex/water solution full time, and I change the solution about twice a week. What I do is after I am done spraying, I flush it through with straight Windex to get the excess paint out, and then just set it into this cup. From the looks of it, I need to change it again....

I love the Paasche H because of the external mix. The paint never goes through the actual airbrush, and so it won't get wrecked it if you don't clean it exceptionally well (or at all...). I don't have the patience for cleaning it over and over and over (probably another reason I hand-paint). I use Windex because it keeps the paint from drying in the workings. It does dry out the rubber sealer around the tip, but that is a cheap part to replace and I've only needed to replace it once or twice in the 2 years I've had this thing. The cost of the airbrush is $65, the replacement parts (the whole mixing assembly) costs $10 to replace. I replace the mixing assembly probably once ever 4 months depending on how often I am using it and how mean I've been to it. The cost of the compressor... well... its a bit more. I got a good one for $350, and it has an automatic shutoff and a regulator. You really need between 60-90 psi to keep the paint from glopping up.

Now, I don't recommend you treat your airbrush with this much hate and disdain... but hell, if the Paasche H works through these conditions, there is NOTHING anyone else can do to it to wreck it. The Paasche H is the workhorse of all the airbrushes... and although I use it exclusively for base-coating, with a fine tip you can probably do more detail work. It saves me a lot of time and is really dependable. And, I've fired other stuff through it too, like bronze coating. I don't recommend that either. It doesn't like that. But, I've done it successfully!

So, if you are looking for a good general-use airbrush which takes a LOT of punishment, the Paasche H is the one for you!