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My name is Troy, and I'm a member of Emerald City Modelers in Wichita, KS. We are part of the International Plastic Modelers' Society. Our club web page is located at home.earthlink.net/~tcdownen (just click here to go there).
...There are two flavors of airbrushes... double action and single action. In a single action airbrush you control the air flow and the paint flow using two different knobs or buttons. In the double action, you use one lever to control both air flow (how hard the airbrush blows) and the paint flow (how much paint you get coming out of the airbrush). The double action airbrush is considerably harder to use, but professionals who have the inclination to practice hard and learn, tend to like double action airbrushes. I have tried both and I tend to prefer the single action airbrush because I hate to concentrate on too many things at once (do I have enough air flow with my paint? Is there enough paint coming out of the airbrush to cover my model?).
To be honest, in painting models, you will typically want to set your airbrush to a fixed paint flow and then just push a trigger to begin releasing paint/air all at once. So single action is all you will typically want in painting models anyhow.
I am going to recommend three different airbrushes to you. You can compare them at the store or in the catalog as far as price is concerned. Also consider whether replacement parts are readily available too.
...Badger makes a good airbrush called the Model 200. ...This also has different tips for fine/med/heavy spray. However, you have to disassemble the entire airbrush to clean it up. So clean up can be a pain.
Similarly, Paasche has an excellent line of airbrushes very similar to Badger. I cannot give you a specific model number, as I do not own a Paasche. [Dixie: The Paasche H is an excellent single-action, external mix brush. Click here to see.] ...
You'll get excellent results with any of these airbrushes. You can use acrylics, enamels, lacquers, whatever, with each of them. ... You'll have to make a decision based on what you may have available to you.
Good luck! I would recommend magazines like Fine Scale Modeler which have tips on how to airbrush and what kind of airbrushes are out there, every few issues. Perhaps your public library carries FSM (mine does) in which case you can thumb back through last year's issues and read more about airbrushes and airbrushing models.
Dixie: Many modelers looking for the best quality airbrushes have also purchased Iwata airbrushes from us for this purpose. You can see these airbrushes on our General Airbrush page (Click here). Just click on any hyperlink. (Incidentally, we have noticed that many modelers have been getting double action brushes, both fixed-nozzle ("illustration") and cone (so-called "t-shirt"), especially if there is any complex painting required. (See prior page for more on that.)
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