I Bought my First Airbrush in 8 Years!

In fact, it was so cheap, I bought two of them!  Whoever said getting into the airbrush game was expensive clearly didn’t shop where I shop.

My first airbrush purchase in 8 years

So, I have a confession to make:  I rarely pay for stuff.  At least regarding airbrushes.  I got a Testor compressor 10 years ago from a friend that didn’t use his, that’s how I got started.

I bought a real airbrush, the Iwata-Medea Eclipse HP CS, shortly after.  and up until last Friday, it was the only airbrush I’ve ever bought.  Obviously, it did not last 10 year.

When I got the Iwata, total bummer, it was missing a piece.  So the company sent me another airbrush with the missing piece; A++ customer service.  Those 2 airbrushes lasted 5 years.  After that, I started attending a lot of tournaments, and won, in no order whatsoever: three Badger Patriot 105, a Sotar 20/20 and a Badger Patriot Xtreme.

I’ve bought the Badger Basic Spray Gun Set the day before leaving for a tournament because I bent the needle and needed to finish models for Jay and didn’t want to spend a fortune on an airbrush from a craft store.  It remains one of the best 34$ I’ve ever spent on a tool.  Good thing I didn’t buy an overpriced airbrush too, because I won a Patriot 105 at that tournament the very next day.

I’ve later received the compressor/airbrushes starter set that I so highly recommend from a friend quitting the hobby.  I’ve used that kit ( plus the godly Badger spray gun ) exclusively for this past year.

Now sadly, I destroyed the workhorse airbrush from the 3 in that set.

So I decided to buy a similar one ( the red one above, because red ‘uns go fasta, obviously )

Actually, I bought 2 of them.

Why buy 2 airbrush?

Ah, the real kicker of the article.  Why buy 2?

For lack of a better term, I’ll call it commitement.

Having 2 airbrushes at the same time puts your mind at ease when you are dealing with deadlines.

Wether it’s to get your stuff ready for a tournament or get a client’s model ready by the time you said would.  Having to wait 2 days for a new airbrush can put my whole operation to a grinding halt.  I don’t deal with excuses here, and I certainly don’t deal with excuses when it comes to clients – if your shit is not together, that’s on you, not on them.

So I get 2, and if one suddenly breaks down, well it’s not the end of the world, I can just switch it out until I get my backup airbrush replaced.

Money wise, it’s also a system I like.  I currently don’t have the cash to buy 2 Badger airbrushes.  This airbrush is so inexpensive, buying 2 of this model is still cheaper than buying any single airbrush from Badger ( or any brand, for that matter ).

Long term thinking, is when the first of those airbrush breaks ( because it will happen eventually, as with all airbrushes) I can get a Badger 105 Patriot Airbrush ( or another model of my choosing ) to keep until my second cheap airbrush breaks.

Then I can begin cycling through better ones, as long as I keep 2 on hand at every time.