Has my Cheap Chinese airbrush died?

[garymorris6890]

Good morning all,

I am currently trying to prime a Revell 1/32 Tornado ECR using Ultimate Grey Primer and for the last couple of days I have been having issues with lack of paint from the airbrush.

I have taken the airbrush apart for cleaning and let the parts soak in Ultimate Airbrush Cleaner overnight. I did notice when cleaning the nozzle that for some reason I was able to push through a lot of, what looked like, fluff etc. Any way I reassembled this morning and tried to have another go. For the first 30 seconds all was well and the paint seemed to be going down lovely (Its a huge model) then it stopped again. Once again I stripped the old girl down and noticed that once again there were heavy deposits of some foreign object in the nozzle. This time I stripped the airbrush right down including removing the trigger and internal parts. It was then that I noticed that these were covered in grey primer all the way back (its my understanding that this should not happen).

I know its a cheap airbrush from overseas but my question really is it dead.

Thanks

[digger303]

sounds like a new needle seal is needed.

[barrythornton]

I`m currently doing a priming job with Ultimate Grey.
Did some a couple of weeks ago and had the same thing on my `spare` Asian brush . Gave the needle a wipe off with laquer thinners and all was well.
Did the same over the past few nights with an Iwata , and this time removed and cleaned the needle before putting it to bed .
There were still primer deposits on the needle , after the usual clean and flush . Primer`s good at sticking to metal as part of its job so a good clean is a price I`ll pay for such a good primer.

[NoelSmith]

Yer pays yer money. Etc. Etc.

I know this is an old thread, but there are still a lot of cheapo rubbish aifbrushes flooding the market out there.

[cor]

The foreign object thing sounds like something inside the brush is breaking down. Or your paint / thinner is contaminated

[Stokesy44]

The foreign object thing sounds like something inside the brush is breaking down. Or your paint / thinner is contaminated

Yep, I'm thinking internal seals have gone, hence the primer is all the way back along the needle.

[cor]

sounds like a new needle seal is needed.

My brush had paint all the way back along the needle to the trigger. Replaced the needle seal bushing and works fine. Good call.

[aur0ra145]

This is a bit of resurrecting an old thread. So I'll add my two cents for those landing on this several years later.

I'll offer you the idea of "Buy once, cry one." What that means is spending a bit more for quality (buy once, and crying over the price once) and end up not spending more money in the long run. Buying 5x cheap airbrushes for $30USD each is more expensive than buying one quality airbrush for $125 the first time. I would offer that as a hobby, the money involved is 'disposable.' So, waiting a little bit longer to save up will yield a more enjoyable time doing the hobby.

Airbrushes that I do recommend include Badger, Ultimate Apex and Harder & Steenbeck. Almost always I will recommend a gravity airbrush over a siphon airbrush. If anyone reading this has any questions about airbrushes, feel free to DM me.

I'll say that my 95% go to is a Ultimate Apex for nearly all applications. I occasionally use a Sotar 20/20 and a H&S Ultra, with a notable mention of the Badger 105. The main difference between all of them is the size of the needle/nozzle used on each. Which matters for the size of the subject you're painting. I'll make note, that I am not an automobile modeler (generally I do aircraft, sci-fi and armor), so I'll defer to others if they have a better recommendation for automobiles.

[digger303]

This is a bit of resurrecting an old thread. So I'll add my two cents for those landing on this several years later.

I'll offer you the idea of "Buy once, cry one." What that means is spending a bit more for quality (buy once, and crying over the price once) and end up not spending more money in the long run. Buying 5x cheap airbrushes for $30USD each is more expensive than buying one quality airbrush for $125 the first time. I would offer that as a hobby, the money involved is 'disposable.' So, waiting a little bit longer to save up will yield a more enjoyable time doing the hobby.

Airbrushes that I do recommend include Badger, Ultimate Apex and Harder & Steenbeck. Almost always I will recommend a gravity airbrush over a siphon airbrush. If anyone reading this has any questions about airbrushes, feel free to DM me.

I'll say that my 95% go to is a Ultimate Apex for nearly all applications. I occasionally use a Sotar 20/20 and a H&S Ultra, with a notable mention of the Badger 105. The main difference between all of them is the size of the needle/nozzle used on each. Which matters for the size of the subject you're painting. I'll make note, that I am not an automobile modeler (generally I do aircraft, sci-fi and armor), so I'll defer to others if they have a better recommendation for automobiles.

Ok I'm suckered back into this old thread too
I would add Mr Hobby Proconboy range to that list of AB's too and of Iwata.
Most of us will have a favourite AB workhorse, but if you need to spray a bigger or smaller subject it can be done better with a different sized AB or needle set.