I have the money to buy a decently priced one.
I know nothing about them and would like to get some feed back from customizers who use them.

1. Can you use regular acrylics in them?
2. Where did you buy yours.
3. What is the maintenance like on them.
4. 1 to 10 how better is the quality compared to hand painting.
5. What extras do you recommend getting with it?

If you have pictures of your air brushes and your air brushed ponies I would LOVE to see them!!

Have a fantastic day all <3

1. Can you use regular acrylics in them?
You can, but you need to water them down to about the consistency of milk.

2. Where did you buy yours.
Harbor Freight, both of mine came from there and the current one I'm using works well for the price

3. What is the maintenance like on them.
They do need to be cleaned every now and then, depending on the type of air brush. Mine generally just needs water sprayed through (that is if the pain isn't too badly clogging it) till I really do need to take it apart to clean it.

4. 1 to 10 how better is the quality compared to hand painting.
For full body repaints I'd recommend the an airbrush, no brush streaks. It also makes gradients a whole lot easier! I really can't give a rating XD

5. What extras do you recommend getting with it?
Have spare jars for paint (esp. if you accidentally drop a glass jar on the floor/ground x.x) as well as q-tips to help with clearing paint off the airbrush tip (just something I do but really it shouldn't be too much needed). Get an air compressor for it, canned air doesn't always do well :|

Awesomeness!
There is a Harbor Freight in my town!!
Thank you so much.

Have you picked out a brush yet?

I started with a super cheap, $20 Badger I bought at Michaels. It was so bad and hard to use, I'm surprised I stuck with airbrushing. I eventually upgraded to a Badger Crescendo because I had a great coupon. Every once in a while, Michaels has a 50 or 60% off coupon, which makes this brush very affordable for a beginner. When I bought a brush for my BFF who's just starting out, I bought a Crescendo.

The Crescendo is a bottom-feed brush, which means the paint gets pulled up from a bottle below the brush. These kinds of brushes get clogged more often, although they don't bother me as I've very used to working with them. The opposite is a gravity feed, with the paint on top. I don't recommend them for beginners, but I own an Iwata BCS and an Iwata Micron. They are fantastic brushes, but a big investment if you don't know if you're going to stick with airbrushing.

I use Golden Acrylics mixed with Pearl Ex pigments to paint and water them down. I paint a lot and one tube of paint will usually last a few years. I've never had to buy a replacement tub of Pearl Ex. They last forever.

Spare bottles for paint and a compressor are a must. If you can, look for an airbrush with variable pressure, although I don't have one myself. I also have a bunch of those little brushes to clean braces to get blockages out.

I have a MLP I just finished with an airbrush, but it's a gift and I'm paranoid the receiver will see it if I post it here. But these guys are all airbrush, plus the gal in my avatar:

Wow! Wow! Twosfishes those are incredible! I am jealous of your level of detail!

I have been wanting to try the Pearlex (not to hijack your thread Whoa) what do you use for the binding agent? Water? And do they clog more than traditional paints?


1. Can you use regular acrylics in them? You can, if they are watered down. I use only createx airbrush acrylics now as they are so much easier to use.
2. Where did you buy yours. Hobby Lobby, coupons rock.
3. What is the maintenance like on them. Fairly intense, imo. To really have much control you have to practice a good bit and clean them well regularly. Each airbrushing session takes me about 15-20 minutes to clean up the brush and once every week or so I do a deep clean. "Clean enough" leads to clogs.
4. 1 to 10 how better is the quality compared to hand painting. 10. Airbrushing is so smooth and fast! I adore it, even with its challenges.
5. What extras do you recommend getting with it? A good compressor! One with adjustable pressure. Air cans are pricey and they don't work well at all. (imo)

6. (lol) Expect a learning curve! Airbrushes are much more technical and require learning how to use and care for them. You have to stick with it and find what works for you. They often have a lot of pieces that are customizable (needles, caps, values, etc.).

Hope this helps a little.

Thank you both!
I haven't purchased one just yet, but you guys have me super excited to start!
Going to Michaels and Harbor Freight today!!
twofishies, your customs are absolutely beautiful!!! <3<3

I soooo miss Hobby Lobby! We don't have them up here.

Colorscapesart wrote:

Wow! Wow! Twosfishes those are incredible! I am jealous of your level of detail! I have been wanting to try the Pearlex (not to hijack your thread Whoa) what do you use for the binding agent? Water? And do they clog more than traditional paints?

I actually have to laugh at myself here but I noticed the horses I posted were some of the few I didn't use Pearl Ex for. Here is a couple I did use Pearl Ex on:





I've been using them to punch up the look of acrylics on realistic colors. In the world of realistic customs, oil paint is very "in" but I don't like to use it. I use Pearl Ex to fake it. The first few layers are often very metallic and the top layer have no Pearl Ex at all. When I finish a paint job, I spray with it with Testors Dullcoat to further dial back the metallic look. On the other hand, I can spray with Glosscoat instead and play up the metallic-ness (green guy).

Pearl Ex is really, really potent stuff. For realistic colors, I use just the teeny tiniest pinch of it mixed in with my usual acrylics to get a little shine. But I can use more to get a true metallic-looking color. The Pearl Ex is so strong that it will dominate the color of the paint you mix it with. If I want to paint gold, I may mix it with a matte Mars Yellow or Yellow Ochre as a base. The Kelpie (green guy) above was an cheap green acrylic mixed with Spring Green Pearl Ex and shaded with matte black over that. I dusted it (dry) onto the water base as well and sealed it with Glosscoat.

You can mix them with a water-downed acrylic to run them through an airbrush. The pigment is so fine that it doesn't clog, but it can shorten the shelf life of the mixed paint. It can get a little gloopy in the bottom of the bottle if you're not shaking or using it every few weeks. I usually won't risk running a paint with Pearl Ex through my airbrush if I haven't used the paint in 6 months or so.

I just wanted to add that I'm happy to be here. Breyer/resin/realistic model horse people can be a little too serious with their work. Y'all are way more fun.