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Badger Anthem 150 Too Much For Me?


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First, a little background on me. The last model I built was back when I was 18 years old. (Brush painted or rattle cans, etc.) I've never airbrushed anything in my life. Now, 20+ years later, I'm interested in getting back into building model aircraft. I picked up a new/unused Badger Anthem 150 (cheap) at a garage sale. I see that a lot of people recommend the Paasche H airbrush for beginners. I'm a bit intimidated by airbrushing in general and I'm wondering if this Badger Anthem 150 is more airbrush than I can handle?

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If it's the Anthem, it probably is a 155. Good beginners airbrush. I would probably prefere a gravity fed airbrush like the 105 Patriot, but if you already got it, the Anthem will work just fine.

Edited by denstore
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If it's the Anthem, it probably is a 155. Good beginners airbrush. I would probably prefere a gravity fed airbrush like the 105 Patriot, but if you already got it, the Anthem will work just fine.

Thanks, yes. It is a Badger Anthem 155. That just shows you what I know. :) This whole airbrush thing is a bit anxiety-inducing and I'm hoping it's not as complicated as I've worked myself up to believe it is.

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Thanks, yes. It is a Badger Anthem 155. That just shows you what I know. :) This whole airbrush thing is a bit anxiety-inducing and I'm hoping it's not as complicated as I've worked myself up to believe it is.

It's not complicated at all. I had a little teaching session with my sisters kids some time ago, and they learned the basics in less than an hour. In 2 hours they where about as good as me, and in three they where bored....;-)

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Get a cheap kit, or a test mule if you have a kit that did not work out too well.

The recent Pegasus kits are not expensive have decent detail and fit. Available from spruebrothers. this will allow you to do pre shading on a kit if you want to.

Not sure which paint you are using, but, you can do it. It really is a matter of practice.

Research the thinning ratios for the paint that you have(ask here I guess) for example I am using about 60-70% thinner with Tamiya Acrylic.

Experiment with distances and air pressures. The more you practice, the better off your results will be.

There is nothing that cant be fixed, so, get some paint/thinner, some quiet time and a good mask and have fun.

Edited by Av8fan
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10Sucht,

Don't sweat it. The last model that I built up until last spring was in 1962. I don't even think they had rattle-cans then. :rolleyes: I bought a Paasche VL at the LHS and was up and running with a couple hours practice (and a lot of help from the great folks on ARC). You will do just fine. :thumbsup: Just take it slow and don't work on a decent kit until you feel you are ready. Good luck and don't be afraid to ask for help.

Don

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I have a 5-gallon pancake compressor with a moisture trap mounted to my bench. I run a hose from the moisture trap to my airbrush. I have a 1/48 scale P-51 Mustang from Revell that is kind of junky. I used a razor saw and altered the wings for a swept back look. I took the props off the nose and I'm making it into a jet-like "what-if" aircraft. I'll use this as my test subject for painting and other techniques. I won't feel bad if I mess up.

One of my biggest problems is that I don't ease into anything and I tend to overwhelm myself immediately. Patience isn't my forte, which is why I've gotten back into modeling. I'm hoping to improve my lack of patience. Even if it is by a marginal amount.

As for paint, 70% of what I have is Tamiya and the other 30% is Poly Scale.

Edited by 10Sucht
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I have a 5-gallon pancake compressor with a moisture trap mounted to my bench. I run a hose from the moisture trap to my airbrush. I have a 1/48 scale P-51 Mustang from Revell that is kind of junky. I used a razor saw and altered the wings for a swept back look. I took the props off the nose and I'm making it into a jet-like "what-if" aircraft. I'll use this as my test subject for painting and other techniques. I won't feel bad if I mess up.

One of my biggest problems is that I don't ease into anything and I tend to overwhelm myself immediately. Patience isn't my forte, which is why I've gotten back into modeling. I'm hoping to improve my lack of patience. Even if it is by a marginal amount.

As for paint, 70% of what I have is Tamiya and the other 30% is Poly Scale.

Start with something quite easy. I would say that one of the best possible starter objects is a tank. Since this is ARC, people might argue, but few colours are as forgiving as olive drab, and doing dirt and dust with the airbrush is pure fun!

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And patience has to be a virtue. If you pick up anything, and expect to be an expert at it...you'll find quickly with that mindset that you're never really good at anything. That being said, I started back up in Jan, and bought a Badger 105 Patriot in March. It was a bit frustrating for me, and for the longest time I couldn't understand why I wasn't consistently getting steady results. Well, Badger told me to send it in for them to take a look. Seeing as how I didn't want to be without an airbrush that long I took a stab at the 100-1...also from Badger to have as a secondary while mine was in the shop.

When it showed up I didn't like it at all at first. Felt more like a heavy sharpie marker than an airbrush. But I quickly discovered that I had way more control over it, and could do the things that I'd been wanting to achieve with my 105 all along.

On a good note, there WAS issues with my Patriot, and the folks fixed it and sent it back free of charge. However, once I got it back, it felt like it was clunky in my hands, and no matter how low I went on pressure it still seemed like it was too much coming out to control the finesse that I had been able to achieve with the 100-1. So I use both of them for different purposes now. I'll do base coats and gloss / clear coats through the patriot, and the 100-1 for pretty much the rest, just because I like the control that I have over it. However...it does still take time, and a steady hand/eye participation. Give it time, and don't jump in to anything too complex at first. Give your brain a chance to absorb the easy before you try to paint four scheme camo shots.

And as for pre-shading..it's a matter of preference. No doubt, it's GREAT training for the airbrush, but the effect itself is kinda so-so. I found that I have much more artistic license achieving post-shading, and pre shading seems to be a lot of wasted work. But that's simply my opinion on it. Other's have great success with it, so to each their own. There is no right or wrong way...only prefered methods.

Give all of this a little time, and as Don Wheeler (our resident airbrush guru here on ARC) told me....try using food coloring in water and paint the comics in the newspaper. That will give you a feel for how your brush responds, and you'll learn control.

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The Porter Cable air compressor that I have has an air regulator that controls two ports. I leave that regulator set for general duties (nail guns, filling tires, etc.) I have another regulator mounted to the side of my bench dedicated for airbrush use. I have an air line leading from the compressor to the bench-mounted regulator. Maybe it's overkill... I'm hoping to practice with my airbrush this weekend. I have large sheets of paper to practice lines and such. Comics in the newspaper is a great idea!

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is the exact airbrush I bought when I re-entered the hobby some 5 years ago. Before that I had a single action badger as a kid. The 155 is a kind of a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. You can do broad coverage and some detail work. I actually did some nice pre and post shading with it.

Definitely a great beginner brush.

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Way back when, I went from a Testors plastic special to the Badger 150, it took sometime but I got good with it. I still have it and I bought a 200 to go with it that I havent used yet, it seems clunky by comparison to the 150 to me. And now I have to start over and re-learn everything since I've been out of the hobby for so long, but I look forward to it.

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