A move up from the rattle can, ...for cheap!

Fella's,
Anyone who's into spraying there models may like to have a look at the link below. At this site you'll find a spray gun that's going for way cheap, less that 20.00can before taxes and shipping. It may get you into the front end of a spray system of some sort. Cost is in canadian funds, so you Yanks (I'm a Yank too) can save even more (approx 50% more) due to the exchange rate. Check it out if your in the market. IT may be a little limited but hey it's cheap.

Tony

http://www.princessauto.com/_osn.cfm?CTRY=CAN&output=OSN&Factor=1&Starter=193&PageSearch=ALL&CurrentPage=13

Hi Tony (You don't eat a lot of Frosties do you?) - Tony the tiger is a character used to sell a breakfast cereal in the UK!

The Badger 250 spray gun mentioned below sells here in the UK for £11 ($15).

Tony to Tony; ..come in Tony,
Tony,
Your thinking on the Badger 250 you may be selling yourself short. These do come in at a reasonable price at first glance, and may do well for trim work where over-spray is a concern, but the Italian job pictured in my post is probably better suited for laying down the overall base colors. With good masking work, trim colors are a snap also with this type of "touch-up" gun. I've got a couple of cheap "touch-gun" clones made off shore, and they do a passable job for model work, but I've ordered a pair of these units anyway, just for the hell of it, and will see how they measure up, ..price being the driving force here.

I'll give you the nod on the price of running the Badger unit over a "touch-up" gun at first glance once again, but only just. As mentioned in your own post: the Badger will drive you both crazy, and to the poor house due to the need to change out the propellant bottles. These bottles are fine for small jobs, short duration use, but even then give lack luster performance as the bottle pres. drops due to the auto-refridge nature of the beast. As the bottle pres. drops the can cools off which in turn drops the bottle pres. and thus changes your spray unit operation, ..not really consistent enough for other then very small jobs. Yes you can put the bottle in warm water put still.... Some have used the small 12-volt battery operated auto tire pumps to fill the larger portable tire inflation tanks, as a means to supply air to Badger and similar "air-brushes", but this has limits also. But, once you've bought the equipment your done buying air.

If you decide that the Badger is the way to go and are going to go with a "hobby compressor" at some time in the near future, ..do some price checking of the Badger hobby compressors and the like, (normally they come without a storage tank) versus the home improvement type low end compressors available at your local "do-it-yourself" outlet. You'll find that the Badger type units although much quieter to operate, also command wild prices. I'd guess that you'll get a 1, or 1.5 h.p. general use compressor with 25gal storage tank for the same price as many of the "hobby compressors" that are on the market. So it's your call as always. BTW: I've also got a Badger 200, and a Aztek A-470 that will never see base color duty only because they will not put out either the volume of flow, or the size of pattern that is required for most large model applications. I build plastic models too, ..that's where I use them, and "They're GREAT" (use your Tony the Tiger voice here) for this purpose.

Re: TigreST? It has it's origins related to a) Tony -my short form name, and b) the fact that I'm a Detroit Tiger baseball team fan of sorts, (good beer and hotdogs at the old Tiger Stadium). The teams performance of late may be something to be desired but... c)ST- can't be another other then Super Tigre, ..I'm a big fan of them also. So there you have it.

So: Continue your quest. Keep asking questions. Map out the intend use, and where your use may change in the future. How large an area do you, or will you need to cover, and size your equipment to those needs. Of course bottom line is what you can afford, ..it's the same for all of us. Regards, one Tony to
another.

Len,
Re: Top feeder: With this system rumor has it that air pres. can be run at reduced levels because the paint will not have to be sucked up the feed pipe to the nozzle, it just flows via gravity into the system. Lower pres may lead to less over-spray, less material waste. Adjustability, yep that may be a concern, but depends on their definition of the word. Looks like this unit will not have the "ears, airhorns" at the tip which typically will allow the paint pattern to change direction of fan, ie: vertical to horizontal. For the price I'm taking a chance, ..hey it's Italian "wots a mater wit dat:(?" Hope to have them in time for the Magnum color coats, (which are still not in the works as yet.) I hope to be able to report on the performance, or at least give an "in-box" review of the units, so stand-by. Even at the 35.00can price tag, if there good they may still be a bargain, ..that's still only about 17.00usd to the Yanks out there.

Tony.

It's listed on their website at 19.95 CDN - approx $13USD...helluva deal! BUT, if you call them they'll tell you it is $34.95 now. Apparently the "low" price was a 5 day special. Anyway, I pleaded my case and got it for $13 USD...good luck.
Jim Duda

Now you are going to have to tell us how it works. I am not so sure I want my paint sitting in a jar on top. So, what's your reaction? Also, there is no adjustment in the spray pattern. I am wondering how that works (Kind of like fixed leadouts. Fine, I guess, if you get them right with the CG.) And, does it adjust for the difference between enamel and dope, for instance? How easy is it to clean?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Leonard, et al --

The most difficult financial decisions we all make is in equipment, not kits, plans, or engines, which are essentially throways compared to the tools we have.

Buying cheap tools is a bad investment, in my mind. Buying great tools brings joy forever. I have probably spent more money than needed on my spray outfit, but it is still a relatively cheap one. Most of you have drill sets, soldering equipment, slot machines, wrenches, power panels, and other tools that suit your needs, and buying top line stuff is never a regret.

The biggest difference between an expert and others is the tools they bring to the game. Skill matters, but less than the quality of the tools.

Larry,
I'd be the first one to agree with your comments regarding quality over price. But even having said it, and believed it, I've found that some of the less pricey items still manage to do the job at hand in fine fashion. As most of us are not in the "industrial use" category, the need of the high end equipment could perhaps be backed off on just a bit. But you must live with yourself and the purchases you make to, so stick with what works for you.

Also, as you note, the end result justifies the means, ..must agree again with a rider of sorts. As Tony E. relates his finishing hardships: If he can upgrade his equipment, manual brush to low end spray, he still may be light years ahead of the manual system, and still not have broke the bank to do it. An increase in satisfaction at a job well or better done I hope would come with the new tools.

With due care and attention much of this stuff can last as long as the high end equipment. Manys the time that the new equipment user (you pick the equipment, spray, saw, lathe etc.) is disenchanted with his purchase more from a "I don't know how to use the tool" perspective, even after having spent the big bucks on the high end piece. Disenchantment leads to lack of use I would think. If you can't make it do the intended job, it might not matter how much you spent.

It's important to tap all available resources to get the in's and out's of how to use the new tools at hand. Tony E. may be currently putting on dope straight from the jar, and getting runs and thick coats and all that manual application can bring, but if he follows through with the spray system, once again he's into a new technology learning curve. "I thinned it to much, ...not enough, ....did I get the gun clean, ...why's it pink when I was spraying white (I sprayed red last night,.hmm..)

Even layout of the scheme be it simple or complex takes on a different spin. Perhaps it's wiser to get ones feet wet with the low end cash outlay, rather then jumping in with both feet first. Of course true to my nature manys the time I've been in up to my neck:o, feet never having hit water, ...dive straight in for this effect, hopefully not the shallow end. I'll give a break down on the gun when they show up here in any respects.

Looking at the info. page again, it appears that there is some sort of knob at the back end of the handle, ..I wonder if this may control paint volume flow or not. I would think that the needle would be adjustable by degree to set paint flow via trigger travel. Don't think the fan pattern can be turned though, no air-horns at the nozzle tip. We'll see. Later gents.
Tony

As far as adjusting the "pattern" goes, a lot of us use the Badger and Miller stuff and find they do an acceptable job - you get a choice: round pattern or round pattern. I'm betting you can control the volume as Tony says, which WILL be crucial.

As far as "having your paint sitting in a jar on top", I believe most pro auto painters use the gravity feed guns for touch up (small areas) as opposed to siphon feed so I don't look at that as a negative.

But, as you say, the proof will be in the results and I intend to shoot some lacquer / enamel / epoxy / acrylic paints through mine as soon as I get it. Stay tuned... Jim Duda

Fella's,
As means to see if I just blew off $40.00can on a pair of the above mentioned spray guns I went on a search mission. The link below is to the web site of the gun producer ANI of Italy. If you are having doubts about the product have a look, may be worth your while. They do not show the item in question, but the rest of the line looks to be of reasonable quality to me. Cheers.

http://www.ani.it/spraygun.htm

Tony "Macaroni Paintrony" Bagleyony (that's Italian).

Well gents,
In regards to "cheap spray equipment" I'm afraid it's bad news. Both the units I ordered arrived this morning. At first glance all appeared to be in order, and given that they are low end pieces they looked like what I had expected. Quality appeared to be above what is normal for units in this price range, but as always, the proof is in the pudding. I tried to at least spray some thinners through one of the guns, and this was successful, but with one glaring set back. There is no positive shut-off for the air supply even when the trigger is NOT in a depressed state. The air continues to flow even while you are not pulling the trigger, ...the trigger which controls paint flow only is adjustable via a knob at the rear of the gun above the handle. I tried both units and both responded in the same fashion. What ever you set for regulator air pres. is the pres, and resulting air flow that continues to pour from the tip even when spraying is not required. To stop the air flow you must back off the compressor regulator, or install some sort of control valve to isolate the supply when not needed. This is not acceptable to me, so both my guns will be going back. They state that their re-turn policy is hassle free, and if a store is near by you can return items to the store locations, as opposed to shipping back to point of mailing, ...I'll be putting this policy to the test, ..don't think there should be any trouble though. So, if you've ordered be aware of what is en-route, it may not be to your liking. Other things of note: The paint cup was of alum. make up, not plastic. and was of approx 6oz capacity not 12oz. The tip, which was stated as 1.2mm, was not, it was the .7mm tip, (parts list indicates that there are more then one size tip to fit the gun, (and the boxing pictures a unit with a tip which has the "air horns" for paint pattern control.) The spray pattern while shooting straight thinner would have been fine for trim work, striping and the like, but may have produced "tiger strip' if careful aim and overlap was not maintained while spraying larger area's, ...kinda new that going in. Regards.