Opinions on Aztek Airbrushes

I have an A470. Love it but also dislike it.

As an airbrush it performs very well. Easy use perfect control etc BUT

In the 8-10 years or so I have had it it has been replaced 5 times . It has failed in the same place each time., The airhose inside the body cracks and hisses after a year or two. My local agent has since said he will not replace it again as the failure is due to misuse of the airbrush and using the wrong cleaning fluids on it. I use enamels and laquars exclusively and apparantly my cleaning procedure (blowing air back through the brush) is the reason for the failure.

Also the agent says I do not clean the brush properly, paint builds up inside the body with use and as one cannot disassemble the brush one cant clean it out.

I have switched back to my Badger 100 but would dearly love to be able to use the Aztek without fear of damage

Charlie

Do a dejanews search. This question has been discussed many times-- there's lots of Pros and cons . I did the same thing when I was recently considering an Iwata purchase, and found lots of good info in old posts.....

Charlie' Go and buy a 12 bore shotgun. While there, buy a box or two of matching shells - something suitable for big game hunting should do. Put the shells into the shotgun. Put the shotgun (containing shells) into the boot (trunk for you Yanks) of your car. Go and visit your local agent. Take the gun from the boot of the car and use it to explain (with force if required) to said agent that he is a horse's arse (not an ass - that's not offensive enough) and shouldn't be selling camel dung in a Middle Eastern market place, let alone a sophisticated piece of high technology to an educated Western consumer. Explain that the paint goes nowhere near the air line or the inside of the body (that's the big selling point of Aztec airbrushes, after all) and that if he doesn't replace it, you will visit him again, with violence attatched. Suggest to him, most emphatically, that he READS THE BLOODY INSTRUCTIONS (and you can quote me here) that come with all Aztecs and that he learn something about the product he's selling. The body and the nozzles are impervious to every know type of paint thinner - guaranteed. I have put 2-pack epoxy paint through mine with no problems (except for thinning it - gotta thin it LOTS!!). Back flushing WILL NOT put paint and thinner into the airline inside the body - your agent is a horses arse!

Unless you're actually immersing the whole body into the thinner (which is

*verboten* in the instructions) nothing should ever corrode or warp. As for the paint build-up inside the area where the nozzle screws - there should be a small T-shaped reamer to clean that area out - if you haven't got one, get one and use it. I managed to push the little pin inside into the body while trying to clean it out one day (after the brush had been borrowed and left sitting full of paint) and the Aussie agent replaced it, free, even though it was my misuse. Testors' back-up service is excellent (here at least).

If all the above has no discernable effect, find another shop to deal with or just send the airbrush body straight to Testors, with a note attatched as to the local agents' resemblance to the aforementioned horses rear.

John - That said, I own an A470. When it works, it's good. When it doesn't (and there seems to be no logical explanation for the difference) it's a pain in the neck. I've just bought an Iwata and it is the sweetest piece of kit I have ever used - worth every cent I paid for it. The only drawback is that it doesn't do wide areas, but I'm buying a Passche for that, real soon now.

RobG (the Aussie one)

I bought the "cheap" Aztek sold by Testors in 1995 and have been completely satisfied with it. I don't actually do much modelling (but I do some) and have found it very easy to use and clean. The variety of tips you can buy is a good thing too because I've found that the tips for acrylics clog a lot less than the regular (enamel?) tips when using acrylics. You can also get different coverages with different tips. The "cheap" Aztek I have won't do fine lines, but I can live with that for now. I'm just working on my basic airbrush painting skills and the Aztek fits this requirement just fine.

Martin

I'm a former A430 user. It was ok; used it about eight months. The body was replaced once due to paint leaking into the main housing. The replacement performed well until the trigger began sticking, and I clean my brushes thoroughly after each use. I'm currently using a Paasche VL and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Cheers,

I have a Paasche VL right now and have overall been happy with it, but there are times when everything is clean and the needle wants to stick. It just gets frustrating when I have to totally disassemble the entire airbrush to clean it. Maybe I'll just spring for some new needles and tips for the thing.

I've gone through a couple of them - Most basic ("spray gun") A220 - crude but effective for large single color areas. Single action - picked up for $20, perhaps, at WalMart. Only thing I've had leak from the body, replaced free. Basic dual action - looks like the A320, but plastic, another WalMart - hated it. WAY too loose of a trigger. A470 - Love this one. I've had it for a while now and can't complain. Started going through nozzles rather quickly when learning to clean them, but that slowed down when I figured out what I was doing...

I'm rather fond of my Iwata HP-C. It is an internal mix, double action, chrome plated with stainless parts and has a built in gravity feed color cup. By regulating air pressure and with a little spray lever control you can get some nice fine lines (worked well on some German WWII camo schemes) up to a nice broad spray like a lot of single actions. They sell a crown tip for fine line work but I've never needed it, just make sure your paint is properly thinned and the pressure is lower (around 22psi).

I have a basic single action (Aztek A220) I did use for broad color coats but with practice I've put it away and just use the HP-C now especially since it is easier to clean.

It is way easy to clean too, especially with brush cleaner followed by a little thinner to rinse that out, acrylics are even easier since it involves one less step. Color changes are simpler that way. I was working on a 1/32 Spitfire Mk I last night, spraying the gear bays, invasion strip including priming it, touching up the radiator and the little red spots over the gun ports (rosin paper covers???). That was five colors total. It took about 2-3 minutes to clean it between color changes and that was a pretty complete cleaning since some of the colors like the red and white where pretty persistent. If that helps. And now back to the show G

Scott J

Strange. I owned 4 or 5 different metal-body airbrushes before getting an Aztek, and it was the only one that's NOT a bitch to clean. All I do is empty the paint cup, wipe out the excess, then spray thinner through the airbrush until it sprays clean. I usually keep an Aztek paint bottle filled with thinner so I can just swap it onto the airbrush for flushing; the paint cup gets cleaned manually. I soak the nozzles in thinner for a while after use, and then flush them again before putting them away. I avoid dismantling the nozzles unless they're giving me problems.

I used to back-flush while cleaning, but I found that it sometimes forces thinner back into the body, which can cause problems later on, so I stopped doing that. No real need for back-flushing an Aztek anyway because the paint path is so short.

Buy 2 of them because you will need to have a spare for the number of times you have to send it back for replacement. I had to replace my A470 4 times over the course of 3 years and finally I just gave up and bought an Iwata HP-CS and have been extremely happy ever since. For some reason they develop a leak in the body around the trigger area which is impossible to fix.

For the price of the Aztek you can get a lit nicer airbrush from Dixie Art.

Kev>I considering buying an Aztek airbrush (either single or double) but I am

Well, they do have a metal version of the A470 now... :)

Ah. See, I break the brush down for each cleaning. I have the process down to about five minutes.

Cheers, David.

replacement

After I bought some latex gloves the leaks didn't bother me that much...then I woke from the dream and went out and bought a Paasche VL. Invest in a tool not a toy. Mike IPMS

Add my vote for the Paasche airbrush. I bought mine nearly 25 years ago and it's still working fine. I needed a replacement nozzle and needle and was a little worried about finding replacements. I was very pleased to find out that not only is Paasche still around, and have a useful website at

, but the model VL is still in production after all these years. I got my replacement parts quickly and inexpensively right off their web site.

Way to go, Paasche!

My Aztek airbrush is okay for painting large areas or medium-sized camouflage work, but I just can't get it to do fine-line work, even with the fine tip.

DLF

I know what you mean. I bought a Badger Anthem a couple of years ago, and I don't think I've used either of my Azteks since. Kim M

Strange how that "toy" seems to not leak and work perfectly fine here... Don't seem to need gloves, either.

Hmm.

(Strangely, I hear the same thing about Macs.... but we won't get into that here.)

Whatta you trying to do, start a huge flame war?? :-)

Bill Shuey

i like both, for different tasks.