"Master Airbrush Issue" Topic

So I bought a cheap G44 airbrush that came with 3 different size needles and tips, 2mm, 3mm and 5mm. I figured that would give lots of flexibility in terms of projects and spray mediums. The 2mm set works just fine but the 3 and 5mm sets do not. They exhibit the symptoms of an internal air leak which is minor bubbling in the cup when airflow is started and then mad bubbling when I try to trigger paint flow. I get no paint at all.

I bought replacement tips, needles and caps for the 3 and 5mm sizes but get the same result. This leads me to believe the problem is a bad batch of o rings on the 3 and 5mm sets. If the 2mm set didn't work that would point to a bad internal seal somewhere but it works fine. What am I missing?

With my neo Iwata brush I had to adjust the "housing" by loosening it a bit to get airflow to drag the paint out. I'm not into jargon so I mean where the needle goes into the tip if that is any clearer. I had to do a google search to find a video that helped with that problem. I would never have thought that was the problem. Perhaps this may help?

I think you mean .2, .3 and .5mm tips.

The .2 tip should be fine for most miniature spraying and priming. Use the larger ones for tanks and terrain.

I assume your brush has a "dual action" control?

I may guess that the "travel" of your control doesn't pull the larger needles back far enough to open a gap for the air and paint to be released. The .2 tip works as the needle is tapered more slightly.

Make sure your control moves as far back with all the sizes of needles. This is the action that pulls the needle back to open the front of the airbrush. It sounds like the larger needles aren't backing up as much as they should. Loosening the front housing a bit as Sturmpioneer explained, should be a good work around. But I have an Iwata Eclipse. It comes with a .37mm tip which does all my bulk work and priming. I bought a .21 tip for it and it works fine without adjusting the front housing.

You just missed a good sale at Badger.

Just looked at Amazon.ca for the Master G44.

It is dual action (good) but it is only sold with a .20mm nozzle tip. At least in Canada. Perhaps the housing is milled at a taper for the .20mm tip but larger tips will not fit, for reasons explained above.

The observed bubbling is the air not allowed to escape from the front and backs up into the gravity feed cup. I still think your airbrush as only designed for the smaller tip. Throw the others away. You can do all but the absolute finest work with the size of needle you have.

By the way, I do bubbling on purpose to prevent clogging. Every few minutes of spraying (with self mixed paints. That's an art in itself) I'll put my finger over the front of the brush and bubble some wire in the cup. Warning: do not do that if, by doing so, you can touch the tip of the pin. This will damage your delicate tip.

Upon further examination, there is a slight flaw in the threads on the airbrush body where the air cap screws in which probably caused the problem as a couple of wraps of Teflon plumber's tape seems to have resolved it.

Thanks for the advice.

Ya, I think the threads are all soft metal and the guy at the factory may have stripped them assembling the unit. Can you return it?

Don't want to turn you off airbrushing this early. Oh and in that case, don't throw away the bigger pins……just yet

Actually I have an Iwata HP B+ and Revolution CR that that meet my needs and work flawlessly for the most part. I was just looking for a back up.

Ok so hope you are sorted.