importance of needle size?

[ceecrb1]

I've found a decent supplier of iwata very near me, so after looking at the SMAU videos... i've decided on treating myself to a new brush...

My question is this:
If the eclipse hp cs comes with a 0.3mm needle,
and the revolution cr comes with a 0.5mm needle....

what differences will this have on my normal day to day routine of painting with tamiya paints?

This store also has the H&S Ultra with a 0.2mm needle, but far cheaper (on sale).... is the 0.2mm too fine? or would I get a good deal if I got his one?

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Really depends on what you are going to use the airbrush for.

The Ultra is a good AB, and a decent size needle which will give you some fine patterns, as long as your paint is thinned properly and your air pressure is set well. But with the .2mm needle, you aren't going to be painting large areas fast.

The Iwata with the .3mm, is going to be able to paint larger areas faster, but maybe not as fine detail as the Ultra as it is a bigger needle, the .5mm Iwata...well it is a bigger needle, so again, going to make putting down base coats a snap....but I wouldn't want to try to freehand some camo with it.

 

[ShutterAce]

I have an Eclipse and a Revolution for just the reason Scott describes. it would have taken me forever to paint my 1/48 FW200 with the Revolution. 8)

 

[ceecrb1]

so I can pretty much assume that going with a 0.3mm is more "run of the mill" general/medium/all-round?

at 127€ its not that bad a price for the eclipse.

 

[sunsanvil]

The way I look at it, with a fine assembly the worst that can happen is it takes longer to base coat something large, whereas with a large assembly it will be impractical, or at very lease quite difficult, to do fine/detail work, so if picking a single gun I'd er on the side of finesse.

How does the price of an Evolution 2-in-1 compare?

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Evolution 2n1 runs about $195 Canadian through me. You get the best of both worlds, a 0.4mm needle for large jobs and a 0.2mm needle for fine work.

 

[JMac]

I've got two Iwata Revolutions (a BCR and a CR). Biggest thing I've painted is 1:48 scale WW2 aircraft, and I think the Revolutions with the 0.5mm needles are pretty good as a general purpose airbrush. My Badger Velocity has a 0.21mm needle, and although it can lay down a finer line, it's more susceptible to the paints drying on the needle and clogging the nozzel, just because everything is so much smaller. I tend to use my Iwata CR workhorse the most - because I'm used to it and most of the time I'm painting masked subjects, so a 0.5mm needle that sprays a "fine" (I've never measured it but maybe 1 mm or slightly larger width) line - is good enough for me. As I'm planning/practicing to do more free hand work in the future, I'll likely start using the Velocity more and more. Using the Iwata CR for the base coats and the Badger Velocity for the camo.

I do like the idea of the Evolution however, buy one airbrush get it with two needles =

Somebody else has already mentioned thinned paints and needle size (with a smaller needle use less viscous paints). Also I tend to have better success with faster drying paints / products if I use a larger needle. I'm just mentioning this as a side note; I could not get the (unthinned) Vallejo Flat Varnish to spray properly through my Velocity, but it worked great through my CR.


Just my two cents (and I'm by no measure an expert).