Which airbrush to buy

Hi all, thinking of buying a airbrush kit and compressor. Been looking on Amazon and plenty on there to choose from.
Can anyone help!
Would compressor with a air tank be better and what's the ideal pressure needed.
The airbrush its self, which is best to buy.
One more thing, when you test your engine on air, what pressure is needed.

Im hoping someone can help.

Cheers Charlie

Hi

If you are after a small "art" gun.

Have a look at http://www.airbrushforum.org/ and custom artwork sites. You will get a better "feel" for airguns.
The usual rule holds quite true here. The more expensive the better the equipment but also needs a good understanding on how to get the best.

If you are wanting to panel spray.
Find your local automotive paint supplier. They usually have guns around £140 mark for touchup respraying. This type of gun is what I used to paint Crystal. A full blown spray gun is way too big in volume, physical size and paint flow for doing miniature engines.
http://www.autopaintsbrighton.co.uk/spray-guns-and-ancillaries-160-c.asp has some good examples.
my gun is the U-pol unit. Good fine adjustments of air and paint. Able to take quite thick, high specific gravity paints and primers. Also small enough for doing spokes.

Air compressor. The bigger tank the better. This makes the flow consistent and controllable. You also want oil free for obvious reasons and invest in a good water trap for the air line. I have 2 hoses. One all black for paint work and one with a red strip down for Oiled air tools using an inline oiler. Blow the tank down before using and I find every 60 minutes of painting or when adding more paint to the pot.

Always mix paint outside the gun in mixing cups and get the filter papers and use when filling the gun pot.

CFM Cubic Feet Per Minute is how compressors are measured. Most go to 140 to 150psi but you are spraying at 30 to 40psi with a high volume low pressure gun HVLP. The higher the CFM and tank capacity the less time the compressor motor is banging away to keep up with the air spend and the bigger the air tools it can power.

Thanks Lynn, that has opened my eyes a lot! Never thought they cost as much. I'm making a 2" Burrell so was thinking wouldn't need to spend so much. Will take a look at the websites you gave me and give it some more thought.

Charlie