[TOOLS] Airbrush Question

Yo, airbrush painting list-ites....

Since the advice on the Dremel was so good, I'm gonna ask an airbrush
question. I've been eyeing a paasche airbrush (well a number of them)
and I
asked the list about airbrushes and got convinced double-action is the
way
to go. But there seem to be 7 or 8 double action airbrushes in the
paasche
line which.... I have a hard time telling the difference between!

Why would I want integral mix siphon feed as opposed to gravity feed? Do
I
need to get one with both? 

There seem to be 4 types of brush....

AB - Goes from hairline to 3/4" - used for photoretouching, brutally
expensive
V series #1 - 1/64" to 1" (light fluids?)
V series #3 - 1/32" to 1-1/4" (medium fluids?)
V series #5 - 1/16" to 1-1/2" (heavy fluids?)

Which weight do I want to get? My first instinct is to say "The finer
the
better!" but I get the impression this has to do with paint grades
usable in
the brush too... which is to say that if I plan to used thinned tamiya
or
??? (the AD&D paints) acrylics... I might have problems with a light
fluids
brush yes? I assume with inks it wouldn't matter, and if you use
metallic
paints with suspended particulates, you probably require a medium or
heavy
fluid brush. But I also assume the finer the lines you can do for
painting
on small minis, the better. 

I've also heard of heads that let you do special effects like spatters
which
might make ambush scheme painting on vehicles much easier - anyone tried
them? 

How big of a paint jar is minimum useful size to paint with for your
average
platoon of 25mm infantry or a couple of 25mm vehicles? Do I need or want
the
bigger paint containers?

I also see some of the size #3 and #5 airbrushes have some sort of easy
clean nib/tip/needle/whatever that supposedly makes cleaning it a simple
task. And they seem to have a special open handle to allow quick
clog-clearing blasts to be issued. But none of these features is
available
on the smallest two brush sizes for some reason.

So, thoughts? You can email me off list if you don't want to eat list
bandwidth. I plan to have one of these either under the tree or inbound
at
Xmas.... I just want to have more info before deciding. 

------------------------------------------
Thomas R. S. Barclay
Voice: (613) 722-3232 ext 349
e-mail: tomb@bitheads.com

Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies.

Voltaire (1694-1778), on his death bed in response to a priest asking
that
he renounce Satan.
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