I'm currently in the process of deciding how cheap I want to buy a new tool.
I'm seriously considering buying an airbrush. I still have hundreds on unpainted miniatures lying around (mostly from a Reaper Bones kickstarter many years ago), and although I've had a few painting sessions and got some colour on some of them, there's too many of them to put a serious dent in them. But I keep reading how airbrushing can speed up the process while improving the quality. At least for primer and base coat, and once you're good and you get a really expensive airbrush, also for detail.
But even basic beginner airbrushes can cost $100 for just the airbrush, and another $100 or more for the compressor. But there are also airbrush sets with compressor included for just $25. Crap no doubt, but maybe good enough to try some basic priming? Using it might give me a better idea of what I want in an airbrush and tell me whether it's for me, or it might give me a bad experience and turn me off it completely when a more expensive one would have given me a much better experience. If I'm not sure, $25 is an easy decision to make, while $200 is serious commitment. But a bad experience for $25 might also discourage me from the better solution that would have worked for me.
A good compromise might be renting or reselling the more expensive version when you're done. I often forget about the ongoing costs of keeping a tool that I don't use all that frequently once the initial batch of work is done.
> Crap no doubt, but maybe good enough to try some basic priming?
I had a cheapo-crappo airbrush and it was definitely enough for basic priming with some zenithal highlighting. Didn't really use it for much else beyond "wash this area with paint quick" because I am old with poor fine motor control in the hands but I could imagine it would be something you could practice on to get the basics of "pull-back/push-down" triggers.
I'm seriously considering buying an airbrush. I still have hundreds on unpainted miniatures lying around (mostly from a Reaper Bones kickstarter many years ago), and although I've had a few painting sessions and got some colour on some of them, there's too many of them to put a serious dent in them. But I keep reading how airbrushing can speed up the process while improving the quality. At least for primer and base coat, and once you're good and you get a really expensive airbrush, also for detail.
But even basic beginner airbrushes can cost $100 for just the airbrush, and another $100 or more for the compressor. But there are also airbrush sets with compressor included for just $25. Crap no doubt, but maybe good enough to try some basic priming? Using it might give me a better idea of what I want in an airbrush and tell me whether it's for me, or it might give me a bad experience and turn me off it completely when a more expensive one would have given me a much better experience. If I'm not sure, $25 is an easy decision to make, while $200 is serious commitment. But a bad experience for $25 might also discourage me from the better solution that would have worked for me.