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I thought I would share my experience of my "new" Badger Patriot 105 airbrush for other Frater considering investing in a set up and see what other more veteran hobbyist have to say on my thoughts. The intent isn't to complain, but to explain the situation and see if others have experienced similar, as well as be a heads up for those considering., I had been waiting to buy an airbrush set up for a while now and earlier in the year Amazon ran a discount on the TC910 compressor which was my sign as to take the plunge! Annoyingly at the time Michael's wasn't running one of their 40-50% discounts so I also purchased my Badger airbrush through Amazon too. (Note: I regularly do shopping online and generally do my research on these kind of large purchase) The compressor arrived and was expected in new packaging and pristine as you would expect. The airbrush however did not seem as "clean" parts of it seemed tarnished, however I figured it may have just been slow moving stock for the people who fulfilled the order, hence the discount vs retail. The order was fulfilled by ToolTopia, which seems to generally specialise in auto. (A quick search of my purchase would appear that ToolTopia no longer offer them on Amazon.) Not knowing what to expect and given the many glowing reviews of the Patriot I just accepted it and carried on. Also given it is not clear what comes in each Patriot package mine was delivered with hoses, which meant a trip to Michael's anyway and the total count being similar to what I would have spent there with one of their regular discounts. After a few sessions of using the brush with GW, Vallejo and Badger paints and primers I started to get a bit frustrated. I struggled to mimic many of the videos and blogs I had read. Despite using various combinations of thinner, flow-aid and pressures my airflow was fairly sporadic. Last night I did some more research and watched a few videos, particularly those on tearing down the Patriot. I noticed a somethings as a result: An o-ring on the front end of the airbrush (gravity cup) was missing The tube shank (that holds the spray regulator in place) was extremely over tightened when I went to unscrew it The spring screw that adjusts the trigger pressure was wound all the way (I may have possibly been the culprit on this one) Without having anything to compare it too and no visual way to confirm, the internal needle bear does seem a bit loose? To see if these were causing some of my issues Used plumbers tape behind the head assembly Didn't over tighten the shank when re-inserting it Eased off the tension on the trigger to give a lighter smooth actuation I did some black base coating with some Vallejo black this morning and it was almost a different brush! The air flow was a lot more consistent and didn't splutter anywhere near as much. I used the same pressure and mixing ratios has I had previously to get some what optimal results. I have noticed others on Amazon make similar observations with the condition of the brush the received and mine did look slightly different to those reviewed on YouTube. I may consider replacing the brush all together at some point and selling this one off. However for now the minor changes above seem to have helped. Has anyone else encountered similar, or am I just crazy?