Master G23 vs Iwata HP-CS

[GumbaFish]

I posted this on another site as well but thought I would share my thoughts here as well in case anyone finds them useful. I know people ask about airbrush issues quite often so I thought I would post my thoughts on these two airbrushes. I purchased a Master G23 airbrush a little more than 2 years ago when I got into airbrushing. Today I received an Iwata eclipse HP-CS airbrush and gave it a test run. Granted its hard to compare 2 years to one day, but here are my thoughts so far.

 

How they come packaged

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/airbrushes1.png

 

The airbrushes themselves (Iwata HP-CS on top)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/airbrushes2.png

 

The stats

 

Master G23

Nozzle size: .3mm (.2mm and .5mm options also available)

Action: Dual-action

Mix: Internal mix

Cup: 1/3 oz gravity fed

Warranty: 1yr

Price: $49.95 (from tcp global)

 

Iwata eclipse HP-CS

Nozzle size: .35mm (.5mm option also available)

Action: Dual-action

Mix: Internal mix

Cup: 1/3 oz gravity fed

Warranty: 5yrs

Price: $110.12 (on sale now from automotivetoolsonline.com)

 

Impressions

 

Master G23

This was the brush that I started airbrushing on and had all of my growing pains with figuring out paint ratios and air pressure etc...I have used it for basecoating, preshading, and applying zenithal highlighting. Overall I was happy with the performance. It is easy to take apart and clean and for the most part did its job. It is clearly mimicked after the HP-CS and retains many of its nice features including the cutaway handle. It also has the additional feature of a stop on the back which can be adjusted to limit the ammount of pull you have on the trigger (and thus how wide your spray will be).

 

Final thoughts

It is realtively cheap, surprisingly well built for the price point, and simple to use. There are some downsides, notably the inability to source replacement parts locally if something such as a needle is damaged (which happened to me because I wasn't paying attention).

 

However, I found that sometimes I had splatter and had a difficult time doing detail work as I became more confident with the airbrush. This made me wonder if it was in part the tool...enter the Iwata.

 

Iwata eclipse HP-CS

I normally am one to buy nice tools as I have learned they are worth their value and in the end are cheaper than replacing shoddy tools that ultimately perform worse anyways. That said I bought a cheaper airbrush to start as I didn't want to make a large airbrush investment because I was unsure if I would like it. Now I recieved the HP-CS in the mail today as an upgrade to the Master, here are my initial impressions.

 

The HP-CS is notably more solid feeling than the G23 and has a bit more weight to it. The parts fit together smoother and tighter and there is less play in the trigger than the G23. While the G23 isn't poorly built I can feel the difference in build quality with the Iwata.

 

I sprayed a miniature today with the HP-CS to see how it handled doing detail work and highlights. My first impression was how different the spray felt. I am not sure I can explain it but the paint felt like it was shooting out much faster and I checked my PSI to make sure it was correct. Compared to the G23 the spray was finer, more consistant, and it seemed more forceful. This could be in part to the slightly larger needle size or just differences in construction. All in all it felt great and I was very happy with the results.

 

Upon closer inspection of the color cups I think there is a difference in their design which led to this improved performance in the Iwata. Note the pictures below (the first is the master, the second is Iwata. The Iwata's color cup is much more funel shaped whereas the Master is flat at the bottom. I think this caused my paint to funnel in better and may explain the better paint flow.

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/master.png

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/gumbafish/random/iwata.png

 

Final thoughts on both

I think the Master G23 performed better than I expected for the price and it was a good introduction into airbrushing. For the most part it did what I asked and has held up well. The Iwata definately feels nicer and I can tell the superior construction of it. I typically see them priced higher than what I quoted, but I found a nice sale online and was very happy with the service. Ultimately if you are really unsure about getting into airbrushing or will only basecoat I think the G23 is more than serviceable. If you think that you will get into it more than really an extra $60 isn't that much and I have a feeling that the Iwata will serve my needs better than the G23.

 

That said I would not have noticed these differences had I not spent a lot of time airbrushing the past few years, so if I had purchased the Iwata right away I may not have been able to appreciate the difference between the two.

 

I hope that was useful, I may add more to it including pictures of spray patterns or exploded views of components etc... if people are interested

[madscuzzy]

Clones are very common and popular due to their low price.  Support and reliability... well... it is a hit and miss.  I've had friends with their airbrush body failing at the T-joint and other problems.  A lot of the issues are with smooth airflow and control.  The science is there, but the precision is not.  After playing with the big boys like Iwata, Badger, Rich, Wave etc... it is hard to go back.  Lucky for us, Amazon has a nice trend of getting branded Airbrushed for cheap around Xmas.  Ive got a Sotar 2020, and Iwata CR and BR at $70USD each.  Yeah it is not a $20 airbrush... but honestly that is cheap as they usually go for in the hundreds.

[S.k.i.t.t.l.e]

I'm glad that you found the pricier brush better. I've been using a no-namer fron ebay for a good while now, and its been great. (Got lucky I think) I'm hoping to upgrade to a Harder and Steenbeck later this year, so it's nice to know that there is a good chance I'll notice the better quality. Nice article dude.