Enamels are born to go through these airbrushes and after extensive use on well over a dozen models, there was never any sort of clogging or stoppages.

The Tr-2’s major advantage over the TR-1 is the ease with which it handles Acrylics, and in this instance Acrylic varnish. For situations that require wider coverage the TR-2 is perfect.

The Tr-1 handled Alclad like it was designed for it. The Tr-2 performed equally as well, and I was able to achieve extremely fine lines with both. 

Both airbrushes handle the primers I tried with ease, although the TR-2 does tend to get it on there a little quicker.

Fine work is also very easy, and times when I would have used a brush to touch up spots previously I now readily use the TR’s confident in the fact that I will not be ages cleaning it out afterwards.

The fine lines and shading on this 48th Tamiya Panther G were no problem for the TR-1 and with a paint to thinner ratio mixed to perfection, the Airbrush could go on for hours.

Some airbrushes have a hard time coping with extended use in situations that require intricate work but the TR’s cope easily.

The form of shading I use on my models requires a long time to do, and this used to become quite uncomfortable with the old top trigger style airbrush. 

Being that cleaning is very simple with the airbrushes, it is not long a long wait between colours.

Iwata HP TR-1 & TR-2

Trigger Action Airbrushes

Reviewed by

Jay Laverty

April 2008

To most people and airbrush is an airbrush. To a certain extent this can be true, in particular when dealing with airbrushes designed to carry out a generic type of duty. I had long used an Aztek and found this to be a very suitable airbrush for the type of modelling I was doing, however it wasn’t until I had decided to try an Iwata, that I realised airbrushes could range in quality the same way a Lada compares to a Ferrari.

I began with the TR-1 and instantly found myself very comfortable with the trigger grip as it not only offered greater control and precision, but also increased comfort, particularly when spraying large surfaces requiring extended periods of action. Boasting a .3mm aperture the TR-1 is capable of very fine line work, which greatly assists in the style of shading I use, however the maximum operational width of spraying does mean that applying varnish and primer does require more care, pressure adjustment and of course time.

Primarily working with enamels, this is of course the medium I can relate the most about with regards to qualities and the TR-1 handles them with ease. Over several projects and using different paint to thinner ratios each time, I found the airbrush more than capable of handling all but the thickest of mixtures with aplomb. I found that once I began to use less than 30% thinner, the TR-1 resisted the paint like it was spraying molasses, but this is not a limitation of the airbrush, as anything under 30% thinner is simply too thick a paint mixture for any type of airbrushing.

Lacquers obviously performed even better, as they are extremely thin to begin with, and in particular Alclad sprayed as though the TR-1 was designed specifically for it. The precision of the .3mm nozzle allowed me to create some very neat effects with various shades of Alclad without filling the room with a cloud of noxious fumes, and playing with the pressure from the compressor meant that I could cover large areas quicker, and achieve close in precision work by simply dropping the psi.

I had a bit of an adventure with the first attempt with Acrylics; however this was no fault of the robust airbrush, rather a result of my lack of practice with the medium. It had been years since I had sprayed with Acrylics and of course I was not mixing the paint properly. Once I had found the right mixture the airbrush worked easily with the medium, although I still had problems with the occasional bit of clogging. Anyone who regularly uses acrylics may not like to admit that this is an inherent problem with the medium, but then as they say the proof is in the pudding, and there has to be a reason why acrylic paint producers sell “retardants”.

  

Cleaning and maintenance is another highlight of the airbrush, as I can honestly say I have been using my TR-1 for months and have only had it apart for a thorough cleaning once. This was after an acrylic adventure, but I don’t want to start flogging a dead horse there. Normal cleaning requirements are little more than a simple flush through with thinner between colours, and at the end of an airbrushing session I have found that a blast or two of Liquid Reamer (or Spray Away, both the same sort of thing) using the blowback method, then dumping the contents of the cup out, followed with another blast and spray through are more than sufficient in the case of enamels and lacquers, with a slightly more thorough cleaning required for acrylics. Of course, carefully sliding the needle out of the back, and running it through a swatch of Kitchen Towel soaked in Liquid reamer is also a good idea to keep it free from the build-up of pigments.
Replacement parts for all Iwata airbrushes are readily available throughout the UK, or through whatever national distributor you have in your respective country, and thanks to the excellent service offered by the UK distributors in my personal experience the Iwata is an extremely logical choice for an airbrush. Without any word of a lie, I know from personal experience that service and parts when it comes to some other types of airbrush are difficult to put it mildly.

As a partner to the TR-1, the TR-2 is designed as a more “general” type of duty airbrush, sporting a .5mm nozzle and needle which allows for wider coverage than its .3mm counterpart. I did find that I was able to achieve fine lines with the TR-2 as well, and it did in fact spray primer and varnish on a much wider area with considerably more ease than the TR-1. Obviously its characteristics when working with the various mediums I covered above were identical to the TR-1, although I did notice that it was allot less prone to clogging when working with acrylics. I imagine the TR-2 is going to be the best choice for those who work in Acrylic paint. Both Airbrushes perform very well at all pressures with all types of paint.

I realise it is very easy and all well and good for someone to say that the two airbrushes compliment each other very well, and if you can afford to operate two airbrushes of this quality side by side, then I highly recommend doing so, however there is an alternative that will allow you to utilise the best of both without laying out for two separate airbrushes.

By simply applying a checklist of the qualities needed in an airbrush to both of these excellent products, they both score very highly and thus come very strongly recommended by me personally. The spraying characteristics are perfect, the durability sound, maintenance simple, and service and support are second to none. If you are looking for an airbrush that offers precision work, comfortable use, and a long and useful life (in the UK all Iwata airbrushes come with a standard 10 year warranty against parts defects) then you needn’t look any further.

I have used both of these over an extended period of time, painted dozens of models with them, and have found them to be faultless. 

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 Cammet Scale Caliber Rivet Spacer

Item CSCRS001

Reviewed by

Jay Laverty

From the "Out of the Blue" folder comes this latest release from UK based finishing specialists Cammett, the Scale Caliber Rivet Spacer. Developed to the specifications of Master Modeller extrordinaire Phil Edwards, the rivet spacer is a design that Phil has been using for quite some time, with great success. When Robin told me about this firstly over the phone, I imagined what the tool would look like, and saw the logic straight away and was thus quite anxious to get a look at it. When I did recieve the Rivet Spacer through the post though, the true genius behind it slapped me in the face, and I am deeply impressed with this tool.

 This tool is in my opinion an essential addition to the scratch-builders toolbox, and will come in very handy for any modeller who plans on or regularly adds rivet detail to a model.

 Rather than having "Teeth" on the outer edge of a metal strip, which proves to be quite awkward to use at times, these thin photo-etched metal strips have the perfectly spaced and logically measured holes in the inside of the strip which eliminates the need to constantly judge the distance between the panel line and the rivet line as there is a 1mm space ensuring that it will be very easy to ensure the rivets do not fall into the panel line, thus ruining the entire strip.

 Make no mistake I am very enthusiastic about this tool, and I very highly recommend it to everyone. With a very econmical pricetag of £7.95 for 4 different sized spacings, this tool is excellent value for money. It is not a permament tool, as it will slowly degrade as it is used through normal wear and tear, and this is very normal, however for the price it remains excellent value for money, and I personally find it very hard to put a price on precision that can be achieved so easily. Go out and get a set now.

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 Tamiya Craft Tool

Photo-Etched Bending Pliers

Item # 74067

Reviewed by

Jay Laverty

March 2008

Tools are not something I normally get very excited about, as they are are an expense that means the money cannot be spent on a plastic kit. However, all kidding aside, I tend to only spend money on tools when I am sure they are very good and will come in very useful. I have a loft full of tools that I thought would be great and were only ever used once or twice.

When I saw this set of pliers I quickly realised their potential as I have a Hold n' Fold already but there are times when a good precise fold is needed but only on a small piece of metal that would be awkward to do on the Hold n' Fold. After having a bit of a play around with them, to see what they were capable of I also realised that they would also be extremely useful when it came to holding parts whilst gluing them, and placing them on the model. 

The angled edges mean that folds can be done quickly and easily along the length of the prongs on both sides, and the tip is also angles perfectly for bending and shaping small parts.

If there is a drawback to this tool, it is the fact that it cannot be locked, and therefore constant pressure must be applied whenever excecuting a fold which leaves room for error should you lose grip or need to shift position. This also means that without a clamping ability, the tools usefulness for holding parts in place while gluing them is somewhat limited as well. However, there are plenty of tools that can do these tasks, and as this tool was not designed for those tasks, it is a little unfair to judge it by it's inability to perform them! :-D

Overall I would rate the Tamiya Photo-Etched bending pliers very highly, and would strongly recommend adding them to the toolbox of any modeller.

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