Badger, 360 Dual Action Airbrush

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"And now for something completely different..."

Ok That's maybe just a slight exaggeration. But I knew I was on to something different when I got a chance to review (and play with) a Badger 360 Dual Action airbrush. The "360" comes from the fact that you can rotate the front nozzle so it functions as gravity, side, or bottom feed airbrush. You essentially get 3 airbrushes in one. This means you don't have to buy x number of brushes to get the advantages that each different style of brush offers.

Now that I've got your attention, read on...

Here are some close-up shots of the brush.

Here the nozzle is rotated to the side.

The nozzle is now rotated so it feeds from the bottom.

Like the Model 200 hundred the 360 is also solidly built. There's enough tension built into the rotating nozzle that once you rotate it to a certain position you can feel confident that it will stay in place (at least I didn't have any problems with it). Being a dual action brush there's a few more parts to it.

Here is a picture of the brush completely disassembled.

Here's how to put it back together.

This is the locking nut that holds the needle in place.

This is the needle tube and tube shank assembly. Note that the needle tube and shank are flattened on one side for proper positioning.

The trigger assembly is bit trickier to put back together than the Model 200. There are two parts: the trigger and the back lever. The back lever needs to be seated in the slot and resting against the trigger for it to work properly. These next few shots show how to put it in.

Here you need to be careful when putting in the tube shank assembly because the trigger and back lever keep wanting to fall out or move out of position.

Now you can put the needle back in.

Once the needle is all the way in tighten the nut to lock it in place. After than you can put the handle back on.

Ok. So what's the big deal with dual action airbrushs. Unlike a single action airbrush, you can control the amount of air, the volume of paint, and the size of the spray pattern on the fly by pulling back on the trigger as you press down on it. With the single action airbrush, you'd need to stop what you're doing to adjust the size of the spray pattern. With a dual action brush you have much more control over what you're doing. The trigger in its' "default" position(all the way forward) will give you the smallest spray pattern. You can adjust the size of the default spray pattern by loosening the locking nut, pulling the needle out a bit, and the re-tightening the nut. This will give you a larger starting spray pattern.

These next series of frames I lifted from a video I shot will give you and idea of what I'm talking about.

The top line of paint shows how I was able to adjust the size of the spray pattern as I pulled back on the trigger. The line below it shows how I screwed up on my first attempt (kids, don't let this happen to you...<G>)

In these next these next two images I have the trigger in the default position (all the way forward). This way I get a small pattern and low volume of paint so I can easily paint in the crevice between the grain silos.

In this shot I'm pulling back on the trigger so I can increase the volume of paint and size of spray pattern to cover a wider area.

I don't need to stop what I'm doing to make any adjustments. Me thinks that's pretty slick.

The Badger 360 gave me smooth introduction to the world of dual action airbrushes and I think you'll have the same experience as well. The ability to rotate the nozzle is a plus for those who have tight budgets.

The video of this airbrushing session is available on YouTube.