Airbrush review, Iwata Medea Eclipse

Today I am reviewing the Eclipse CS from Iwata-Medea's line of art products. Having started Airbrushing with a single action brush, and then moving to dual action. Gives me the opportunity to share insight on how well Iwata stands up against Badger in terms of quality. Still, this is my second review of dual action airbrushes.

I am very excited to use this brush actually as it came so highly recommended. Iwata Medea is known for their airbrush supplies. A fellow modeler went so far as to say "if there ever was a professional airbrush system out there, Iwata is it." The Eclipse is able to be used for airbrush tanning, airbrush makeup as well as airbrush tattoos and shirts.

Out of the box the Eclipse CS from Iwata-Medea is a high quality brush, that's obvious. It is remarkably solid in design that displays absolutely no weakness. This in not a heavy brush, however the Eclipse is thicker and easier to hold then other brushes.

The Eclipse is a Gravity Fed airbrush with a 1/3 ounce paint cup and a 0.35mm needle. All rhis means is paint is fed through a 1/3 oz cup and sprays past a 0.35mm needle and nozzle combination,

I found the brush to run my favorite acrylics lightly thinned comfortably at 30psi. I found the trigger action to be smooth and steady. In the brush manual I found that 35 psi is suggested for heavy paints, like my acrylics. Also in the manual we find that 20 psi and up will work with lighter paints. An artist friend of mine suggested I use 40psi for my acrylics if you have the ability to run at 40psi, use it. I was able to create a super thin line and the largest setting creates a 2 1/2" stripe. This makes for great backdrop painting.

I was under the impression that a bottom fed brush is better, I found out otherwise. One of my biggest gripes about airbrushing is cleaning, They are so hard to clean and not only that it is hard to remember to clean the brush. I found this brush extremely easy to clean. All we did was use warm water in a bucket and submerge the brush completely and fire full throttle. This works on water based paints only mind you.

I am confident now that Iwata Medea does in fact make a top notch product. I would have no problem suggesting to my peers that the Eclipse is a very nice product that is both durable and easy to clean.

Finally I have comment about the difference of single and dual action brushes. Single action is  cheaper and smaller (in many cases) this make it hard to clean and useful for one colour before you have to disassemble clean it again. Dual actions come with dials to set spray size much like a single action brush and is much easier to clean. And also is able to use a wider variety of paints more effectively.