Flea Market Finds - Reviewing 2 Testors Airbrushes - How Good Do They Spray? 

I bought my son the Testor Aztek when they first came out, so he could use it to learn airbrushing. He enjoyed it and is still using it for model building. He was 8 years old when I bought it & he is now 28 years old & still model building & using it as a secondary air brush. Great review & a fun review to watch. Take care, Rick

This brings back fond memories of my first airbrush from 25 years ago. Mine was variant of the Amazing Air Airbrush. It had the same body, but had adapters for the round 1/2 oz. bottles instead of the square 1/4 oz. bottles. The adapter was a two piece affair: one piece snapped onto the airbrush body with the bottle cap threading into it. That allowed you to adjust how far the tip of the bottle’s venturi went into the air stream giving a slight bit of spray pattern control. I think I paid $10-$15 for it included with it a propellant can. I was kind of blown away by how well it actually worked and painted several models with it. Its spray pattern was wide so it would not work for free-hand camouflage so masking was in order, but it laid down a nice coat of paint. Although it is a very simple airbrush from which I subsequently graduated to more advanced Badger and Paasche airbrushes, I learned a lot about airbrushing while using it and never regretted the purchase. The $45 from Amazon is way too much money for it, but if you stumbled across one for $10-$15, it would be a great starter airbrush.

Love the content...great videos...

Just FYI, Harbor Freight no longer carries those cheap airbrush guns. I'm not sure why, but they've clearanced all of them and will no longer be selling them. Figured I'd let everybody know that used them in the past. They were great for primer.

I’ve got one of those older type Aztec airbrushes, where you snap the bottle in, and just go! I’ve had it for almost 40 years, and it’s still my favorite. I’ve bought, a Badger Creshendo, a Pashe H, and I just got a Masters trigger airbrush. But I gotta tell ya, the Aztec is still my favorite! I can change colors, and types of paint, and never look back! I’ve found that if you thin your paint correctly, it’s just down to clicking in a new bottle

I still use my old Testors Aztec air brush from over 20 years ago. I also have a Badger Creshendo. It works well, but it’s a pain to clean. Then I got a Pashe , can’t remember what model, siphon feed, and that works well too. The Aztec and Pashe are the two that I use the most

i did the same thing, little wires fell on the floor, so yes check your floor. They stick those wires inside the book so when you open the book they go flying.

Interesting, 20 or so years ago when I was getting started with scale models I bought a Testors airbrush. I believe it is the second one, never had a chance to use it as my time with the hobby became interrupted. There was info on the internet at the time but I faced a few hurdles. There was no hobby shop in town so I was limited to what Walmart stocked, and I knew Testors was a major player in scale modeling. I believe I knew enough from online research that the Testors airbrush was an entry model type versus the better brands but is was available, lower priced, and would likely be good enough for getting started. I should look in my storage boxes as I should still have the Testors airbrush.

The Testors model is at Ollie's for $19.99

wow used the second wone you reviewed when i got my son into building models 20 years ago painted a nova w/modelmaster black lacquer could not believe the results had soo much fun painting models ppg decanted spray cans you name it still have one in the pack unopened thanks love the channel scooter d😎

This is wild! I've watched a few of your videos as youtube suggested them to me, now that I've subscribed I find out you've reviewed the Aztek A270 only two weeks ago! That was my first (and still only) airbrush that I bought years ago, intending to upgrade to a nice Badger or Iwata someday. I used it for one job (colouring wooden letters for a kid's toybox) put it away and forgot all about it. Now that I'm starting to think about airbrushes again, I wanted to see if the A270 was any good in the first place, and should I keep using it. Couldn't find any decent reviews of it anywhere! Not a thing, just Testor's original ad for it, uploaded to youtube a decade ago. It's kismet or something that you uploaded this video. And watching it reminds me of the troubles I had with the airbrush - splattering, spotting, orange peel etc. - and I'm glad it wasn't just me being a noob. It makes me think I should go look at Badger's lineup right now. Also because I got two glass bottles with it but let paint dry in them, and I don't know if I still have the siphon tubes. 😳 In addition to that, even without first-hand experience of 'proper' airbrushes, the A270 feels like a tiny, light, cheap toy. The ball joints on the bottle lids cracked with very little use too.

Brand new to this, and want to use it to work on some speaker grills. Got an old Testors box, looks like it came out in 2004 or so, never used. I bought the last can of propellant that our Hobby Lobby had - they will no longer carry it. For $8. Thanks for the tips and discussion!

I bought a bunch of those Aztec air brushes from Meijer back in the late '90s when they went on sale... I think I have 6 er 7 sets.... I modified one by installing a spray tip from a Dupli-Color spray can... It works pretty good...

Thanks for reviewing the testor airbrush. I have an older version of it. I'm going to see if it still works.

Awesome little review!!! Reminds me of my Badger 250 basic. Thank You!!

The fact they work at all I actually find amazing. I mean, DEFINITELY not Harder and Steenbeck or Iwata....but heck, if it's what you can get, they will throw paint!

Can't wait to start painting mini's for D&D. Watching a ton of videos and getting a lot of good ideas for how to setup a workspace. Hopefully when I actually build mine it won't need too many adjustments. Learning so much from watching your video's. Very much appreciated.

i also bought some empty paint bottles so i can mix colors n save it ready to go for touchups.

May have to take a look at the Harbor Freight one. I never looked for air brushes there before.

Thank you so much this was a lot of information that I can use because I'm just starting out to with the airbrush

For the silvers, the 1 that stands out for me as missing is Pro-Acryl. As it's a go to paint line for me it was an easy spot.

I actually owned both of these long ago plus another version from testers. They worked well back then. The canned air was not enough for 1 kit.

Just starting airbrushing and this is great info! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

I need to get some of your panel liners

i remember buying an airbrush i think from the early 80's. it was mostly plastic and used a compressed air can. i never learned how to use it and it left me with a bad impression of airbrushes. only just last year tried again to learn. love these videos though.

Good to know. Thanks for the video 😎👍

That was fun and took my back to my first airbrush the Paasche model "F". I had one of those aerosol cans and those are definitely a waste of time and money. I'm surprised that some of these didn't come with a pump up can, but I guess they couldn't make much money that way. The model "F" is like a baby "H" and it worked great for what it is. To be honest if I could get a few "new" different sized needles for it, I'd probably use it again. I'm tempted to get the Paasche "H" because when you get good with them, there's some paint control that you can't do with a two-stage brush. I have a nice Grex and Iwata and I'm sure I'll probably get the "H" at some point.

I just got that Amazing Air Camo version and a bunch of those propellant cans for Christmas and wasn't really sure about it but it seems okay for a first air brush. I was more concerned with using the cans as it seems like they'd give an inconsistent air pressure and was thinking of a way to Jerry rig a way to hook it up to my pancake compressor but seeing that it's a industry standard threads I can just buy some adaptors instead. 👍👍

Unfortunately - the airbrush set you’ve mentioned @ Harbor Freight is no longer available at this time (I’ve checked for the past month) However - if you look around (eBay, art & craft stores like Michael’s or JoAnn’s). I was able to 2 of the Amazing Air sets for less than $20 apiece - it may take a lot of hunting, but I am pretty sure that someone will find a good deal. I’ve used the Amazing Air set for both priming & base coat - it does work great.

Harbor freight no longer sells their $10 version of these that you reviewed. I found out the other day while trying to get a warranty replacement of mine.

The first one is a tad clumsy to use and as seen does not work well. The second one looks great for a beginner. This would be perfect for a child as there is no pouring of paint into a cup or jar. Just attach to a Testor's bottle and voila. Less mess and clean up. Great little idea. Best to start out on a small budget and as your interest grows move on to a better airbrush. Even the idea of the "canned air" is great for a first time buyer. Nice to see reviews of the lower priced modeling equipment to see if it actually works and if it is a fair purchase.

thanks, i had no clue it had wire cleaners, mine fell out of the box when i opened and would have been swept away to the trash if you had not mentioned them. They need to do a better packaging job rather than toss them in there i bet alot of people lost them right away.

Takes me back to around 1970 and my first airbrush, a mostly plastic Badger that used a can of Propel as the air source. It allowed me to use a much wider variety of colors than were available in spray cans. My current Iwatas are a tad better. 😉

Neat little things that second one looks alot better. Something like that would be good to play with. Would give me a use for the empty bottles something else that I discovered, with my Paasche H, is that the bottles from the Testors model master paints, and the bottles that the Testors liquid glue, andd the dullcoat bottles also fit the spray head. Just requires different syphon tube lengths. The big dullcoat bottles also make for a nice grip handle too.

Have you ever tested "Gocheer Upgraded 40PSI Airbrush Kit" ? it costs 67 dollars on Amazon and the compressor is not big (which I like that a lot). I am trying to make a kit that is not big and a bit silent (yes I know I am asking a lot ....). Unfortunately I can only brush when kids are sleeping and I do not want to make noise. I was thinking about air cans also but I was told that they finish fast and they are waste of money, Thank you Rex in advance :)

Yep they work, i still have one of these. 👍😉

I hope you are all doing well.

These were not bad airbrushes at the time I won the top of the line one in a raffle and it worked better than my badger airbrush

Love your content, I had one of the Aztek ones years ago bought at a flea market or yard sale not sure any more but the hose fitting on the brush fell apart when I went to use it the first time

The old external mix airbrush. Blast (literally) from the past.

oh man, I had that CO2 single action airbrush.....took me two tries to go get the real one and buy a compressor, that was 2017

Parts for those testors air brush are hard to find I have a testors air brush and it’s missing the end that attaches to the compressor I looked every where in my area that sold testors I found the one I have at Michaels I attempted to buy it they said it was a non working display then I was told by a worker that works at micheals saying they no longer sell air brushes in the store luckily i have a hobby lobby that sells testors in the store they don’t have the air brushes they got the propellant and the paints for the testors air brushes and they sell iwata are brush compressors and air brushes and sparmax air brush compressor and a passche air brush and creates paint

Interesting pieces. I remember seeing those years ago and wondering if they actually worked.

Do you have any recommendations for a "detail" airbrush? I've had a patriot 105 for years, and I just got a GSI Creos PS-290 in the mail this week, and id like to add one more airbrush for small details and some freehand type work. I'm thinking something like a Sotar 20/20, an Iwata Micron (very expensive), or a harder and steenbeck infinity. Do you have any suggestions? looks like you've used just about all of them lol

I need that adapter piece

What about mission model paints? I don't think I saw them in the lineup.

Great reviews

Only problem with these is cleaning the jars if they're plastic and they tend to add an orange peel effects.

Yay 🎉 love it thoes are cool!

Which adapter set on Amazon did you use?

are the SMS products available in the US ? They have a lot of other stuff and nightshift helped develop some of it if I'm not mistaken,I'd really like to try some of it

have you reviewed any of those kits on amazon with 50 psi little electric compressors? saw one with everything for like 50$

Speaking of harbor freight, the avanti airbrush kit you reviewed I believe a year ago, as you show in your video the kit only comes with I believe a .3 for the airbrush, I checked harbor freight online, I may have looked over it but I didn’t see any other size needles/nozzles for it, does anyone else sell any that will work for that airbrush

What flea market did you grab the cheap air brushes from if you don't mind sharing

Did I miss a video? When and why did you swap from the Fortress or the Tuly compressors to this one from Amazon?

Did the box on the left come with the adapter needed to hook it to a hobby compressor? If not where would I get an adapter? Also what psi did you run the air brush on the left at?

You've had the grex airbrushes for how long now and haven't done a review yet?

where do you get your airbrush stands

were get that adapter at

I have a question about ur cleaner I couldn't find ammonia free or simple green so I got great value eco all purpose cleaner will it work to clean out my cheap airbrush intell my good 1 comes in dont want to ruin my rubber o rings

Have you heard of S.N.P. paints?

Waste of time for something that can't be bought.