Badger Renegade Velocity

[B-1 Nut]

Gents,

I thought a bunch of you guys might like an amateur's review of my new Badger Renegade Velocity that I received for Christmas.

Disclaimer #1: Please note the emphasis on AMATEUR in the above sentence. Since I assume most of us here are not airbrush experts, I figure that I'd let you know what I think of this airbrush.

Disclaimer #2: I have not used a lot of airbrushes. In fact, I have only used 1 other airbrush....the one I currently own....and Iwata Revolution CR. Because of this fact, I can only compare and contrast this new airbrush to what I'm familiar with. Many of you guys have several airbrushes or have had several, so you've seen and experienced far more than I have.

I really wanted a new airbrush that would:

1) Spray far more finer lines than my Iwata Revolution. I like to freehand camo schemes and my Iwata just wasn't capable of achieving what I wanted, or at least I wasn't capable of making it do what I wanted it to.

2) Come in cheaper than $120 or so.

I did some online research and decided on the Badger Renegade Velocity. I read a lot of professional reviews and they all said the right stuff (even if I didn't understand it all). The price was right. So.....I dropped a few not so subtle hints to my family, and on Christmas day, it was sitting underneath the tree.

First off, the Velocity is very well presented. It comes in a nice, hard case and is surrounded by very dense foam....my Iwata came in a cardboard and "spongy" foam case. If you've been to Hobby Lobby, you've seen the case.

The airbrush comes with a fitting that allows it to connect to an Iwata style hose. The standard Badger fitting is about 1/2 the diameter of the Iwata one, so this "adapter fitting" is a must if you have a non-Badger airbrush hose. The airbrush also had a rubber boot to protect the super fine needle and crown.

One of the things that really drew me to this airbrush was the black finish. I've always been partial to all black firearms, so when I saw an airbrush that was black and not the typical chrome, I really started researching it to see if it was what I was looking for.

The Velocity is a double-action, internal-mix style with a fixed gravity-feed paint cup (The paint cup has a plastic cap on top). The needle is a .21mm. That doesn't mean much to someone like me. The only thing I can say is that the tip is probably 1/2 the size of the one on my Iwata....this is what makes it spray so fine of a line. The airbrush has a great "needle stop" that allows you to limit the travel of the needle, which limits the amount of paint that comes out of the tip. This is a great feature that I'm sure I will get great use out of....in fact, I wish my Iwata came with this feature.

The crown around the needle is essentially two prongs. Personally, I wish there were more prongs (at least one more, better yet...two), but there may be some engineering reason as to why Badger utilized only 2 prongs. The only reason I think I would like more prongs is because I feel this needle will be very prone to bending, just because it is so thin.

My opinions on using the airbrush:

I only use enamels, so I cannot comment as to how acrylics function through the airbrush. I've only used acrylics a few times and they easily clogged up my Iwata, so I would guess they would easily clog up the tip on this airbrush....however this is pure speculation on my part.

I mixed up some Model Master enamels and went to town. The Velocity is well balanced and feels just great in my hand....no complaints at all in the ergonomics department. Mainly I just wanted to see just how thin of a line I could produce with the Velocity.....and I was not disappointed at all. The results in the photos below have noting to do with my abilities, just the Velocity's capabilities. I did this with my standard paint viscosity and air pressure (compared to my Iwata). I'm sure if I fiddled with the pressure and paint thickness I could achieve even better results. I just wanted to treat this just like I would my Iwata as a basis for comparison.

I was extremely pleased with the performance of the airbrush. Not only would it spray a fine line, but I had no "over spray" like I did with my Iwata when I was trying to tighten the line up for a free hand camo line. Normally, painting a camo pattern with my Iwata would be a pain in the butt because I would always have to go back over the demarcation line in order to cover up the over spray. This will NOT be a problem using this airbrush.

I cleaned the airbrush and realized it is a bit different than my Iwata....not worse, just different. The only thing I didn't like about cleaning the Velocity is that if you remove the crown (normally referred to as the regulator), the tip will fall out of the airbrush. The only reason this is bad is because I wasn't ready for it! I spent 10 minutes trying to locate it on my floor. To give you an idea, the tip on my Iwata is threaded into the airbrush itself. The only way for you to lose it is if you unscrew it from the body. Truth be told, this is on me....not Badger...I should have broken the airbrush down before I used it.

One thing I did like about this airbrush (that I noticed when cleaning it) is that the needle fits very snugly in the handle. My Iwata's needle kind of loose. The tightness makes me feel like the Velocity is of a better quality, or has higher tolerances than my Iwata.

This airbrush, at least the one I received, is not without a few things I found I did not like.

Some may be nit-picky, but I think they may be worth mentioning.

I do not like the plastic cap that goes over the paint cup. It does seal very well, and provides that satisfying sound of a strong seal being severed when you pull it off the cup, but I still would like at least an optional metal cap. My Iwata uses a metal cap and maybe I'm just used to it. The plastic cap, to me, is like putting hubcaps on a hot rod.....wouldn't aluminum wheels look nicer?

I think this may just be an issue with my particular Velocity, but the black finish stops well clear of the bottom of the paint cup.....see the pictures below. I would rather the black finish stop at the very top of the paint cup, or continue to the very bottom of it. Stopping 1/8" from the bottom looks bad. I think I'd much prefer the paint cup to be highly polished inside versus a full black finish. As it stands now, it just looks bad. Again, this may just be my particular airbrush. Since I sprayed a gray color, I kept thinking that the paint was in the bottom of the cup when I was cleaning it, when in fact I was just seeing bare metal.

You'll also notice in the above photos that the very bottom of the paint cup (where the needle proceeds to the tip) has some type of threading/ridges. It seems like this will do nothing but collect paint and be a pain to remove/clean completely. There may be an engineering reason why this is threaded, but I can't figure it out....unless Badger thought the ridges would prevent trash from getting all the way into the tip. For a comparison, my Iwata is completely smooth in this area.

I also wish that the paint cup was a little bit more angled like my Iwata. The paint cup on the Badger is already angled, but since most of the spraying we as modelers do in at a pretty steep downward angle, a bit more of an angle to the paint cup would seem to be nicer. I think this is probably a selfish critique because not everyone who has a Velocity uses it for models. I'm sure the angle of the paint cup is more geared towards people painting something in a vertical (or almost vertical) position.

LOOOONG story short:

Pros:

1) The airbrush looks really cool

2) It sprays a VERY fine line, even for an amateur

3) It atomizes the paint very well which allows you to spray close and tight without overspray

4) Very reasonably priced (shipped to my door for less than $100)

5) Comes with a very spiffy protective case and an adapter for non-Badger hoses

6) Comes with a great needle stop which a lot of airbrushes have, but my current airbrush does not

Cons:

1) Ridges/threading at the bottom of the paint cup are a booger to clean

2) Would like it more if the paint cup had more of an angle

3) Would much more prefer a metal cap for the paint cup versus the plastic one provided

4) Wish that the inside of the paint cup was polished versus the continuation of the black finish

5) Wish that the crown (regulator) had one or two more protective prongs in order to better protect that super fine needle

All in all, I am very pleased with the looks, performance, and value of this airbrush. I wish it had a couple of features that my Iwata has, but that may just be because I'm more familiar with it. Badger did a great job with this airbrush and I know I will get many good years of service out of it.

Merry Christmas!

[Don Wheeler]

Thanks for the review. Great job. ;)

I believe the reason there are only two prongs on the front is to make it easier to pick dried paint off the needle, something that people who use acrylics often need to do. There is also an optional end cap with no prongs for those who want to live dangerously.

Here is a thread with a guide to cleaning the Sotar and the Velocity that I think is well worth reading.

I dropped the tip of my Renegade Rage on the floor too, and it was tough to find.

Don

[Kei Lau]

Gents,

I thought a bunch of you guys might like an amateur's review of my new Badger Renegade Velocity that I received for Christmas.

Disclaimer #1: Please note the emphasis on AMATEUR in the above sentence. Since I assume most of us here are not airbrush experts, I figure that I'd let you know what I think of this airbrush.

Disclaimer #2: I have not used a lot of airbrushes. In fact, I have only used 1 other airbrush....the one I currently own....and Iwata Revolution CR. Because of this fact, I can only compare and contrast this new airbrush to what I'm familiar with. Many of you guys have several airbrushes or have had several, so you've seen and experienced far more than I have.

B-1 Nut, thank you for sharing your experience. It is very thorough, unbiased and insightful. It has to be one of the best amateur airbrush review that I've read.

I do not have the Velocity, but have a similarly priced Harder & Steenbeck Evolution Silverline Solo. The H&S has a 0.2 mm nozzle and a very small linear flow angle needle, and a preset handle. It is similar to the design goal of the Velocity. Reading your review allows me to have a clear picture of the workmanship of the two airbrushes.

The Iwata Revolution has a nozzle that is about 7 (seven) time larger than that of the Velocity in area. It is a bit unfair to compare their fine line capability.

[B-1 Nut]

.....

The Iwata Revolution has a nozzle that is about 7 (seven) time larger than that of the Velocity in area. It is a bit unfair to compare their fine line capability.

Wow....I had no idea the needle was that much thicker at the tip.

I didn't mean to mislead people into thinking that my Revolution could even come close to the capabilities of this new Velocity.

The two have totally different roles.....I probably should have made that distinction better. I really only meant to describe how differently the spray abilities were, and compare it to the only airbrush benchmark I have (the Iwata). I used to think I could get a pretty fine line with my Iwata......boy this Velocity showed me how limited it was.

I believe the reason there are only two prongs on the front is to make it easier to pick dried paint off the needle, something that people who use acrylics often need to do. There is also an optional end cap with no prongs for those who want to live dangerously.

Don, I didn't think of that. That makes perfect sense. I did see that other cap in the box and couldn't imagine EVER being brave (or is it dumb) enough to use it.

Also, thanks for the link to the article. I will hop over to check it out.

[Kei Lau]

Wow....I had no idea the needle was that much thicker at the tip.

I didn't mean to mislead people into thinking that my Revolution could even come close to the capabilities of this new Velocity.

The two have totally different roles.....I probably should have made that distinction better. I really only meant to describe how differently the spray abilities were, and compare it to the only airbrush benchmark I have (the Iwata). I used to think I could get a pretty fine line with my Iwata......boy this Velocity showed me how limited it was.

It is not the needle, but the opening of the nozzles. The Iwata Revolution has a 0.5 mm nozzle (0.25 square mm) and the velocity has a 0.21 mm nozzle (0.044 square mm). To be more precise, the Revolution nozzle is 5.6 times bigger.

If you remove the needle and take a close up picture of the two nozzles side by side, you will see what I mean.

But the nozzle size is only half of the story. The Revolution has a pretty long needle taper compared to other 0.5 mm nozzle airbrushes. It offers reasonably good control in drawing fine details.