Badger Airbrush Company

155 Anthem Airbrush

Stock Number: 155-7

Reviewed By  Keith Pruitt, IPMS# 44770

MSRP: $138.00 Web Site: www.badgerairbrush.com Ken Schlotfeldt, the owner of Badger Airbrush Company, was interviewed by Jon Bius for Agapemodels.com recently. During that interview, he related the history of the Badger Airbrush Company, "…My dad started it with funding from my Grandfather. My grandfather owned a Swiss screw machine shop that was making parts for three airbrush companies (Paasche, Thayer & Chandler, and Wold). My dad took an interest in the airbrush and designed some mods. He went to Thayer with them and got turned down. About a year later, the head sales guy from Thayer had a falling out with George Thayer and came to my dad and told him he could sell my dad's designs…and the rest is history. Badger became the world's largest airbrush manufacturer." I recommend reading the entire interview. You can find it at Jon's website at http://agapemodels.com/?p=216 (Thanks, Jon, for allowing me to use this for background information!) I had been considering a new airbrush for some time. My current one, an Aztek A470, needed to be returned to the manufacturer for repairs, and I had borrowed my Dad's Paasche VL in the meantime. This gave me an opportunity to try something different, and gain a little knowledge and experience with a more traditional type of airbrush. I had always loved my Aztek, which had been the first airbrush I had ever owned, because it is so easy to clean after each painting session. There is very little in the way of maintenance, and it performed fairly well for my skill level. The Paasche was a different animal entirely! It was heavier, felt more solid in my hand, and did an excellent job of spraying paint. However, it did have a more complicated assembly, and was more difficult to clean. Sometimes, I actually spent less time spraying paint than I did cleaning the airbrush afterward. The key element of the Paasche, for me and my moderate skill level, was the versatility and increased capabilities of the more traditional airbrush. I did some research to see what was available on the market, what the capabilities of each model were, and what might fit into my price range. There were several models that fit within my criteria, so I started looking at the different comments in various online forums and reviews. The Badger 155 Anthem definitely caught my attention. Based on what I saw and heard, it appeared to be a good choice for me. In addition to fitting my criteria, the airbrush and replacement parts are readily available, both locally and online. I also spoke to several friends about their airbrushes. A couple of my friends had the Badger 155, and both seemed very happy with it. They became my best source of pre-acquisition information, since they were able to answer specific questions that I had. I use enamels exclusively, so you may need to experiment with acrylics to determine your best methods. General purpose painting is fairly easy with any airbrush, and the 155 is no exception there. I tried a couple of different thinning ratios, and came up with a best ratio for me at 70% paint and 30% thinner. I used about 20 PSI for this part of the testing, and had no issues. For overall coverage, this thinning ratio and air pressure combination worked quite well. The airbrush performed flawlessly. A couple of light coats provided good coverage with no major issues. Next, I wanted to try some thin lines. This has usually been a problem area for me with any airbrush. The hands are just not quite steady enough to get nice straight lines. Anyway, I thinned the paint down farther (50-50 ratio), and dropped the pressure to about 10 PSI. With some practice, I was able to get thin lines down to about 2mm in width. For the most part, the shorter lines were fairly straight and consistent. As the lines lengthened, my skills (or lack of them) came into play. The lines became less consistent in width and tended to wiggle a little. But, the coverage was excellent, so that tells me that the airbrush was able to easily outperform the user. Cleaning took only about 5 minutes. The airbrush was easy to disassemble and clean, and went back together easily. All of the tolerances are extremely close, and Badger recommends that all connections be "finger-tightened". I was a little concerned about this, but after a couple of uses, I found that it really did work well. Even the airbrush-airhose connection can be tightened this way and there will be no air leaks. During the testing, I did notice that the action was a bit stiff. Reading through the Owners Manual again, I followed the instructions and backed off on the spring-retaining nut about one full turn. This reduced the pressure on the spring, and loosened the action considerably. It now felt very smooth and easy to pull back the trigger. Based on the performance of the Badger 155 anthem, and the good results that I was able to achieve, I can recommend this as an excellent airbrush for both beginners and advanced modelers. Beginners will enjoy the ease of use and cleaning, while advance modelers will be able to really take this airbrush through its paces! I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my parents, who gave me cash as a Christmas gift this past year, allowing me to purchase my new airbrush!!

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