Selecting the Best Iwata Airbrush in 2022: Beginners, Cosplayers, Models, and Miniature Painters Take Note

When it comes to your art, limits, and boundaries should never be caused by the tools you use regardless of whether you are an emerging hobbyist, a professional body painter, or someone who likes to paint miniature models in your spare time.

The tools you use should spark your creativity, engage your imagination, and continually push you to make your art come alive. The Iwata brand of airbrushes delivers peak performance to all types of artists, and are designed with the highest of standards in mind, with each series providing a distinct advantage and application purpose.

In this article, we will review several different Iwata airbrush line-ups, make note of which are the best for beginners, model and miniature painters, and provide an in-depth review of each airbrush’s features and their most effective implementation.

The Best Iwata Airbrushes for Beginners: Neo for Iwata CN, & Iwata Media Revolution CR

The Neo for Iwata CN is part of the NEO series and is one of the most affordable gravity-fed airbrushes you can buy within the airbrush marketplace.

The NEO CN offers precision control, a high paint flow, and is capable of providing you with fine detail despite its medium-sized spray pattern. It comes with a 0.35mm needle, has a large 1/3oz feed cup which can be interchanged with a medium-sized cup whose capacity is 1/15 ounces.

This particular brush works extremely well with small air compressors that produce a maximum of 20 psi but can be used between 5-35 psi. The only drawback to it is that it does require you to correct paint thinning and is not suitable for wide surfaces or fine lines.

Thus, it should be used for small and medium-sized projects such as fine art, model aircraft, R/C cars, model builders, and body art tattoos.

The Iwata Media Revolution HP-CR is part of the Revolution series line-up, is also a gravity feed airbrush that is perfect for beginners who do not have a large budget to spend. Although very similar to the Eclipse HP-CS, this airbrush comes with an internal mix spray type, a dual-action top-feed trigger style, and a gravity-fed paint feed system.

It comes with a 1/3oz (9ml) cup size, has a 0.5mm standard tip size, and has a spray range of about ~.25mm to ~01.5 inches. It has a replaceable internal PTFE needle which allows it to be used with solvent-based paints, an ergonomic handle design, and a larger needle-chucking for easy assembly and maintenance.

This airbrush is perfect for general-purpose art and craft projects, beauty applications like make-up, and model railroad detailing, plastic kits, automotive painting, and R/C car body painting.

The Iwata High Performance HP-C Plus is part of the High Performance Plus Series and is an excellent choice for both beginners and experienced airbrush artists.

Although this brush comes with a much higher price point than others listed in this review, it has earned the right to be more expensive, coming in as a workhorse of a brush with numerous applications.

It has a 0.30mm screw-on needle/nozzle combination with a 1/3 oz (9ml) tapered cup with a lid. It has a PTFE packing needle that can be used for solvent-based paints and a spray pattern that ranges from fine details up to medium details of one inch in diameter. It does have a cut-away, pre-set handle which allows you to control the paint flow and makes it super easy to clean.

The optimal working pressure for this airbrush is 15-25psi and it comes with a dual-action trigger style, internal spray mix type, and has a gravity-fed paint feed system.

The Iwata High Performance is perfect for fine art, illustrations, hobbyists, model aircraft, ink and dye, watercolors, model builders, miniatures, cosmetics, and even fingernail art.

The Best Iwata Airbrushes for Body Model Painters & Miniature Painters

The Iwata HP-CS is part of the Eclipse line-up, is a gravity feed airbrush that delivers fine detail spray characteristics through a high paint flow capacity. The airbrush is beginner friendly and remains one of the more popular models due to being extremely easy to clean, maintain, and use.

It is made out of durable stainless steel that has a polished chrome finish, and a large spray head that has threading that utilizes preventative stripping measures. The rather large 1/3oz (9ml) cup size and the 0.35mm self-centering needle provides dual functionality for fine line and wide spray patterns of up to two inches in diameter.

The funnel-shaped cup has a removable lid, holds up to 0.30 ounces of paint, and is top-mounted, hence the gravity-fed feature. It comes with a single cut-away handle, making clogs extremely easy to remove. All you need to do is move the chuck front to back a few times to get the clog unstuck.

Finally, for cleaning purposes, it is as simple as loosening the rear chuck and pulling the needle through the front of the airbrush. If you really need to, the back portion of the handle also disassembles for easy cleaning.

Suitable for base-coating, varnishing, highlighting work, and shading and perfect for fine art, illustration, photo retouching, watercolor, ink and dye, custom automotive, hobbyist, model builders, miniatures, murals, and cosmetics among others. The Iwata HP-CS is one of the best airbrushes on the market.

Finally, the Iwata Custom Micron CM-C is part of the Custom Micron Series and is considered the airbrush go-to for professionals who want very fine detailing only. This is an airbrush that is specifically geared towards fine details and is not a workhorse brush.

This brush is NOT beginner friendly but is being included in this review for professionals who need to do extremely fine detailing work on projects like miniatures, photo retouching, fine art, fingernail art, and model builders. It comes with a 0.23mm needle and nozzle matched head system that can be converted into a 0.18mm option.

It comes with a hardened stainless steel needle that creates smooth transitions between detailed and mid-range spraying. It also comes with an adjustable main lever tension, pre-set handle, crown cap, and a 1/3oz (9ml) gravity-fed cup.

The trigger system is dual-action and the spray pattern is micro-lines (60 microns) up to 1 inch or 25mm. This airbrush does require prior experience in thinning and straining paint and it can only be used with non-viscous liquids, otherwise, it clogs up immediately.

In Summary: Choosing the Best Iwata Airbrush in 2022

When trying to choose between the above airbrushes, it is important that you base your selection on what type of projects you will be working on and what type of technique you want to develop.

In most cases, selecting an airbrush with a gravity-fed system will work well for all types of artists and an internal mix spray works well for versatile lines, splatters, and detailing.

It is highly recommended that when you do decide on an airbrush, take note of the drawbacks and what the maintenance process is for cleaning and unclogging.

Read more: To Airbrush Warhammer And Miniatures: The Ultimate Guide