air brush guys!!!

hey guys, my gf wants to start painting cars for fun. i do quite a bit of work on cars, and paint a few, but she wants to learn too, and i want to get a new set of guns, which i think i have sorted out, but most importantly she wants to air brush. i want to get her a quality gun for x mas. what should i look for? im looking for like a full starters kit with the the compressor and a gun and maybe a couple needles and tips and some paint? looking for some quality stuff not shit any one got any info? was looking at an iwata and a paasche, but idk if there any good at all. i know the iwata should be pretty good as ive got a couple buddys whe use that brand to lay down base coats and primers and clears, but no one around here does air brushing. so i have no idea how their line of air brush guns are. any one care to offer me any guidence as to where to look, and what to look for? maybe a couple links? but like almost every one, i do have a budget, which i think should be very fair. $500 bux idk if that will be enough to include a compressor, but thats fine cuz i do have a little compressor at home here she could use, but id like to get one that includes that

bump for you man,linn should know he's great at it

I don't airbrush, but almost got into it lol. I own one, but haven't done much messing with it. However, yes, Iwata has great guns. Make sure it's a double action gun. That means you can start the air without the paint, and then bring the paint in. Makes smoother transitions and better results especially for detail work. For a compressor, you can actually use a big one with a regulator, and water trap before the reg. That's what I was going to do, cheaper since I've already got one, and noise wasn't going to be an issue for me since my tank is 30 gal. The little comps run a lot of the time, so unless you buy a really good one, and a quiet one it may get on her nerves.

Createx has some good paint and good prices. There are hundreds of "training" videos on youtube.

That's my little bit of knowledge right there, hopefully it helps and someone more experienced can add to it.

I have bought a few cheap entry level airbrushes to try and learn on my own and then I decided to by an Iwata. Right away I felt I wasted money on the first 2. I have 2 Iwata's the HP-BCS and HP-SBS. I bought them from Coast Airbrush. The HP-BCS is what I use the most because I spray auto air paint and I have caps with tubes built in and they thread right on the bottles replacing the cap. The createx bottles are the same as the auto air. The HP-SBS is a side feed and you need special bottles for it, or constantly fill the one that it comes with. They all come with 1 bottle. I like the autoair paint because it's waterbased and low voc. It's easy to clean out the airbrush or paint-guns afterward with water. I shot my entire civic with it. It needs a top coat of standard clear.

I bought an Iwata compressor. It's the smart jet pro I like using it because it's really really quiet!! I've airbrushed really late at night and it will not disturb anyone. I also like it because it's really portable, you could easily take it anywhere.

You tube is your friend as far as learning tips and tricks and getting ideas. Then practice a lot. I use a large piece of sheet metal as a practice canvas. I spray both sides then I will go over the hole thing with a rattle can to make it one color again and then start over. I've been practicing real flames for a long time and I usually have a bunch of pictures laying around for photo reference while spraying. I use a lot of plastic curves as stencils, some are bought and a bunch are homemade using laminate.

Good luck and have fun!!

Some good advice from 1HotDawg and Robzilla. Most of my airbrushing time is spent connected to a 30+ gallon air compressor. Takes a while to go thru that much air but can certainly see the advantage of a small portable compressor. I currently am using a Badger 155 Anthem airbrush and find it good enough for what I am currently doing. The Createx products work just fine.