Iwata Eclipse HP BCS Airbrush

The Iwata Eclipse HP BCS is a GREAT airbrush for artists interested in doing large volumes of painting!!!

This airbrush is especially good choice for T-shirt artists, mural artists, or character artists because changing paint colors is incredibly easy and quick. Multiple bottles of paint can be pre-made, ready for painting, and when you want to change a color, simply remove one bottle and replace with another of a different color - a few sprays to clear the original paint color out and viola - color changed.

For the $85 US that these airbrushes typically run around, the Iwata Eclipse HP BCS is a high quality, durable, work-horse of an airbrush. A large variety of bottle sizes are available too ...and...a word of warning - they typically only come with one bottle so be sure to pick up some extras.

The Nitty Gritty

The Iwata Eclipse HP BCS features the following:

So what does all that mean? Let me break it down....

1. The siphen feed means it's well suited for uses where you need a lot of paint at one time (i.e. you plan on pre-mixing colors and using only those) or if you want to change colors quickly and easily. As mentioned previously, this would be great for t-shirt artists, mural artists or character artists. If you are not sure what siphen feed is read this.

2. It's dual action ... which is great! And, if you don't know what that means read this.

3. The 0.5 mm needle allows this airbrush to paint thicker, heavier paints like textile paints (again making it good for t-shirt artists). That doesn't mean that you can't use it with any other paint. I also find that the big needle (0.5 mm is big in the airbrush world) limits problems with clogging.

4. Teflon needle packing is featured on most (if not all) iwata airbrushes. The benefit of teflon is that it doesn't degrade when used with solvent based paints (like urethanes).

5. Screw in nozzle.... one of the "bad things" that can happen to an airbrush is cracking or splaying of the nozzle. If that happens your airbrush will misbehave in a BIG way ... so, it is nice that the nozzle can be easily replaced.

P.S. cracking or splaying the nozzle happens when the needle is inserted roughly... so careful!

6. The size of the spray pattern ... is well ... pretty self explanatory. I personally can't get hair line size lines out of mine - but I've seen people do it.... so it can be done.

My Two Cents

Things I really like about the Iwata Eclipse HP BCS are:

The Quality: This is a hefty airbrush - it has a lot of weight to it and feels really durable to hold.

The Size: At first I found this airbrush really heavy to work with until I got used to it. The extra weight, of course, is because in addition to holding up the brush you are also holding up a bottle of paint.

The Trigger: The trigger - like most Iwata's is ridged and indented ... so it is comfy and non slip. Also, the trigger is really really smooth.

Things that took some getting used to:

The Bottles: In addition to feeling heavy at first (which I got over), the bottles used with the Iwata Eclipse HP BCS are a little clumsy feeling. I never felt like I could let go of the bottle with my other hand - maybe it was for fear that the compression fitting that holds the bottle in place would fail and I would spill paint all over the rug ... it has never happened, but it is possible.

Also, sometimes the bottle gets in the way when doing fine work - this is easily remedied as the bottle can be twisted out of the way - but again, it took some getting used to.

And lastly a word of warning for the clumsy (like me), the bottles all have a small hole in the top to equalize the air pressure inside the bottle...I don't think I need to go into details about why this is a problem for the clumsy - let's just leave it at it is too late for my rug!

Wondering why there is a hole in the top?...think of it like a juice box with a straw - if you suck and suck with out taking a breath the juice box will collapse - same thing with an airbrush bottle, so the hole in the top allows the bottle to "take a breath"

More Pictures!!

Here is a top view of the brush...

This is the brush with the back end removed ... you can see the chuck nut that holds the needle in place.

Broken down a bit further ... here I have removed the needle.

And this is it taken apart 95% of the way (I don't mess with the nozzle which is still in it ... a "if it ain't broke..." approach). I won't go into explaining what all this stuff is here.... but wanted to show you all the bits!

The Verdict

The Iwata Eclipse HP BCS is an all-round great airbrush for those interested in large volumes of paint! I highly recommend it for beginners and novices alike!