Price: around £99.00 inc VAT (The Airbrush Co)
Review by Geoff Coughlin (Oct 2012)
Our thanks to The Airbrush Company Ltd for supplying the review sample. Get this excellent mini-compressor here now at: www.airbrushes.com
What is it?
Funnily enough it’s a miniature airbrush compressor! I’ve got to say I was really surprised and glad to receive it for review – what a good idea and what a bit of kit – very impressive. It would be fair to say that anything with an ‘Iwata’ name on the box is likely to be high quality and this mini compressor has a quality feel (literally) and I’ve run an initial test that you can see below so you can get an idea from that, certainly from this initial test it’s simple and effective.
The neo air for Iwata is as we’ve said a miniature air compressor that is portable, compact and weighs less than a pound! It’s designed to work with most gravity-feed airbrushes. I have used it with my Premi-air G-35 airbrush and it worked perfectly, see below.
Packaging and instructions
Excellent packaging gives a real feel of quality to this product – impressive. The instructions are simple and clear, as is the unit to operate as you’ll see if you read on…
Use?
Clearly this mini-compressor is designed for occasional use and is by no means a replacement for your normal everyday compressor (the Studio series is great for that). Having said that I can really see this mini-compressor coming into its own if you travel (like half of your SMN Review Team that are in the services!) and you want to carry out short spraying tasks. The motor is designed to cut out after 10 minutes continuous use but I found it easy to just press the on-off button and away you go for another short session. It’s recommended that you leave about 20 minutes between spray sessions but again, remember that this is not a replacement for your mainstream, everyday compressor unit.
The Neo Air is equipped with an Automatic Bleed Valve. This lets the motor run when the airbrush trigger is not depressed. It features an On/Off button with 3-speed control: Click 1 – Medium setting/Purple Light, Click 2 – High setting/Blue Light, Click 3 – Low setting/Red Light, Click 4 – to turn Off.
Additional features of the Neo Air
- Low maintenance, oil-less miniature air compressor
- Compact and portable – weighs less than a pound!
- Air flow at 0 psi: 0.37 CFM (10.5 LPM)
- Working pressure from 1 psi to 15 psi.
- Comes with a vinyl hose
- Manual On/Off and 3-speed control button
- Built in airbrush holder
- Size: H 13 x W 9.9 x H 6.5 cm (approx)
- Weight: 0.43kg
- Motor: DC 12V, 1.1A
- Power Supply: 100V-240V 50/60Hz, 2.0A
- Duty cycle: Will automatically shut-off after 10 minutes of continuous use to protect the motor. Please allow the motor to rest for at least 20 minutes after each cycle of use.
Short test
Target model project: Airfix B-57G Canberra, 1:48 scale
Paint: Xtracolor enamel
Thinner: Cellulose thinners; paint thinned to about 50-50 mix
Airbrush: Premi-air G-35 dual-action airbrush
Pressure: neo air mini compressor, setting 1 (purple), operating pressure
15psi
Findings
Take a look at the video below and you can see what I think. Certainly the paint sprayed evenly and smoothly with no loss of pressure, although the cut-out kicked in after I had stopped the video, on cue at about 10 minutes. Simply pressing the ‘start’ button enabled me to carry on and finish the session.
Summary
I have to say that I’m impressed and I just love the portability of the neo air unit, its size and ease of use – a great compliment to my everyday compressor that I’m sure will get a lot of occasional use.
Highly recommended
Geoff C.
