Harder and Steenbeck Infinity 2 in 1 Airbrush

 

Introduction

For anyone unfamiliar with this company, here’s a quick introduction. Harder and Steenbeck is a German firm which produces Europe’s largest selling airbrush line. The company has only recently {2007} decided to market their products in North America. The firm was established in 1923 and is based in Hamburg.

 

At the Virginia Beach IPMS Nationals this past summer a vendor table was set up with the H&S line and the gentlemen manning the table were performing non-stop demonstrations of their airbrushes. These demos drew enthusiastic crowds around the table and business seemed to be quite brisk. I must say that I was very impressed with these demonstrations. The ease of use, the simplicity of the take down and cleaning procedure, quick needle and nozzle changes and the work produced in the demonstrations convinced me that these are very high quality products indeed.

 

 

-         Airbrush holder

 

 

 

 

What’s in the Infinity box?

The Infinity airbrush, fitted with the .15mm needle and nozzle and 2 ml color cup installed. The airbrush also has a 2.7mm nipple attached for the airline quick coupler.

 

A .4mm needle and nozzle set packaged in a clear plastic tube

 

A 5 ml color cup

 

A center ring tool

 

A Distance cap

 

An instruction manual and 10 year limited warranty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Airbrush Workshop DVD Item #93001
 

The DVD is packaged in a cardboard sleeve, with a table of contents listed on the back. The DVD itself is 90 minutes long, and the narration can be set for German or English. The English narration is done by a guy who sounds a whole lot like California Governor Ah-nold. The contents of this DVD are fairly diverse, ranging from basic use of airbrushes and compressors, troubleshooting various problems, cleaning of the airbrush, the use of stencils, masking with frisk film and an interesting segment on how these instruments are manufactured.

 

I found the DVD to be useful and informative. Its $5.00 cost makes it a real bargain!

 

 

This is a nice air supply hose, quite flexible and is supposed to be very durable. I particularly like the quick coupling at the airbrush end. If you’re the kind of modeler who likes having dedicated airbrushes for specific tasks {as in you’d rather NOT shoot Future through an expensive brush…} this quick coupling system is ideal. Nipples for all major brands of airbrushes are available which will mate to this coupler, making virtually instant airbrush changes possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a fairly substantial piece, which comes broken down into 3 parts all nested together inside a plastic tube. It’s highly polished metal and black trim give the holder sort of a cool futuristic look. It’s rather heavy for its size, giving it plenty of stability. Assembly consists merely of screwing the legs into the body of the holder. This holder looks nice, and does its job just fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Infinity Airbrush first impressions

While function is obviously far more important than appearance, I still have to state that this is a very attractive airbrush. The contrast between the polished metal, the gold accents and the brushed red aluminum end piece looks pretty sharp.

 

 

The trigger action is smooth and is easily adjustable with the trigger tension set screw. This set screw is visible in the “window” on the red aluminum end piece, and is in front of the needle clamp nut. The trigger button itself is dished slightly for comfortable, non-slip use, with several gripping ridges machined into it. The trigger depresses and pulls rearward for paint flow very smoothly and evenly.

 

 

The screw on the left adjusts trigger tention, the nut on the right is the needle clamp nut.

 

 

Top of trigger assembly above

 

  

The Infinity has what they term a “quick-fix” feature that easily allows the painter to go from a pre-set paint flow to variable paint flow and back again as desired. A click of a spring loaded button at the rear of the brush limits paint flow {by means of a stop on the needle} to a pre-set position that you’ve set. A quick pull on the end piece removes the needle stop and you’re back to variable flow. There are numbers on the quick fix assembly allowing you to repeat various settings as desired.

 

 

 

 

2 needle caps are included, 1 for each needle / nozzle that are included with the brush. These caps just push onto the air nozzles. Their 2 pronged design make for easy paint build up removal while giving the tip of the needle some protection.

 

 

From top to bottom, needle caps, nozzle caps, nozzles. The parts to the left of the needles are for the .15mm set up, the parts to the right are for the .4mm needle. Note the difference in the two needles!

 

One item of note – the .15mm needle is unbelievably delicate. EXTREME care needs to be used when handling it. As a matter of fact, I’d recommend not even breathing on it.

 

    

Color cup changes are quick and easy, and removal of the cups also allow for easier cleaning of the brush.

 

 

 

 

Disassembly and re-assembly of this airbrush for basic care and cleaning is so simple and straightforward that a cave man could do it {sorry Geico…} and you no longer have a valid excuse for not having a sparkling clean airbrush. It’s really that easy.

 

 

 

 

Taking the Infinity for a test drive

 

I used a sheet of Evergreen sheet styrene previously sprayed with Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow for my first test surface. Using some Tamiya thinner, I mixed a small amount of Olive Green XF -58 and started spraying. The instruction manual calls for 2.5 bar {roughly 35 psi} air supply pressure, and paint mixed to a consistency similar to milk.   

 

 

 

I quickly discovered that this brush {with .15mm needle and nozzle installed} is a whole lot better brush than I am a painter. I began with relatively large lines and worked my way down to some pretty decent finer lines. This brush is capable of much finer lines than what I sprayed, some experimentation with paint/ thinner ratios are clearly called for. Painting decent fine lines have never been particularly easy for me. Some of the lines I was able to put down on the test sheet of styrene on this very first session with the Infinity brush are actually better than any I’ve ever done prior to this.

 

 

 

 

Several cardinal sins of airbrushing are seen here {the spider legs, etc..}, but I was happy with what the brush did despite me. With practice, the lines will get better, and I was quite pleased with the smallest of the dots! Towards the end of this test session, I found the brush much easier to control.

 

 

I discovered that really tiny dots are pretty easy with this brush, no more oversized “ambush scheme” dots for me!

 

 

Introducing the Crash Test Dummy

My next testing took place on an ancient Italeri Elephant, built 25 or so years ago {long before I cared about removing seams!}. I had it laying around for another experiment of sorts, but I decided to use it here as a crash test dummy.

 

 

As with the sheet styrene test, I again realized that this airbrush is easily capable of far better results than I can attain at this early stage. On one side of our volunteer I laid down a few stripes of the Tamiya Olive Green, on the other I placed dots of various sizes, just trying to get accustomed to the feel of this airbrush. This was a quick and simple test drive, nothing too fancy. I am satisfied with the results I was able to achieve during this first session with the brush. As with any precision instrument, there is a definite learning curve to be worked through to get the most out of this brush. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pros – A lot of thought went into the design and features of this brush. The brush is well designed, and made of top quality materials. H&S have a lot of confidence in their products as evidenced by a 10 year warranty. Disassembly and reassembly are both quick and easy. Good results were attained on initial tests. The “quick fix” feature is nice. Spare parts and accessories are easily available in North America.

 

Cons - as a "high end" airbrush, the Infinity costs a bit more than some commonly seen airbrushes {compared to comparable high end brushes, the Infinity scores very highly}. The instruction manual could use more photos or diagrams. The English language instructions made up just 3 small pages in the booklet.

 

Update  11/17/08 - I've been informed that Precision German Airbrush is now packaging additional instructions and general information on the care and use of the Infinity with the brushes. I've received a copy, and can say it's a terrific addition to the original instruction booklet. There is much more complete coverage of the Infinitys features and care.  

 

Fortunately, a lot of information on these brushes is available on the net.

 

www.harder-airbrush.de - the company’s official website {English available}

 

It will be interesting to see Harder and Steenbeck challenge the current North American airbrush market leaders. Despite higher initial retail prices than some, the innovative features and extremely high overall quality of the H&S brushes will most likely give them a good chance at being successful in North America. I very much liked the feel and operation of this airbrush. This is most definitely a high end tool, and a lifetime investment.

 

Highly Recommended !

 

Thanks to Precision German Airbrush for the review sample!

 

Reviewed by Chuck Aleshire, AMPS Chicagoland