The Badger Cresendo 175 is a good brush for the money.... it's easy to clean and can spray a variaty of mediums...it's only drawback is the needle, which protrudes beyond the tip and is prone to bending.. I've got one I've been isung for years and spray all my metalics with it...if you buy this one buy exrta needles...you WILL bend them eventualy...
Stay away from the Badger 150... I have one of those too, I use it, but with lots of misery, it is good when it's good, but when it's bad, it's a spitting cobra... very fussy on paint mixture..
I also have an Iwata Eclipse, this brush does all my detail work and is a pleasure to use...expensive but an awesome brush...
For a comperssor, go to lowes or Home Depot and see what is avaialble, most small compressors used to nail brads work very well. I have an Ingersoll rand pancake compressor that was under $100, be sure to buy a regulator, you'll want to spray most paints at around 30 PSI... my advise, is if your going to do this, do it right or use spray cans until you can afford to do it right... if you dont, you'll spend ALOT of extra money and have misery along the way...
Anoter word on compressors... depending on where your "shop" is you might want to deaden the noise they make, I built a Styrofoam box ( with ventilation) around mine to cut down on the nose... but for painting, thye dont run all that much....
This post edited by rockfish9 01:47 PM 04/15/2008