A Sad Day for Airbrushing

April 1st 2026 update: I emailed Gaahleri about the break and they have responded with an offer to send a replacement body.  Good customer service so far!

April 4th 2026 update: A replacement body is on its way; nominal cost to get it but worthwhile having it functional once again.

April  8th 2026: New airbrush parts received. Top marks to Gaahleri for product support.  Back to painting.

Ouch.  The crack runs almost all the way around the cup mount on the airbrush. I don't think that will buff out...

I was prepping to do some airbrushing on some freight cars and loaded my Gaahleri Barbatos Rex Swallowtail trigger style airbrush with black paint. I picked up the airbrush and saw a lot of paint spillage thinking to myself "I wasn't that sloppy loading the brush..."

I gave the brush a wipe to clean the paint and more poured out of a crack in the top of the brush.  I had a large crack around the top of the brush where the cup mounts to the body.  I have a vague recollection of the brush falling out of the rack and hitting the baseboard but didn't think it was anything of note.  Apparently not.  The crack runs around 2/3 of the cup mount and looks to me to be unfixable.  

It has been a good airbrush over the past year having 3 needle sizes and a decent sized paint cup. I'll reach out to Gaahleri and see if I can get a replacement body; the rest of the parts are perfectly fine.  

In the meantime I have started using my father-in-laws Iwata HP-B airbrush which is likely older than I am but still works fine. He gifted it to me a while back when he was downsizing.  It has been working well although the much smaller cup needs some getting used to.  Onwards, ever onwards.







Comments

  1. Anonymous27 March 2026 at 20:35

    Ouch indeed! If your adventurous and if Gaahleri doesn't come to the party, which I imagine they will in one way or another, it might be possible to fix it yourself. The cup holder and brush body are separate brass or copper pieces, soldered in normally and plated after joining. This solder joint is what has cracked. It might be possible to resolder it (best to completely remove the cup holder from the body and clean up surfaces first).

    I'd think you'd need a serious source of heat though, like a small gas torch. You'd need to be careful not to desolder the the triangular underpart that supports the valve and the part the trigger attaches to, and not forget to completely disassemble to get all seals and remanent paint out. Something to think about if Gahhleri isn't helpful and you consider the brush a write off.

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