My wife asked for an airbrush for Christmas, so I've been trying to do as much research as I can to get her a good one. I read quite a few posts on here to get recommendations. She's been a baker for over 10 years, the past year she's gotten more into cake decorating. She taught the Wilton decorating classes for the past year and works part time at a local bakery decorating cakes there. On top of that, she makes cakes at home for friends and such, weddings, parties etc. She's been using their airbrush and wants one so she can use it for the cakes she makes at home.

So here's the deal, we have a set budget on what we'll spend on each other for Christmas, that's $120. I found it to be pretty difficult to fit a compressor and a good airbrush plus paint into that budget. I had kinda settled on a Paasche Talon (~$80) and hopefully a compressor from Harbor Freight on sale.

So I went by the local Harbor Freight tonight and found this compressor + airbrush on sale for $80. I went ahead and picked it up. It's the same compressor I was going to get anyway. The airbrush is siphon feed, I think she'd like a gravity feed, but it has a cup (no cap on it though).

Anyway, will this kit work for cake decorating? Is it ok for her, kinda just starting out with the airbrush? I'm hoping it will whet her appetite and we can upgrade the airbrush later.

Also, what else do I need to get her? I have a 8 color set from Americolor on the list. What do I need to clean it with, any other accessories I need?

Thanks in advance

What a good husband you are.

I have no clue. Merry Christmas

I have no idea what else you need either, but you're such a sweetie!

You don't really need anything else except colors..which you are getting and buy some cleaner..I would get the sheen colors to like pearl,gold and silver.

What a great husband!!!

What a great hubby!!! I have one and I dont spend money on cleaners, I just use soap and hot water. She is going to be so excited!!!!!!!

Super Kudos for you sir! There was another poster on here a few months ago telling us about the Harbour Freight airbrush, she said it works wonderfully! It was on my Christmas list too, but I think my honey is getting my engagement ring as he has gotten my ring size, keeps telling me I am so gonna love my Christmas gift (finally). We set the date a year ago for 12/11/10 and have been commonlaw married for 2 1/2 years...LOL! So I'll for-go the airbrush and compressor for now

Like the others said you need to order airbrush colors, you can order them from Kopy Kake online or a few other cake supply stores online. If you have a cake supply store (NOT a hobby lobby or michaels as they don't carry these items) you should be able to get some locally and save the rush shipping which you might have to deal with so close to Christmas.

You did a great job.
I have that compressor from a different company and couldn't be more thrilled with it.

Americolor has 12 color kits you can buy in sheen and regular colors. TCP/Global carries them. The only other color I would suggest is white so she can dilute the shades.

You are one awesome husband!

You did a fab job! Well done.

thumbs up!! you did great. The gravity feed airbrush does not need to have a cap on it, since you literally put drops in at a time. i have never spilled it out of the cup. But sounds like what you have will be just fine. Boy is she going to be surprised and shes very lucky to have such a supportive hubby, that probably means more to her then anything. Keep it up!!

.......What do I need to clean it with, any other accessories I need?......

As all the others said, thumbs up to you!!

To clean it just use Windex The ammonia in it is what cleans it. Then lots of hot water to rinse it.

The one you picked might give her some problems w/that jar hanging down. She will have to be careful not to drag/bump it into the cake.

Thanks for replies!

She hardly ever asks for anything, while I'm always telling her about the big screen TV, surround sound system, bicycles, etc etc that I want. So when she brings up something she wants, I try to get it.

I'm going to go over to the local baker supply shop and see if they have any airbrush colors today. The pearl paints sound great, since just this morning she said she was out of clear glitter to put on a cake.

So, total package so far is airbrush, compressor, airbrush holder, paints and I think I'm going to top it off with some mini-business cards from moo.com.

Again, thanks for all the replies!

SO How did she like it!

We want to know?

Ok, it might just be me who has a burning desire to knowl

Haha, she liked it. Someone spilled the beans before Christmas, so it wasn't much of a surprise unfortunately. She hasn't gotten a chance to really try it out yet, but a couple tests have been pretty good. I think we'll be getting a gravity feed sometime in the near future. The well for this siphon feed one requires quite a bit of color to get sucked up, and it doesn't have a cap so it's easy for the paint to start dripping down.

Other than that she seems very happy! I was excited too, now I can tell her about all the cool things I've seen on this site while researching!

You can get gravity feed reasonably, if you just look around.

You already spent the big bucks...the compressor.

I would get a small cup. Mine has a big cup with a lid and it's a pain to clean and sort of has the same issues of a siphon cup. I want a little cup next.

You did real good. That is the setup I use except I got a 40 PSI (probably never need more than 30 PSI)

You might consider a moisture trap, but not needed really... and an adjustable pressure regulator to take it down in PSI so she doesn't blow holes in the cake.