SPA Modeler

F I N A L L Y !!

My Krome is on its way !
(or has been since the 15th.. )





- Kari

Awesome news! I've yet got a confirmation for mine. Then again, I've been too busy to notice. I think it's a good thing for me. The less I know, the better I'll know later when they send me the notice that it's being shipped.

I just got my shipping notice too! SOTAR on it's way!

jkim wrote:I just got my shipping notice too! SOTAR on it's way!

HURRAYH John!
I guess you will get yours before I have mine.

speedgraflex wrote:Soon! Soon! Soon! Post pictures when you receive your new tools...

Absolutely Bruce! :-)

- Kari

John, you are going to love that Sotar! I have one (got it as a prize in a Modeler's Alliance campaign) and it is such a fantastic fine-line tool!

Looking forward to getting the new toy. Should be either today or tomorrow as my tracking shows the Sotar in San Diego as of last night.

Three months later... the Sotar 20/20 is here! As someone mentioned before, all you get is the airbrush... not extra needles or tips or anything like that. Not even a box. They wrapped the Sotar in a nice leather pouch though.



Here is the Sotar next to my workhorse, Iwata HP C Plus. The Sotar is a tad smaller with a noticeably smaller paint cup, which is totally fine with me.


I immediately loaded the cup with some Tamiya Black, thinned it about 4:1 with iso alcohol and drew some lines. Haven't dialed in my paint mixes with the new airbrush but initial tests show that the Sotar is capable of much finer work than the Iwata, which was expected (2mm vs 3mm needles)


I wanted to give the airbrush a real life test and decided to do something that I would've never considered with an airbrush. I've started preliminary painting of the Corsair standing pilot figure. I've painted some basic colors on it like the yellow for the life preserver and buff for the uniform. Last night I tried brush-painting the face and it came out horrible. I immediately wipe the offending head of paint and set it aside. With the new airbrush, I decided to try and spray the face with the Sotar to see how well it would do on a really small target.


I mixed up a tiny batch of pink fleshy color and shot it through the airbrush. Great control with minimal overspray... I can see how this brush will become very useful!


I finished the face off with some quick brush-painting. This is just a test and I'll wipe the face off and try again with a better mix of flesh tones.



After the short test, I'm more than happy with the Sotar. One technical thing concerns me though. It's the unprotected needle.


While the airbrush comes with a plastic cover for when the airbrush is not in use, the needle will be exposed and unprotected when spraying. The Iwata has a protective "cone" that prevents the needle from being damaged while in operation. The cone also allows you to "back flush" the airbrush clean by simply covering the nozzle and letting the air push back through the cup, essentially "gargling" any liquid remaining in the airbrush. Can't do that with the Sotar, unless an alternate nozzle is available.

I see something like this available which will protect the needle but won't allow for back flushing.

That does do some very fine work indeed! Nice! But I agree about that exposed needle. You’re gonna have to be most aware and careful in that respect.