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First off, I love the name. The Michelangelo is one of three models offered by Moshen, a modeling supplies company based in China. The other two are named Raphael and Da Vinci, and all three have been receiving good feedback from the Chinese modeling community. I was particularly intrigued by the Michelangelo because it has a self-centering nozzle.
The airbrush comes in a very professional looking box that appears similar to Tamiya's spraywork packaging, albeit with some obvious typos. It's almost like the manufacturers themselves were so excited to get the airbrush into mass production that they chose to go with the packaging despite the errors. The original label said it had a 0.2 mm nozzle, but they wrote .3 over it with black marker. The balsa wood box is a nice touch, and inside the airbrush rests securely on thick black foam.
The finish on the airbrush is a little better than what I've seen on generic models. The chrome is nicely polished and the engraving is neatly done. It says 0.3 on the body of the airbrush itself. The gold handle adds some flashiness to the look, but the machining of the cutout could be improved. It has the standard free spinning needle limiter, which can come in handy for doing consistent lines.
The cup is a good size and holds 7cc, with a lid that came rather tightly attached. It can be unscrewed from the main body for easier access to the innards of the brush during cleaning. The inside of the cup is adequately polished. A rubber-like seal sits in the slot where the cup screws in. I'm not sure of the material so time will tell if it can hold up to solvent based paint and thinner. If it does degrade over time, a bit of teflon tape around the threads of the cup should be a suitable replacement.
The trigger action was a little rough out of the box, particularly that of the air valve. A bit of lubricant did the trick and it now feels nice and smooth. The spring tension is slightly adjustable, but I found that unscrewing the spring casing too much prevented the handle from seating properly. If the tension is still too stiff, one could simply replace the spring or snip off a few loops to reduce the resistance. I also found the needle packing screw a bit tight. I loosened it very slightly for a smoother trigger pull. The trigger itself stands rather low, so I might add a rubber bump guard on top of it to increase the height and improve control, as I did with my Eclipse and Infinity.
Now on to the business end of the airbrush. Unscrewing the head reveals the self-centering nozzle which is held in place by compression. It is brass in color with a white o-ring at the base which appears to be teflon. - very similar in design to H&S nozzles. I was equally impressed with the channels carved inside the nozzle cap - closely mimicking the head design of the H&S Evolution. The materials are clearly rougher than Harder and Steenbeck's, but considering this airbrush is a small fraction of the price it's not bad at all. The package comes with a fully-protective needle cap installed and a crown cap in the box. Both are standard screw-in type caps. Also in the box is an adapter for plastic hoses and for whatever reason - a nozzle wrench.
To test the airbrush, I thinned down some leftover Mr. Color lacquer and found it sprayed smoothly at 40:60 to 30:70 ratio, with the air pressure at 18-22psi. Doing some squiggles on paper showed it was capable of pencil-thin lines, and could possibly do even thinner lines in a more experienced hand. Atomization was good with no spitting or tip dry experienced in a 15 minute session.
I struggled a bit trying to cover a large area with the thinned down paint and the small nozzle size, but it should be good for doing gradation and building up layers of color. Base coating MG Psycho Zaku fuel tanks may take a while, but parts mounted on painting sticks shouldn't be a problem.
With the threadless nozzle design and detachable cup, cleanup was a breeze, and the brush was ready for the next color in a minute. I was a bit worried that the nozzle might not seal well against the body but it held up just fine in testing.
So what's the verdict? Well it's not an Infinity that's for damn sure, but it really isn't fair to compare it with something that costs 6 times as much just because it sports a similar looking nozzle. I think the point was to take innovative design elements from one of the best airbrushes in the market and try to get them to work in a budget airbrush with minimal impact to production cost. In that regard, I think it knocked it out of the park, and is now a serious contender for best airbrush under Php2500.
Performance-wise I'd say it's a match with the Master G233, and even though the G233 comes with alternate nozzle setups for about the same cost, I think the Moshen Michelangelo would be the better beginner airbrush. It's almost idiot-proof (which you have to admit is exactly what we all were when we first got into airbrushing). Super simple to take apart, clean and reassemble. It atomized paint well in testing, and other than the trigger tightness out of the box there were no other issues. I honestly think this airbrush is a steal for the price!
Here's a video of the airbrush in action:
UPDATE (September 11, 2018)
Moshen has nerfed the Michelangelo, and new orders will now have the traditional screw-in type nozzle. As a result, I will no longer be taking orders for this airbrush. If you are ordering it elsewhere, do make sure you are getting the old version.
Until next time, keep building plamo!
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