I just purchased a Badger Crescendo 175 airbrush, This is my first Badger airbrush and I really like how it feels. Up till now I have been learning the airbrush using various Astek single and double action brushes and I will not bad mouth them as they helped get me started and gave me a firm basis in the skill.

There is one thing about my airbrush that bothered me however and that is the fact that badger sells the bottle adapters in 33 mm and 20 mm. Now I use Model Master paints in the 1/2 ounce bottle and near as I can tell the lids for these are 28 mm, so you see my problem. The only place I have seen adapters in this size for the Badger airbrush's is in the Micro-Mark catalog and they cost about $8.00 plus shipping and handling. I figured I could do it as cheap or cheaper, so here are my plan's on making your own adapter for a Badger siphon feed airbrush so you too can use Model Master Paints without having to change bottle sizes or use the color cup every time.

Parts needed.

The parts you need are:

#1. a Badger Fast Blast Cap 33mm Jar Adapter with Attached siphon tube.
#2. you can go 2 ways here with either a Model Master jar lid (free if you already use this paint) or as I wanted my screw cap to be a little oversized, I used a Astek 28mm Jar adapter with siphon for use with my Astek 430 airbrush. $5.00 at a hobby store or free if you have one laying around.

The first step is to pull the siphon assembly off of your 33mm cap as shown in picture below.

Note the arrow pointing to the space between the piece of black plastic and the rubber seal. This is where your modified lid will rest in this groove.

Now if using the 28 mm jar adapter you must use a modeling saw to saw off the top part of the siphon assembly that you won't need. This leaves a small round hole. Now take a power drill and decide which bit will be the right size. You want a size hole that is just barely large enough to allow the 4 plastic prongs of the Siphon assembly from the 33mm adapter that you will be using. You drill your hole in the center of the 28 mm lid or 28 mm jar adapter And then work the adapter into place, by pulling it down and working the rubber seal into the inside of your lid. If using a Model Master lid, you must also drill a small hole to the side for an air feed.

After you have everything in place you need to seal the edge around siphon assembly on the top of your lid by using either an epoxy compound or a gap filling super glue. Be careful here and don't seal up the small air feed hole.

The last step is deciding how long the inner siphon feed tube should be and cutting it off at the correct length at a slight angle so that it is not flat on the bottom of your bottle when you screw it on. I used an empty bottle to make my measurements for this.

And there you have it an easy way to make your own Badger 28 mm Jar adapter for Model Master, Polly-Scale 1/2 ounce bottles.

My total cost If I'd had to pay for the materials was $8.00 because I used the Astek jar adapter as my base, but if you want to use an old jar lid to make yours then your cost would be about $3.00 for the 33mm badger adapter Either way you save money over ordering one from a catalog.