I managed really well with a cheapo model to begin with, mostly undercoating in fairness. The more expensive airbrush I now have gives a little better control, but to be honest, considering it's four times more expensive, it's certainly not four times better! I know some people hate the idea of splurging £25 when they know they're going to buy a £125 model later down the line, but I quite like having the security of a "spare", and have even used it to shoot materials I wasn't so sure about (PVA glue in a Harder Steenbeck Infinity? I don't think so!) to see if they worked ok.
The airbrush is not quiet. Your wife could not watch TV in the same room, but it's no different to a our fan extractor above the cooker when on top setting. The other thing sounded like a motorbike engine! Ok, slight exaggeration, but it was a noisy thing.
I guess, to illustrate the difference, if I listen to an audiobook while airbrushing, I used to have to wear earphones, whereas now I can just pump it up to full setting and hear it more or less ok. For comfort though, I mostly do wear earphones anyway though
. In my own painting, the addition of a zenithal undercoat was one of the "big steps" in my progress. The other was use of a wet palette. I use the airbrush for weathering as well, and it's pretty much invaluable for scenery painting!
I've seen lots of people come up with really good effects on space marine armour, etc, but on miniatures pretty much everything that gets laid down with an airbrush is painted over. One day I'll experiment with some of those other techniques. They look fun!
Good luck with it anyway. I'm sure you'll be glad you joined the dark arts
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