Spectrum “Black Widow” Precision Control Gravity Feed Airbrush Kit

Reviewed by Cookie Sewell

Summary

FirstLook

Harbor Freight is a company which got started in the US in 1977 in California as mail order only. But over the years it has expanded and now has more than 1,500 “brick and mortar” locations throughout the US.

I found one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania about 15 years ago and found that while it did carry a wide range of tools and supplies most of them were cheap items from China. They had two airbrushes at the time, a knockoff of a Badger 350 for $9.95 and a knockoff of a Badger 150 for $14.95. I picked up one of each for the basic reason if I wanted to test a certain paint or mixture (like trying to spray Mr. Surfacer) I did not want to ruin a $200 airbrush in the process. They were of poor quality and broke soon after I began using them.

Fast forward to 2025. Yesterday I went over to a new store in Harve de Grace, Maryland and found they now offer five airbrushes. Two are less expensive ones but three of them are the “Black Widow” models from Spectrum. There is a basic pen type model with a choice of 0.3mm or 0.5mm needles and 5ml and 9ml cups, a deluxe model with a 0.2mm and 0.3mm needle, the same cup sizes and a precision air supply control valve, and the same airbrush but with a pistol grip. The basic model is $74.95 and the other two are $79.95 each.

What you get inside the handsome plastic case with heavy foam padding is a satin black airbrush with gold anodized fittings. It comes with a number of options to include the aforementioned two needle sets and two cup sizes, a quick attach fitting for the air supply, a choice of either cup or crown shaped needle caps, and a small vial of needle lubricant and a very good set of directions.

The brush is similar to many other recent designs such as Iwata and GREX  as it uses a removable barrel rear section with a paint limiter knob, two way control button, screw-on cups, and a fitting which works well with a GREX airbrush hose or the fittings on most new rechargeable mini-compressors. The cups both come with a  bespoke cap on them and the “Black Widow” marking on the cup body.

In summary, this is a precision instrument and I am curious to see how the micro control helps with air feed to the brush. It is located in the mixing chamber so should be able to provide more accurate air feed (I have both a GREX compressor which is easy to adjust and a Badger 180 which is not even with a pressure valve).