Tried shading with this with a long stroke and started getting a needle marked look. So I wound my needles back closer to the tube and shaded backwards. The needles give a lot more that way so I was able to get some smoother shading.
I've tried it with a short stroke and that suits me much better. I can shade forwards in a conventional manner without the needle marks. I'm Using maximum give on B&G shading. I've been able to layer some really smooth blends.
Compared to a hawk machine it vibrates slightly more especially on max give. It's slightly louder again especially run with give. After about a hour of shading the motor starts to get warm not hot but I was supprised as its a dedicated cart machine. My hawk would run for six hours with out getting warm.
Done some colour work with it using the short stroke and it's fine. I haven't lined with it as I don't have lining carts and prefere a coil for lining.
Think I'll be doing a lot of shading and colour work with this over the next few weeks.