Before I had the money to buy a good compressor AND a good moisture-removal system (in 2003), I bought a turbine-based HVLP system (2-stage, Accuspray - now owned/sold by 3M Spray Equipment). This requires no compressor and no air-filter/air-dryer. This is a fine system and comes with an excellent non-bleed, pressure-feed gun.
All my air tools worked fine with a 30-gal 5-hp portable compressor.
In summer 2008, I upgraded to a larger compressor for use with a large media-blasting cabinet (and a larger pressure blaster unit).
