Paint Brushes

[MWD]

Good afternoon all, hopefully i can get an answer here.

I do not use an airbrush and to be honest i have no interest in them. I have gone back to Enamels and have a decent selection of Humbrol colours. It's my birthday soon and my missus is ordering some for me from Sovereign Hobbies Cullercoats range. All my brushes seem to be not too good and i want to purchase a really good set but not sure which or where to look. I have bought mine from my local model shop.

I want to build and paint my AFV Softskins to a high standard and feel i cannot do that with my brushes i have.

What do you guys recommend

 

Tim

[Graham Boak]

Go to an art supply shop and ask their advice, but good sable brushes are what you are looking for.  However, to be honest, I don't think that model-shop brushes are so desperately poor as to significantly affect the result.  Assuming that they aren't dropping hairs into your finish, of course.  But then I don't attempt to model to competition standards.

 

As a Geordie, Cullercoats is well known to me as a seaside town on the Northumberland coast.  Bit of a dump in my days up there but I gather it is moving up-market, always had a nice bit of coast anyway.  But as they say about Northumberland, don't tell everybody how nice it is or they'll all want to come.  The paints are ColourCoats, and they are pretty good too.

[MWD]

That's predictive text for you. I do know the place due to being a retired lorry driver.

I don't want to build to model show standards but if i am going to build and paint, then it's got to be done properly. You have hit the nail there Graham as my brushes are starting to lose hairs and looking scruffy.

[Mark Harmsworth]

How about asking @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies for his suggestions?

Mark

[Pete F]

I always buy my brushes from Rosemary and Co. Very good quality and value for money. Their selection is huge. https://www.rosemaryandco.com. No connection to them just a satisfied customer.

[JPuente54]

What @Graham Boak suggests is very good advice. When Squadron Shop in the USA was around, they also had an excellent line of brushed that I bought in store or mail order/online. The new Squadron shop also offers some brushes. Kitlinx also has a large selection. So, you can get some good ones that way. We have a store called "Hobby Lobby(USA)" which has several stores throughout the area. While most of the craft hobbies they have are usually favored by women; there is an aisle of tanks, ships, and aircraft with paints(to include Testors no longer available) for sale. It has a nice selection of brushes which I bought to use. HTH

Joe

[spruecutter96]

All I would advise is to get the best you can afford. Red-sable brushes are usually great quality, but that is very definitely reflected in their price (there are some decent, cheaper sets available on-line). Artificial-hair brushes are OK as a rule, but will probably not last nearly as long. Whatever you buy, clean them and store them properly (bristles always pointing up, just to state the really obvious).

 

Also, some very important aspects of brush-painting:

 

A. NEVER use paint straight out of the bottle / tin. 

 

B. Transfer the paint to a bit of scrap plastic-card, make it the right consistency with your brush and thinners and, then, apply to your model. Don't rush it - more time in application usually produces better results. If you're using a large amount of paint in one sitting, pour some in to a clean container, again add thinners in the new container, mix together well and check that the paint is not thickening up, at regular intervals. If using acrylics, you can use "Flow Retarder" to stop it from drying too quickly. 

 

C. Always use the thinners made by the same manufacturer (other might be OK for your paint, but using the maker's thinners is less risky overall).   

 

D. Red, white and yellow are traditionally colours which are difficult to apply well. Think lots of thin coats, rather than one, very thick coat. Give enough time between each for the previous coat to dry (different times for different types of paint). 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Chris.  

[Troy Smith]

On 14/09/2021 at 17:27, MWD said:

i cannot do that with my brushes i have.

I have found small flat brushes very good with acrylics, and for vehicles,  I suspect they would be handy for larger areas with enamels.  

Humbrol do a set for modellers.   

https://support.airfix.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360016171859-How-to-use-Humbrol-Flat-Brushes

using acrylic, but you get the idea.

    

As for Colourcoats, order some  of their thinners, as with that you return paint to the can if you mix it up too much.

 

White spirit is oily gunk, fine for cleaning brushes and such like, but a false economy with paint thinning.    

 

@Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies  is not a fan of brushing, but other do brush Colourcoats, and he maybe able to advise more as that what works for them.