Paint
Not only are there different brands of paint like Humbrol and Vallejo, but there are also different types like acrylic and oil. I will try to give a brief overview of different paints and brushes, which hopefully will be of some guidance as you make selections. A word of warning though, paint and brush brands are very much like car brands. Once you pick a brand and decide you like it, my guess is you will use the same brand forever! Spoiler alert: I use Vallejo paints and up until a year ago I used Raphael brushes.
Acrylic
I started off using Acrylic paints because when I first got into the hobby I read that Acrylics dry faster, and oil are easier to blend on the model. I thought well I doubt I will ever be good enough to blend paints and I like the fast drying idea. Flash forward to today and with over 100 little bottles of acrylic paints I doubt I will ever change over to oil or enamel based paints! While there are several other top brands in the Acrylic field including Tamiya, Ammo, AK Interactive, and Revell I went with Vallejo initially because they were one of the few that had small dropper type bottles. Humbrol may have been a little more popular at the time but their bottles with the snap top where you dipped the brush in, looked a little too messy for me. That combined with the added challenge of mixing colors with these types of jars led me to buy about 10 different colors from Michigan Toy Company of Vallejo paint. Over the years I have purchased well over a hundred bottles of paint from Michigan Toy Company and have always been happy with their service!
Enamel or Oil
Oil based model painting is for (in my opinion) the true professionals, or at least folks considerably more dedicated to the art of painting than me. When you look on Ebay and see a 54mm model that is painted and for sale for $150+ it is almost certainly an oil painted model. The advantage of oil based painting is the slow drying characteristic of the paint allows you to better blend the colors on the model. Additionally, oil base will tend to dry smoother and harder than acrylic. Acrylic dries within a few minutes of being painted on and allows you to paint more of the model sooner. I have never tried oil, but may have to at some point!
Brushes
One of the best pieces advice that, unfortunatly, I ignored when I first started painting was start off with a quality paintbrush. Instead, I bought a set of cheap brushes at the local gaming store. I used those brushes for several months before I finally ordered quality brushes. Man I wish I had started off with good brushes! Please buy a nice set to start with, you wont regret it.
I started with very inexpensive brushes and once I realized this was the hobby for me, I splashed out and bought a couple of higher quality brushes. I bought brushes from the Raphael 8404 series. Almost immediately the quality of my painting improved and I realized it was true that the quality of the brush DOES make a difference! for the next dozen years I painted my models using either a "0" or a "1" for most of my work and a "0000" for eyes and facial features. Recently I purchased a few brushes from the Windsor & Newton No. 7 line. Both of these brands use natural hair from Kolinsky sable and are well tipped brushes. However having used the No. 7s for about 3 months, I notice that the hairs do not stay together as well as the Raphael, they seem to split. I have treated the No. 7s the same way as Raphael when it comes to cleaning so not sure why they are doing this but I have since gone back to Raphael.
The Kolinsky sable is the brush of choice. I typically use round #0000 to paint eyes and facial features, #0 for other detail work, and #1 for most other work. I also use a #2 to brush on the primer base coat. For the varnish layer I do use synthetic flat brush to apply the varnish layer. While you are painting you want to be sure to dip rinse your brush FREQUENTLY! Before dried paint begins to form on the brisltes. If you dip rinse it and there is still paint dried to the brush you need to rinse more often. My setup includes two small jars that are 3/4 full of water. I use the front jar to dip and rinse my brushes. The back one I use to rinse the soap off the brush when I clean between colors. I also place a folded paper towel under the jars to remove the excess water (and paint) from the brush.
What is your favourite brush? let me know in the comments below!
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