John,

Sorry for the late response, but I thought this thread had gone on without me. I get my Winsor and Newton Cirrus Series brushes at Michaels Craft Stores. Also try Ben Franklin and Hobby Lobby.

In the end, it's Vallejo all the way for brush painting. 2 drops of paint and 2 drops of distilled water in a palette cup is all you need for brush painting perfection.

If you want to fool around with extender and retarder, you can do that much later. Liquitex sells Flo-Aid and Slo-Dri at any Michaels Craft Store.

What happened to LifeColor? Not to long ago Sgt. Tom gave a real good review of the Lifecolor paints, and he seemed to think they hand brushed better than Vallejo, and I have to agree with him.
Frank

Every modeller has their own preferences and each answer will be slightly different. Most however have applied themselves to a paint brand that they can find easily and locally. The learning curve is probably similar no matter what paint type you choose. But rather than just taking one brand and searching no futher ... why not try a few different brands and see which works for you. They all have their advantages and dissadvantages. Many who use mostly acrylics still buy Humbrol and oils for different effects. Those who paint mostly with enamels or oils buy acrylics as well ... again a different set of advantages. Dont limit yourself!!

A late contender deserves mention along with a comment or two.

I've just given a battle test of Revell Germany's Aqua Color acrylics. They're not available in the US but are all over the UK and for stuff like paint shipping is nickle/dime and normally quite fast.

Aqua Color are water based acrylics and do resemble Vallejo Model Color somewhat. I did hand brush a good hunk of battleship yesterday and the results were very impressive. Revell claims that their line is "self-leveling." (Pledge/Future has that quality which is why you dip a cockpit into a jar and have it look just fine.) In my use the brush strokes were almost invisible so Revel stands vindicated at least for now. They have 88 colors and, being a German company, have a lot of military types keyed toward German schemes. (I was painting with "Squirrel Gray" also labelled RAL 7001 - a very hard color to duplicate.) They certainly have very good looking German armor colors. See more at http://www.revell.de/index.php?id=287&L=1.

They recommend only a small amount of distilled water for brush painting. I use "Flow Aid" which is a leveler and retarder found in several brands in any art supply store. (It's mixed with distilled water at 10:1.) Revel warns not to use more than 20% thinner. I think the reason would be the same as that given by Golden Acrylics for their fluid line of artist acrylics. Too much water will break down the molecular integrity of the mix.

For "low and slow" airbrushing this can be easily handled by employing acrylic "mediums" like "airbrush" "airbrush extender" "satin", "varnish" or a lot of other goodies that contain polymer. Indeed, if mixed with this kind of stuff you can use a water based model or fluid based artist acrylic for a very thin layer of airbrushing. This is important to me because I like to airbrush at about 18psi. For higher psi the recommended 20% distilled water would work fine I'd think.

BTW: I am very fond of fluid artist acrylics like Golden or Liquitex. I think the better pigments make them worth the price over craft paints like Dream Coat or Apple Barrel, although I'm sure the later would be fine to dios. You do have to master the basic "mediums" but once you do you can literally design your own paint. It's very good stuff when properly used and very reasonably priced. Mediums are expensive but would last for years - overall this stuff would easily be the least expensive answer to quality model painting. And if you don't like the powerful solvents used in lacquers, enamels or the solvent based "acrylics" like Tamiya or Gunze, they are the best because they're so benign. You can't smell Aqua Color.

Some reporter asked famous Depression Era bank robber Willy Sutton after his capture why he robbed banks: "that's where the money is" answered Willy. For buying paint brushes you can't beat an artist supply store. They'll have everything from Euro sable that can push $50 to craft style synthetics for $2 per brush. (That would be a good cheapo: packages are cheaper yet. Although you'd have to go to a crafts store for real low cost items.) You'll know you're at the right place when they have huge bins with brushes designed for acrylics, oils and water colors specifically, as well as "all rounders." I've looked at model maker brushes and they're okay but priced maybe three times too high. If you've got the mentality maybe a few very expensive brushes would be worth it - if you know and practice brush care they will last for years. I don't so I buy some el-cheapos for many uses and fair quality synthetics for actual modeling. They won't last an eternity but I pick up replacements every couple of kits. A new or nearly new synthetic will beat the hell out of a badly cared for sable. Adam Wilder has recommended buying a new #1 or #2 for each kit specifically for armor chipping. Basically, I think he's right.

My views anyway.
Eric

Vallejo or Reaper!

Hey fellas.

What are you guy's thoughts on Testors and Tamiya paints? So far, I've got a decent sized collection of Testors (acrylic & enamel) and Tamiya but have been hesitant of trying out other paints.

And brushes, where to start? So far I've got a bunch of cheap brushes (don't really use those anymore) and a few decent quality paint brushes I bought in a pack at a wal mart some time ago. I'm tempted to invest in a set of Tamiya brushes, especially pointed brushes for detail work.

a bit off topic, but is there a correct way to clean brushes after a session?

Hey Comrade MP.

I've never used Testors paints so perhaps someone else will give you some info on those. As for Tamiya paints they are one of the best to use for many things including hand brushing (I assume you are planning to hand-brush a model?). Make sure the Tamiya pots are well stirred and shaken before you begin. You can thin Tamiya paints with water and this helps to avoid 'clumping' and brush strokes being too visible. You can also use Tamiya Thinner but if you are not careful it can lift paint off from areas you have already covered.
You might want to give Vallejo Acrylics a look aswell, they are excellent for hand brushing and thin very well and easily with water.

As for brushes- always try and get something of decent quality. Artists supply stores are a good place to start. However, I would definetly recommend Tamiya brushes- I use mostly these and 502 Abteilung brushes from Mig Productions.

As for cleaning them you should be able to give them a decent clean with water. Avoid dunking the brushes off the bottom of any water container- swishing the brushes about rapidly is much kinder to the shape of the brush. Artists supply stores may also sell brush cleaner and/or restorers- these are good for elongating the life of brushes and after a few sessions give them a good clean in one of these products. I recommend Vallejo cleaners.

I hope this helps a bit.

Good luck!

From the first kit I ever built in my childhood till today, it´s been Humbrol. I´m used to it and it has never let me down. I know there´s lots of other fancy, trendy "must have" acrylics on the market but I´m such a dinosaur and old school modelbuilder, that I follow my own, old habits.

For hand brush ? Only one: Vallejo !

Yes, Lifecolor does airbrush and brushpaint very well right out of the bottle. However, Vallejo Model Color has a much more extensive range of colors, mediums, textures, effects, and modifiers. I have also found it to be a higher quality paint and optimally suited for brush painting. Vallejo's Model Air line is made for the modeler's airbrush and is easy to use with superior results. Vallejo has also come out with their line of colored primers, which means you get primer and base color coat all in one shot.
I still have other acrylics, but Vallejo is my "go to" brand now.

I live in a small town and the nearest hobby shop is 30+ minutes away. They don't carry Vallejo. I would like to order a set of Vallejo online but not sure where to get it from. Any recommendations? When I Google it, I seem to get foreign shops.

Jeff I buy from Colorado Miniatures.Best price and service and they are online. Vallejo #1

Thanks. I will check them out.

Don't know about Vallejo but Delta, Apple Barrel, Folk Art, Americana and Anita's have all lifted with tape removal when used as primer. However, If I used Floquil black as the primer then sprayed the craft acrylics, only then did I not experience any paint lifting when removing the masking tape.

Ron

I can only agree with all those who have supported Vallejo - they are great. At the last count I had somewhere in the vicinity of 50 different colours in my cupboard.

I've been experimenting lately with Atelier fast medium/fixer (it's made in the UK), which seems to improve the coverage greatly, particularly if used on the second coat.

As for brushes - whatever is easiest for you. I generally use large round brushes for washes, with smaller pointed brushes for detail work. I don't hand paint large areas - for that I use Tamiya applied with an airbrush.

One brand of paint I notice nobody has yet mentioned is Italeri, which has appeared here (Australia) in the last few months. They offer quite an extensive range of colours, made by guess who - Vallejo. I've had good results with these as well, particularly as their colours are not exactly the same as Vallejo's, and they have some intersting shades.

Have fun.

Regards

Rob

Vallejo works really well with brush painting. Although, having a coarse surface (such as a primed surface) helps minimize brush strokes and better paint application.

I have been playing around with Vallejo (Model Color and Model Air) in my Iwata HP-C + airbrush. It works, but it doesn't spray as fine as I want it to, even thinned down at various levels to the point where it's too thin. I probably need to fine tune it a bit more. Tamiya paints work really well in my airbrush and don't require a lot a thinner. I'm very satisfied with Tamiya in my airbrush.

IMHO...VALLEJO all day every day! I hand brushed this camo with Vallejo on the Tamiya Chi Ha. Very risky but very rewarding.


There are some nice products out there similar to Vallejo, but im convinced it is the ONE! My 2 cents.

Gary

Vallejo are really good, even the air series are a pleasure to be used with brushes (maybe more than model color.
My favorite brushes are Raphael 6404 (with the "0" you can paint everything, from large areas on figures to eyeballs). These brushes are designed for "aquarelle" and are very good for acrylics.

For oil colors, I'm looking for some, the 6404 are too delicate for this use.

Gary, beautiful work on the Shinhoto Chi Ha! It's stunning! Absolutely wonderful brush painted finish. Great detailing, too. Wonderful job.
I won't brush paint with anything but Vallejo, either.

A very good paint job .

I'm so happy to find out every Hobby Lobby in the Chicago area carries around 30 colors of Vallejo Model Color; and it's all colors that tank builders would use (can tell they picked the right colors to carry in store). Now I just have to wait for A model I bought to get here so I can test it out(ordered one from a store in town and they're now saying it'll take 10 days just to get the model to their store from the in state warehouse which is a joke so I cancelled it and bought one off Ebay).

Stevens international carries a nice line of paints , I think they even have poly scale paints , give their website a visit . They do mail orders also . It's just price wise they are not cheap .

for me valejo are good but my best paint for fig are Andrea

Andreaeurope