I paint my models with a hand brush (not an airbrush). I usually use Tamiya acrylics. The problem I have is when I paint big areas like wings or fuselages I can never get a smooth uniform coating . It’s either to thick and fills the details, to thin and doesn’t cover the model properly or there are differences in the colour .
Has anyone got an idea on how I can get a neat layer of paint on my model ??

Hi

I didn't have good luck brushing Tamiya paints. Some folks are good at it, so I hope they post. Do you wash the model first to remove grease etc? I use PollyScale and Vallejo paints mostly and they work well. I paint armor and figures, and use thinned coats of paint. It often takes two or three coats to get a good finish. One trick is to brush in one direction for one coat, then at 90 degrees for the next, and so on.

I don't know if you can get PollyScale paints in Europe, but I find they are very good, and don't result in brushmarks.

Good luck
Andy

Hi Have only tried the Tamiya paints one time, and this was on some touch-up work on a model that the spray can didn't get to. And I must say I was a little less that satisfied with the result. This comment is nothing against the paint, I think that it just doesn't work as well for the brush as maybe for air brushes. At least to me.

I've always had real good luck using the Polly S paints with a brush, at least on armor. Don't know how good this would do on aircraft, as they generally are of a smaller scale that AFVs. And they tend to be a little less that forgiving of some painting flaws the modeler might unintentionally leave behind than the AFV.

I do know that when painting AFVs with a brush, this is a very labor intensive process. It takes me around 4 or 5 coats of very thinly applied paint to get all the primier underneath from showing through, unless I want it to show through. And I continually brush all different directions with all different kinds of strokes and motions just to be sure that I don't leave any paint build-up in any recesses or small areas around detail parts, basically till the paint itself is dry, not cured mind you, but just dry enough so the brush doesn't move it any more. Then I let it set a couple hours before repeating this.

As far as planes go, I couldn't say, as I don't model them because I personally think an airbrush would be the only way to do these things. But there is a way to do everything in this hobby, it just takes some experimenting around with different methods and paints till you happen to hit upon just the right combination that works for you.

Good luck and take care, sgirty

Tamiya acrylics seem to be formulated for airbrush users. They do not behave very well when brush painting. I personally use Humbrol enamels, but any reputable enamel should do.

When brush painting it is desirable to have a slow drying paint. This is because it is necessary to maintain a 'wet edge'. This means the first brush load of paint you apply to the model remains wet enough to flow into the second brush load.

In technical terms when brush painting you 'lay' the paint on, and then 'lay it off'. Laying on refers to unloading the brush onto the model, usually best done in one direction on large sufaces - on an aircraft this would be the direction of the airflow. When the area is covered, you lay off by going back across the paint with an empty brush in strokes at 90 degrees to the direction you applied the paint. To do this the paint must be wet or brush marks will spoil the finish.

A slow drying paint will tend to flow into itself and leave no brush marks.

Acrylics tend to dry quickly and then pick up on the brush when you try to lay off.

Hope that helps.

Regards Dave

Tamiya tends to skin over very quickly, i.e., the outer surface of the paint appears dry. However, the paint next to the model has not dried. Touch the skin with fresh paint and you break the surface and start to pull up the wet paint as well, leaving a newly dried, very brush marked surface. At that point, I strip the paint, curse Tamiya and use real paint or an airbrush.

In the end, you'd be best to use some sort of spray on aircraft, eithe a rattle can or an airbrush.

There are products called Flow Improvers, and Acrylic Retarders, that you can use to slow drying times.
Winsor & Newton, and Grunge Sangyo make them respectively. They take some pratice to use, and can greatly improve your results.
Good Luck!

Thanks for the tips guys, I’ve got a few things to try now. I recently bought a few models specifically for paint practice. Age of my paints is not an issue, unless they’ve been in the shop to long. Any way of telling in the shop if the paint is (to) old ??
Tamiya’s acrylics are the only paints I can get here. Sometimes I can lay my hands on Humbrol Enamels. Does the use of enamels have any (dis)advantages over Acrylics ?? What do you think is the best paint to use ??

Hi mossieramm
In my opinion enamel paint works best for hand painting. They seem to have a slower drying time, which makes for less brush marks, and a smoother finish.

Have you considered mail order or internet purcahses for more user friendly paints? Or is importation a problem in the Netherlands?

Usually the hobby shops (at least here in Greece) refuse to mail order liquid stuff as colours , glues, thinners and stuff like that , so its not easy to order them , cause they dont want to lie to the post office!!!!
Further more , having used hand painting for years , and i still like it some times (especially for armor) i d say that enamels are more ...handy for this kind of painting but you have to do a long time stirring and good thinning (not to much but good). But after all the good use of an airbrush looses your hands

AJLaFleche. The hobby shops I’ve been to here, are not to keen on ordering stuff for you . Don’t know why, maybe the reason major_goose mentions. As for internet and mail order that’s not really an option for me. So I’m rather stuck with Tamiya Acrylics.
Glad you liked the IPMS colour charts major_goose.