Hi I am new to the forum and also newer to scale models. Well I'm not new I used to do cars a lot and I airbrushed but got out of it for along time as I run out of room in my building to work on them. Now I have room again and am starting back but with tanks this time. Now I want to learn the art of hand brushing with paint brushes. I bought a bunch of different sized model master paint brushes and a ton of testors acrylic military paint. So my question is how should I go about painting these with brushes. And any advice would be great

Hey Jared,

Welcome to your return to modelling!

I brush paint everything except the primer/base which I usually do using a Tamiya rattlecan. For finishing I usually use acylics (GW and Vellejo) but do mix in enamels and also use both acyrlics and oils for pin washes and weathering.

It's a bit hard to describe the best way to start, I'd definitely suggest starting on some cheap kits to get used to how the acrylics work. I'd also suggest having a shifty at my blog as there's plenty of examples and wips on there. Then asking questions based on that which I'd be happy to answer.

cheers
Brent

ps there's also one of my basic step by steps posted here - http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=3850.0

Yeah I bought a m48a2 Patton kit from Walmart for 20 bucks to start with. It seems to be a decent kit and I picked up the testors military colors kit with paint tray and brushes. Also picked up the model master brushes. Is this a good starting point or is there anything else you all can think of for me to buy.

You might need to pick up some acrylic thinner for brush cleaning and to aid paint flow and coverage.

I'm not familiar with how the Testors acrylics brush. I use acrylic thinners (as well as some water) to cut the paint and help it brush smoothly.

You've also got to clean your brushes pretty regularly as acrylics tend to dry quickly up inside the ferrule spreading the brush.

Another thing is that you may need several thinner coats to get coverage. Some colours are harder to load with pigment than the enamel equivalents and several thinner coats is always better than one thick one.

cheers
Brent

I'm a hard core airbrush fanatic. However, from working with Testors acrylics, you should not need to thin them. I actually use them for pin washes, in which case you do need to thin them, with water. I used purified water, but doubt that makes a substantial difference. If you branch out to Tamiya acryls, you will need to mix them with flo-aid or a special medium. I've done some "hairy stick" painting, with Vallejo Model Color. The lighter shades need Vallejo thinner, but others paint very well. I also recommend trying lacquers(Floquil/Pollyscale are the two I have worked with) and enamels(Model Master/Testors). These do not need any special thinners, except to clean the brush. A quick stir in lacquer thinner is all they should need. To extend the life of your brushes, gently pull less than a drop of light oil through them, after every use. You will want to rinse them in paint thinner, to remove the oil, before your next paint session. Hope this helps and I am sure others will be able to provide different/better advice.