Absolute beginner: Need a few pointers

[stillp]

One advantage of Tamiya acrylics is that they're more resistant to handling than Vallejo.

[Mr Bowcat]

I've been adding a drop of flow improver to Tamiya paint for brushing recently, it seems to have helped with a lot of the issues I'd been having.

Jakko, I'd be interested in your process for brush painting with Tamiya paints.

[Guest]

Thanks for all your helpful comments and replies - I'm having much better joy by switching to a better quality brush, and reducing the amount of thinner (just water in my case) to the mix.

A couple of coats and I'm happy with the results. I find keeping the brush a little damp between each coat helps the paint flow over the previous one. Seems almost a little tacky without that step, even when the paint is completely dry.

Picked up heaps of tips from Ron's No Frills Brush Painting Guide - so thanks heaps for that!

[Guest]

As the guys say Ian it[ICODE]s all down to personnel preference, I get on okay with Tamiya acrylics and I find the trick is to dip the bush in water, then a gentle wipe over some kitchen roll then into the paint, don[/ICODE]t overload the brush but put plenty on and then stroke over the model no more than a couple of times then into the paint again, then after a few strokes clean the brush in the water then start again. I must admit I only brush paint small parts and figures anything bigger and out comes the airbrush. I`ve attached some pictures of one of my figures all painted with a brush and Tamiya acrylics. Good luck.

[Guest]

Thanks for the pointers, Robo! Your figures look fab - love the detail in the skin tone.

[zuludog]

I've posted these sorts of comments on previous threads, I think they will help you, have a look (who me? big headed?!) and apologies to anyone who's tired of seeing them

Sable brushes, such as Winsor & Newton #7 are reckoned to be some of the best available, but I've changed to W&N Sceptre Gold 11 which are a synthetic-sable mix. They are a bit more robust, and cheaper, but give very similar results; in fact I now prefer them to pure sable

I have also bought a mixed pack from www.abcbrushes.com - good quality and reasonably priced

[Guest]

Jakko, I'd be interested in your process for brush painting with Tamiya paints.

1. Open the bottle.
2. Stir the paint with an ice lolly stick that has anywhere between no and thirty years’ worth of paint on it already.
3. Scrape the stick along the rim of the bottle to get as much paint back into the bottle as possible; using the brush to get paint off is also an option.
4. Dip the brush into the paint.
5. Smear paint onto the model with the brush until not enough paint comes out anymore, aiming for even coverage but not too thick.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the whole area to be painted is covered.
7. If, after drying, the coverage isn’t enough, start back at 1. (Generally, less paint is needed this time round to get good coverage.)

The main problem I have with brushing Tamiya paints is, like I said, if the paint was opened a long time (several years) ago and has gone off a bit — it will usually be thicker than normal. Trying to paint with this can go quite well until you reach a bit that’s partially dried already, which’ll wipe off with the brush with fresh paint. The only real solution is to work fast, make sure you only paint wet-on-wet, and touch up after the paint has fully cured.

[spanner570]

Don't forget folks, our 'Boss' John has an excellent selection of very well priced brushes here in the Scale Models Shop.

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Jakko.

Thought you might have some special technique or magic, guess it's that easy. I've never been able to brush it on as well as I can airbrush it.

[Guest]

Thought you might have some special technique or magic, guess it's that easy.

I don’t know why I don’t have problems with it but some other people do — all I’ve ever done is paint with it like I painted with other paints, and it worked fine.