Hi Capt Stedders,

I'm a brand spanking new modeler and am currently doing a lot of reading through the forums to get a good idea of what I should be doing and what I shouldn't be doing. I've been reading your posts on brushwork and painting tips as I want to paint my boat to the Trafalgar colours. You seem to be very exerienced and since I don't know too much about all of this I was wondering if you could outline exactly what you yourself are doing regarding painting, i.e. what paint you are using and possibly some pictures of your build.

If you've already outlined this in this discussion I'm sorry but I got a little impatient reading through 7 pages of posts.

Thanks for all of your help.

Eoin

Brushes

Since the title of this thread is Brushworks, I thought it about time that I did an article on... brushes!

In the photo below I have laid out all the brushes that I will be using during this build and have grouped them into two types - the leftmost six are what I describe as 'finishing brushes' whilst the remaining ones to the right can best be described as 'working brushes'. I have also included a plastic pallete with inversely domed mixing bowls which make clean-up a whole lot easier, (the ones with angular, squared bowls are best avoided since they can be a pain to clean).



Working Brushes

1 - 3 (blue handles, white bristles) These are nylon bristled brushes which I picked up from 'The Works' - they are sold under the guise of artists acrylic brushes but I use them for applying PVA and Aliphatic resin. They also get used for applying sanding sealer and wood stain. (I also use thin slivers of wood or plastic to apply tiny spots of glue, be it wood glue or super glue - NEVER use a brush anywhere near uncured superglue). Using a brush or sliver of wood gives the modeler far more control over both the amount of glue used and where it ends up than simply squeezing it out of a bottle or tube.


4-5 (Drybrushes)
These are both hardwearing brushes that are used for drybrushing - not that I'd recommend this technique for the ship build, these brushes also come in handy for removing dust and 'scrubbing' paint into surfaces - the Games Workshop 'Large Drybrush (on the right) is one that I have had for over six years!

Finishing brushes

These are the workhorses of my brush collection - not the absolute finest quality, but more than adequate for applying paint to a prepped wooden model. Pictured is a Games Workshop 'fine detail brush' and two Vallejo, red Kolinsky sable brushes (a size 1 and a size 2, I chose these for the fact that they are competitively priced and good quality - but any good quality watercolour brush will do. The large Daler 'mop' brush is used for applying paint to large areas

Watercolour brushes have finer and softer bristles than acrylic ones, whether you use them for applying acrylic or enamel paint, and because of this do not create furrows in the paint and allow it to 'level out' more quickly as a result.

Finally, the two tubed brushes are Windsor&Newton series 7 ones (size 1 and 0). These are reserved for extremely fine detail work - such as painting the details on the miniatures that we will be getting to represent the crew, the figurehead and stern carvings AND NOTHING ELSE. These are widely accepted as the finest miniature painting brushes money can buy (they are also rather expensive at over £10 a pop for the tiny ones and well over £100 for the larger brushes) - I shall be going into the finer points of brush care in a future posting, but until then, as a rough guide, try to stick to the following rules.

1: NEVER dip your brush directly into a pot of paint, but rather transfer the paint to a pallete (or tile) using a stick or the handle of an old brush - if you have a Costa or Nero coffee shop (Nero preferably, the coffee is so much nicer), you can blag a few extremely handy, wooden stirring sticks that are absolutely ideal for this purpose!

2: Try not to allow the paint to soak up the bristles and reach the ferrule - it becomes almost impossible to remove and can cause the bristles to 'split' or 'fork'

3: NEVER, EVER stand your brushes, point-down in thinners or water - the bristles will bend and you will lose the point. Simply agitate the bristles and ferrule in water (with a spot of detergent added) or thinners, gently draw the bristles though some folded paper kitchen towel and repeat until all traces of paint have gone

Look after your brushes and they will last a long time and give you good service. It's a false economy to buy cheap brushes (aside from the ones I have suggested that are suitable for the grotty jobs). A good quality brush will, with care, retain its point and hold more paint than a cheap one.

EDIT: You will notice that I do not use brushes smaller than size 1 as a rule (The W&N S7 size 0 is for exceptionally detailed work and is very rarely used) a good size 1 brush will hold more paint and you can retain a 'flow' for far longer with it than with a smaller sized brush - this is essential when doing freehand or edging.

Hi Mike
I have brought the admiralty brush set from Cornwall Models and think they are as good as any i have used, and i have painted ships crests in the past.
Malcolm

Hi, the last time I spoke with him he was busy doing some commissioned work but was still collecting his weekly issues so no doubt he’ll be back soon.

Phil,