Brush and paint brand

[vancouver71]

Good evening guys:

My question is simple:

Which paint brush and paint brand is great for brush mark free?

Thank you.

[chunkypeanutbutter]

Anything without nylon bristles. That should be your paintbrush rule.

There are lots of good paints, and some just have their applications. Testor's stuff is good for small parts. However, for a really good selection of colors and better quality, go for Tamiya or Model Master. Apple Barrel is a good base for making washes as it thins with water.

Edited July 1, 2015 by chunkypeanutbutter

[Art Anderson]

Good evening guys:

My question is simple:

Which paint brush and paint brand is great for brush mark free?

Thank you.

In all honesty, there are almost no paints that can be brushed on without any brush strokes (marks) showing. Virtually all hobby/craft paints, be they enamels or acrylics, simply dry too fast to allow them to "flow out" (not since Pactra discontinued their "Namel line of 4-hour enamel hobby paints--those took a couple of hours to become tacky, fully overnight to dry to the touch!-- has any domestic American company offered modelers this type of paint). Humbrol enamels, which come from the UK are still this slow drying enamel though--not a lot of shops carry this line, but they are available online--not expensive either!. Another line of paints is "One Shot", which is a line of very high quality enamels for professional sign painters (itself once an almost lost art, but has made a comeback in the last 20-30 years or so). One Shot paints are enamels, in the classic sense--high quality, high pigment content, but very slow drying--24 hours or more. But, with practice (IF the OS color you see is one you can use) they can make a fantastic paint job, be that brush or airbrush.

The same is also true of paintbrushes--even the finest, softest brushes will leave at least some brush marks--the higher the quality of the brush, the less visible brush marks will be--but under close inspection, they WILL be there--it's inevitable. The best paintbrushes will be those made from natural bristles, such as Camel Hair (not sure those are really made from the hair of a camel, but that's what the call them), squirrel hair, and the best of the breed being Sable.

I've taken to, over my fairly long years of building model cars (started in 1952 when I was just 8yrs old!) to spray painting body shells, then in January 1963, got my first airbrush setup--ever since, I've airbrushed first model car bodies and hoods, graduating to masking and painting interiors, airbrushing engines, chassis and all the greasy parts--to the point that the only brush work I do anymore is fine detail, "picking out those little thingies" too small to airbrush. Still though, I scope out the artists' paintbrush displays every time I am in Michael's or Hobby Lobby--and more often than I would like to admit, a new detailing brush follows me home!

Art