Brush painted.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Being a member here for quite a while, I know not all are into facebook, VK, and similar "social media" sites. I'm into facebook, and there, in a lot of model car groups. Once in a while something really cool shows up. 

This week I was looking at the posts of the Revell and Monogram model cars group, and found the work done by Michael Ejs Bredgaard, from Denmark. He does the very best brush painting on model cars bodies I ever saw. 

Take a look:

 

[droogie]

That is remarkable! I'd like to know his secrets for obtaining such a nice finish with brushes.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

A few more:

 

[Quick GMC]

That's better than my airbrush painting

[KWT]

Holy c r a p... I'd like to know how to do that.

Edited January 21, 2018 by KWT

[TomZ]

I know some of the secrets. Use enamel. Thin the paint about 60-40, varies with brand and color. Use a fairly large flat brush. Only brush INTO the wet paint, lifting as you meet the previous stroke. Keep the paint fairly heavy (not too heavy!) and wet. NEVER touch any area that already has wet paint on it except for finishing the next stroke. Light sanding with 1500 between coats. Don't expect even coverage right away, you might need five coats to cover. I've seen praise for Humbrol, especially for gloss black. Finally a coat or two of spray clear is often done.

It takes a lot of practice to develop the techniques. I've had some moderate success but my bane is always dust and floating cat hair (arrgh.

[KWT]

Guess I'll just keep waiting to do all my painting in the warm months.

[cobraman]

Better than most of my rattle can paint jobs !  OK, all my rattle can paint jobs.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

1 hour ago, TomZ said:

I know some of the secrets. Use enamel. Thin the paint about 60-40, varies with brand and color. Use a fairly large flat brush. Only brush INTO the wet paint, lifting as you meet the previous stroke. Keep the paint fairly heavy (not too heavy!) and wet. NEVER touch any area that already has wet paint on it except for finishing the next stroke. Light sanding with 1500 between coats. Don't expect even coverage right away, you might need five coats to cover. I've seen praise for Humbrol, especially for gloss black. Finally a coat or two of spray clear is often done.

It takes a lot of practice to develop the techniques. I've had some moderate success but my bane is always dust and floating cat hair (arrgh.

You nailed what he does. Even the Humbrol enamel paint. 

I had zero success on brush painting anything glossy larger than a radiator, or a engine block. Cats hair? That's inevitable. 

I invited Michael to join our forum. 

[Snake45]

Those are remarkable. 

I have a friend in Model Airplane world who has been building 1/72 airplanes for at least 40 years and has probably hundreds of them, all hand-brushed. He's only tried his hand at a few cars but he managed to achieve an amazing finish on those as well, simply not knowing that "it can't be done." 

[D. Battista]

11 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Those are remarkable. 

 

I agree....!!

[gbdolfans]

Hi all, there is a gentleman that lives down the street. He is into Model Railroading now and wants to sell his layout.

He used to build model cars a long time ago,always brush painting. His name is Neil Weber.

his finishes are much better than I can do . He also hand painted the scripts and details on bodies.

He won awards in shows when he lived in the NE.

I have tried to get him to let me take pics,but,he is not interested.

[Ron Hamilton]

Excellent workmanship, but for me, it would take too long.

[vintagercr]

Outstanding!

[Classicgas]

Unbelievable!

[bobthehobbyguy]

One method I've heard is to retard the enamelnso the paint has time to level. Becuase of a longer dry time you then need to cover the painted item to avoid dust.

[bluenote]

I admit this does look great, but I'm going to assume that the modeller that painted these sanded and polished the finish after brush painting?  I can't see how they would get that finish just by brushing alone.

[mikemodeler]

Incredible talent and patience to achieve such results. I am sure he had a few "oops" along the way (as most of us do!) but sure would like to see a short video of him in action painting a model. 

A question for those familiar with this process- If you have a problem and need to strip the paint, is it similar to spray where the whole body has to be stripped or can it be done on just the affected area?

[Michael Ejs]

On 1/21/2018 at 1:59 AM, TomZ said:

I know some of the secrets. Use enamel. Thin the paint about 60-40, varies with brand and color. Use a fairly large flat brush. Only brush INTO the wet paint, lifting as you meet the previous stroke. Keep the paint fairly heavy (not too heavy!) and wet. NEVER touch any area that already has wet paint on it except for finishing the next stroke. Light sanding with 1500 between coats. Don't expect even coverage right away, you might need five coats to cover. I've seen praise for Humbrol, especially for gloss black. Finally a coat or two of spray clear is often done.

It takes a lot of practice to develop the techniques. I've had some moderate success but my bane is always dust and floating cat hair (arrgh.

Well, I do use Humbrol Enamel, but I don´t thin it, and I use a size 3 round brush.. 1 coat, pretty heavy, no sanding, and no clearcoat.. 

 

And thank you all for the nice comments, much appreciated.

 

 

Cheers

Michael

[Michael Ejs]

On 1/22/2018 at 3:25 PM, bluenote said:

I admit this does look great, but I'm going to assume that the modeller that painted these sanded and polished the finish after brush painting?  I can't see how they would get that finish just by brushing alone.

No sanding and no polishing.. The models posted here are all done in 1 take. :)

[Ulf]

Hi Mikael

Glad you're writing in this thread, I've heard about you, your cars and especially about your brush painting. Today in 2025 when Humbrol has deteriorated, been banned and come back(?), what color do you use ?