Brush Strokes/Marks on Models

[ayrton dent1707819870]

i have recently been having terrible trouble with brush marks appearing on my vickers valiant. Is there any way of removing them or how to prevent them. Any help would be much apprichated?

[gary watson1707820320]

Thin your paint and use a softer brush

[Pretty Mediocre Modeller]

Hi Ayrton,

Try rubbing your model down gently between coats with fine grade wet and dry abrasive paper. I usually hand paint my models, but when it came to my Vickers Valiant I bit the bullet and brought a couple of Humbrol rattle cans, matt white for the undercoat and gloss white for the top coat.

 

PMM

[Jonathan Mock]

Ayron, it's all down to practice, practice, practice. Try thinning the paint more and not overworking an area with the brush too much - if it starts dragging, the paint is drying and you'll end up with furrows.What paint are you using? 

[ayrton dent1707819870]

Ayron, it's all down to practice, practice, practice. Try thinning the paint more and not overworking an area with the brush too much - if it starts dragging, the paint is drying and you'll end up with furrows.What paint are you using? 

im using humbrol or revell enamels i've tried using various thickness/thinnesses of paint and it makes no dfferentce

[ayrton dent1707819870]

which grade would you recommend would 420 be to course or do i need something like 1200?

[Gadfly]

Hi,

If you are going to sand the paint then you'll need a very fine grit 1200 - 2000 grit or finer and ideally use a wet n dry type sandpaper. 

Wet sand the surface using plenty of clean water and take it easy as it's very easy to cut straight through the paint and back to the plastic. 

Once you have finished sanding wash the model with clean water and then let it dry naturally. 

I agree 100% with Johnathan that brush painting needs lots of practice. Good quality brushes and correctly thinned paint also help as does taking time and being prepared to paint a couple of coats. 

Other folk will be able to give you lots more advice. 

 

Cheers

GF

 

[ayrton dent1707819870]

hi Bruce i normally dont have a problem its only been on very large areas that im having trouble with like the vickers valiant wings and the deck of HMS illustrious

[ayrton dent1707819870]

i have got various flat brushes including Humbrol, The works and winsor and newton brushes all of which give the same result

[ayrton dent1707819870]

I have been using good quality flat brushes

[Jonathan Mock]

Modeller and researcher Dave Fleming has come up with a good technique which is to thin Humbrol acrylic with Clear - apparently it goes on smooth and without brush marks. Will try this out and add that to the tutorial I'm working on.

[Testerchild]

Jonathan,

Is that Humbrol Clear you speak of or the old Klear, now Pledge? I ask this just to be clear.

Bob

 

[Jonathan Mock]

It apparently works with both.

 

[Testerchild]

I'll give it a try.

Bob

 

[Braille Dave]

Might be a bit late to this party, but here's my take (based on years of getting smooth lacquer finishes on wood furniture...and french polishing-but don't go there!). Handbuilt furniture is still largely brushed, not many small firms having the space and money for sprayrooms, paint reclaimation, filtration systems and high-build coatings spray equipment.

 

Brushes:

-Pick the right size of brush for the work

-When buying your brushes, price it isn't as important as you think. Get the softest ones you can find; synthetic or squirrel hair is best. Flat brushes for large areas, round for detail. Woodworkers lacquer brushes are good, if you can find them; available in 10 to 50mm wide, they're only 5mm thick, this is an advantage as you'll find out later.

 

Paint (based on enamels):

-Thin your paint to 'milk' consistency, remember- the aim is many thin coats, rather than one thick one (Properly laid on it'll be as thin as a sprayed coat.

-Don't use airbrush thinners- they are designed to be very volatile and have a high content of 'dryers'- ordinary white spirit or turps (depending on the paint) will be fine.

-Stir it well, at least 30secs; longer for a bigger quantity.

 

Technique:

-Don't put too much paint on your brush; you won't be able to lay it on the model before the paint will start drying on the brush, the  more this happens the more your brushes will get claggy, which means you end up trying to paint gloop.

-Don't dip your brush too far in the paint, halfway up the bristles is fine; any further and your brushes get claggy.

-Don't pull out your paint too far; a good rule of thumb is roughly a square twice the width of the brush, i.e. A 50x5mm brush should give a painted square 100 by 100mm (a thicker brush would give a bigger covered area; but that brings disadvantages, see the first point).

-start your brushload horizontally, then brush vertically; you should end up with a painted square.

-Work swiftly and feather the edges; this means a ragged edge like a feather, a hard line will dry with a raised edge, which will show in the finish.

-Always start the next brushload from a wet edge; i.e. the brushload you've just put on.

-Keep another brush moistened with white spirit; you can use this to feather a dried edge, or merge the edges.

 

Hope that helps....

 

[ian_rutland]

Ayron, it's all down to practice, practice, practice. Try thinning the paint more and not overworking an area with the brush too much - if it starts dragging, the paint is drying and you'll end up with furrows.What paint are you using? 

im using humbrol or revell enamels i've tried using various thickness/thinnesses of paint and it makes no dfferentce

I still hand paint most of my models, though for larger ones I do tend to use Humbrol Aerosols where available.  For a good, all white finish, I tend to use Halfords Grey Primer as a base before adding any colours.  Yellow, white and orange can be a pain to hand paint, so do try either the Humbrol Aerosols, or their neat and inexpensive air brush.  Practice makes perfect.

I have used some Revell paints, but find that they dry far too quickly when handbrushing larger areas and give me poor results.  The ones in question were those included in their sets.

[vimal_indrasoma]

 I used to get quite decent results by using enamels which were, as some might say, 'excessively thinned'. I'd run on the paint almost as a a wash and let it dry slowly, leaving a smooth, thin, level coat. Bear in mind that the layer of paint will be very thin and fragile. Repeat as required to build up the thickness you need, allowing to dry thoroughly in between coats. Eventually I ran out of patience and bought a pair of airbrushes!