Hand brush painting entire car models

That's the beauty of this hobby! You can do things however you like! I can remember brush-painting my models when I was younger and I coudn't be happier. 

Good luck!

The reason brush-painting seems to inspire terror in most modelers is that the 'one' time they tried it, they weren't careful or patient enough -- both in terms of the painting itself, and the 'thinking it through' part before-hand.

It's not like painting a wall...you can't just slap it on and get good results. (And to all you professional wall-painters out there...I realize that's not the best way  to get good results on a wall, either. )

But with a little forethought, some patience, and some good brushes, it's not that formidable a task.

Still, if it's a new-ish technique to anyone, I'd heartily recommend practicing on a scrap model, or even something as simple as a plastic drink bottle. Work out your brush-stroke and coverage technique, and the pressure will be lessened when it comes to painting your masterpiece.

Cheers...and good luck.

Thinning the paint is part of the success story. I use thinner of some sort in acrylics and odorless mineral spirits in  enamels cut about 30-40%.. Either can produce strokeless results. The shine in the two Fords shown can undoubtedly be attributed to the magically self leveling Future. It wouldn't matter a whole lot if the color coat was acrylic, lacquer or enamel with Future on top of it.. And that's great if clear coat finish is the look you want, which for myself is most often not the case. It works for semi custom cars of older vintage and for modern cars. But in car models my aim is more period stock classics and antique which were not clear coated.

My brushes I prefer right now have Taklon bristles. But while I  brush paint many things, I no longer brush car bodies, perhaps not for 50 years now. I recall my biggest enemy was losing a bristle from the brush in the finish lol. So buy decent brushes. 

Hi Nickg;

    I sometimes do a car with a brush. Why? to bring back memories. This is done with a fifty-fifty paint mix of a solid color over the cleaned plastic. It was better when we had Pactra!

Tanker-Builder

Hi Nickg;

    I sometimes do a car with a brush. Why? to bring back memories. This is done with a fifty-fifty paint mix of a solid color over the cleaned plastic. It was better when we had Pactra!

 

I remember when I did oil on canvas I fully enjoyed the process more than anthing else. The end result was just a bonus. 

Pardon my newbie ignorance but I'm not too cerrain what you mean by 50 50 paint mix and I'm assuming that "over cleaned plastic" means unprimed. 

Tanker-Builder

Hi Nickg;

    I sometimes do a car with a brush. Why? to bring back memories. This is done with a fifty-fifty paint mix of a solid color over the cleaned plastic. It was better when we had Pactra!

 

I posted this once don't know where it went. But ya Pactra had a bunch of good things going for it, brushed or sprayed. Another fan of it here !

Nickg

 

 

Tanker-Builder

Hi Nickg;

    I sometimes do a car with a brush. Why? to bring back memories. This is done with a fifty-fifty paint mix of a solid color over the cleaned plastic. It was better when we had Pactra!

 

 

Pardon my newbie ignorance but I'm not too cerrain what you mean by 50 50 paint mix and I'm assuming that "over cleaned plastic" means unprimed. 

 

in case TB doesn't get back right away 50-50 is equal parts thinner to paint. So say for instance 10 drops paint to 10 drops thinner etc. Equal parts.

That is very impressive.  Not a skill I posses.

oldermodelguy

in case TB doesn't get back right away 50-50 is equal parts thinner to paint. So say for instance 10 drops paint to 10 drops thinner etc. Equal parts.

thank you. 

Hi Nickg;

    I meant to get back so here goes. 50-50 is Say 25 drops,(from the end of a paint brush handle. ) of thinner ,followed by 25 drops of paint in a Clean bottle. You don't want to mix it in the original bottle as you may need unthinned color for touch-ups later.

      Over cleaned Plastic was mis-understood.  The way I intended it to mean is to Clean the model Body, Hood, Trunk and Body accessories real well, Before painting. I use warm water and Dawn dish detergent. This stuff gets ALL the mold release and finger oils off the parts you have to paint. Rinse extremely well.

   The trick here is that when air dried in an old cake dome, The parts will contain no impurities on the surface. Do not handle the parts after cleaning with bare fingers. At least get a pair of nice Women's dress gloves from the local Target. White Cotton, for sure.

     Yes! you can get them at say, Wal-Mart, but I stopped buying stuff like that from there because of shorter than normal wear life! White cotton Gloves are used by even Museums to handle display Pieces. Because finger oils contaminate the object's surface.

Tanker-Builder

Hi Nickg;

    I meant to get back so here goes. 50-50 is Say 25 drops,(from the end of a paint brush handle. ) of thinner ,followed by 25 drops of paint in a Clean bottle. You don't want to mix it in the original bottle as you may need unthinned color for touch-ups later.

      Over cleaned Plastic was mis-understood.  The way I intended it to mean is to Clean the model Body, Hood, Trunk and Body accessories real well, Before painting. I use warm water and Dawn dish detergent. This stuff gets ALL the mold release and finger oils off the parts you have to paint. Rinse extremely well.

   The trick here is that when air dried in an old cake dome, The parts will contain no impurities on the surface. Do not handle the parts after cleaning with bare fingers. At least get a pair of nice Women's dress gloves from the local Target. White Cotton, for sure.

     Yes! you can get them at say, Wal-Mart, but I stopped buying stuff like that from there because of shorter than normal wear life! White cotton Gloves are used by even Museums to handle display Pieces. Because finger oils contaminate the object's surface.

 

Thank you very much.

It's been a long time since i brush painted the body of a model car, but did when i was younger. this was my best results, done with tamiya acrylics

cars_57chevy by aus_mus, on Flickr

Nice job !! Have you ever considered doing a grillwash on that Chevy ? Just curious.

OctaneOrange

It's been a long time since i brush painted the body of a model car, but did when i was younger. this was my best results, done with tamiya acrylics

cars_57chevy by aus_mus, on Flickr

 

Wow, that's a beauty. Makes me feel good about hand brushing. Thanks for sharing.