I do german rank patches and what not and I know, it's a pain! Your not going to want to hear this, but I use a Testors Model Master 3/0 size brush with plenty of light. Make sure you have a nice desk lamp or something to see what your doing, it really helps. Also magnification head gear is a must. Have you ever seen jewlers use those head gear things that go around their head with switchable magnifications? Thats what I got and it works great. I also use a new knife x-acto blade to put on extremely small details too. But don't go too small, they might not be able to see it.