How to Paint

Even MM enamels brushed on can use a bit of thinning.  Are you painting flats or gloss?  Brushing flats is not too bad a job, but doing a brush gloss finish is a real art.  A brushmark-less gloss finish takes a LOT of practice.  I can do a much better job with spray cans.

One work around for gloss finishes is to do the best you can, and if it is good enough, you can sand it with about 1000 grit paper or cloth to get rid of residual brush strokes and any dust spots.  Then a clearcoat or a future coat will restore the gloss and eliminate the fog.

I use primarily flat paints for military models.  So what I'm dealing with here is a paint issue as opposed to technique or surface prep? Should I try thinning the paint then? or should I consider switching to spray?

if you are just dipping your brush into the jar and painting the model, then you are dealing with a technique issue.

model paints are designed to be used the same as any other hobby,,,,,,you take paint out of the jar, put it into a depression in a palette, put thinner in a nearby depression,,,,,,mix thinner and paint in a depression between them, until the paint acts the way you want it to when tested

then, to paint the model,,,,you dip the paintbrush into the thinner, stroke the brush on the side of the depression so that the bristles are wet, but not loaded with thinner,,,,,,,,then you move the brush to your thinned paint,,,,,,dip the brush into the paint, loading the paint up into the bristles about 3/4 of the way (Never all the way to the ferrule)

if you feel you have too much paint loaded, stroke some of the paint back into the depression

once you feel you have the brush ready,,,,,,,,lay the paint on the model in smooth, even strokes, painting next to your previous paint line, without overlapping, and Never going back over any strokes,,,,,,,the paint flows off of the brush smoothly, leaving a sort of "stained" thinner behind on the bristles

since you are going to clean the brush after you get done, you can leave that stained thinner there when you get more thinner and paint for the next set of strokes, you only need to clean the brush between colors,,,,,,,or if you have enough brushes, hang the dirty brush in your cleaner, and loading a fresh brush for each color

if you don't linger with the brush,,,,,or "re-stroke" at any time,,,,,,you can paint one color over another dried and cured color with the minimum of bleed through,,,,,,except over White, lol,,,,,,,,that color seems to love getting other colors worked into it,,,,,,for handbrushing over White,,,,,,,let the White cure really well, then brush on some Pledge Future,,,,,let that cure really well, and then carefully brush your trim color over that

If you watch a sign painter (I was taught by one), they do all of these steps in seconds,,,,,,,Load thinner, tap out, load paint, stroke smooth, paint,,,reload,,,,,,etc

I do it so slowly that I just broke down a few decades ago and bought an airbrush, lol

Rex

Even with the perfect technique, some paint brands brush better than others. If you follow advice here and still have trouble, I would consider different brands for brush painting, such as Humbrol, Vallejo, Lifecolor, Italeri, or Prince August.

What about priming? Should I be doing that as well? I have also been told to wash the kit first. For this I use warm water and a small amount of dish soap. Should I be doing this?

Priming is up to you, but YES! Always prep the bare plastic before hand, to remove any finger prints or grease/wax/dust. Soap and water is good, but I use Poly S plastic prep, its a mild solvent and works great.

You will occasionally see a post from someone that either has tape lift off paint, or that has one of the various "paint isn't sticking right" problems

I don't recall ever seeing this problem posted by a person that cleaned and primed his model first

I do this as a hobby, and enjoy all the steps along the way from buying the kit, to opening the display case to set the model into a viewer's hand,,,,,,and I wash the kit on the sprues before I start (using a fishnet for tiny parts that might come loose),,,,do all the assembly and sanding and putty damage to the model,,,,,,,then wash it to get a clean surface before I prime it,,,,,,,,then I prime it,,,,,if I do any sanding after priming or the painting stages,,,,,,I wash it again in just that area to get all the dust back off, because even dried paint, sanded to touch it up at cammo lines has dust right there on the model, which will get into your clear coat,,,,,,,sand between clear coats?,,,okay, wash it afterwards

for what it is worth,,,,,,,there is a post on here concerning a modeler that didn't prime his model,,,,,,,it is somewhat funny to look at that pic now,,,,,,,,,but, it wasn't the least bit funny when he first posted that pic in a build thread,,,,,it almost ruined a lot of work for him

Is there a specific paint that I should prime with?

I have primed more than one model with gray krylon primer in the spraycan.

Chris

I fell in love with the Tamiya gray surface primer and fine white surface primer in the rattle cans.  It is a little expensive, but goes on smooth and has no smell almost immediately after spraying.  I let it cure 24 hours and any acryl I use sticks to it with no problems.

John

I am also a firm believer in the Krylon gray primer.  If any of you remember the old "Newsgroups" or Usenet, there was a group called scale modeling or something like that.  I joined that group about twenty years ago, and used it until the vandals wrecked it.  Learned about Krylon primer from that group and have used it ever since.