Testors / Brushing paint help for an idiot (me)

I can say from experience that my painting dramaticly improved when I started thinning (and even more when I started airbrushing, but that's a different story)

I always have a cup of thinner (I use white spirit for enamels) at hand when painting.
I first dip the brush in some paint, them some thinner.

The quality of your brushes is very important but also the type of brush. Use sable for enamel and synthetic for acrilic.
If you want to cover a large area (for instance a wing), use a large(=2 to 4) flat brush. Flat brushes are ideal for that kind of work.

Yeah you can add thinner to the jar, but the key is to get it as thin as you personally want it to be. While you're using it, both mineral spirits and lacquer thinner evaporate, so that thinner is going to disappear if the jar is open while you paint from it for an hour or two. Plus, there's that tendency to dry on the inside walls of the jar which can pollute the paint with hard flakes. They usually stir back into liquid form though.

Avoid one downside... I did accidentally run across mineral spirits that was crappy at one time. It made the paint clumpy when left inside closed jars of enamel. It seems like it ate up the original enamel carrier and just left dead pigment in the jar. I don't remember the brand. Just use good brand stuff like Klean Strip.

Ok. A simple (hopefully) question about thinning Testors Enamel paints. Can you simply squeeze three or four drops of thinner into the paint jar, shake it up, and then start dry brushing with better results than I was getting before (with no thinner)??

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum

As you may have noticed, thinning is one of the bigger keys in successful brush painting. Properly thinned paint will flow together behind the brush (even works on gloss paints). Whenever I open a new bottle of paint, I always add 3 to 5 drops of thinner to it before I ever put a brush in. That is usually enough for darker colors, but I thin the light colors even more and apply several coats. I try to apply the first coat with fore and aft brush strokes and let it dry. The second coat goes on with side to side direction of the brush strokes (90 degrees to first coat). Any more coats are added with the change of direction of application. Recently I've been experimenting with using laquer thinner as thinner for my lighter color - so far (knock on wood) it seems to work better than enamel thinner (only tried it with white and yellow), paint flows together behind the brush better and the colors seem to be brighter.
You're going to have to experiment and find out what works best for you. You've probably got an old kit on the shelf that you've either stolen parts out of or have gotten a version of the kit and haven't built it. Assemble the fuselage, wings and tail surfaces and use it to practice on (I do that with both brush painting and airbrushing). I keep two or three "paint hulks" around to try new techniques and pratice on.

Hope this helps a little.

The first thing I would suggest,is to buy a paint pallet. I have a small one that I picked up at Hobby Lobby years ago. It has 6 cups, which is more than enough. The reason for this is so you don't get dried paint on your brush from the side of the bottle. Next, some good brushes. I prefer red sable. As for thinning, a lot of the paint available now is thin enough already. You would need to use your own judgement on this. Again like everything else, practice practice, practice. Good luck.

I never use an airbrush....

I also don't thin my paints. Some of my models are displayed in the LHS, and people think I airbrush.

You can dip in the jar, just make sure you don't have a ton of paint on the brush. Going with alittle paint at a time (almost drybrushing) for the first coat or so. I usually end up with 3 coats, and the model is completely covered...no brush strokes.

As for white, it takes me an average of 10 coats of paint to get it to look right. Just make sure you only put alittle bit of paint on at a time, otherwise you'll get that *too thick* affect you were speaking about earlier.

I bought afew cheapy no-name company models to work on at first, to get used to painting. That way you don't screw up on an expensive build.

Good luck, and if you have any questions, feel free to email me.

m_24expert4life@sbcglobal.net

its the only way to brush paint! same goes for acrylics... becareful that u dont brush the area too much (or thin the paint to much) as it will pull off the layer underneath (more so for acryls...)

QUOTE: Originally posted by maddafinga I don't really brush paint either, except for small detail stuff. I always thin when I do that though. Matt Usher did an excellent article on brush painting a few months ago in FSM, see if you can find it on this site. I've heard that you should always prime if you're going to brush paint an entire model, so you might want to look into getting a rattle can of some good primer.

I think it's in "Feature Stories" on the left column

yup thinning is the way.... I dont brush, I did when I was a kid but not now.. but when my dad was modeling he brushed everything... (as a lot of people did in the '60's and 70's..) thinning it was the key he said... it might take 3 or 4 coats to achieve coverage, more for light colors... but it left little or no brush marks... patience would be the key word...


for me with airbrushes so inexpensive nowadays ($59 for a Badger 155 set) there's no way I could go back to brushing... but if I did thinning to water consistency is a key...

Im still holding off on the airbrush route. I guess for my next model (a Grand Phoenix FJ4 Fury), I'll try thinning the Enamel paints. I'm sure there are some good FAQS on that around here....

Thanks for all the suggestions!

See what you can do with some high quality brushes. The ones I get are made of red sable. I also have one made of camel hair that is extremely good. There are probably very good synthetic brushes that I just haven't tried out. So, check out the artist brush racks at art stores.

Depending on finances, I would suggest the airbrush route. The wife bought an "Aztek" off e-bay for about $70.00, & I found an inexpensive compressor($62.00) at "Tractor Supply". I've probably spent right around $140.00 getting my equipment together. I still brush for the fine detail stuff. And sooner or later I will be up-grading the "Aztek".

I don't really brush paint either, except for small detail stuff. I always thin when I do that though. Matt Usher did an excellent article on brush painting a few months ago in FSM, see if you can find it on this site. I've heard that you should always prime if you're going to brush paint an entire model, so you might want to look into getting a rattle can of some good primer.

Oh yeah. I forgot to say welcome to the forum. And don't go by what I say. Wait for a couple more people to post and make your own decision.

I'm not a good brush painter either. Have you thought about spray cans? Sometimes I get good brush results from some acrylic paints but it's inconsistent. Thinner is a definite must for brush painting. Don't add the thinner to your paint. Mix some paint and some thinner in a separate container and try it out. You don't need the expensive model thinner. Get some mineral spirits from hardware store. Hope this helps you out some.