Acrylic Paint for Hand Brushing

it's an experimenting process, hikarux........because it comes down to the technique you develop...............what works best for him might not be your cuppa tea.......and what works best for me.....ain't his cat's meow...........so, ya gotta experiment............
my best successes have been and are with Polly S.......
but, there's Gunze, Tamiya, Model Master Acryl, Vallejo and the new Xtracolor Acrylics.........(me thinks that's the lot)

Acrylics tend to dry pretty quick......and i've found that if you add a few drops of an acrylic retarder per paint bottle.......that quick drying tendancy abates somewhat..........
again........experiment.......experiment.....experiment
best 'o luck to ya.........

I have brushed with both MM and Color of Eagles (Vallejo) paints with no probs whatsoever... HOWEVER... the Vallejo paints went on smoother, dried with no brush marks and adhered to the model well. MM does good too but Vallejo has me thinking of switching my entire stock to their paints...

I've brushed a bit with Tamiya as well but not enough to make a decision or comment on them.

As cirikili said... try them out and you will find what suits you best... and one color of one line will work great, the same color in another might not. You might end up using different brands on the same kit.

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corrected typos

I like citadel/games workshop paints for brushpainting. The names of the colors may seem odd, but they do have a lot of colors and they are in some conversion charts, so you can probably find the color you are looking for.

You can thin them with water to let them dry slowly or with alcohol for fast drying.

They also are very nice for drybrushing, especially the metal paints.

Pollyscale and the best choice Vallejo.

I slightly thin with distilled water and the paint goes on thin, with complete coverage in a couple of coats. Best of all, no brush marks!

cheers

Mike

How much do you normally thin the paint for handbrushing? Do you normally use alcohol, water or the brand recommended thinner?

I only use Tamiya acrylics.
I use Tamiya acrylic thinner X20A.
I use enough thinner to dilute the acrylic paint to thin milk consistency.
Then I apply a base coat with strokes in one direction only, with the minimum strokes necessary. Don't worry, full coverage is not the goal here.
After that dries, apply another coat in the same direction.
After that dries, apply another coat 90 degrees from the first 2 coats.
This gives you 3 coats with an perhaps almost even finish. You can apply another coat in the original direction to finish.
If the part to paint is small, you only need 3 coats.
If the part is big and wide, you may need 4.
Recommend you spray either a gloss or matt coating to hide any brush strokes that may be visible.
Never use water with Tamiya acrylics.
You can also try lacquer thinner with Tamiya acrylics, but it's kind of "more" toxic than the Tamiya thinner.

I used alcohol and water, that is cheaper than their thinner...I thinned the paint as you said albert but the finish was terrible, with a lot of brush marks and irregular coverage...Now I will buy some Easy Off to remove the paint and try again...
Thank you very much for the tips!

^Hmm.... could be because of the water. Like I mentioned, water is incompatible with Tamiya acrylics. Good luck!

...oh and one more thing: on my bottles of Tamiya Flat Acrylic Paint it says avoid contact with eyes/skin and don't breathe vapours. I used to use artist acrylics (which were non-toic), so I should treat the Tamiya acrylics the same as I would the liquid cement and thinner right (proper vent., gloves?).

For brush painting acrylic, Vallejo is the best I have used. Also sold under the Andrea label.

Regards, Rick

QUOTE: Originally posted by hikarux ...oh and one more thing: on my bottles of Tamiya Flat Acrylic Paint it says avoid contact with eyes/skin and don't breathe vapours. I used to use artist acrylics (which were non-toic), so I should treat the Tamiya acrylics the same as I would the liquid cement and thinner right (proper vent., gloves?).

Just ensure proper ventilation. You'll need it when you use any kind of thinner on the paint.

i find that games-workshop paint is a bit too thick for covering larger areas but right now i use humbrol acrylics which are unfortunately discontinued(damn humbrol!) otherwise they flow fairly well for my preferences.

cheers