Can a perfect paint job be done with a brush?

Perfect paint can be achieve anyway you want.  The amount of work it takes to make it perfect is why people use airbrushes. 

You could pour the paint straight from the bottle and spread it with your thumb.  Then take two years wet-sanding and hand buffing, scribing paint out of lines, and the like.  The other options usually involve a couple hours for a good looking paint job.

I'm just kidding you, but then again I'm not.  I just think the amount of time and effort that goes into fixing a brush job isn't worth it.  Tedious is the word that comes to mind.

Yeah, It's hard to get a good, muchless a "perfect" paint job on a large area such as a car body. A/B is the way to go.         You could pour the paint straight from the bottle and spread it with your thumb.  Then take two years wet-sanding and hand buffing, scribing paint out of lines, and the like.  The other options usually involve a couple hours for a good looking paint job.
Thats another way,.....................slightly off topic but in the same theme...When I was a kid I painted one of my hands Testors Silver with a brush, and when it was dry I painted the other one. Yes with enamel paint.........my mom was not too happy.................           

How many 1/4 ounce bottles would it take to turn yourself into the Silver Surfer?   I used to end up with lots of paint on my hands... but I was really trying to avoid it.

Like Brian said, it's a tedious process.

But it can be done!
The 2 major problems are brush marks and having too think of paint layer that it hides details.

A good quality soft natural bristle brush is recommended. I would recommend enamel paint over acrylics for this type of painting. Only because out of the bottle enamel takes longer to dry, thus giving the paint time to self-level out. The next problem is applying just the right amout of paint. Not so much that it hides details molded in the plastic, but enough to allow self-leveling. When all is done and cured, you are now faced with the color sanding process (wet sanding). Once you start to wet sand, you just cut the shine off your finish. So when you are done color sanding (progressively finer grits) you will then be faced with polishing out the finish which starts to bring the shine back. Then you either have to clearcoat or, my favorite, wax & buff.

If you were to spray the model (can or airbrush) you just might possibly forego most of the above steps. If you lay a decent coat of paint on while spraying, you might only need to clearcoat it or wax it. Worst case, possibly rub it out with some polishing cream before the clear or wax.

So now you know why most modelers prefer spraying. 

Ditto all the above.

I'm new to airbrushing, and last night I sprayed the bottom of my P-40. Just a few weeks back, I hand painted the bottom of a Spitfire.

The resulting differences are tremendous. With brush painting, even though I was very careful about having a high quality brush and paints, and moistening the brush with thinner to help the pain lay down, it still looks brushed. And it took 3 coats and quite a bit of touch up.

I airbrushed my P-40 last night in about 2 minutes, and it looks like it was molded that color.

For me, the airbrush makes up exponentially for my lack of brush painting ability. I'm sure there are some who could show you amazing brush painting talents (da Vinci was a brush painter..... ), but for me, Joe Slightly-Below-Average modeler, the airbrush makes my models look far better than I could with a brush.

All that said- if you're happy with a brush- stick with it. Though my Spitfire is brush painted, I wasn't ashamed to post pictires here, and I still think it looks good on the shelf.

jwb wrote:

All that said- if you're happy with a brush- stick with it. Though my Spitfire is brush painted, I wasn't ashamed to post pictires here, and I still think it looks good on the shelf.

There you go Jon... that's all that really matters anyway, what you think! 

Thanks for adding your experience. It's been along time since I brushed anything large like a car body. I do brush everything else and have been doing it so long that my brush knows it better not leave marks. 

jhande wrote:

I do brush everything else and have been doing it so long that my brush knows it better not leave marks.

I can see it now......

(TV type wavy dissolve into imaginary sequence. jhande sits behind a desk in an office, as the door opens and Brush enters.)

Brush: You asked to see me, Mr. jhande?

jhande: Yes, Brush, come in. Have a seat.

Brush: Uh, I'm a stick, I can only stand.

jhande: Of course, sure. Anyway..... Brush, you've been with us a long time, and you've done good work. But lately I've been noticing brush marks.

Brush: Sir, I can assure you it wasn't me, I.....

jhande: Brush..... no arguing on this one. I saw the brush strokes coming right off your bristly head there.

Brush hangs bristles in shame.

jhande: Look, Brush.... you've been a good Brush. I know Mrs. Brush, and all your kids. Heck, little 3/0 plays at my house every now and then. So I'm gonna give you another chance.

Brush: Really Mr. jhande? Really?

jhande: That's right Brush. But I'm going out on a limb here. so I better not see any more brush strokes. Not a one. Is that clear?

Brush: Yes sir!

jhande: Good. Because you know what happened to your predecessor?

Brush: Uh..... no sir.

jhande: I'll tell you what happened. We trimmed his bristles to nothing, and sent him off to do drybrush duty.

Brush: Not DRYBRUSHING?!?!

jhande: That's right. But I don't think that'll need to happen, do you?

Brush: No sir!

jhande: Alright- now get outta here and get back to work.

Brush scurries off.

jhande: (Pressing intercom) Ms. Rattle-can? Send in that Q-Tip who won't clean up the panel wash! And alert X-Acto. I may need him later.

Jon,

You need help, my friend. Serious, long time and very expensive help!

Thanks for the comic relief!

Cheers,

Bill

The best part of A/B is how fast the paint dries.  When you're painting small parts, and you just want to get a simple coat on their so that you can bury the piece behind some other detail, a 30 second drying time is a very, very good thing.

Bgrigg wrote:

Jon, You need help, my friend. Serious, long time and very expensive help!

Haha! Way ahead of ya there, my friend!  I married a counselor! I get free help, and she has a permanent test subject!

jwb wrote:

Bgrigg wrote: Jon, You need help, my friend. Serious, long time and very expensive help! Haha! Way ahead of ya there, my friend!  I married a counselor! I get free help, and she has a permanent test subject!

Gee, I didn't mean that expensive!

jwb wrote:

I can see it now...... ...... I may need him later.

Do you have a bug in my office or a spy working for me? 

Jon, don't let anyone try to convice you that you need help!
Everyone else is bloody nuts... trust me I know. 

Me don't think the wife will really want to cure you.
Then who would she have to experiment on?
Besides, she's really just programming you "her" way.

Jon...Jon... why do you have to think the same way I do?  I'm gonna start thinking it's normal!

Very Funny! You are very talented, you should consider a career as a script writer. I used to work for this film company and they weren't creative like you! Anyways... off subject. I was wondering Jon, what type of brush do you use? Paint type? Thinned to what ration? How do you apply it? How may layers? Be nice if you could answer.

vulcrum wrote:

Very Funny! You are very talented, you should consider a career as a script writer. I used to work for this film company and they weren't creative like you! Anyways... off subject. I was wondering Jon, what type of brush do you use? Paint type? Thinned to what ration? How do you apply it? How may layers? Be nice if you could answer.

Thanks for the kind words. I could probably write some very odd scripts. Trouble is, I think in little, itty-bitty spurts. That stuff above? That's it. I got nothing for 6-8 weeks. I gotta have a GPS just to get home.

Script-writing could be cool, I'm sure, but I'm holding out for being Batman, a Cowboy or Speed Racer when I grow up.

OK..... I am brand new to airbrushing.... so any advice I give is likely to be wrong, and could cause fatal flaws in your models as well as loss of hair, temporary loss of memory, and..... I can't recall the other thing.

Anyway-

I was fortunate enough to fall into 2 airbrushes and a compressor for free. (Long, heart warming story.) A Paasche D-500 compressor, a Paasche VL, and an Aztek 370.

Right now I use Model Master paints, 'cause that's what I had. I'm switching to PolyS acrylics, because the fumes from the enamels get to me, and they burn my eyes, and.... OK, OK, OK. My wife said "You airbrush? Then get rid of that smell!" So I'm switching tio acrylics and Bean-O. Anyway, I basically use whatever I got available.

I started off thinning to a "Yeah, that looks good" ratio. I read it should be the consistency of milk. I never understood that, so I actually poured a bit of milk into a color cup (I am not making that up) and observed the consistency until I could recognize it in paint. (BTW- airbrushing milk onto your Froot Loops is a BAD idea..... lots of splatter.)

After that, I got a syringe and tried to be precise, generally doing a 4-to-1 ratio (I read that here somewhere), but the other night that still seemed to thick for some paint I was using so I just randomly dropped some thinner in until it looked like milk-consistency.

How do I apply it? Ummmmm.... Well, I put it in the color cup and spray it on. I dunno. I never put much thought into it. What I basically do, since I'm so new to it, is get the airflow going steady, and slowly pull back until just a hint of paint is coming out. I then go back and forth over the subject, making sure not to have so much flowing that I get the runs. (The paint, not me.)

I generally paint fairly close to the model, 1-2", at about 15 psi (a bit higher with the siphon feed Paasche.)

One caveat- sometimes I get impatient and just blast it out. That's looks bad though, so I try to remember not to be impatient. But then I just get to thinking about work and the budget and dang, I just get so angry sometimes and I.....

Sorry.

I don't know that I do layers so much as I just sort wear it down until it gives up and gets covered. I'll do a wing, the other wing, the fuselage, the tailplanes, then back to the wing. I do such thin layers, it just sorta all happens in one session.

In short, I'm probably a good example of what not to do. I'm a lazy air-brusher. Do I like the results? Yeah- the paint looks good, IMO. I'd been all intimidated about airbrushing.... my practice sessions kinda sucked. So I just painted a model, and I'll be darned if it didn't turn out looking decent. (It's a P-51A- pics later this weekend in the Aircraft thread). I read the rules, and just srta skip most- if I make a mistake I don't skip that part next time.

This might be an inflammatory statement, and I don't mean it to be- but there is a ton of good info on airbrushing- and a ton of bad info. (Not just on these forums- across the net in general.) I thought it was gonna be complicated and scary.... it wasn't. (To be perfectly honest, lots of people here will point that out- that's why this is such a great place.) When I quit worrying about thinning and technique and all, I was actually able to learn.

You certainly have to practice to develop great technique.... but I was so worried about great technique I almost quit before I got started. I realized I just needed to try it and if I screwed it up well it's plastic and I can strip it off. (The paint I mean....)

I found out I even like my Aztek airbrush. Been using the heck outta both, and enjoy them equally. When the Paasche showed up, I thought "OK.... now I get to use a REAL airbrush!", since I'd read so much bad abouth them on this and other forums. Surprise, surprise..... both can sparay paint equally well for me. (I know, I know, Aztek sucks, Aztek sucks.)

Anyway..... You probably wanted like 2 sentences worth of answers, but you stroked my ego about writing so I had to write.... the audience demanded it. (the one in my head, I mean.)

I guess the moral of the story is if an idiot like me can figure out how to airbrush- anybody can.

Jon, great post! I too was intimdated by the Airbrush until I finally broke down and got one (actually present from my wife). Once I started using it, I sure made a lot of mistakes but that's how I learned. Even with the mistakes, the finish I was able to put down within a few hours of practice was better than anything I can do with a rattle can or brush.