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How many of you still use Paint Brushes?

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  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
How many of you still use Paint Brushes?
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Saturday, July 4, 2020 5:03 PM

I ask out of curiosity:

      I see many benches around me, even at the Museum I am President of. What I see is total disrespect for one of the most basic tools in our tool-boxes.

      What do you think a paint Brush is? Is it a hairy ended tool for "slapping" on pigmented material called paint? That's the phrase I Usually hear. And on some models that is what we must do to achieve the textures and look you want.

      Bye the way, What type of brush do you use for that? There as many sizes of brushes as there are models of PanzerKamphWagen 4s! Each one has a suggested or planned use. Here's an interesting thought, I bet a great many of you would be afraid to ask your ladies to share with you. Look at the different brushes they use, to coin a phrase" To Put on their Face"

     I have about twenty different sizes of "EYELINER" brushes to paint fine details on the many 1/350 and other size ships I build. I have six dedicated " BLUSH" brushes for dusting and weathering my models. Why Make-Up brushes? They are made out of finer hairs of whatever critter they use for bristles. I think some of my "EYELINER" brushes are made from "MINK", they are so costly.

      The key to them is softness. Now, let me cure you of a terrible affliction many of you have. It's how you clean and store those wonderful tools. Do you lay them down and then let them get pushed all around the work area sometimes getting the bristle area jammed against something? Don't say no! I have done It many times so I am sure you have too.

     I got taught a very important lesson when I was restoring a house built in the 1880s. I had to hire a painter to help me out. The fellow showed up and I thought I was going to have help him out of his truck. I thought he was to old to be the guy I had hired. He spryly jumped out of the old 49 International with the very well kept tool boxes on the bed-sides.

      He walked up very fast and we shook hands. I took him around and showed him what we needed. He said "Okay,I'll be here in the morning at seven" I was there when he arrived. The first thing he did was pack up all the paint I had there and said they were the wrong ones for the colors we wanted.

      He brought in the ones he wanted to use. Spread a canvas sheet on the floor and proceeded to lay out brushes and paint matched to where it would go. The brushes surprised me. They looked like brand new ones. When asked, he assured me some were over twenty years old.

      He then surprised me with a very good education on the care of brushes, separating the ones for different media and throwing away the Foam faux brushes laying around explaining they were for dummies and just trash!

   When we talked over lunch he showed me some of his detail brushes he used on murals and such for touch-ups and re-viving them. I couldn't believe many,"Red Sable" were over twenty or thirty years old just like the bigger ones.

       I learned that day NEVER to push the bristles down to the bottom of the jar of thinner when cleaning them. I learned to roll them gently bristle downward with thinner till the thinner ran of as I pressed them into a towel( Paper) and then rolded them then too. Then Put them in another jar of thinner , rolled them again and then Blotted them clean.

      He also showed me something important. NEVER put more than a quarter of the bristle length in the paint,That it wouldn't get into the base of the bristle in the ferrule( The Metal Band around the bristle Base). He said once that happened, it would continue to build up from capillary action from the bristles till it ( The Brush) was rendered unuseable!

 So clean them gently, Use good Quality brushes and clean well and care well for them. There's one trick he showed me also. Remember how stiff and in shape the brush was when you bought it? It was dipped in water and shaped and dried before packaging.

 I personally( here goes the yucky part ) Spit on mine and shape them with my lips. I now have some pushing thirty years in use! One more note( MINE) Never just clean brushes used in acrylics in plain water. Use Dawn and wash them gently( The roll method) and Put tubular shields on them to protect the bristles and stack bristles up in a small narrow glass or cardboard tube cut for this purpose. Happy Painting!! 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Saturday, July 4, 2020 5:27 PM

One of my other pastimes is writing icons. 

My icon brushes go in for a regular Blessing by Fr. Brendan.

That's all I use them for, and the paint is acrylic so they are easy to care for.

I also have some brushes I use for gold leaf work. Some are for applying the sizing (glue) and a couple never see paint. I rub them gently on my cheek to get a charge, and use them to pick up the leaf.

I have one for wood glue, and one that's a donor brush for it's black nylon bristles.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Saturday, July 4, 2020 6:45 PM

   I feel that brushes are essential to modelling. There are just some things that cannot be hit with an airbrush. I take care of mine, I have several but I only use one or two of them. Unfortunatly I don't brush large areas as I did as a kid but brushes really come in handy for more than just scrubbing pigments into crevices.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    January 2020
Posted by Space Ranger on Saturday, July 4, 2020 7:47 PM

Good tips, all.

  • Member since
    November 2008
  • From: Far Northern CA
Posted by mrmike on Saturday, July 4, 2020 7:53 PM

Good of you to take the time to detail the "magic" of caring for paint brushes. Like you I was fortunate to learn how good a friend a brush can be if treated with proper cleaning and respect. That goes for all sizes, from modelling to house painting.

I'm always amused and dismayed by the lack of knowledge many folks display about brush painting in general and by how few seem willing to devote any energy to getting good results.

Thanks for the "old school" tutorial!

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Sunday, July 5, 2020 6:18 AM

I definitely use them for figures and detail work on small items.I like to attach my tools on vehicles and paint later,also pick out deck details on ships with brushes.Also for washing and stumping.But all overall painting with an airbrush.

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Sunday, July 5, 2020 8:16 AM

Hi There, Bill;

 Yeah, I use a Blush brush for the very thin foils and such too.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Sunday, July 5, 2020 10:55 AM

I have about five in holders on the backboard of my bench that I use regularly.  I consider them supplies but by taking care I don't replace them very often- except those I have marked for dry brushing.  Those I use up at like year interval.  Fortunately, fairly cheap brushes work okay for that task.

One of my favorite modeling tasks is painting the gilding on old sailing warships with my best small brush.  As my fingers get old I am less good at it, but still able to do it.

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    February 2011
Posted by knox on Sunday, July 5, 2020 2:29 PM

   I paint miniatures for gaming and fun, so I have a few brushes on hand. I’m probably due to pick up a few more.

  • Member since
    May 2020
  • From: North East of England
Posted by Hutch6390 on Sunday, July 5, 2020 3:11 PM

I used to use brushes for all my model painting, until I acquired my first airbrush, Christmas before last.  I only use them now for detail work, weathering, and touch-ups - basically jobs that need precision, control, and/or minute amounts of paint.  I have some that I've had for so long I can't remember how many years, and look after them well.

Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?

   

TakkaTakkaTakkaTakkaTakkaTakka

 

  • Member since
    July 2019
  • From: Vancouver, British Columbia
Posted by Bobstamp on Sunday, July 5, 2020 6:27 PM

Using an airbrush in my small apartment would be super inconvenient, so I have had to rely on rattle cans and paint.

I have a dozen or so brushes, but time and again I find myself using just five of them: a #4 Simply Simmons Round brush that comes to a fine point for detail work, and four Artist's Loft Angle Shader brushes, sized 3/4, 1/2, and 4, and another size-6 Filbert brush. I've purchased all of them at Michael's in Vancouver.

Bob 

On the bench: A diorama to illustrate the crash of a Beech T-34B Mentor which I survived in 1962 (I'm using Minicraft's 1/48 model of the Mentor), and a Pegasus model of the submarine Nautilus of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas fame. 

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Bethlehem PA
Posted by the Baron on Monday, July 6, 2020 10:13 AM

I use paint brushes all the time.  I paint figures, but I use them on ordinance, airplanes, ships.  An airbrush can't paint the instruments on an instrument panel.

As far as caring for them goes, I would not use Dawn or any dishwashing liquid on my natural hair brushes, because dishwashing detergents all contain de-greasers.  You want to replace the natural oils on the hairs of the brush to help preserve them.  That's why there are soaps and preservatives sold to clean and preserve brushes, and help them last.

I know a French figure painter who uses olive oil to treat his brushes, after cleaning them.  I often use skin oil, by rubbing the sides of my nose with my fingertips, and then shaping the bristles back to a point.

I use Nr 1 and Nr 2 rounds made of Kolinski sable, for use with acrylics or oils on figures.  I've got a couple of Windsor & Newtons, and then some others by smaller or obscure makers.

I use other natural hair brushes-other sables, or fox hair, of various sizes, for general detail work.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

 

 

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Monday, July 6, 2020 1:03 PM

Oho! 

 Baron, Thank you sir! I had forgotten about the nasal oil method. I think I will go back to it. I only use oil based enamels anyway. I am getting into Acrylics slowly. If they don't brush well they get discarded.The brush cleaned and reset, and the Acrylics given to my landlady for her crafts!

  • Member since
    June 2006
  • From: Menomonee Falls, WI
Posted by Striker68 on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 12:37 AM

knox
I paint miniatures for gaming and fun, so I have a few brushes on hand.

Same here.  I have a lot of brushes but that's for when one starts to bend too much or spread out.  I take better care of them now but I still have backups.  Most of my brushes are the cheaper sables or synthetics and they hold  up well, they get a cleaning with Master's soap then a bit of hair conditioner worked in.  When I moved away from enamels for brush painting my brushes were able to last longer.

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 1:19 AM

A lot.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    July 2013
Posted by steve5 on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 1:53 AM

me too . 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 7:29 AM

Hi Knox;

   That looks like the shelf next to my bench almost. I have seven bottles( Empty Turtle food Bottles) ( I have a RED EARED Slider critter.) and they are there with their tops cut off and full of different brushes. I use a lot of Make-Up brushes on figures so a shorter bottle there.

    Each one is labeled with the type of paint they are used in. That way I don't even microscopically Cross-Contimanate them.

  • Member since
    November 2018
Posted by oldermodelguy on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 5:08 PM

I use them on models to some extent and in fly rod building. No magic stories, they're a tool, a means to an end... .

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 9:31 AM

Oh My;

 When's the last time you created a new rod from Bamboo? Mine is about sixty five years old now, and is still lively!

  • Member since
    November 2018
Posted by oldermodelguy on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 10:40 AM

Tanker-Builder

Oh My;

 When's the last time you created a new rod from Bamboo? Mine is about sixty five years old now, and is still lively!

 

I'm not new to fly fishing but rod building has been maybe 25 years or so on again off again. I've just gone through about a five year flurry of it and started turning my own cork grips to the feel I like and some other family likes. No bamboo here TB.  Actually bamboo has had a resurge over the last couple of years or so but I've never built one. I've built glass rods though. Most have been graphite, sorry !

  • Member since
    March 2015
  • From: Close to Chicago
Posted by JohnnyK on Saturday, August 8, 2020 3:28 PM

I remember fishing with a bamboo pole at Fox Lake, Illinois, 60 years ago. There was no reel, just a line attached to the end of the long pole. There was a hook with a worm and  a lead sinker at the end of the line. A red and white plastic bobber was used to adjust the depth of the hook. We used to sit at the waters edge and watch the bobber for hours. You know if you caught a fish when the bobber went under the water. Yikes, those were simple times.

Your comments and questions are always welcome.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Sunday, August 9, 2020 6:46 AM

I remember in Michigan when margarine was white in the package.  Also in the package was an envelope of pigment which you mixed into the margarine to make it yellow.

This was in Detroit- my grandma had an icebox, not a refrigerator and the iceman left a block of ice every other day.

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    November 2018
Posted by oldermodelguy on Sunday, August 9, 2020 8:54 AM

JohnnyK

I remember fishing with a bamboo pole at Fox Lake, Illinois, 60 years ago. There was no reel, just a line attached to the end of the long pole. There was a hook with a worm and  a lead sinker at the end of the line. A red and white plastic bobber was used to adjust the depth of the hook. We used to sit at the waters edge and watch the bobber for hours. You know if you caught a fish when the bobber went under the water. Yikes, those were simple times.

 

I remember my first outing fishing around easter or so maybe 1956 or 57, I would have been 6 or 7. It was Sunday and it was my mom who suggested they take me fishing. My grandmother lived with us. Being Sunday nothing was open back then but maybe an ice cream stand lol. So, granny and I dug some worms from the garden, mom bent a hook from a safety pin. Dad cut a sapling stick and tied some gardening twine to it. And off we went, everyone piled into the Nash and we went down to the second pond in a chain of ponds connected by a stream. The one actual piece of official fishing equipment we had was that red and white bobber you mentioned. The safety pin I guess was enough to take the worm down. To this day I remember that shocking feeling of the first ever fish biting the line and not only was the fish hooked but so was I to a lifetime of fishing. As you say no reel, I caught two or three bluegill that Sunday afternoon. All dad had to teach me really was to set the hook, I got the line out ok after the first few tries with his help., Course it was all of 6-7 ft off shore lol. But ya know, families did things together back then, not so much I my me in society, though plenty of that was soon to follow.

The Nash was maybe a 54, black with a red top, a hard top, no post between front and rear side windows,, continental wheel on the back. I remember the shifter on the column and green dash lights that looked cool at night. Rode like your sofa on wheels made from clouds, probably handled about as good on those bias ply tires. We lived in inland Ma. We took that thing to Cape Cod ( where I live now), the big highways were under construction then so not passable, it was a 5-1/2 hour trip to the Cape from where we lived and that to me seemed like going to a foreign country.. Today that same trip is about 90 minutes, 2 hours on a bad day.. First encounter with fog off the bay was on that trip, fog and dew settled in on the Nash, it wouldn't start. My dad was all ticked off because it had a tune up before we left and the fog horns of the ships out in the bay that he loved now seemed to be mocking him. But the engine was soaked from condensation we didn't really get inland or not so often or thick. I know that now having been shop foreman for years to a fleet on the Cape. Great trip otherwise, first time in freezing cold salt bay water. Crystal clear, still is today. People talk about the gloom and doom, I took a picture of my mom and dad on the beach down here in front of a dune on that trip in 1957 with his Brownie camera. I can go to that same dune today, same rocks lining the canal that exits there etc. So everything about planet earth hasn't changed. What does change is the beach, we get winter storms that sucks the sand out and drops rocks. Two years later it's liable to do the opposite. Crazy, NE winter storms are very powerful here, sometimes hurricane strength, we just don't advertise it.. Enough rambling.

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Sunday, August 9, 2020 2:30 PM

Hi JohnnyK;

     Geez ,youse guys is a sorry Bunch, ya know. Are you trying ta tell me youses ain't got those neat bamboo poles anymore? Buck up and git one. Make the time and go catch a fish the old way. It will refresh your life, believe me.

     After my cardiac surgery and folks would let me go places on my own I went to ***'s Sporting Goods and bought a twelve foot bamboo pole. A package of bobbers and split shot sinkers. A reel of good line and a bucket of worms. I went into the woods near the Comal river with my old person Fishing license pinned to me hat.

 Caught four nice sized Bluegill and had fish for dinner. Best day of recovery from the " Rush" life I ever had. Now I try to do it at least once a month!. I don't take anything stronger than two bottles of water and two small "Root Beers" I like DAD'S best. A nice shady spot and geez life is great !

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Denver
Posted by tankboy51 on Sunday, August 9, 2020 3:04 PM

My daughter and her husband do fily fishing in the mountains a 1/2 hour away from us.  They are going for trout.  They having lots of fun.  I have not drowned worms in decades.  Never liked it.  I like sitting by a river, but without a pole and watching.

  • Member since
    January 2015
Posted by PFJN on Sunday, August 9, 2020 6:25 PM

Hi,

Right now I mostly only use a paint brush, or a sponge tip for some special items.  I recently tried spray painting a build with ome canned spray paint but kind of messed it up a bit.  

When I was much younger I did try out a simplae airbrush (run off a can of compresed gas) but was never able to get the hang of it.  And it seemed like a lot of prep and clean up if you were only painting a small item/kit.

Now that I am older though I have been giving some thought to trying out an airbrush again.  Hopefully now that I am older, maybe I won't be so impatient Embarrassed

 

1st Group BuildSP

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Denver
Posted by tankboy51 on Monday, August 10, 2020 4:55 PM

I do use an Iwata Eclipsi for major airbrushing with a compressor.  I've have used a Paasahe and a Badger 150 and an Aztec. I still use  batch of various size brushes for other jobs.  They are all part of the Hobby.  Enamel or Acrilic, it don't matter to me.  I'm not like the first poster of his is about keeping his brushes clean.  Of course, that's his career.   I do keep everything clean.  As I've gotten older and my eyes and hands go, my hands don't work as well, so figure painting has gone to heck.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Monday, August 10, 2020 4:57 PM

PFJN

Hi,

Right now I mostly only use a paint brush, or a sponge tip for some special items.  I recently tried spray painting a build with ome canned spray paint but kind of messed it up a bit.  

When I was much younger I did try out a simplae airbrush (run off a can of compresed gas) but was never able to get the hang of it.  And it seemed like a lot of prep and clean up if you were only painting a small item/kit.

Now that I am older though I have been giving some thought to trying out an airbrush again.  Hopefully now that I am older, maybe I won't be so impatient Embarrassed

 

 

I have a few friends who only brush paint, but it takes a lot of skill and practice.  I have other friends who use only rattle cans, and that takes practice too.  You cannot learn new skills instantly.  Do not try to eliminate practice.  A good source of practice material is a box of plastic spoons.  Modelers in this area use them for practice when trying a new paint, or a new painting technique.

 

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    January 2015
Posted by PFJN on Monday, August 10, 2020 10:36 PM

Thanks for the suggestions.

Pat

1st Group BuildSP

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Thursday, August 13, 2020 12:19 PM

Hey, Oldermodelguy;

      Nuthin ta ba sorry about. I just threw that in because I had a guy that Fly Fished show me how to make a Bamboo Fly rod. I have NEVER used it as a flyrod though. Geez, that thing is so sensitive the Bluegill and Crappie don't stand a chance, that is, when they are biting !

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