Paint Brush Review

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JamesPerrin
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Paint Brush Review

Post by JamesPerrin »

I recently bought two sets of paintbrushes from model shows. A cheap set of synthetics and less cheap Kolinsky Sable brushes. I'm reviewing them as brushes for modelling obviously; they maybe be better/worse for other artistic endeavours.

These were bought at Telford from a seller (A1 Brushes?) selling them cheaply at ~£5 for 4 IIRC, there was another seller with identical brushes at the show. Allegedly hollow fibre to closely mimic real hair, unprompted I was assured bent tips could be straightened with hot water. I got a couple of 0s, 1 and a 2.

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The fresh bristles are good and the points are nice, no stray hairs and I found they were good to use. The tips though, these bent in a matter of minutes, if you were going to keep them straight you'll need a kettle on your workbench. They do keep the points though and I've learnt to live with bent tips on general use brushes though others I've had have lasted a lot longer before distorting.

Next up are some "cheap" Sable brushes I got at Bolton, produced by Creative Hobbies, around ~£14 for 4. There were two sets, this one with larger numbers 0,1,2, 4, the other set smaller ones 0, 00, 000 ... .

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Now, these aren't the finest sable - I've got some "proper" £11 a pop artist's sable brushes for figure painting. I started using the 0 and was really pleased with it. The larger brushes are not great though, the bristles are too long for the stiffness and so when using them they flex from the ferrule and whole head bends rather than curves. This makes them really odd to paint with, I'm sure the smaller brushes would work as well as the 0 but the 1,2 and 4 are just odd. They would work well if only the head was a few millimetres shorter. It's these things that you pay for in a quality brush.
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PaulBradley
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Re: Paint Brush Review

Post by PaulBradley »

Thanks for that, James - I was just telling Danielle yesterday that I need to go to the art store to pick up some new brushes, and this review is helpful.

Out of interest, what do you recommend for detail painting for, say, cockpit detail? Do you use the same brushes as for figures?
Paul

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JamesPerrin
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Re: Paint Brush Review

Post by JamesPerrin »

Artshops tend to have better quality brushes for a start. If you can get "affordable" sable brushes I definitely get them in 0 and smaller. For figure painting I've bought a couple of Raphael 8404 Kolinsky red sable brushes sizes 0 and 1. These are superb and do not need to be tiny to do detailed work.

I do abuse brushes in that I'll jump between enamels and acrylics and PVA with the same brush and for a lot work some good synthetics are just fine.
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David Silver
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Re: Paint Brush Review

Post by David Silver »

I hope you don't mind if I chip in with my paint brush usage James.
Seeing as I don't know what I'm doing most of the time and as a returnee to modelling I couldn't see the point in spending a lot of money on brushes for a hobby that I may have decided to quit after a short while but thankfully I didn't as it turned out to be a lot more fun than I remembered.
Long story short, cheap set of brushes from ebay, 15 brushes for £9.99 and they are fantastic for the price, so good in fact that I bought another set.
I have only used around 5 of them in the almost a year that I have owned them and they get a lot of use, it is only recently that the tips have started to curl on a couple of the finer ones. For anyone on a tight budget or just a tight git then I can highly recommend these brushes'.

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Stuart
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Re: Paint Brush Review

Post by Stuart »

Really interesting stuff gents, thanks for sharing. I generally use cheapish Humbrol Evoco and Citadel brushes and have been fine with them (the quality on the Humbrol is a bit hot and miss).

On the other end of the scale I recently picked up two Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes (a 0 and a 3) for nearly £30 each. Easily the best brushes I've ever used.
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beany
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Re: Paint Brush Review

Post by beany »

Stuart wrote: March 7th, 2023, 12:05 pm On the other end of the scale I recently picked up two Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes (a 0 and a 3) for nearly £30 each.
Strewth - for that price I'd expect them to also come with a "man" who does the painting for you while you sit back and relax! :ha:
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Stuart
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Re: Paint Brush Review

Post by Stuart »

beany wrote: March 13th, 2023, 2:06 pm
Stuart wrote: March 7th, 2023, 12:05 pm On the other end of the scale I recently picked up two Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes (a 0 and a 3) for nearly £30 each.
Strewth - for that price I'd expect them to also come with a "man" who does the painting for you while you sit back and relax! :ha:
They did - his name's Keith and he's very useful.
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