Synthetic Brushes - Post Release Discussion

[Piletoohighplastic]

Any reviews on these yet?

[Ramell]

Any reviews on these yet?

Tyler Mengel just put one out. Overall quite positive.

[Lord Marshal]

 

Any reviews on these yet?

Tyler Mengel just put one out. Overall quite positive.

 

 

More honest than I expected from Mengel, but still smells a bit like he doesn't want to be too critical or else he'll lose his Warhammer-Community advertising.

Edited May 27, 2021 by Lord Marshal

[WrathOfTheLion]

I have a couple of them now, I will try them out later, maybe this weekend.

[01RTB01]

 

 

 

Any reviews on these yet?

Tyler Mengel just put one out. Overall quite positive.

More honest than I expected from Mengel, but still smells a bit like he doesn't want to be too critical or else he'll lose his Warhammer-Community advertising.

He also gets tons of freebies too.

 

I'd be interested in more independent reviews such as frater here.

[Dark Shepherd]

Cant remember the accounts but the ones I saw on Insta said good for edge highlighting but thats it

[SkimaskMohawk]

Idk guys, I'm not the biggest fan of Tyler Mengel, but it's pretty clear he's not spinning the review for gw.

 

The quick tldr is that if you paint armies up with GW or army painter then these will probably be better. But that's very telling, because the standard GW brushes are notorious for how they degrade.

 

He doesn't compare them to high end brushes or other synthetics, just the common stuff. Maybe it's not super obvious, but it's there

[Halandaar]

Ceri Robson (ex-Warhammer TV host) got some to try out and commented that they're "a mixed bag" from her first impressions; good for edge highlighting at least.

[Arkhanist]

Idk guys, I'm not the biggest fan of Tyler Mengel, but it's pretty clear he's not spinning the review for gw.

 

The quick tldr is that if you paint armies up with GW or army painter then these will probably be better. But that's very telling, because the standard GW brushes are notorious for how they degrade.

 

He doesn't compare them to high end brushes or other synthetics, just the common stuff. Maybe it's not super obvious, but it's there

Yeah, the biggest drawback of synthetics is a] less sharp point, which he covers, b] hold/distributes liquid less well, which he also notes and c] hooking/splaying, which can't be tested until you've used them a while. Bog standard nylon (Taklon) isn't great for lifetime, so I wonder if they have just used that, like many synthentic brushes.

 

I mean he does call them reasonably priced, which is a bit of an eyeroll, but he's not in a position to criticise GW prices. (plenty of us to do it instead!)

 

More synthetic choice is good for those who object to animal hair brushes, and GW making them will make them very mainstream, even if there are better priced/quality alternatives.

 

I'd love to pick up some R&C red dots for contrast/edge highlighting, but I've found the triangular handles such as army painter so much more comfortable to hold, I can't go back to normal ones. (I can bear my kolinsky brushes for short periods of detailing, but my fingers go numb for longer sessions. Getting old sucks)

[SkimaskMohawk]

Well if he's just comparing them to GWs current brushes then the price is reasonable for what he feels is a better product.

 

Also, having just gotten a bunch of red dots, I wasn't pleased that my 3/10 started to hook on the second day of use. That was with batch painting 20 marines' bolters and other details, but still, thought it'd be longer.

[Jolemai]

Post release replies split from this thread as it's no longer news, rumour, or a B&C announcement.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I wasn't pleased that my 3/10 started to hook on the second day of use.

The smaller the brush, the quicker it'll hook. :( Dip the tip in "warm" water, re-shape it so that it's no longer hooked, dip it in gum arabic (the resin they coat brush bristles with when they're sent from the factory), and leave it a week - should be better.

[SkimaskMohawk]

 

 

I wasn't pleased that my 3/10 started to hook on the second day of use.

The smaller the brush, the quicker it'll hook. :( Dip the tip in "warm" water, re-shape it so that it's no longer hooked, dip it in gum arabic (the resin they coat brush bristles with when they're sent from the factory), and leave it a week - should be better.

Great stuff, thanks!

 

The fast hooking aside the brushes were...3.80$ and were bought to prevent wear and tear on my actual good brushes. If I had to pay twice that amount (the actual difference between the two companies synthetics) and the same thing happened I might be more frustrated.

[Vermintide]

Reading between the lines a bit here: If they're only "comparable" to regular Citadel brushes, which are honestly garbage IMO, then it doesn't sound like they're all that great.

 

I might start a business where I make ethical natural hair brushes. Instead of killing any kolinsky weasels or minks or whatever, we'd just give them a haircut and let them carry on with their day.

[Arkhanist]

Well if he's just comparing them to GWs current brushes then the price is reasonable for what he feels is a better product.

 

Also, having just gotten a bunch of red dots, I wasn't pleased that my 3/10 started to hook on the second day of use. That was with batch painting 20 marines' bolters and other details, but still, thought it'd be longer.

FWIW, rosemary & co are normally excellent on post-sales support. Small ones hook faster, but even so that's quick. Drop em an email about what happened, when I had a series 33 split after a couple of uses they sent me a free replacement. Though postage is cheaper to UK, dunno if that applies in Canada!

[Cris R]

So I picked up the small base brush, medium dry brush, and the large base brush and have been working with the small base brush on a project painting some vintage Asgard dwarves and my observation's mirror some of Tyler's review.

• My paint brush normal set up is a lot like Tyler's - some W&Ns, Citadel, and Army Painter brushes - so I wanted to see how this fit into my base coat routine using paints from Citadel, Army Painter, Scale 75, Green Stuff World, Reaper, and AK Interactive.
• I think the big takeaway from my work is that the brush works better taking slightly thicker coats of paint and distributing it across the surface. It's an adjustment from my Citadel and Army Painter base coat brushes, which work well with soaking up a lot of thinned paint that I can spread easily across the mini.
• That said, it does a great job with metallic paints from Citadel, Scale 75, Amy Painter, and AK Interactive, so I think that's where I'll lean on them more in future projects. I can also see them being really good for Contrast paints that benefit from using slightly thicker coats for projects.
• The bristle is nice and tough but the tip can get a little worn after a long painting session. But Tyler is absolutely right stating that they bounce back nicely with paint soap, so make sure to clean them up on a continuous basis.

I'll post an update on how these fare over time but my thoughts on these brushes are similar to my views about Contrast paints. They're good for specific applications like metallics, but they're not going to completely replace my current set up that covers a broader range of applications.

[MegaVolt87]

Oh? good for metallics, I may be interested then.

[Arkhanist]

Metallics are always harsh on natural hair brushes; the little flakes damage them. Sable, including kolinsky, is usually a watercolours brush, we use them because we need the precision and flow.

 

Synthetics are more robust to that type of damage, and are usually a lot cheaper to replace! Metallics are usually thinned less than layer paint, and we're after coverage in smaller areas rather than smooth blends, which plays to sythentic's strengths - until it hooks, anyway. So cheaper synthetics are usually a better brush for metallics in particular rather than destroy your expensive kolinskys. Whether GW brushes are worth up to twice the price of a standard synthetic (i.e. better lifetime) remains to be seen.

 

The same applies generally for base coating too, as you're doing more mechanical action against the ridges of the model which is hard on delicate brushes, though there the best option is probably a sable/synthetic blend so you have the extra carrying capacity of sable, but the stiffness and robustness of synthetic.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Arkhanist

[Ramell]

I decided to try out some of the new GW synthetics, and just got them in the mail today. I've tried them out, just briefly, so here are my first impressions:

 

Shade L, Drybrush M and Dry S work well for washing and drybrushing bases (sand, texture paint, whatever) and other such textures.

They don't seem to be any worse than the previous GW brushes of the same types (natural for Shade, natural/synth blend for Dry), and will probably be more durable, so I'll keep using these.

 

For the other three types I bought, Base S, Layer S, and Layer M, I think the best word is 'adequate.' For putting some metallic paint on a Bolt Rifle and such, they seem to work well, but they will not replace my Raphaels for anything else.

Layer M is sized right in between the other two, the perfect spot to be just wrong - not enough larger than Layer S to be worth using over Base S, and not enough smaller than that to use over Layer S.

I'll keep using Base S and Layer S for metallics, just to spare my kolinsky brushes a bit.

 

In summary, fine brushes for rougher work, within the limits of synthetic bristles. Won't replace a good kolinsky for the real work.