Brush Sizes Help

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

Hi Guys

 

I want to pick your brains regarding what size brushes I should use for applying a bascoat too:

 

Tactical Marines

Rhino sized tanks

Land Raider sized tanks

 

My thanks fellow fraters. 

[tychobi]

0.5 mm airbrush works for all sizes.

 

 

[andes]

Mark me down for the airbrush as well. You can do fine basecoating infantry models with a #3 Round or so, but vehicles really benefit from the airbrush (and those same infantry models get done much quicker, too).

[Grotsmasha]

Honestly, if Army Painter has a Primer Can in your preferred Base colour save yourself some time and hassle, this is particularly true for the tanks. Getting a smooth finish on tanks with a brush is quite the task.

However if you are going to be brushing on your bases, I recommend Citadels Shade brush, I've been using one for ages with quite satisfactory results.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I would also echo the suggestion that an airbrush is the quickest/easiest way to base-coat large models like vehicles (and also prime smaller models). Obviously, they have their drawbacks - cost, space, and needing to be kept clean - so they may not be applicable for everyone.

 

In terms of actual brushes, you want something fairly large (so you're not forever going to the palette for more paint, nor it dry out), and with enough of a point to allow reasonable control (or an acceptance of touching in smaller details with another brush). Typically, paint brush sizes aren't standardised amongst manufacturers, which is a bit unhelpful.

 

From personal experience, I'd say a Winsor & Newton "Cotman" Series 101 (synthetic), or Rosemary & Co Series 99 (natural) in a size 3 would be a good choice for infantry-sized models (or size 5 for vehicles). Obviously, anything similar will probably work just as well as the ones I've just mentioned.  I've not used it, but The Army Painter's "Regiment" brush seems to be quite well-liked, and GW have some brushes designed for base coating.

Edited January 19 by Firedrake Cordova

[Karhedron]

WHSmiths sell acrylic brushes with synthetic bristles which are very good. Synthetic bristles seem to have a shorter lifespan than natural ones but are finer so give a better finish.

 

For base-coating I normally use rattle-can wherever possible.

[NiceGuyAdi]

If you can’t go with airbrush or rattle cans, I’d ditch brushes and use a cheap makeup sponge. Thin the paint down and it’ll go on smoothly and in a fraction of the time even the biggest tank brush will take. Needs two or three coats this way though.

[pawl]

To vaguely echo the above:

 

An airbrush will work perfectly for all three, and will be noticeably easier for anything bigger than infantry.

 

Rattle cans (such as those from Colour Forge, which are colour matched to Citadel paints better than Citadel sprays!) will also work for all three, and again be easier for vehicles than painting by hand.

 

For actual brushes? Infantry I'd say you'd be looking at sizes between 3 and 5 for most manufacturers, depending on brand and the particular model. I personally quite like R&C S33, which are the same brushes that are rebranded as Artis Opus S. If you're in the US you might consider their S99 brushes instead.

For all three, but the tanks in particular, you could also look at their dry brushes. These are the same one AO rebrand for their dry brushes, and their YT channel shows Byron putting them to fantastic use!

[WrathOfTheLion]

The medium and large citadel shade brushes work quite nicely for overall basecoating, if that's what you have access to. I use the medium for infantry, and the large for vehicles.

 

Otherwise, if you can get an airbrush, that'll significantly lower the time on both infantry and vehicles. I like to do 90% of the basecoating via airbrush, and then finish it off with a coat via a brush to get a crisper finish.