Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes ....

[Helias_Tancred]

For the last few years I've been primarily using Army Painter Wargamer series brushes. I felt they were a good level of price vs quality. Lately I've been experiencing a lot of quality control issues with them. I'd be using a Wargamer: Character brush and it's great! Then when I have to retire it and get a new one, the new one is crap versus the one I replaced. This has happened multiple times over the past few months ....  So .... I decided to take a leap of faith and step up to a better brush, better at least from what I've heard people say. So I bought two Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brushes off of Amazon; a 1 and a 00. 

 

What are the best sizes for painting 40k miniatures? Should I get a 0, and maybe a 2 as well?

 

For those of you who have owned and used them, how are they? Am I getting a definite step up in terms of quality of brush for painting miniatures? 

 

Thanks. 

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Helias_Tancred

[Firedrake Cordova]

The general rule of thumb is to use the largest brush you can get away with - the larger belly holds more paint (meaning fewer trips to the paint pot), and more moisture (meaning the paint won't dry on the brush so fast), and a good-quality larger brush will still come to a fine point. If I remember correctly, Darren Latham uses a size 2 for most tasks, and drops down to a size 0 for fine details.

 

I used Series 7's back in the early 2000's, and they were great. I have heard some complaints about quality control over the last 10 years or so, but I also haven't bought any recently following the frankly massive price increases, so I can't verify that (I bought a size 2 in 2016 for £10 - they're now £25). It's probably worth adding that Citadel Artificer brushes are Series 7's with some different cosmetics. I've also used Raphael 8404's which are great, but have undergone the same price increases. Rosemary & Co's Series 33 aren't quite as nice, but they're a lot cheaper.

 

I would add, it's important to take care of the Series 7s (or any other sable brush) - make sure you don't let the paint get near the ferrule, or dry in the brush whilst painting, as these will shorten the life of the brush (using metallic paints will also harm the brush). If you don't have any brush soap, I would recommend getting some - either a solid puck like "The Master's Brush Soap", or a liquid one like Jo Sonja's.

Edited 4 hours ago by Firedrake Cordova