The Ship Model Forum

For various reasons I'm experimenting with acrylic paint, currently I am using the Humbrol Acrylic range as it is readily available where I live. I've run into a slight snag though. Since the paint dries so fast, how do I dry-brush with it? I've had a mostly successful attempt but it ended up being heavier than I would like because the window between "paint still wet, just paints everything" and "brush is rock solid" is so short it's very hard to get a consistent result. With enamels of course it's easy: the paint doesn't cure for hours, maybe days, so you can get it to the right consistency on the brush and work for a long time without trouble. Any ideas how to achieve the same effect with acrylics?

Aside from that, it seems if I continue using acrylics I will be consuming brushes at an alarming rate. Dry-brushing more or less destroys the brush, and even a regular painting session of a moderate length results in substantial drying on the brush. Any tips on brush preservation with this fast drying paint?

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Vlad

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Thanks, that might not end up being too tedious once you get a rhythm going for doing it. I'll give it a try next time I need some dry-brushing.

I also have an extensive collection of enamels that I don't plan to immediately phase out. I dry-brushing with enamels onto an acrylic painted ship a good idea?

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Vlad

Drybrushing enamels over acrylics is no problem at all. Thousands of modellers around the world are doing it on a daily basis.

Why not just keep using the enamels? While it is not impossible to drybrush with acrylics, it is just plain easier with enamels.
Since you're using lighter versions of the base colours, and small colour differences are not important whem drybrushing (often even desirable!), I don't see colour matching as a problem here.

If you don't like enamels, there are also oil paints to consider. They dry even slower, and can result in very smooth and subtle drybrush effects.

Cheers,

Marijn

Well, my comfort zone is enamels and like I said I will keep using my collection. The reason I started trying acrylics is due to my USS Portland project and others where I bought 3D printed parts from Shapeways, and having tried everything I gave up trying to paint them in enamels. I will also continue to dry-brush with them.

But, for me this was also a revelation, at least the acrylic colours I tried so far are a joy to work with. Because of easy clean-up and fast drying it really brought the pleasure back into painting instead of always having to plan my work based on drying times and smell of thinner/cleaning liquid. So really in the long term I would prefer to learn how to cope with the different ways to use acrylics and gradually phase out my enamels even on projects that don't use 3D printed parts.

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Vlad

You can have good results with any medium you prefer best. I personally tried all 3 of them and although I like the ease of cleaning and the fast dry times of acrylics, I stick with enamels and oils both for washes and for dry brushing. If you use odorless white spirit it won't be as smelly as well. About acrylics,I think the key to efficiently dry brushing, is the speed you work that comes with experience with them. They need to be dilluted like 50:50 or so and for sure, the retarder medium will help a lot since it prolongs their dry time quite a lot compared with not using it at all.

As is true most times, the combination of mediums and techniques along with practising using each of them will produce the best results.

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Best Regards
Skiper

I also prefer acrylics (not Tamiya, although I use them exclusively for airbrushing) for dry-brushing because of their fast drying time. You're not constantly removing what you've just applied.

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"... well, that takes care of Jorgensen's theory!"

I use an older wide brush just for dry-brushing. Acrylic paint dries in the ferrules of the brush - way up at the base of the bristles - and causes splaying of the bristles. Immediate and constant cleaning is required so as not to entirely ruin the brush. I use an acrylic cleaner, Brush Plus, https://plaidonline.com/brush-plus/12/product.htm from a company called Plaid - they make craft acrylics not suitable for model painting, but their cleaner works the best of several that I have.

Thank you David for the masterclass, I will practice with what you said.

Biggles, not a bad idea. I also thought to use two brushes at the same time, alternating between leaving one soaking in water while I do a few strokes with the other, then swap.

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Vlad

I've had good luck dry brushing acrylics by adding drying retarder and/or glaze medium to the paints. They slow the drying time and give more of an enamel-like workability.

That being said, you will definitely get a better result dry brushing with oil paints.

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We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley

Just my tip for light highlighting effects - I use the range of Tamiya Weathering Master sets with their applicators, brushes and erasers, for dry brushed highlights and delicate weathering effect - I found this method gives total control for really light and subtle highlighting as well as weathering effects.