Whats the trick to handbrushing even coats?

[Jadefalcon0]

Hello ladies and gents,

I am working on a model at the moment and I am having problems applying paint to the point where the color gradiant is uniform throughout. I am painting the decks of a particular subject gray, and every few inches there is a different shade of gray. Now I am a patient person with this and I havn't had a fit "yet", but are there any tips you might have that will make my life easier? Thanks!

-Rob

[Peter O]

I do a lot of brush painting using acrylics, mainly Tamiya and Polly Scale. I thin the paint slightly with plain water to avoid brushmarks. For dark grays, I usually need two coats to cover well, but it comes out very smooth and even.

Peter

[les]

Try checking out the strokes on a scrap plastic or model. Seems to me I was told that the vertical surfaces come out better if you brush up and down instead of horizontally.

[Jadefalcon0]

I thin the paint slightly with plain water to avoid brushmarks.
Peter

Doing this has actually exacerbated the problem, the paint becomes watery and it tends to "push" around and not settle evenly.



Here is a photo of the color gradient problem. Minding the stern section of the deck (it needs another coat to hide a previous color) no matter how many times I apply a coat of gunship gray the coats do not come out evenly. I am stirring, not shaking my paints carefully with a toothpick (and BBs). Far away the decks don't look that half bad, but up close they are just aweful and I am dissatisfied. I attempted to use a larger brush but that only made the coat lighter. Any advice folks? I am just tempted to use oven cleaner.

[Peter O]

Rob,

Are you using acrylics? I ask because your photo shows gloss paint at least along the bottom. If they're not acrylics, my advice won't work, especially not using water as a thinner.

For acrylics, what brand of paints are you using, and how much did you thin the paint? I thin mine ever so slightly, just enough to make it flow more easily than straight from the bottle. Some of my thinner colors - mostly Model Master Acrylics - are thin enough to brush without additional thinning, while others - particularly Tamiya - always require thinning. Your decks don't look much worse than mine after the first coat. FWIW, I don't stir my paints; I just shake them thoroughly. If you're using Tamiya paints, be sure not to brush over the wet paint, since it will just strip the drying paint you just applied.

As Les said, practicing on a scrap model or plastic is a great idea.

Les,

You're right, vertical strokes will be less noticeable on vertical surfaces. The ambient light won't pick out the vertical strokes as much as it will horizontal strokes.

Peter

[Timmy C]

My general rule of thumb for a good paint viscosity is that it drips from the stir rod in drops, rather than a hanging trail (too thick) or not drip at all (too thin).

Make sure you wait for the first coat to dry before applying the next one. I know I get impatient and try to go over the same patch right after I paint it, but that's not a good way to go. I generally paint the first coat all the way from stem to stern on both sides, then go back to the first side and paint the second coat from the starting point. By this time, the paint on the hull should be dry to the touch and be more willing to accept a new coat.

[Jadefalcon0]

Problem has been solved. It seems that I did not have a good enough viscocity with the paint. Sometimes it was too thin and sometimes it was too thick like Timmy said. This paint is suprisingly Pollyscale- I tried my best to mix it up but could not get the proper viscocity. The bottle is getting low on paint- and it seems the "good stuff" is on the bottom. I am working as I type to upload a photo of the results, I am satisfied with them.

[ModelMonkey]

Rob, when using acrylics, stir the paint rather than shaking it. It makes all the difference in getting the consistency even.

[Guest]

Rob:

See my reply to PAINT RANT, posted on March 7th.

Mr. Wizard