the brush over the lip of the jar oftenleaves paint in the jar threads. This resultsin bits of dried paint falling back into thebottle, and they will find their way ontothe surface you are painting.

Time to paint. Most paints arealready the right consistency for brushpainting. Thin the paint only if necessaryto get it to flow smoothly on the part.Thinning will decrease the paint’s opaci-ty, requiring more coats to cover properly.

Dip your brush in the paint, keepingthe paint on the lower fourth of the bris-tles. Brush the paint onto the surface,using as few strokes as possible. Let thepaint level itself.

Follow the general direction of surfacelines and details, keeping the brushstrokes parallel. Apply paint to the baresurface, then use a light stroke to brushthe paint back to the area most recentlypainted, 3. Keeping a wet edge at all

times will prevent overlap marks.You’ll usually need to apply two coats,

which is what I did on this motorcyclecowling, 4. Some colors cover better thanothers, especially black, dark grays, darkblues, and greens. Lighter colors mayneed an additional coat. If you’re paintingwhite or yellow on anything other thanwhite plastic, start by applying a primercoat of medium to light gray.

As with airbrushed finishes, small rip-ples in the finish can be polished out bywet sanding. After the paint is complete-ly cured, start with 320 grit and useprogressively smoother grades of sandpa-per up to 600 grit.

When painting rougher surfaces, suchas stone walls, 5, cheaper camel hairbrushes work fine. Since brush marksaren’t critical in this situation, you canmove the brush in different directions towork the paint into cracks and crevices.

Delight in the details. My favoritebrush for painting tight areas and smalldetails is the Model Master No. 0 syn-thetic. It has a fine point – finer thanmany 00 and 000 brushes – and it holdsmore paint than smaller brushes.

When painting details, start withlighter colors and progress to darker ones,but wait 48 hours before painting onecolor over another. Paint as much of eachpart as possible before assembling themodel. In fact, keep the parts on thesprues as long as you can – as the photosshow, sprues make convenient handles.

Many different techniques are neededfor painting details. For example, themotorcycle wheel fork has recessed letter-ing that needs to be painted red, while therest of the part must be gold. I started bypainting the area with the lettering red,then wiping the surface with a papertowel, 6.This removed the paint from the

One goal in modeling is to give eachcreation a good finish. Airbrushing isoften preferred by experienced mod-

elers, but if you don’t have airbrushingequipment, brush painting can still yieldgreat results. Brush skill is also necessaryfor painting detail items and adding fin-ishing touches to a model.

Successful brush painting requiresgood brushes and fresh paint, as well astechniques to eliminate brush marks.

For the projects shown here, I usedacrylic paints: Model Master Acryl andPolly Scale. Both are quality paints thatcan be thinned (and cleaned up) withwater. The techniques for using enamelsare similar, but you’ll need to use mineralspirits or lacquer thinner. I painted plastic

parts in these photos, but the techniquesare the same for other materials.

Select the right tools. For paintingbroad surfaces, use as wide a brush as pos-sible. I use round brushes up to No. 5 and1⁄4" to 1⁄2" flat brushes, 1. The softer thebristles, the smoother the finish will be.For a smooth finish coat, especially withgloss paint, get a good sable brush. A syn-thetic brush can also provide a goodfinish, and camel hair is good for roughsurfaces and general-purpose painting.

Brush marks are the bane of brushpainting. The main causes are brusheswith stiff bristles (poor-quality brushes orold ones with bristles hardened by driedpaint residue) and overbrushing, whichleaves patterns in the paint as it dries.

Preparations. Make sure the surfaceis clean and free of skin oils from han-dling. Even a little oil repels acrylic paint,ruining the finish.

Begin by wetting the brush in water(or paint thinner for enamels). Wipe offthe brush using a clean cloth or papertowel. This step eases cleanup by keepingpaint from drying on the bristles.

Put paint into a separate container orpalette – I use an inexpensive aluminumholder. You can use an eyedropper or asoda straw to transfer the paint, 2.

Avoid painting straight from the bot-tle for two reasons. First, air is the mainenemy of paint, so you must keep the jarclosed as much as possible. Second, wip-ing off excess paint by pulling the edge of

Basics of brush paintingQuality paint jobs with brushes are easier than you think! Story and photos by Jeff Wilson

Among the author’s most-used brushes are (top to bottom) a Model Master No. 0 syn-thetic, Floquil No. 3 round pure sable, Floquil 1⁄4" flat camel hair, Floquil 1⁄4" flat SilverFox synthetic, and Model Master 1⁄2" flat black sable.

Place a soda straw in the paint, then capthe end with a finger. Move the straw tothe paint dish and remove your finger.The paint will flow into the dish.

Brush the paint with as few strokes as pos-sible. Begin new brush strokes in a barearea and gently brush back to the wetarea you’ve just painted.

This finished motorcycle cowling shows it’spossible to obtain very smooth results witha brush.

When painting a rough surface, use ageneral-purpose brush like this 1⁄2" flatcamel-hair.

Building Blocks

1 2

3 4 5

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BrushPainting 3/21/02 12:58 PM Page 58

the brush over the lip of the jar oftenleaves paint in the jar threads. This resultsin bits of dried paint falling back into thebottle, and they will find their way ontothe surface you are painting.

Time to paint. Most paints arealready the right consistency for brushpainting. Thin the paint only if necessaryto get it to flow smoothly on the part.Thinning will decrease the paint’s opaci-ty, requiring more coats to cover properly.

Dip your brush in the paint, keepingthe paint on the lower fourth of the bris-tles. Brush the paint onto the surface,using as few strokes as possible. Let thepaint level itself.

Follow the general direction of surfacelines and details, keeping the brushstrokes parallel. Apply paint to the baresurface, then use a light stroke to brushthe paint back to the area most recentlypainted, 3. Keeping a wet edge at all

times will prevent overlap marks.You’ll usually need to apply two coats,

which is what I did on this motorcyclecowling, 4. Some colors cover better thanothers, especially black, dark grays, darkblues, and greens. Lighter colors mayneed an additional coat. If you’re paintingwhite or yellow on anything other thanwhite plastic, start by applying a primercoat of medium to light gray.

As with airbrushed finishes, small rip-ples in the finish can be polished out bywet sanding. After the paint is complete-ly cured, start with 320 grit and useprogressively smoother grades of sandpa-per up to 600 grit.

When painting rougher surfaces, suchas stone walls, 5, cheaper camel hairbrushes work fine. Since brush marksaren’t critical in this situation, you canmove the brush in different directions towork the paint into cracks and crevices.

Delight in the details. My favoritebrush for painting tight areas and smalldetails is the Model Master No. 0 syn-thetic. It has a fine point – finer thanmany 00 and 000 brushes – and it holdsmore paint than smaller brushes.

When painting details, start withlighter colors and progress to darker ones,but wait 48 hours before painting onecolor over another. Paint as much of eachpart as possible before assembling themodel. In fact, keep the parts on thesprues as long as you can – as the photosshow, sprues make convenient handles.

Many different techniques are neededfor painting details. For example, themotorcycle wheel fork has recessed letter-ing that needs to be painted red, while therest of the part must be gold. I started bypainting the area with the lettering red,then wiping the surface with a papertowel, 6.This removed the paint from the

One goal in modeling is to give eachcreation a good finish. Airbrushing isoften preferred by experienced mod-

elers, but if you don’t have airbrushingequipment, brush painting can still yieldgreat results. Brush skill is also necessaryfor painting detail items and adding fin-ishing touches to a model.

Successful brush painting requiresgood brushes and fresh paint, as well astechniques to eliminate brush marks.

For the projects shown here, I usedacrylic paints: Model Master Acryl andPolly Scale. Both are quality paints thatcan be thinned (and cleaned up) withwater. The techniques for using enamelsare similar, but you’ll need to use mineralspirits or lacquer thinner. I painted plastic

parts in these photos, but the techniquesare the same for other materials.

Select the right tools. For paintingbroad surfaces, use as wide a brush as pos-sible. I use round brushes up to No. 5 and1⁄4" to 1⁄2" flat brushes, 1. The softer thebristles, the smoother the finish will be.For a smooth finish coat, especially withgloss paint, get a good sable brush. A syn-thetic brush can also provide a goodfinish, and camel hair is good for roughsurfaces and general-purpose painting.

Brush marks are the bane of brushpainting. The main causes are brusheswith stiff bristles (poor-quality brushes orold ones with bristles hardened by driedpaint residue) and overbrushing, whichleaves patterns in the paint as it dries.

Preparations. Make sure the surfaceis clean and free of skin oils from han-dling. Even a little oil repels acrylic paint,ruining the finish.

Begin by wetting the brush in water(or paint thinner for enamels). Wipe offthe brush using a clean cloth or papertowel. This step eases cleanup by keepingpaint from drying on the bristles.

Put paint into a separate container orpalette – I use an inexpensive aluminumholder. You can use an eyedropper or asoda straw to transfer the paint, 2.

Avoid painting straight from the bot-tle for two reasons. First, air is the mainenemy of paint, so you must keep the jarclosed as much as possible. Second, wip-ing off excess paint by pulling the edge of

Basics of brush paintingQuality paint jobs with brushes are easier than you think! Story and photos by Jeff Wilson

Among the author’s most-used brushes are (top to bottom) a Model Master No. 0 syn-thetic, Floquil No. 3 round pure sable, Floquil 1⁄4" flat camel hair, Floquil 1⁄4" flat SilverFox synthetic, and Model Master 1⁄2" flat black sable.

Place a soda straw in the paint, then capthe end with a finger. Move the straw tothe paint dish and remove your finger.The paint will flow into the dish.

Brush the paint with as few strokes as pos-sible. Begin new brush strokes in a barearea and gently brush back to the wetarea you’ve just painted.

This finished motorcycle cowling shows it’spossible to obtain very smooth results witha brush.

When painting a rough surface, use ageneral-purpose brush like this 1⁄2" flatcamel-hair.

Building Blocks

1 2

3 4 5

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BrushPainting 3/21/02 12:58 PM Page 58

surface but left it in the recessed lettering.I then painted the rest of the part gold,carefully using the side of the brush topaint around the letters, 7.

For raised lettering or details, do theopposite: paint the whole area the appro-priate color, then use the side of the brushto lightly dab or sweep across the details.

Let the ridges and relief of the partguide the brush, 8. With a fine brushyou’ll be able to work the paint to andaround raised and recessed details. If youget a bit of stray paint on an adjoiningarea, don’t panic. After it dries, you can

either lightly scrape it off with a hobbyknife, or simply paint over it with theproper color. The finished wheel fork hascrisp, sharp detail, 9.

Cleaning up. Properly cleaningbrushes will make them last longer andhelp them hold their shape. After usingacrylics, rinse the brush under warm run-ning water. Massage a drop of liquiddishwashing detergent into the bristles,then keep massaging the bristles underrunning water to rinse them.

If you’re using enamel, dip the brushin mineral spirits or lacquer thinner.

Swish it around and roll it gently againstthe side of the container. I keep threesmall jars of thinner for cleaning brushes.The first is for getting out most of thepaint (this is the dirtiest one), the secondfor cleaning out any remaining paint, andthe third (with clear, clean thinner) for afinal rinse.

Never let brushes stand in thinner, andnever jab the bristles down into the bot-tom of a container. This can damage theferrule (the part that holds the bristles)and cause the bristles to splay and losetheir shape.

After cleaning, while the bristles arestill wet, form them to the proper shapeusing your fingers (not your mouth).Store brushes bristles up, and make surethe bristles don’t rest against the sides ofthe storage container, 10. To protect thebristles even more, use the clear plasticsleeves that come with new brushes.

As with any physical skill, your brush-painting talents will improve withexperience. Start by practicing with somespare parts left over from an old kit, andsoon you’ll be painting your prized mod-els with confidence and getting show-quality results. FSM

Meet Jeff Wilson

Jeff Wilson has been a modeler for more than30 years. He enjoys building model trucks, buthis main focus is model railroads. That’s not sur-prising since he was an associate editor at FSM’ssister publication, Model Railroader, for 10 years.Jeff has written six books on trains and modelrailroading and currently works as a free-lancewriter. He is a camera operator for his favoriteteam, the Milwaukee Brewers, and plays bass inthe rock/punk/funk/jazz group Foam.

Follow that by using the side of a brush topaint the surface around the lettering.

Let the part’s topography guide you whenpainting surface details. Using a finebrush, work the paint slowly to the border.

Here’s the completed wheel fork, with four colors applied.

An old mug or glass works well for stor-ing brushes. Be sure the bristles are abovethe edge of the holder.

Paint recessed lettering its final color first,then wipe the surface, leaving paint onlyin the recesses.

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