Acrylic brush-on paint recommendations?

[albireo13]

I am a fairly noobie and do hand brush only, no air brush, on my models.   So far I have stuck with enamels ....
some existing Testors I had lying around and lately switching to Humbrol.  So far I am
liking the Humbrol. 

  I have heard so many great things about current acrylics so, I want to try some out now.
This is strictly for hand brushing.
  Any particular brand recommendations?  Do some offer better levelling and coverage than others?
I have heard that Vallejo is good.

Thx

[macsporran]

Each to his own, and everybody will have their own favourite, but I like the Revell Aqua paints, although they come from Revell DE and might be difficult to source in some marketplace.
When doing my car models I would always spray the bodywork but use Aqua paints to brush floors, seats, dash, etc.

Thin with water, good coverage, good range of colours, relatively inexpensive and mix well.
My tuppence....
Sandy

[Borsos]

If using Revell Aqua Color, you might trying out thinning them with window cleaner from the supermarket instead of ordinary water. The end result are a better coverage and less brush marks.
Good luck!
Andreas

[Dirigible-Al]

Andreas has a good point. I too use various cleaning solutions to thin acrylics.
Alan

[RAGIII]

If you can't get Revell then I would suggest Valejo. Very nice to brush as that is what they are meant to do!
RAGIII

[KiwiZac]

I feel like I'm in a minority group but I've almost exclusively used Tamiya acrylics - hand brushed and unthinned - since age six without major issue. I've encountered one green which lightens as you get closer to the bottom of the jar, and sometimes they're tricky to apply in summer, but for the vast majority of my time in the hobby they've worked beautifully.

[jeroen_R90S]

Another Revell Aqua fan -although I mix it with Tamiya X-20A and destilled water. When it's really warm, and there is paint on the model already, I use water only. Unless you overthin it it flows and sel levels beautifully. You can, like my kids, almost slop it on and unless really extreme, will level out really well.
Vallejo is pretty good paint too, but less durable in my experience.

further tips on Aqua: when opening a new container, snip off the hook-shaped pins on the lid as they sometimes prevent the lid from closing properly. Half-dried paint that looks ready to be thrown out can be re-activated with destilled water and a lot of stirring. It's one of those paints you can use up to the end -and re-use the containers to save mixes. (like the Tamiya jars, those are useful too).


I suppose Zac is a better brush painter than I am as I've not had much luck brushing Tamiya, small parts can be done (with retarderd added) but larger surfaces I can't get to work. I either use Aqua or airbrush them (Aqua airbrushes well, too)

I mainly use Aqua because I can get them locally, and at our IPMS Nationals there's always a vender selling the cubes for €1 or so. It's really good paint.

Jeroen

[jeroen_R90S]

Oh and by the way, as I also use Aqua for airbrushing the exteriours of my models I ran into one small drawback: their colour selection is mostly RAL based and may not always be what you need.
I've collected and concocted a few mixing recpies for e.g. Mauve and PC10 variants, if it's any help I could look them up.

[Davos522]

I used Polly S acrylics for a long time, but they're no longer available, so I switched to Vallejo. They've been making acrylics for a long time—since the 1960s, in fact, when Amadeo Vallejo started producing vinyl "cel colors" for animation studios when he lived here in the US. They seem to be good paints, and certainly seem to be widely available. My advice would be to not get any of their Model Air colors, though, as they're pre-thinned for airbrushing (I made that mistake!) and won't work for painting with a brush unless you apply multiple coats.

I think the only downside of acrylics that I've seen is that the paint film is relatively fragile compared to enamels or lacquer. But maybe that's just me... :-/

Dave V.

[DaddyO]

My main water based range is Vallejo which I've brush painted for years with, but build it up in thin layers (4+ coats)
I quite like the new Scale 75 3G paints (although some don't), but they do dry very matt. Favorite for brush painting must be the scale 75 tube paints which thin beautifully, take slightly longer to dry and can be airbrushed too. Only drawback is that you need to mix your own colours. They look slightly transparent when first applied, but dry to a lovely silky finish and best of all no stirring or shaking needed 

Paul

[KiwiZac]

I suppose Zac is a better brush painter than I am as I've not had much luck brushing Tamiya, small parts can be done (with retarderd added) but larger surfaces I can't get to work.

I best not show you photos of the 1/72 B-52 and Avro Vulcan whose camouflage I brushpainted 

[albireo13]

I've ordered a few Vallejo Model Color acrylic paints to try out.  I will see how it goes.   Thanks.

[WD]

I suppose Zac is a better brush painter than I am as I've not had much luck brushing Tamiya, small parts can be done (with retarderd added) but larger surfaces I can't get to work.

I best not show you photos of the 1/72 B-52 and Avro Vulcan whose camouflage I brushpainted 

That's me. I remember trying to brush paint some small part with Tamiya, and it was a disaster. I remember people raving about this paint, and I thought "What are they smoking?  This is terrible paint!" I still haven't gotten it to brush well, but maybe I don't have the retarder ratio down. It does airbrush beautifully thought.

Warren

[Tim Mixon]

Another tip for acrylic paint is to apply over a good primer base layer. Acrylic doesn’t seem to adhere well to smooth plastic surfaces. Very frustrating to have large sections lift off when removing masking tape. 😬