Brush marks?

[SteveT]

Hello, I'm just wondering how do you paint large pieces (say like a car body, ship side, aircraft wing etc) without leaving brush marks in the paint?

is it down to the paint or the brushes or the technique?

 

[Gern]

I'd say all three could affect your painting but I'm no expert - I could leave brush marks in water! Ron's yer man for brush painting large pieces. He's done some demo stuff on here which is well worth looking at.

 

[stillp]

Ron's yer man for brush painting large pieces.

Ron masquerades here as spanner570. His technique is basically thin coats of well-thinned paint, with a flat brush, repeated as necessary. There seems to be some magic involved as well though, as I can't get anywhere near his results!
Pete

 

[BattleshipBob]

I am improving following Ron's excellent advice and some good stuff on Facebook. As Pete says, well thinned paint and many layers! Oh, forgot practice and practice followed by a dose of practice.

 

[Airborne01]

Thinned paint, several coats thereof; I use a round headed brush called a Filbert, Don't overload the brush with paint and work the paint in well and quickly!
Steve

 

[rickoshea52]

The tutorials section is a good place to start.

Painting a Lancaster Bomber - With a Brush!

This will probably only be of interest to any other poor saps like me, who still just use a brush to paint their models. It won't be a step by step build of this bomber because Andy (Paintguy) is making the same model in 'Aircraft under construction' What follows is my way of approaching the...

www.scale-models.co.uk

 

[Jakko]

how do you paint large pieces (say like a car body, ship side, aircraft wing etc) without leaving brush marks in the paint?

Smartarse answer: by spraying it

That doesn’t necessarily mean with an airbrush — if you’re got a model of a civilian car, you could get an aerosol with the real car’s colour, for example, and use that. For military subjects, you can also buy spraying cans from model paint manufacturers, with military, naval, or aeronautic colours in them.

 

[spanner570]

Sorry Steve, I missed this.

As the original question was about brush marks, here's my method.

Thin your paints. I haven't a clue re. water/ paint ratios. I just add a bit of tap water until I get the thickness summat like right. Thinned, but with plenty of substance to the paint. Practice on a bit of spare plastic.
Use as wide a flat headed brush as is practical. Try and use one with softish bristles.
Get the paint on a quickly as you can.
Work from the middle of the piece to the outer edges. Do it the other way and you will get 'Runs' on the edges. With aircraft, lay off the paint in the direction of any wind flow.
There will be streaks. Don't worry, just get the surface smooth.
Don't fiddle! Leave the paint alone to level out.
Once dry, apply a second coat. Don't be tempted to thicken your paints. The streaks will disappear after this or perhaps a third coating.

As you will have read, folks have different methods. All I know is the above way works for me, all the time, every time.......

I hope this post will be of some help.

Ron

 

[Tim Marlow]

Sorry Steve, I missed this.

As the original question was about brush marks, here's my method.

Thin your paints. I haven't a clue re. water/ paint ratios. I just add a bit of tap water until I get the thickness summat like right. Thinned, but with plenty of substance to the paint. Practice on a bit of spare plastic.
Use as wide a flat headed brush as is practical.
Get the paint on a quickly as you can.
Work from the middle of the piece to the outer edges. Do it the other way and you will get 'Runs' on the edges. With aircraft, lay off the paint in the direction of any wind flow.
There will be streaks. Don't worry, just get the surface smooth.
Don't fiddle! Leave the paint alone to level out.
Once dry, apply a second coat. Don't be tempted to thicken your paints. The streaks will disappear after this or perhaps a third coating.

As you will have read, folks have different methods. All I know is the above way works for me, all the time, every time.......

I hope this post will be of some help.

Ron

Listen to the man. This works!

 

[SteveT]

Thanks everyone. (I do have an airbrush and compressor but it's setup in the cold and tiny box room with no heating or ventilation so sometimes I just can't be bothered going in there to paint a couple of things)

Yes, I'm lazy

 

[andy55]

If you have an airbrush have a look at the thread, My paint booth, under paint chit chat by scratchbuilder. And it works a treat.