"long ass bristles" Could you please be a little more specific? Should i buy a proper pin-striping brush for it? If so any particular kind?
I have a -very- steady hand and I just took a very thin brush, pulled out some hairs and cut it a little so it's as fine as a sharp pencil. Then I dipped it in aluminum paint, took most of the paint of, just leaving a little more than when you're drybrushing. Then I just 'draw' the stripes on. Worked like a charm. Use nailclipper's nailfile to refine the borders, maybe. I'm just saying, worked for me.
Yeah i tried that but it didnt work. The paint never wanted to come off the brush. I was using enamel silver though, unthinned but its pretty thin straight out of the pot so i dont think it needs thinning.
I used to pinstripe motorcycle helmets and tanks. It's one of the more difficult practices I've ever done. Damn hard to hold steady without muscle relaxants. Before a project, I usually had to down about three Mountain Dews just to counteract my caffeine addiction (it works, honestly). In pinstriping miniatures and figures, a small, long bristle brush with thinned paint offers the nicest and cleanest of results. The key, I've found out, is that the paint truly needs thinned enough to take away the chance of it drying mid-line. It is a total bitch to 'clean up' and make it look cohesive after a line stutters like that. Load the brush, but not to the point of it dripping. Just enough to color the bristles the color you're painting with. That way, the paint stays fluid longer. Another way to do a good outline stripe is to cheat and do it in reverse. I do this with tribal patterns, and it works nicely. Basically, lay down the stripe color and fill in the interior area, staying in the lines. That way, you have a window to make the lines as thick or as thin as you want and still be able to go back and line over the lines for added thickness. The only solution to making pinstriping good is practice. Lots of practice.
*sigh* Dude, seriously. I just wanted to know if i need to buy a proper pin-striping brush or not. Theres no need for smart assery. Doesnt matter how stupid the question might be, you dont have to attempt to insult people. How "long" do the bristles need to be? I cut up a brush to a fine tip and the paint never wanted to come off the darned thing, and when it did it all rolled off in big fat blobs. The only way i could get anything off the brush was if i made sure the brush was soaked with paint. Would a longer brush help with this problem or am i using the wrong type of paint as well? These are the finer details i (and others im sure) would like to know before i go blowing money on more brushes.
Thank you for that simple, helpful, no-nonesense, insult-free and in-depth answer. Im going to invest in the tinyest pinstriping brush i can find as well as a normal long bristled brush and see which will work best. I'll need to work on my shakes though...i have a few meds that might help with that though.
Thank you sir for the tips! As for the caffeine, I pretty much have an I.V. drip of Diet Coke goin 24/7 LOL!!
The brushes I use are Lowell Cornell (sp?) miniature acrylic brushes. They make micro brushes with longer bristles designed specifically for use with acrylics on models and miniatures. The one I use primarily is an 18/0 liner. Love the thing. It's my go-to brush for finer details and striping. ACMoore carries them, and they aren't expensive. Durable, too. Oh yeah, never cut bristles. That takes away the integrity of the flow and doesn't allow the paint to go on naturally, creating a 'cliff' at the end of the brush. And caffeine rules my life. The movie Dew-bot is my god.
I tried doing the reverse/cheat/fill in method, wasn't having much luck with it. sign guy I used to work for used to suggest it to me (we'd outline with a brush 1/2" letter on truck doors, typically, I'd do the ones on the passenger side cause my boss was perfect on the drivers' side letters. here's a pic of the brush I get good results with (not a striping brush mind you)
Gah. I used to have to hand-cut stencils from mylar and frisket back in the day. I feel old. That brush is pretty much it, but the ones I use have smoke-clear handles and/or black handles and run anywhere from $3.75 to $12.00.
I can only get enamels for metallic and silver colors where i live, tamiya dont sell silver any more, at least not near where i live. Would these brushes still work well with thinned down enamel do you know? If not i might be able to find some old stock of tamiya silver acrylic online someplace.
another trick that's really a secret and been helping me, is that the stripes are in enamels. and the paint(flames) underneath are lacquers. If I happen to screw up, I have another brush nearby ready to dunk in paint thinner to remove the mistake (paint thinner doesn't harm lacquer paints if applied correctly)
Drpee- They may work. I've never tried it, mainly because I'm not a fan of enamels. If you have the opportunity, try some Games Workshop or Reaper Pro Series metallics. With some flow-enhancer they work great. F_R- What's the drying time on enamels and lacquers?
me too, dang those days sucked. I'm so effin old, my first "typography" college class involved actual cutting and pasting on a light table.... As for those brushes, I generally also use that brand from AC moore, some days they have 50% off all brushes (which sucks because lately I've been missing those days and the women who work there haven't a clue when the "next" sale will be) but - they work great with enamels also. Strong brushes, I clean them in lacquer thinner.
Enamels are dry to the touch (thin coat or detail) in under 5 minutes. Lacquers (usually apply though an air brush) are dry within 1 minute (thin coats as well) To give you an idea, I sprayed the fade on Prime's hood, 20 minutes later stuck down a high performance vinyl stencil, tamiya high tact masking tape and air brushed the flames (perfect edges by the way) by the time I air brushed the other side, I put down the air brush, pulled off the stencils (paint was still in tact) and started laying the stripes.
I usually 'happen' on those sales and stockpile when I get the chance. ACMoore employees, while kind-hearted, have no clue what their company plans. All I know of them are that the store I frequest has some serious hotties there. A-hem. Anyway...
