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I've just started experimenting with edge highlighting and am finding it very hard to maintain the paint consistency. I thin it down but then it seems to dry on the model too dull so I need to go over it again. And apart from that the paint seems to dry on the brush rather quickly making it hard to get consistently even lines. Does anybody have any tips for this? And why, oh why, does it look so EASY when you see somebody like Duncan Rhodes doing it?

You can use a drying retarder so that the paint takes longer to dry and doesnt dry on the brush. Vallejo Airbrush Thinner is a great all-in-one paint medium (despite the name, it's great for regular brushes too), but depending on your preferences you might want to focus on somethiing like AK's paint drying retarder.

Also, you may be using a brush with a very small tip, try using a larger brush as it holds more paint so won't dry as quickly.

After that, it's all about practicing until you have the right balance!

Just takes practice. Don't overthin for edge highlights, otherwise you'll get mess on your nice panels. You want a good amount of paint in the belly of the brush and use it at an oblique angle to the edge as much as possible.
Keep practicing, you'll get it.

Regarding the dullness, you just need to brighten the paint until you get the desired contrast for the edge highlight. However, you can use that to your advantage. I like to build up my edge highlights this way, similar as to how I would highlight the panel itself. In more advanced painting you can use this sort of thing to draw attention to parts of the model.

Personally I don't like drying retarders because the paint stays wet too long for my liking, but thats personal preference. It might work for you.

When it comes to highlights, I tend to find watering the paint less than usual helps. Generally I add roughly half the amount of water I usually do, otherwise it goes on too thin/feint and requires a couple of coats. It’s a bit tricky though as, like you’ve discovered, the paint can dry on the brush before applying it, so it takes a little bit of practice and experimenting to get the consistency right.

But yeah, generally if you want a stronger highlight, use less water to thin it. If you want a more subtle highlight, use more water.

A wet pallet will stop your paints drying out

Ima be honest, oil paint. All the issues acrylics have are solved with oils. Mess up that line? It's cool it wipes off without affecting the acrylics below. White acrylics are horrible at covering? Oils are the opposite. White is super easy to cover with. Oils are the best.

Check this beginners guide on YouTube

https://youtu.be/x_pxojd7kp8

Oils are ok but it's quite a steep learning curve for beginners.

I don't agree QAR. Oils were easier to learn than acrylics for me. Though I suppose your mileage may vary. My only irritation with them is I'm an idiot and I touch wet paint.

That's what makes it a steep learning curve. Oil paints take forever to dry. This is great for wet-blending; not so good for speed-painting.

 Vulcan wrote:
That's what makes it a steep learning curve. Oil paints take forever to dry. This is great for wet-blending; not so good for speed-painting.

It's the opposite about speed painting. You should check out Marco Frisoni... I've learned his tricks on Oils and I can paint professional looking minis in a couple hours. but yeah you have to use a heated enclosure to cure the oil paint quicker.

 Freya wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:
That's what makes it a steep learning curve. Oil paints take forever to dry. This is great for wet-blending; not so good for speed-painting.

It's the opposite about speed painting. You should check out Marco Frisoni... I've learned his tricks on Oils and I can paint professional looking minis in a couple hours. but yeah you have to use a heated enclosure to cure the oil paint quicker.

And how many of us hobby painters have a heated enclosure handy? On top of having the extra ventilation to use oils and turpentine safely?

Yes, it's a great tool in the toolbox, but a bit more effort than acrylics.

 Vulcan wrote:

 Freya wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:
That's what makes it a steep learning curve. Oil paints take forever to dry. This is great for wet-blending; not so good for speed-painting.

It's the opposite about speed painting. You should check out Marco Frisoni... I've learned his tricks on Oils and I can paint professional looking minis in a couple hours. but yeah you have to use a heated enclosure to cure the oil paint quicker.

And how many of us hobby painters have a heated enclosure handy? On top of having the extra ventilation to use oils and turpentine safely?

Yes, it's a great tool in the toolbox, but a bit more effort than acrylics.

All it takes is a cigar box and a little bit of time to make.

It's actually a lot less effort than acrylics. But you're welcome to feel how you want about it. Having actually used them with a great deal of success, I clearly have my opinions about them. And I don't use ventilated areas for odorless white spirits. It's just not necessary. Avoiding putting cadmium based paint in your mouth however, is.

Yeah you don't need special spaces to use oils. I use them in my living room no problem.

You can also get drying accelerators, or if you use abteilung oils they usually dry within about 12-24 hours.

However I would generally stick to acrylics for edge highlights anyway.

Thanks to everyone for the tips. As always super useful! And the oil vs acrylics discussion was interesting. I'd never even thought of using oils. Something to ponder....

 Freya wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:

 Freya wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:
That's what makes it a steep learning curve. Oil paints take forever to dry. This is great for wet-blending; not so good for speed-painting.

It's the opposite about speed painting. You should check out Marco Frisoni... I've learned his tricks on Oils and I can paint professional looking minis in a couple hours. but yeah you have to use a heated enclosure to cure the oil paint quicker.

And how many of us hobby painters have a heated enclosure handy? On top of having the extra ventilation to use oils and turpentine safely?

Yes, it's a great tool in the toolbox, but a bit more effort than acrylics.

All it takes is a cigar box and a little bit of time to make.

It's actually a lot less effort than acrylics. But you're welcome to feel how you want about it. Having actually used them with a great deal of success, I clearly have my opinions about them. And I don't use ventilated areas for odorless white spirits. It's just not necessary. Avoiding putting cadmium based paint in your mouth however, is.

Fair enough.

I've generally found it to be more trouble than it's worth, but I wouldn't (well, shouldn't, I suppose I was there) discourage someone from trying it out.

Eh they aren't for everyone. It's certainly prohibitive to start with unless you are seriously incorporating them a lot on your art so your opinion is very valid.

 Freya wrote:
Eh they aren't for everyone. It's certainly prohibitive to start with unless you are seriously incorporating them a lot on your art so your opinion is very valid.

Washes are the easy entry point. A small tube of paint and some odourless white spirit and you’re away.

1thickcoat wrote:

 Freya wrote:
Eh they aren't for everyone. It's certainly prohibitive to start with unless you are seriously incorporating them a lot on your art so your opinion is very valid.

Washes are the easy entry point. A small tube of paint and some odourless white spirit and you’re away.

That's how I started. I have shakey hands so the idea of the paint automatically filling all gaps with any splash over or mistakes easy to fix? Sign me up!

Then it was enamels and washes for grimdark... then and only then did I completely destroy a couple models before getting the hang of them as a primary color source.