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I've been using an airbrush to do the majority of my minis. But now I need to paint all the detail, to date I've been using "Pro Arte acrylix" 00 and 2. However they keep fraying at the ends and I can never keep a perfect point. I try to take good care of them, I don't them sit in water, I clean them after each use but they don't last more than a few hours until they start "forking"

What is the best brush I can buy for detail work?

Windsor & Newton Series 7. I use a miniature 00 for superfine detail, but their points can do great detail work on the regular 0, 1, or 2 size. I clean with Master's brush cleaner pucks.

There's some brushes of comparably good quality available from Raphael and a couple other makers.

Personally I like the " royal soft grip" range. Sizes go from 5mm to 25mm long, and 1 mm to 0.001 mm tip.

Definitely Windsor & Newton Series 7. I use a size 0 for the vast majority of my work.

I was going to go and buy one tomorrow and the only shop I have near me is a Hobbycraft, I can't see your royal soft grip range and I also can't find the series 7 on their website.

Maybe my question should be "What is the best brush I can buy for detail work in Hobbycraft?"

rhysgm wrote:
I've been using an airbrush to do the majority of my minis. But now I need to paint all the detail, to date I've been using "Pro Arte acrylix" 00 and 2. However they keep fraying at the ends and I can never keep a perfect point. I try to take good care of them, I don't them sit in water, I clean them after each use but they don't last more than a few hours until they start "forking"

What is the best brush I can buy for detail work?

Basically you want anything that uses a natural fibre rather than a synthetic.

Raphael and Windsor and Newton are normally the ones that get touted as the best.

Hobbycraft do stock them. Here's a link to their website with the product listing:

http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/winsor-and-newton-kolinsky-no0-round-pointed-brush/574105-1000

You can get home delivery or they can deliver to your local store.

 AlexHeap wrote:
Hobbycraft do stock them. Here's a link to their website with the product listing:

http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/winsor-and-newton-kolinsky-no0-round-pointed-brush/574105-1000

You can get home delivery or they can deliver to your local store.

So a watercolour brush is fine to use on Acrylics? And these are mixed synthetic fibres not natural which Winter suggested would be best.

Yes watercolour brushes are fine for acrylics. I'm not sure why it's says they're mixed synthetic but they're made from kolinsky sable which is definitely natural.

Here's a link to them on the W&N site with some more information:

http://www.winsornewton.com/products.aspx?PageID=325

And also an amazon listing which is the cheapest place I've found to purchase them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0013E68SU/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

From what I've learned the 2 highest end detail brushes are the WN series 7, and the raphael 8404. From what I've read most people prefer the raphael to the WN, you can also get the raphael with cheap shipping through secret weapon miniatures.

Any good Kollinsky Sable in your favourite size

Tbh even a size 12 will hold a better point than just about any synthetic brush.
But they go down to a few 0's.

Theres lots of brands, W&N Series 7 are lovely, but not the be all and end all. In hobby craft they'l be in the watercolour painting section rather than the acrylics section.

If you're going to spend money on a brush, I wouldn't buy off the net - I need to see the brush & how it holds together for my own eyes.

Even if you go tot he art store, all the brushes should have tip preserver on them while waiting to be sold.
This means that the tip will be stiff and well formed. And I doubt your going to be allowed to rinse it off to test the brush before you buy it anywhere?

Theres not much difference between buying one online and in a store provided the manufacturer is worth their salt and do good amounts of QC for their products.

Windsor and Newton are pretty good in this area

Hobbycraft don't stock them in store, so I've bought one online from Amazon. Hopefully I'll get by the end of the week. I didn't want to pay the same price for next day delivery as the brush itself.

rhysgm wrote:
Hobbycraft don't stock them in store, so I've bought one online from Amazon. Hopefully I'll get by the end of the week. I didn't want to pay the same price for next day delivery as the brush itself.

:( Thought they would carry those tbh. Is it a small store? Theres a rather large one nearish to me... they do, but they carry everything!

However I usually order mine from here; http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/cat-winsor-&-newton-sable-watercolour-brushes.htm

My favourite art supply store to order form hehe. Brushes often get tacked onto orders of paints, canvas, inks, mediums etc... I spend lot on painting stuff though I think and so would usualy go for free delivery on orders over £40, a brush is often a good thing to tack onto an order to push it over the free postage mark hehehehe!

Edit; on that page I linked, theres a good value set of 4 brushes in sizes 0 throught to 3 for £29.95 which saves around £11... or rather gives you the size 3 for almost nothing. Which is currently my wash brush mostly as its a bit bigger than I normally like to work with. (the point is as good as the size 0 is tho)

army painter's brushes, the ones which don't have the silly triangular handles are most of what I use these days.

http://www.thewarstore.com/ArmyPainterBrushes.html