I’ve heard many good things about Skyists brushes from my Japanese colleagues, but never had a chance to check them oiut, that is till now.
Aside from the best synthetic hair I’ve seen, their bristle design is remarkable. The ferrules are completely filled with hair, the tip still sharp like a needle.
Tamiya synthetic spotters:
While we’re at it, Skyists series 120 Kolinsky
And Winsor series 7
The handful of good brushes I have came from Blick Art Supply, so I was wondering where you obtain these Skyist ones. Are they from Japan?
BTW, I’ve watched some of those Japanese modeling shows on YouTube (does a Tiger tank, a submarine, lot of gundams among others). I often see the builder using a very fine-pointed brush with an un-tapered bamboo handle. I figured that was another thing you might only find over there, and I’ve read other posts where Japanes modelers say they can’t get good brushes in the US.
The brushes with bamboo handles are for Japanese and Chinese calligraphy. The way those brushes are held is different, so the handle can’t be tapered.
You can get those in Chinatown. But their bristles were designed for ink, so I don’t know how good they would be if you push them around thicker paints.
I heard the Skyists brushes were originally designed for comic painters, who use gouache and acrylic, so technically they are suited to modeling paints.
I buy brushes from Blick Art too, and the bigger sizes are just fine.
I’ve had my share of experience with different series from Winsor, Princeton, La Corneille, Robert Simmons, Da Vinci and Loew Cornell. One thing in common with their spotters, they all have a rather large space between bristle and ferrule that was filled with sealant. Once the sealant is damaged, the arrangement of hair no longer stays in form, and you end up with curved or split bristles.
I’m assuming this is due to difficulties in manufacturering.
I got the Skyists from Ebay. The guy sells them once every few weeks (that’s what he told me when I asked for more), he has to get them directly from Japan.
I got some other stuff from him. Here’s a PE plier and a sprue cutter. Notice the angle of the cutting edge on the sprue cutter? I’m intrigued why these products are not available to us through retailers. They should be big sellers.
There are some Tamiya brushes that fit this general description - straight, bare wood handles with white bristles. These do resemble the calligraphy brushes mentioned above, but are made for model paints.
They aren’t particularly “high grade” brushes - they’re the cheapest line in Tamiya’s range of brushes.
Those probably aren’t the ones he’s talking about. The bristle shape on the cheap tamiya indicates they are paint brushes. I have never owned one of those, so I’m not sure if the handle isn’t tapered.
The ones he’s talking about, from the Japanese TV series, looked more like calligraphy brushes.
Ohhh. Ahh.
…wondering how many baugh-zillions of dollars those are…
The series 120s came at lower costs than Tamiya high grade brushes.
Oh?
Let you know when I see then again.
Thank you, Satori