Wondering what everyone uses for the tiniest details in cockpits and dashes…not drybrushing or toothpicks, but the finest brushes you use for knobs and such.
Most of the brushes I use are non-rated as they are designed for Calligraphy.
As long as the brush has a good point I find that the size/rating does not matter that much.
10/0 round sable, or a fine sable liner works well for me.
Gip Winecoff
Actually I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. So far I have a set of grumbacher brushes (very basic, not very small) sables that I use for enamels, and a set of detail brushes that were meant for Warhammer. they’re a good quality sable, and meant for small details, and I’ve found them perfect. These I only use acrylics with.
Can anyone suggest any good brands of brushes and numbers?
The smallest one in my arsenal is an 18/0 Loew-Cornell Spotter.
In my experience the 10/0 is about as small as you need for detail work. The point on the brush is much more important than the size. Ultra small brushes won’t hold much paint and for me at least are hard to use with acrylics. The Winsor-Newton brushes are the highest quality that I have found that are suitable for detail painting on models or for figure painting. But a high quality sable brush isn’t inexpensive.
My smallest is a 20/0 spotter, but as Rick pointed out it’s the tip that is important. Spotter brushes (or spot touchup brushes) come to a very fine point as opposed to being flat or round.
On a side note, since I know nothing at all about art, does anyone know what that “20/0” designation actually means? I have a “0000” brush that is actually smaller than my 20/0 except at the point, so presumably it has something to do with the point size.
I’ve got a 10/0 but since I bought a Winsor and Newton Kolinsky sable 3/0 I haven’t used it. The 3/0 is all I need. The quality red sable makes a big difference.
Rich [8D]
The smallest I have is a Pactra Dover pure red sable that is 15/0, but I rarely use it as it is too small. I use a Floquil 3/0 red sable most of the time.
Mike