To finish up after the urban backscene thread, here are some suggestions on materials and methods.  Suggestions - not rules.

First up, my brushes:



Bristle brushes on the left, Taklons on the right. ALL are cheap.
Biggest bristle brush is 2 1/2" wide. Biggest Taklon is 2", right down to sizes 2 and 0 for the 'riggers' on the righthand end.
 I suggest the bristle brushes for the early stages and also for anything that requires a fuzzy edge such as clouds and trees.  Hillsides or mountains would also be candidates.  Maybe distant buildings.
 Sharp-edged Taklons are priceless when it comes to painting sharp-edged things.

 The importance of suitable brushes cannot be over-emphasised.


 Paints. Acrylics. Here's a selection. I use and highly recommend Jo Sonjas Background colours. They are almost certainly available worldwide - even if mail order is the only way to go.

 

Top row L to R  Harbour Blue, Sky Blue, Willow, Chestnut, Wild Rose, Deep Plum, Island White, Soft White.

 Bottom row: Cobalt Blue Hue, Forest Green, Raw Umber, Red Earth [Red Oxide].  I should have had Arylamide Yellow and Napthol Red there too.

 Here are some suggested mixes:




Brickwork, for example, in this one.


 One rule of thumb I use when painting is to make sure I have some of each Primary Colour [those being Red, Yellow and Blue] in my mixes. This policy guarantees my colours don't become too gaudy. Not a hard-and-fast rule, but a good guideline. Obviously you overlook the rule when going for 'vivid'.
 However, the beauty of using Jo Sonjas Background colours is that they are already somewhat muted. Take the Sky Blue for example. It's such a grey blue that there's no way it's blue+white and nothing else. You can be sure there's yellow and red chucked in there somewhere to control the blue. Your task of mixing colours has now been simplified. That blue is fine to use straight from the bottle, as opposed to the Cobalt Blue hue which requires quite a bit of controlling.
 Using these colours to make mellow greens is a piece of cake!

 Acrylics, and the Jo Sonjas Background Colours in particular, are opaque, meaning they are ideal for covering mistakes in your painting. It also means they need to be applied thinly on models, but that's not what we're dealing with here.


Mike

thanks Mike, that is very useful and easy to follow.
now where is that easel ???

:doublethumb:cool:

Great Mike i am finding this very usefull

This may be a daft question but when you get the paint from the tube do you squirt it onto a knife or something and put it on the pallete as best possible then wipe the knife or is there a simpler way?

cheers Brian

Brian  I should have mentioned - my palette is a piece of hardboard 20x12ins covered with cheap greaseproof paper held by small bulldog clips. White cartridge paper is placed between board and greaseproof paper for a nice white, clean  surface.
 I simply squeeze the paint straight onto the palette.
 I mix with the brush, except for very large volumes of paint where I might use the mixing trowel.

Mike

Wow, Mike, that's very helpful, Thanks a bunch!

Now if I could just get your brain to control my hand!

Wayne   

Hello MikeC,
            As per your suggestion I found this Post and it is really helpful. Many Thanks for your advice and excellent Post,
                        Kind Regards,
                     Michael Thornberry.

Very helpful information, Mike, and easy to follow guidelines.  One question - how do you clean up you brushes from the acrylics?

I already have something up my sleeve for which wood, paints and brushes are on hand.  You never know - I might post images of the results in the not too distant future :thumbs

Thanks fellas.

Rick when I'm feeling conscientious I use washing up liquid in a bowl of water, then a good rinse in running water. Those out on my layout are sitting in a pot of filthy water as I type this, and they've called it home for several months now. I'm pretty hard on them, I know.

There's a product called Incredible Brush Cleaner, manufactured by Chroma.   http://www.chromaonline.com  it never fails to revive brushes that are clogged with dry paint, even if the paint, be it oil or acrylic, is years old. Amazing stuff.

Mike

edit:  that chroma online site is pretty useless. A quick yahoo search for chroma incredible brush cleaner shows it's available worldwide.

Cheers :cheers Mike,

Just the basic info I was after as I have had a few issues cleaning up after using Humbrol and Floquil acrylics.

The Heavens have well and truly opened here today so although I have managed to cut some wood to size it won't get painted just yet.  Don't worry - the wood is well and truly protected from the weather!

Looking forward to it, Rick, whatever it is :lol:

Mike

The Melbourne weather radar shows it bucketing down
128 km Melbourne Radar Loop

I still struggle with aged /worn wood. Any tips on that Mike?  At the moment i have a waney edge wooden structure to paint ,sometimes they are shewn almost black, but i would like to get a bit more aged look than that ?

Reg - although you probably don't have the same colours. I've just shown a few colour mixes, including one for bleached timber, on my New England layout thread.
 How about a plain old grey made with white and black, then add a tiny amount of green and a tiny amount of blue?

 On this 'ere thread, I'll do some mixes for all the usual suspects, such as timber, concrete and rust - remembering of course there are countless variations.

Mike

Brilliant one for the Forum Index. Thanks Mike.

  Super . will keep an eye out for that |Mike.:thumbs

Nice one Mike, thank you - if you achieve a mix you like and have too much of it is there any way you can keep it?

I don't know of any way to do that, Phil.

Mike

[user=425]Fidge[/user] wrote:

Nice one Mike, thank you - if you achieve a mix you like and have too much of it is there any way you can keep it?

I noticed Mike answered that he didn't know of any way of doing that so this might just help both of you:-

You'll need some kind of low - ideally 1" or so in height - airtight container with a lid  (it might work with a margerine tub or similar however the depth of these may make them not quite suitable due to the extra "air space") into the bottom of which you place a sheet of blotting paper and on top of that a sheet of greaseproof paper, both to fit the actual space.   Add some water so that it moistens both papers and place your paint mixture/s onto the greaseproof paper then snap the lid into place; as long as you regularly keep the water topped up the acrylic paint will stay useable for a few weeks.   It's best to spead the paint mixture out a bit thus keeping it more in contact with the paper - if you leave it like a small mountain the top will dry out which is why a low container is a better proposition!

Hope this helps, Ken.

 

Good one, Ken. Something else I've learned on here!

Mike