thrush65

If you like DaVinci Maestro Brushes but want more loading capacity the Series 11s are very similar in size to WN7s. Most users here go with the Series 10 that has a slimmer profile. P3 has two studio brushes in sable made by Rekab. Rekabs can be bought for a lot less than the P3 label and they are not as good as WN7 or DaVinci in my experience.

The brushes Anne refers to are the DaVinci Maestro Series 10. These are slimmer in profile as stated. DaVinci Maestro Seies 11 are traditional rounds with fuller bellies and mimic the WN7s in size and shape. The 5506 Restauro is a brush with a nice thin profile and slightly shorter hair. They are in between the Series 10 and DaVinci's retouch lines 1505/1506. I use some from the Series 10, Series 11 and Restauro lines and like them alot.

Using Citristrip Gel I have stripped a fig (old sealed fig) to bare metal and reprimed in 30 minutes. Time will vary with type of paint, primer and sealer. With stubborn models brushing WN Brush Cleaner and Resorer in the cracks will get the last remnants of paint off.

I use Golden Fluid Acrylics and Matt Fluid acrylics a lot. If you take the time to understand the difference in them they are excellent for minis. Since they have no additives you get pure colors. Instead of trying to balance the line out to a standard level of transparency Golden leaves each pigment with its intrinsic values. Therefore some colors are more transparent than others as is natural for the pigments they are produced from. With the charts provided by Golden on their site I know exactly what to expect from each color and use the info to my advantage. Golden knows that painters like their paints to respond in different ways for various techniques. To that end they do not put any additives like flow improver or matting agents in the Fluid line, only pigment and binder. The matt Fluid line does have the matting agents added but nothing else. Since I prefer to use my own selections of additives this works well for me. I get excellent color, flow and coverage. They are also very durable. In addition since the names for the paints actually mean something in the art world I can custom mix colors easier than with hobby paints. Golden Fluid AC is certainly not the only paint I use for minis but it is a valuable addition to the VMC, RPP and other lines I use.

I've seen the shear effect painted as you are doing it, flesh first, and I have seen it done cloth first. Both ways worked very well and made great figs when completed. For Cersei I'm leaning toward the flesh based approach. Thanks and have fun.

I bought a set of Rekabs for kids and demos but they were better than expected so I used them myself. One of the handles broke in half for no apparent reason (fixed). BTW the new Priv. Press "Fine" brushes are identical to the Rekabs and made in Israel as well. I believe they are made by Rekab for PP. ASW usually has Rekab for about half the PP brush price.

Just got this one myself because I saw Matt Verzani's "naughty" version and want to try painting shear cloth. Please update this as you go along or at least post the finished one after the Con. It seams to me that if it is shear enough to show throught the flesh you will have to at least suggest the nipples as you said.

It depends on how gunky the bottles are. I saved about 100 by soaking them in Simple Green for a day and washing them out. Not too much trouble for me and they are usefull for purposes already listed as well as making custom formulas. I taped two together so my blue and yellow stuff doesn't make green until I want it to. These were old Ral pots and RPP. GW pots I threw out.

Raphael brushes are a good quality, have a fuller body like WN7s and great points. Several of the Rackham painters used them. I have one distributed by Scharff that is 10 years old and in perfect shape after painting many figs. It's one of those brushes that will do all the work in #1 except for eyes and liner stuff. Isabey 6227Z brushes have excellent snap for control in tight places. They run very thin and long like liners so you need to order up in size compared to the average brush. Rekab brushes mimic WN7 in design but the handles are low quality. They are softer with less spring than WN7. Escoda brushes are good initially but wear out rather quickly for me. The first few weeks they are great and then become utility brushes. If you have used Vallejo brushes they are essentially the same brush. My Vallejo and Escoda brushes appear identical down to the triple crimp and manufacture in Spain. Da Vinci makes several other lines besides the Maestro #10. I don't know which ones you have used. The #11 is like WN7s with a fuller belly. The #35 designer series has great snap in a longer tip design. Only tried one out once in #1 and put it on my list. The retouch brushes in general would be too much like WN7 minis and not to your loking but the Restauro is significantly longer and has a very responsive point. I have been looking at the Arches brushes and from what Joe says I think I'll try some next time I buy.

I have more problems with RMS paints becoming pastelike in the bottle, requiring me to add water to thin them out so they flow through the dropper tip. VMC that hasn't been used in a few days requires shaking as do a lot of paints so I just automatically shake each bottle 20-30 sec. Agitators in the bottles help. Unlike pots I have never had paint in a dropper bottle dry out or form skins. Old RPP were prone to forming a skin around the entire interior of the pot. That was enough reason for me to switch to dropper bottles.

If you need a large quantity it may be better to order online. I bought a hundred from Western Plastics on two occasions that cost a total of $35 (bottle, caps, tips) with shipping or .35/ea. Looking today I couldn't find the Western Plastics site with my old link but this site has 1/2 oz Boston Rounds with cap choices. http://www.containerandpackaging.com/item.asp?item=B439 For smaller quantities the Reaper blisters are a viable solution.

Drilling it wouldn't be a problem. I'd use a #76 with brass rod. But if you want it to come out from under the tunic drilling a hole to fit the actual size of the end of the tail to be inserted will work. You can squeeze the end with pliers and shape it to gain a little length and a smaller diameter too. That will help if you decide to make a split in the tunic as well.

Hobbytown stores usually have drill bits from #40-80. About $1 each. They also have brass rod for about $.35 in exact and known sizes. You can pin dozens of figs for about $5 and brass is a lot easier on cutters than Ferrous metals. Tombwalker's method of alignment is one that I prefer. I also have pins that I keep for marking that have points to indent the location of the hole to be drilled. If you use the blue tac method don't automatically follow the direction of the dimple. I find that it is better to drill into the greater mass even if that is not straight and bend the pin to fit. http://www.maximusinminimis.com/Drill%20Bit%20Chart.html another drill bit chart

Golden makes "Super Loaded Matte Medium". Liquitex makes "Ultra Matte Medium". Both dry dead flat but Ultra Matt has more opacifiers.

Most of the time I use a small Dremel for drilling pin holes but I have several pin vises as well. They are useful for holding other tools and pinned minis. Proedge (USA) makes one I like alot that has a removable swivel head. It detaches easily for times that I want a plain bit holder. My old Xacto from back when they made stuff in the USA had a removable swivel as well. I don't know about the new ones since I will not buy their stuff now. With either manual or power drilling I always scribe a start hole with a pointy object (like a scriber or pin) to prevent the bit from dancing around and marring the fig. Lubricant is also important to keep the bit from binding in the soft metal. Some pin vises come with bits but I recommend buying bits matched to brass rod or your choice of material. Hobby stores usually have a good selection of rod and bits. It is handy to have a couple of sizes of rod with slightly oversized bits to match.