In the process of painting my armies, I'm finding that the GW brushes aren't cutting it. The drybrushes are nice, especially for tanks and stuff, but for any kind of detail, I end up using the fine detail brush. Of course, by detail I mean heads, guns, moderate sized stuff. If I wanted finer detail than about a foot or so scale, I'd need a finer brush.

So, a couple of questions. What size (and brand if applicable) brush do you use for detail on 6mm? Also, what sizes do GW brushes equate to? Thanks.

I tend to use a 10/0 for fine detail work on epic. For more regular bits I use a 5/0 and a 00 brush for coating larger areas.

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-Vaaish

for the last couple of years i had been using a 1 Isabey Kolinsky for most things, a little large but it had a very good point and could do most things well. then i got super glue on the bristles.

Im now using a W&N 222 Cotman 1, which can't handle the detail like the Isabey, so i use a 2/0 to back it up

I don't find a tiny brush is necessary that often as long as my larger brushes can hold a very good point.

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

For my Nurgle army I've mostly been working with GW Standard Brush...

It varies a lot actually. More often than not it comes down to ecomomics, what brushes I haven't misplaced or whatever.
I use a large flat brush (about 10-12mm wide) for basecoaring and most heavy drubrushing work as it will hold a good ammount of paint which is particularly usefull for drybrushing as you can get some very nice airbrushed effects that way.
Most of the time I'll be working on a 1.5-2mm circular brush. Again size doesn't really matter much as long as it got a good sharp point. ... And actually I prefer fairly large brushes as you don't have as many issues with paint drying before it can leave the brush as you might have with some of the super fine detail brushes (they're really much more suited for oil paints which have a longer drying time)
For fine detail I use a 1mm round brush with good stiff 5mm long hairs. It is techincally classified as a drubrush, but it suits my painting style quite well. Unfortunately they loose the point quite fast, so I sometimes have to do without when the student budget runs too tight.
More often than not I just switch between the large flat brush and whatever fine tipped brush is at hand, as my painting can sometimes be a bit of an errattic process :p

Below about a 5/0 brush, I'm not convinced there's any real improvement in sharpness; just fewer bristles and consequently less time before the paint dries on the brush and less ability for the paint to flow off it. I generally use a 5/0 brush for fine details, a 3/0 for not-so-fine details and a 1 for larger areas.

But the size as stated and the actual size in practice of the end of the brush varies quite a bit. A have a Windsor & Newton Series 7 Miniature 3/0 brush, and it's really tiny at the point (too tiny in fact; I wish I'd gone for a 2/0) even compared with my 5/0 from another manufacturer (I don't know who and it doesn't say on the brush; all I know is they're the ones they sell at The Gameskeeper in Oxford and I really like them).

The quality of the brush and how good a point they have on them (the W&N S7 brushes score very well in this respect) is probably more important than the exact number of noughts they're labelled with.

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"Good ale, the true and proper drink of Englishmen. He is not deserving of the name of Englishman who speaketh against ale, that is good ale."
- George Borrow

i ordenary use a 0/5 brush from my local toy store (if you believe it)

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you must be willing to pay the price for fighting in cities to do battle there
sun tsu the art of war

I still have alot to learn about brushes. At present, as long as the tip keeps sharp, I use a size1 or size2 brush for most work.

The smaller sizes have less brissles and are more likley to be useless if you get a fray.

For Epic, I typically use a couple of W&Ns size #1 & #2/0 for detail. I have an Armory #1, that I can't seem to kill, which gets used for a little bit of everything. There are also a few Armory flats in my caddy for drybrushing & few random #1 & #2 brushes for applying dip & PVA.

No clue on the GW brushes sizing. They kind of live in their own hobby universe, seemingly independent of the rest of the world.

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WAAARGH!!
The Lost & the Dipped

That's pretty much what I do as well. I also use GW's drybrush.

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

I have to say I haven't had much bother with GW fine detail, detail and standard brushes, meself. But wait until I have a relevant amount of experience painting 6mm infantry.

The constant repitition of a 'good point' reminds me of what my brushes lack. This may be the root cause. We'll see once I get new ones this week.

Natural hair brushes like blue squirrel or kolinsky sable are definitely better for holding their point. Synthetics tend to curl pretty quick, which can be handy at times, but isn't what you want for detail work.

If you haven't tried one yet, I'd also suggest visiting a real artist's supply store & asking some questions.

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WAAARGH!!
The Lost & the Dipped

Long time no post! Nice to see the boards back online.

I use the GW brushes myself and feel they are good enough. In fact I tend to use the detail and fine detail brushes only. When painting Gargants I feel the need for a larger brush though

I use W&N brushes (some # series), and now I cannot go back to GW. I use a 1, a 0, a 2/0 and a 3/0 depending on what needs to be done. I regularly pick up a synthetic brush that is quite good at a local hobby store, but I cannot remember the name. They use to last a couple of months of heavy duty.

/Fredmans