AK SYNTHETIC BRUSH – LINER 17mm

AK SYNTHETIC BRUSH – LINER 17 mm (a liner or rigger)

A liner of synthetic filaments from AK interactive. It is a tool, not a kit and not a paint. It differs from an ordinary round brush in one thing only, but a fundamental one: it has exceptionally long and thin filaments, 17 mm long. That is why in English it is also called a rigger, that is, a brush for rigging. The long filaments work as a reservoir: they take up markedly more paint than a short tip, so a line can be drawn for a long time without a break and without having to reload. That is its single but irreplaceable strength — and exactly why this shape exists.

Use

• The rigging and bracing of biplanes, stretched wires, antennas and tensioning cables.
• Long thin lines across a whole model — straps, belts, cables and hoses.
• Cracks and fine grooves in glass, paint or the plaster of buildings on a diorama.
• Thin inscriptions, numbers and outlines where a decal cannot be used.
• Fine highlighting of long edges and of running marks in one continuous stroke.

What it is not suitable for

A liner is extremely specialized. You will not cover an area with it — a thin head of filaments will not lay down a continuous coat and would only drag thread-like marks across the surface. It does not suit blending and transitions either (a fan is for that), nor parallel lines and texture (a comb is for that), nor ordinary detail such as an instrument panel, where long filaments are needlessly soft and harder to control. You buy it for one thing: a long, thin, continuous line.

Who it is for

For modelers of biplanes and ships, where rigging is daily bread, for figure painters doing straps and for diorama builders doing cracks and wires. Thin the paint for a liner a little more than usual — thinner paint passes through the filaments smoothly and the line will not skip. Compared with natural hair, synthetic filaments have the advantage of standing up to the aggressive thinners used with enamels and lacquers; what they will not stand up to is paint drying in them — thin long filaments then stiffen and the liner is finished.

Care: never dip the brush as far as the ferrule — dried paint at the root splays the head and the long filaments spread sideways, so it no longer holds a line. Wash it out immediately after use, not after a long pause: acrylic paint with water, lacquer and enamel with the matching thinner. Straighten the washed filaments into a head and store the brush filaments up; standing in a jar it would bend and never straighten again.