I have never thought of this question before, but because I’m planning on buying some first class paint brushes on the order I want to place at modelbouwkrikke.nl. I want to know, how do I clean my paint brushes the correct way? To ensure the longest life span possible for my investment. And to keep them in tip top shape for everytime I need them. Currently I have a lot of older paintbrushes into my pen tray. And I’m planning on trashing them and replacing them with first class new paint brushes. And I’m willing to spend extra euro’s on good quality paint brushes. I’m currently very happy about the AMMO paint brushes, I got that figure painting set of them. And they work beautifully, not only for just figures. And I would like to get some more quality brushes. I have kept the tubes that go around the bristles of the brush to keep them protected while I’m storing them. If you are able to help me out with this, that would be great.
Also do your best to keep the paint out of the ferrule (where the bristles meet the handle). It’ll dry in there and is impossible to clean out. The dry paint will deform the bristles.
Ideally don’t let them dry bristle up either. Lay them flat or find a way to suspend them bristle down.
Don’t trash your old brushes though. You can use them for putty or PVA glue. Dead brushes are also good for dry brushing which can be really destructive on bristles.
What is it? Never seen anything like this.
Masters is a brush soap, I use it for cleaning the brushes.
Also one thing that helps is to dip the brush in thinner Before the paint. With the bristles damp up at the ferrule with thinner less paint draws up toward the ferrule.
I found this a while back and found it helpful with brush care.
Stop messing up your paint brushes by Squidmar
Squidmar is a master figure painter 
and has many outstanding tips on painting and caring for paint brushes.
You clean them ? I thought that once you use them they go in the bin and you just buy a new multi pack of 10 ?
Reminds me of this stuff from Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
Cleaning brushes? I still swirl them in Floquil Dio Sol and gently wipe with paper towel. If they need it I use spit to reshape them.
Hello modelbouwnederland. ‘Masters Brush Cleaner’ is a soap of sorts. The directions in the second image should be self explanatory — really good for cleaning/restoring brushes. I first heard of it years ago on the old KitMaker site and I’ve been using it ever since. HTH.
—mike
Masters Brush Cleaner helps keep the sharp pointed tip of the brush because without it, “candleflame” shaped brushes will lose their “candleflame” shape and be all splayed out and turn into a flat brush.
So the soap acts to stick the bristles together when you shape them with your fingers…way better than saliva. Without Masters Brush Cleaner, it’s nearly impossible to regain that sharp pointed tip at the end of the brush.
Also, the soap helps to get out all the dried paint and gunk that settled near the top of the bristles. Just swirl the brush in the soap and rinse and repeat it several times. Believe me, Masters Brush Cleaner really does work—it’s not hype and it’s not a gimmick.
@Armor_Buff Thank you for sharing the video, I’m very grateful you did. Because I have learned a lot of new things. And I’m excited to put them into action when actually going to paint again on Saturday when working on the other side of the project.
@panzernl Thank you for sharing the link to a webshop shelling this product. I’m going to take a look at it and order it probably.
@Canmedic Thank you for replying. And thank you for telling to not trash my old brushes. I will not do this, I keep them in my pen tray. Going to try and do some first weathering attempt on my Famo project with drybrushing the handle bars on the Famo. You may have seen my post, maybe not. I’m never dipping a brush fully into the paint all the way down. Instead, I’m most of the time only touching the surface of the paint. Or I just dip it in so gently, that there is maybe only a drop on the brush. I’m finding it is better to dip in slightly more times. Then just dipping it in one time all the way down, having to many paint, flooding the area with paint. And ruining any detail or other previous work I’ve done. I’m also keeping my brushes currently heads up. Because, most of my brushes don’t actually have the protective tubes on the ferrule and bristles like the MIG brushes do. Must say I’m very please with the quality of the MIG Brushes and I’m finding them painting finer than any other brushes I have had so far.
I like to play around w/ things I have at home. Stole this from the wife’s laundry room.
I tried it on my acrylic brushes, worked great. Brought some older ones back to life.
You mileage may vary…
I don’t like to play around with things. I like certainty and purchasing things specifically for model making.