Angry Griffin's Oldhammer

Tag: BrokenToad

  • Review: BrokenToad Conditioning Brush Soap

    Apart from making brushes, BrokenToad also have a brush soap. Here’s my short review of it.

    If you’re just starting out and are wondering what on earth this is for, brush soap is essential for cleaning your brushes after use – it’ll keep the brushes usable (and useful) for far longer than if you never used it. It’s not terribly exciting visually:

    It’s white, has a faint (not unpleasant) smell, is vegetable based and has had no fragrances added. One thing you want – or at least I want – out of a brush soap is the ability to get a good lather going so I can work the soap into the bristles and make sure that I get all of the paint residue out. Happily, this soap lathers easily and seems very effective at getting the old paint out of the bristles without requiring a lot of work.

    In terms of value for money it’s about $14AUD on eBay AU with $9 or so postage at the time of writing, which I think is pretty decent value for 100ml of brush soap. That volume should last you quite a large number of painting sessions, and it ought to save more than $14 of brushes in that time frame.

    Overall – recommended – works well and good value for money! Worth checking out if you need some brush soap, and pretty much everyone who paints miniatures needs some way of cleaning paint from their brushes if they want them to stay pointy.

  • BrokenToad Fugazi Mark III Imitation Sable Brush Set Review

    BrokenToad are a UK based company who make (amongst other things) a variety of styles of paintbrushes aimed at miniature painters. Their synthetic line is called Fugazi, and today I’m reviewing the full set of brushes from that line.

    The box I have is the Mark III, as you can see from the picture. The brushes were packed well and had protective plastic sheaths to prevent the tips being damaged:

    There are four brushes in the set – 2, 1, 0 and 000 (aka 3/0).

    There is a brush care slip with the brushes:

    In the listings online there’s also a statement about the tip curling after some use, and how to fix it by dipping it in hot water and straightening it. I’ve only been using these for a week so it’s probably early days for that to be happening, but I’ve seen no sign of it. Update: A month later, still no issues.

    The brush handles have a distinct patterning which makes them easily identifiable amongst your other brushes.

    So, what are they like in use?

    I’m impressed by how sharp the tip is on the brushes and how well they retain that tip throughout use. Compared to the Citadel STC range I was trying out last month these brushes are night and day different – the Layer brushes don’t hold their points for nearly as long without cleaning.

    I was practicing working on eye lenses and tried doing the lenses of this Questoris Knight with the #1 Fugazi and was pleased with how easy it was – I’d normally reach for my 2/0 Raphael or Winsor Newton to do so but it was no harder using the #1.

    I wanted some good synthetic brushes to complement my sable brushes, which I’m not keen on using with metallic paints in an effort to extend their life and keep them pointy. So far the BrokenToad Fugazi brushes have exceeded my expectations substantially, and are very good brushes in their own right.

    You should be able to grab your own set of Fugazi brushes from eBay US, eBay AU or eBay UK (affiliate links) or check out the official stockist list.

    2 week update: I find that I am primarily using the 2, 1 and to some extent the 0 size – the first two especailly are nice and springy and have a consistent paint flow. The 3/0 after a few sessions has proven to be a little long and less stiff than I would prefer so it’s fallen out of favour, but the other brushes are solid and are currently my primary brushes for metallics.

    1 month update: I have come to favour the 2 and 1 strongly – the 3/0 bends too easily for my liking and the 0 is much the same. The 2 and 1 are definitely my favourite synthetic brushes in those sizes and are still holding a point very nicely – they’re my go-to for metallics.