Rush the Brush - Monument Hobbies Synthetic Brush Set Review
Woe and sorrow would behold the poor brushes I have bested over the decades. If I could pour out a beverage of choice for each brush that I have ruined, destroyed or obliterated then I’d be knee-deep in energy drinks and coffee. However, a recent pivot I’ve been making is towards synthetic brushes due to a personal choice. I’ve dabbled with some from certain brands but haven’t landed on a set I’d find myself returning to consistently. At the almost perfect moment, the wonderful Monument Hobbies team were kind enough to send through a pack of their branded PRO Synthetic Brushes and I vowed to put them through their paces to see how they would withstand.
Monument Hobbies were wonderfully accommodating in sending through their pack of their PRO Synthetic Brushes for review purposes, confident that they’d suit my needs and would remain in good order through rampant and vigorous use. In this pack, you receive 6 brushes of various sizes. This includes x10, 00, 1, 2, 4, and 6. The assortment of sizes means these brushes should cover most of your miniature painting needs, ranging from a minuscule detail to a monster’s majorities.
As stated at the start of this article, I have a tendency to be fairly heavy-handed with my brushes. I care for them to an extent, keeping them clean between painting sessions and using brush soap when apt. However, when actively using them I will regularly overload my brushes, be a little more forceful than I should with them and leave it far too long between cleaning during a painting session. With this in mind, I chose to tackle a large model first with at least a modicum of care.
Enter the Gothizarr Harvester.
Bones and Brushes
Starting from a white primer with a slight zenithal, I had a solid idea on how to tackle this mighty monstrosity. Keeping consistent with my existing Ossiarch Bonereaper units for Age of Sigmar, I would use Army Painter Speed Paint “Pallid Bone” for the regular bone parts, using Citadel’s “Wyldwood” for some darker bone for visual interest. For the armour plating I’d use Citadel’s “Leviadon Blue” and then make use of Citadel’s “Soulblight Grey” on existing white bits for armour trimming. All of this would be done exclusively with the Monument Hobbies PRO Synthetic Brushes. The first and possibly most arduous step was to coat some of the ethereal internal skulls with Citadel’s “Nihilakh Oxide” to give them an eerie glow. The #2 brush within the set gave me the precision I needed to hit all the awkward fiddly bits without getting the colour on any of the white that I wished to avoid. You can see some of the results below on the skulls lining the inside of the neck bones - it’s subtle here but will be more prominent when the bone colour is fully applied.
Starting off with the blue...for no particular reason that I can recall, I leaned mostly into the #4 brush as this gave me good control whilst covering medium-sized areas. The Leviadon Blue tends to stain brush bristles quite badly, so I was pleased to see that the Monument Hobbies brushes here hadn’t broken a sweat yet once this was done.
Next up came the big job - All. That. Bone.
There was no other way around this, I was needing to bust out the big guns. Using the #6 brush to cover most of the model, with the #4 being used for the “tough to reach” spots, this allowed me to coat the model in Pallid Bone in relatively good time. I was exceptionally sloppy in the use of the #6 brush, drenching it with the Speed Paint to try and get this section done in fair time. Once again, with a decent clean and some brush soap, the brush came out without showing any strain or wear whatsoever. I was particularly impressed with this because I was quite oppressive with this brush and the amount of paint used in this section. With some Wyldwood coating certain ribbed sections and a little bit of Citadel’s “Blood Angels Red” for the severed arm at the bottom, the back of this beast was truly metaphorically broken.
With that, a massive chunk of this model was done! In being careful yet also liberal when suitable, the depth of detail in the model is now clear for all to see. From this point I then used the #4 again for the banner atop the Harvester’s back and then back to the #6 for the metal areas - primarily the bludgeons. I then busted out the #2 brush to tackle the metal detailing/scroll work on the banner. This bush gave me the perfect precision I needed and even managed to contain the Scale 75 “Thrash Metal” paint that I had chosen, which can be surprisingly thinner than you’d expect.
From here I started wrapping up the last few bits. I dunked the #6 brush in a very heavy amount of Citadel’s “Reikland Fleshshade” and drenched the bone basket at the monster’s back. I then used some thinned Wyldwood to darken the beak on the face and the finished a few last bits such as the metal emblems on the arm plating and the fleshwraps holding the banner aloft.
Certainly, I’m very happy with how the Gothizzar Harvester has turned out - but have the brushes withstood the battering?! Well, as you can see below, the brushes have held up remarkably well. I won’t say that I was destructive with them and I certainly took more care with them than I usually would, but these brushes were subjected to some serious work with a lot of very runny, heavily pigmented colours. Not only do the brushes appear to be in fine condition, but they’ve not even stained! At this point, I’m very impressed, especially with the #6.
However, let’s move onto the next stage. If these brushes are to be my new workhorse set, then let’s put them to work on some horses!
Truly, I Despise Cavalry
Apologies dear reader for the uninspiring subtitle above, but I felt it appropriate to this particular segment of content. I truly, truly do loathe painting cavalry and have done so for many years. I simply find almost zero joy in it and this attempt was to be largely similar. The Kavalos Deathriders may be skeletal constructs with riders and presented something of an easier time when painting, but I still abhorred the experience from start to finish. This is no fault of the models or the brushes - it’s simply personal taste.
However, back to the point, I got the Monument Hobbies PRO Synthetic Brushes to work on these mounted mechinations. For this, I used the #4 and #6 to cover all of the bone, leaning on the #1 and #2 for the ethereal inner skulls yet again. I also leaned heavily on the #2 for the armour plating and soul gems with the #4 covering the remaining elements including the cloth draped over each beast and the banner, along with weapon blades and their handwraps, using Citadel’s “Akhelian Green” and “Darkoath Flesh” respectively.
It’s worth pointing out that my choice of this unit was deliberate as I knew that I’d rush to get these done. In doing so, I’d likely be firmer and less forgiving with the brushes, likely overloading them moreso and rushing with them in order to get these models finished faster.
Nevertheless, I’m pleased with the results attained with the brush set from Monument Hobbies and, despite hating painting the Kavalos Deathriders, I was happy to have them done before me and even happier still with the brushes afterwards. You can see below that all brushes still hold their points and that the bristles are in good order. There’s some slight staining/build-up in the ferule of the #4 brush and I’m honestly not surprised by this as, once again, I was very heavy-handed with these brushes and the amount of paint I had on each as I hurried to get these accursed horses done.
Now, for our final entry in this macabre painting exercise, it’s the shield-walls of Nagash himself - the Immortis Guard!
For Good Measure
I was pleasantly surprised by the tenacity of the Monument Hobbies PRO Synthetic brushes up to now, but I felt one last spin would help to solidify my conclusion. For this, the Immortis Guard felt perfect as the unit is small, only 3 models, but the models themselves are relatively large. These stalwart skeletons were painted up akin to the previous models, with the exception being their Dread Halberds being painted using thinned Nihilakh Oxide, with some Citadel’s “Stegadon Scale Green” used to darken the heads of their blades.
I tackled these models with a balance of care/delicacy for their armour and weapons, along with some sloppy, absent-minded slathering of Pallid Bone for their bodies. By the end of it, I had a unit of undead guardians that I was very pleased with.
These models probably won’t win any painting awards. Nonetheless, the award of “sturdiest brushes” goes to the Monument Hobbies PRO Synthetic Brushes. After the absolute battering they’ve received at the hands of myself and all the above models, the brushes remain in almost perfect order. Whilst most would likely expect brushes to be in good health after painting such a small amount of units, I’ll once again reiterate that I am a brutal, impatient painter. Thus, for the brushes to remain so fair at this point is genuinely commendable. Even with some brush soap, the #4 brush has tidied up the based of the bristles that were previously dirty.
As can be seen above, the tips remain pointed, the bristles are unstained and they all look pretty much as able as they were fresh out of the box. Whilst the #X10 was only used to dot the eyes of the Immortis Guard and thus is unsurprisingly pristine, I tip my hat to the #6 that looks almost perfect, despite it being dunked, slapped and dragged through mires of Pallid Bone. These brushes will now be my mainstay until they end up as haggared as my previous set of brushes. Although, that looks as though it could be in the quite distant future.
Whilst the brushes are not cheap, coming in at £44.10 from a popular hobby retailer, I’m confident in my experience with these brushes that they’ll last a decent while - enough to justify the price. They have proven hard-wearing, dependable and reliable. If you’ve ever wanted to give synthetic brushes a go, I’d strongly recommend the Monument PRO Synthetic Brush set.
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Written by Kenny at The Unrelenting Brush.
