Which AK Interactive Brush Should You Buy? The Complete Range Explained
Short answer first. If you are buying one AK brush, buy AK Synthetic Brush – Round 0. If you are buying three, add AK Synthetic Brush – Round 3/0 for detail and AK Synthetic Brush – Flat 2 for base coats and varnish. If you would rather start with a single purchase, AK Tabletop Brushes Set – 3 Brushes gives you the three softest sizes in one pack for less than buying them separately. Everything below explains why, and what the other twenty-five brushes in the range are actually for.
Why almost the whole AK range is synthetic
A miniature painter does two very different kinds of work with a brush. One is delicate: thinned paint, long glazes, blending two tones into each other. The other is brutal: varnish, enamels, oil paint, pigments, dry brushing, stippling chipped paint onto an edge. Natural sable is excellent at the first and is slowly destroyed by the second.
AK built its range around the second kind of work. Synthetic fibre is springier, it does not swell in white spirit or enamel thinner, it survives being dragged across a rock texture, and it costs a fraction of sable – so you can keep one brush permanently in the varnish pot without wincing. The one exception at the top of the range is AK Marta Kolinsky Brush #1 – Short, a natural Marta Kolinsky sable for the work where natural hair genuinely wins.
That is also the honest comparison against the da Vinci brushes range: da Vinci Kolinsky brushes hold more liquid and come to a finer point, and they are the better tool for glazing and wet blending. They are also several times the price and they should never see a pot of varnish. Most painters end up with both, and keep them strictly apart.
The colour code on the handle
Every AK brush is marked at the end of the handle. Once you know the code you can pick the right family off the table without reading anything.
| Reddish-brown tip | Round and Flat – the everyday brushes |
| Grey tip | Effects & Details – one shape per job |
| White tip, white bristles | Tabletop – softer fibre, bigger paint load |
| Glossy black stripe | Dry Brush – stiff fibre, rounded dome |
Round brushes – the backbone
Six sizes, from 4/0 up to 2. The number does not mean the same thing as it does on another brand, so ignore the comparison and think about what the brush has to do.
| AK Synthetic Brush – Round 4/0 (4/0) | Eyes, buckles, rivets, one mark per load. Not a covering brush. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Round 3/0 (3/0) | The real detail brush – faces, straps, edge highlights, still holds enough paint to finish a line. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Round 2/0 (2/0) | The border between detail and layering. Glazes across a whole cheek without reloading. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Round 0 (0) | The one brush to own. Base coats a 28 mm figure and does everything except eyes. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Round 1 (1) | The workhorse for busts, 54 mm figures, cloaks and washes. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Round 2 (2) | Coverage – busts, vehicles, terrain, flooding a model with a wash. |
If you paint 28–32 mm figures, sizes 3/0 and 0 will do ninety percent of the work between them.
Flat brushes – coverage and varnish
A flat brush lays paint down as an even film rather than a rounded stroke, and its chisel edge draws a straight line along a panel or a blade. Three sizes: AK Synthetic Brush – Flat 1 for shoulder pads and shields, AK Synthetic Brush – Flat 2 as the everyday size for hand-applied base coats and the varnish pass, and AK Synthetic Brush – Flat 4 for tank hulls, terrain and display bases.
One habit worth adopting early: keep one flat brush for varnish and nothing else. Varnish is what kills brushes fastest, and a dedicated one costs less than replacing three.
Effects & Details – one shape, one job
This is the family people buy one brush at a time, when a specific technique asks for it. None of them is a general-purpose brush, and that is the point.
| AK Synthetic Brush – Angular Angular | Chipping and streaking. Rolling the handle changes how much edge touches the model, so the marks stay irregular. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Comb Comb | Bristles split into bundles – one pull gives parallel lines. Hair, fur, wood grain, grass. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Dagger L Dagger L / AK Synthetic Brush – Dagger XL Dagger XL | A blade of bristles that runs a long unbroken line – banners, cloaks, full-length vehicle streaking. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Filbert 2 / AK Synthetic Brush – Filbert 4 / AK Synthetic Brush – Filbert 6 Filbert 2, 4, 6 | A flat brush with the corners rounded off, so a blend fades out instead of ending at a visible line. 2 for figures, 4 for busts, 6 for display pieces. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Fan Shape Fan | Spreads pigments, stipples dust and stubble, softens a transition that is almost there. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Liner 17 mm Liner 17 mm | Hair far longer than its diameter, working as a reservoir – cables, rigging, antennae, a line of constant width. |
| AK Synthetic Brush – Hammer Hammer | Short blunt head for tapping, not drawing: chipping, rust blooms, concrete texture. |
Tabletop – softer fibre, more paint
The Tabletop family (AK Tabletop Brush – Size 0, AK Tabletop Brush – Size 1, AK Tabletop Brush – Size 2) uses a finer white fibre with a noticeably bigger paint load. Two practical consequences: washes flow off it evenly instead of dumping in the first recess, and the pale bristles show you instantly when paint is creeping up towards the ferrule – the single habit that destroys more brushes than anything else.
The name refers to the intended speed of painting, not to the skill of the painter. Buying all three as AK Tabletop Brushes Set – 3 Brushes costs less than the three separately, which makes it the most complete single purchase in the range.
Dry Brush – built for the technique that ruins brushes
Dry brushing drags nearly dry bristles across a hard surface. Any normal brush splays within a few sessions. The AK dry brushes use stiff fibre packed into a rounded dome that keeps its shape and releases pigment only where the surface stands proud.
Four sizes: AK Dry Brush – S for figures and chainmail, AK Dry Brush – M for bases, cloaks and fur, AK Dry Brush – L for terrain and vehicles, AK Dry Brush – XL for gaming boards and large scenery.
Two rules make dry brushing look good: wipe far more paint off than feels right, and use a lighter tone of the base colour rather than white. White flattens whatever is underneath it.
Quick Gen – the contrast paint brush
Contrast and one-coat paints fail in one specific way: the brush empties in the middle of a cloak, the paint starts to set, and a tide mark appears that no amount of reworking removes. AK Quick Gen Special Brush is built against exactly that – densely packed soft bristles that carry a whole panel in one load, so the paint self-levels the way it was designed to.
Three shopping lists
Starting from nothing. AK Tabletop Brushes Set – 3 Brushes plus AK Dry Brush – M. Three brushes for the figure, one for the base. Add AK Synthetic Brush – Flat 2 when you start varnishing.
Painting figures seriously. AK Synthetic Brush – Round 3/0 and AK Synthetic Brush – Round 0 for everything, AK Synthetic Brush – Round 4/0 for eyes, AK Synthetic Brush – Filbert 2 for blending, AK Dry Brush – M for bases, and AK Marta Kolinsky Brush #1 – Short once you are glazing enough to feel the difference.
Vehicles, terrain and weathering. AK Synthetic Brush – Flat 4 for coverage, AK Synthetic Brush – Angular and AK Synthetic Brush – Hammer for chipping, AK Synthetic Brush – Dagger XL for streaking, AK Synthetic Brush – Fan Shape for pigments, and AK Dry Brush – L or AK Dry Brush – XL for texture.
Making them last
Almost every brush that splays was killed the same way: paint dried inside the ferrule, spread the hairs from the inside, and no amount of reshaping brought them back. Three habits prevent it. Load only the outer two thirds of the hair. Clean the brush before the paint sets – water for acrylics, the matching thinner for enamels and oils, from thinners and cleaners. Reshape the tip with your fingers while it is damp and dry it point-up, never standing in a jar.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AK size 0 the same as a da Vinci size 0?
No. Brush sizes are not standardised between manufacturers. Compare the shape and the intended use instead of the number.
Can I use the same brush for acrylics and enamels?
Physically yes, in practice no. Once enamel thinner has been through a brush, traces find their way into your acrylics. Keep two sets.
Are cheap synthetic brushes false economy?
For glazing and blending, a good sable is genuinely better. For varnish, pigments, dry brushing and enamels, a cheap synthetic is the correct tool and an expensive sable is a mistake.
Which brush should I replace first?
Whichever one no longer comes to a point after cleaning. A detail brush that will not hold a tip is not a detail brush any more – demote it to varnish duty and buy a new one.
The whole range is in AK Interactive brushes, and the paints that go with it are in AK 3rd Generation.