Reddit mentions of da Vinci Brushes 5359 da Vinci Watercolor Russian Red Sable 5359-5 Brush Includes Series 36 Sizes 0, 1, 2, 4 & 6-Round Shape, Set

Seconding /u/MrJangle that you definitely should start drawing before you can jump into painting. The Loomis books, especially Fun With A Pencil, will help you get started without requiring previous experience or specialized tools.

When you do feel comfortable drawing, and want to start adding watercolor:

1. Buy watercolor tubes and a palette to make your own dry pans. Start with Student quality tubes, and when you know what you like, move up to Artist/Professional ones.
   
   
2. The Watercolorist Essential Notebook is beautifully illustrated and will introduce you to techniques. This website describes the basics and suggests projects to practice them. Also, youtube has a wealth of information and exposes you to a lot of styles.
   
   
3. Brushes, paper, pans, and palate are all you need, along with a pencil or pen to do your underdrawing and a waterbottle with the top cut off to hold your painting water. When you can, get real sable brushes, but synthetic will do for now. Try several types of paper to see what you like using best. Higher quality paper will allow more layering.
   
   
4. My most used materials are Winsor & Newton Professional tubes, Strathmore Ready-Cut sheets (though Fluid blocks are great too), and Da Vinci Red Sable brushes along with random ones from the sale bin. I started out with Cotman Tubes and Robert Simmons synthetic sable.
   
   
5. I paint a few times a week and mostly small, so my most used colors last a couple months. Others I've yet to replace after almost two years of painting. Brushes, when well cared for, last indefinitely.
   
   
6. Let it dry, and clean up the mixing areas as desired (or don't, haha, and let interesting color combos happen) Watercolor is low-maintenance.
   
   
7. Go through this list, and then this one :D

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0069FC9FO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These are Red Sable (not the more expensive Kolinsky Sable) brushes, but it's $29 for a set of 5 and there's a 40% off coupon. I already ordered mine, so fingers crossed that it's a good product!

Also, if you really like him... get him an airbrush! I love mine, I have three in fact, a really cheap one (Master G22), a not so cheap one (Iwata Neo), and a medium grade (Badger Patriot Arrow).

If you get him an airbrush, definitely pick the ones with the self centering nozzle, instead of the little bastard nozzle you have to screw on and off, and lose, or break, or DAMMIT I LOST IT!

No.36's are the line you want if you're going with Da Vinci (recommended in the /r/minipainting buyer's guide). You can get a pack of 5 brushes sizes 0, 1, 2, 4, and 6 on Amazon for half the price of the same pack at Blick. Plus it's sold by Amazon, so you know it's not faked.

Your welcome.

I've been eyeing this set of sable Da Vinci brushes for awhile. At its current <$30 price it's pretty tempting. The #4 & 6 might not see much use @ 28mm scale but for vehicles or larger stuff like gunpla if you are into that you'd certainly use them.

I'm still a noob but I'm pretty sure most people would tell you not to bother with anything smaller than a 0, and certainly not with one brush for every step between 0 and 3/0.

I got myself a set of these.

da Vinci Watercolor Series 5359 Paint Brush Set, Russian Red Sable, Multiple Sizes, 5 Brushes

I use these in conjunction with the Masters brush cleaner mentioned by others.

As long as you clean them after each use and shape the brush back to the point, they'll keep a good long time.

Edit:

I'd like to add that the synthetic brushes will all eventually do this just by the nature of the material they're made from. I fought with my brushes the same way you are now. I eventually got fed up and dropped the money for a set of natural bristles.