I've managed to get better results using a bit of sponge instead of a brush on larger pieces. You can squeeze the sponge to push most of the paint to the interior of the sponge, and wipe any excess off the surface, then apply varying pressure to control how much paint you release from inside the sponge to the surface. It takes a few tries to get the feel of how much paint to start with, and how much pressure to apply (which changes as the sponge gets drier), but I find it much faster and more consistent, plus I don't need to re-dip a brush every 30 seconds.

It would seem kind-of counter-intuitive to thin the paint for "dry"-brushing.