Vallejo Paints

Thomas E. Johnson · Post by **Thomas E. Johnson** » Sun May 01, 2011 7:22 pm

I decided to try this brand of paint out, so I bought a bottle of white and a bottle of black. The black hand brushed pretty good, but the white behaved like a pile of goop. No coverage ability, and it didn't level out at all. It was like brushing on silicone glue. Is this normal, or did I just get a bad bottle? How do you thin this brand for airbrush use?

Harry Joy · Post by **Harry Joy** » Sun May 01, 2011 8:24 pm

It's normal. Regular Vallejo paints are designed for brush painting, but can be thinned for airbrush. I recommend however, that you don't. They offer a line called Vallejo ModelAir that is designed and pre-thinned for airbrushing. If you want to try thinning them for airbrush, use distilled water. Maybe with a dash of rubbing alcohol.

As to the original problem - Vallejo is the bees-knees for brush painting, but it's mainly made for figure painting. If you are trying to cover any sort of large area, you need to add Vallejo's retarder. It's a thick gel unlike most retarders, but works much the same.

You should know, while Vallejo makes a fine product, it's not for every kind of model out there. It's more fragile than most and simply must be painted over a primer, whether by brush or airbrush, and it must be sealed with a clear acrylic.

Vallejo paints are part of my arsenal and I use them on every model somewhere, somehow, but almost always just for detail painting, interiors, figures and cockpits.

hth

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Sun May 01, 2011 8:29 pm

Yes, just use water to thin. Most anything else seems to curdle it.

They do brush paint like a charm, tho'.

Beaveranger · Post by **Beaveranger** » Sun May 01, 2011 8:34 pm

I use the Model Air line as well. Great paints. I haven't tried using them on a large area tho. Mostly just tanks thus far. But they airbrush awesomely. (Is that a word?.... It is now.)

Post by **TER-OR** » Mon May 02, 2011 8:45 pm

I use a little dropper bottle of water with some slo-dri and flow-aid to extend the paint. These game paints are designed to be thinned and then you can do all kinds of things with them.

Mark Yungblut · Post by **Mark Yungblut** » Tue May 03, 2011 1:54 pm

I have several hundred of them and what I do is mix a thinner for them with 60% water, 20% W&N Blending Medium (retarder) and 20% alcohol (91% solution).

As Terry mention they are designed to be thinned and used as a glaze to build up color. However, they can be thinned just enough to get coverage with an airbrush. One thing I have noticed is that they tend to bead on certain surfaces like the Tamiya Grey primer. if this happens give the piece a good coat of dull coat. that will fix it.

Cheers,

Mark

Thomas E. Johnson · Post by **Thomas E. Johnson** » Tue May 03, 2011 4:25 pm

They guys in my local Hobbytown rave about this brand, calling them the best paints ever and the easiest to use.

Thomas E. Johnson · Post by **Thomas E. Johnson** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:06 pm

They guys at Hobbytown say they use Windex to thin this stuff.

greasyspoon · Post by **greasyspoon** » Wed May 11, 2011 4:52 pm

I have had bad experience with alcohol. I use slow dri and alcohol with most of my paints, but not Vajello they clump very badly

http://www.happinessismandatory.com/mis ... e_Dish.jpg

Water works a whole lot better. Windex does pretty good as well.

Devin · Post by **Devin** » Mon May 16, 2011 11:42 am

I use their regular paints thinned with their Model Air thinner all of the time. Some of the thicker paints (whites, light grays, blues) you have to thin a lot, sometimes 75% thinner, but they go on wonderfully with low pressure.