Tamiya or Vallejo?

[Maritain]

My favorite paint has always been Tamiya, but with the shortage I thought I’d give Vallejo a try. So far so good, but the jury is still out on whether I like it better than Tamiya. I have noticed it takes a lot more to thin it than Tamiya does which I suppose is a good thing as far as being economical. It covers well, but I haven’t used it yet on any areas with a lot of intricate detail yet. Tamiya always covered detailed areas well without smothering them. I suspect the Vallejo will be the same, I hope.

I have been thinning them down with the Vallejo brand thinner but it seems to be going fast because it takes more to thin it. Can tap water be added to the product to make it last longer? Also what do you guys run though your airbrush once you’re done spraying? I have been using Model Master thinner and cleaner though mine, anything more economical out there to use.

How would you guys rate the paints that are out there? Say like Polly scale compared to Tamiya or Model Masters that kind of thing. Why do you like them and how do you use them, what do you thin them with?

Have a good one.

[ignatz]

You can thin it with water. I put a little detergent in there (VERY little, like a couple drops to a gallon of distilled water) to cut the surface tension. I'll shoot water and then lacquer thinner between color changes to clean everything out.

[Fokker Ace]

The paints are all a bit different and each is good for certain things. I use Tamiya in the airbrush and Vallejo for detail/brush painting. I thin the Tamiya with alcohol and Vallejo with water. The Vallejo is awesome for brush painting and so much easier to work with than Tamiya.

[Kylwell]

I use plain tap water for thinning Vallejo about 50/50. It dries very hard, levels nice and is my #2 preferred paint.

[Harry Joy]

Vallejo is good paint, and I have a pile of it. I've used it for a long time and most of my models have Vallejo in there somewhere. That said, it's not durable. If you can get it to last without damage, you've got a knack that few have found with Vallejo. I know plenty of people who like it even more than I do who complain about it chipping off. Tamiya has it all over Vallejo in this regard.

It is primarily designed for brush painting, and specifically for figure and mini painting. That is where it excels, and I use it on all my figures. For larger subjects, I use it in areas that will not see much handling - cockpits are perfect for the paint, since I do mainly planes. Vallejo has perfect colors already mixed up for most nations air force interiors. Hard to get to areas and such I use it all the time.

As for mixing, I use distilled water or rubbing alcohol, with a touch of Vallejo retarder. If I know I'm going to shoot it in my airbrush, I go ahead and make sure I have the premixed Vallejo stuff on hand, called cleverly enough, ModelAir colors. It works better than anything I've mixed up.


hth

[Mad-Modeler]

I tried a few of the Vallejo colour ranges.

Did their standard range, airbrush range and the miniature/wargaming range(I do GW figs).

Found that I tend to prefer them but there only a few shops that sell them this end.

Still use Tamiya too as I do build quiet a bit of their models.

[TER-OR]

I'm getting used to the Vallejo Model-Air. It applies more thickly than Gunze or Tamiya, you'll have to get used to it. It dries down very well and tends not to change color like PolyScale. Plus, it's not super-flat like Tamiya.

So far, so good though. I've used it on two aircraft to good effect.