Airbrushing Vallejo Model Color

I've given up on airbrushing Vallejo Model Air paints.  Once they start to dry, only lacquer thinner can remove them.  Vallejo AB cleaner doesn't remove dried Vallejo paints.  They do dry quickly.  

When I airbrushed Vallejo stuff, I added Flow-Aid and a retarder to prevent clogging.  Even so, Vallejo clogged my AB in a few minutes.  I know some people get great results from airbrushing Vallejo, but it was not for me.  I never have a problem with spraying Tamiya.  Sure, their color selection is limited, but with a free app like imodelkit, I have no problem reproducing a variety of colors with Tamiya.

I do use Vallejo for brush painting, though.  

Huh, that's the first acrylic I have heard of needing lacquer to strip it when dry. I'm use to taking windex to Tamiya and it just melts off. Thanks for the heads up, and the app. I was not aware of it.

With my Limited airbrushing experience, I find it hard to botch up Tamiya.

Hi;

Both Chrisk-k and I have talked about this one earlier, and I am one of the ones who has no problem airbrushing either Model Color or Model Air.  I am no chemist or scientist, but my understanding is that since Model Color is not put in the bottle airbrush ready, you will need to thin it as you talked about.  I even thin Model Air.  Basically the Model Color is too thick at 10 PSI even at 50/50.  You need to have the consistency of 2% milk for pretty much "normal" spraying.  At 10 PSI you will almost need water viscosity.

I have been experimenting at lot with them and I find a mix of 2 to 3 drops of Flo-Aid, one drop of retarder and then about a 70/30 to 80/20 mix for Model Air and at least a 50/50 mix for Model Color seems to work.  I spray at 18 PSI.  You can get pretty close in with a double-action ab at 18 PSI.

I have seen folks post who have said you can't do mottling, etc. with Vallejo and I don't agree at all.  It just takes lots of practice and understanding the acrylics.  If you can compare the Model Air against the Model Color side-by-side you will see the huge difference.  Take the Model Color you have and compare it to the Tamiya on a palette and you will see the same thing.  I would suggest getting a flat piece of styrene (or and old model), and then trying different mixes until you get one that works.  I am in Arizona and we have humidity routinely less the 20%, so things will dry much faster when I am spraying than in a more humid climate.

I also use Model Master acryls and they work very well for me also.  I just like Vallejo's bottles better which waste less paint and don't require all the lid cleaning like Model Master does.  As Chris said, Vallejo brush paint just beautifully.  Again, I love acrylics and won't touch enamels and there are many who are vice-versa.  There is no wrong paint IMO.  

Hope that helped.

John

I agree with John. I'm no master at airbrushing Vallejo Model air, but I use it for the same reason you got yours, Zach. Color availability.

I also spray at 18 PSI. I have read in a few places that Vallejo is best airbrushed at that PSI or even as high as 21. I use Vallejo's own thinner, but know folks do just fine with other thinners, distilled water included. As you already found out, the Model Color is really viscous (if I spelled that right, I mean thick), and it takes some messing around to get the thinning ratios right.

2 cents from a relative Vallejo  rookie, anyway.

I had to keep about 2 dozen Model Color/Model Air/Etc paints to have the colors I need.

So, I went in search of the best thinner I could find.

I have a bottle of this  redfroghobbies.com/productDetail.php  , I got it in a LifeColor order from Red Frog.

I like just opening a bottle and painting away,,,and this AK thinner works for that.

You do have to change the thinner to paint ratio a bit depending on whether it is for Model Air, Model Color, Panzer Aces, Italeri, Color of Eagles, etc, etc,,,,,,but, it does work as long as you are flexible with how low you take your air pressure.

I am not going to give up my Flow-Aid and Slow-Dry just yet, but, this AK beats any other thinner I have tried for the "Vallejo Group" of paints. (disclaimer, I have not tried it with LifeColor yet, because I still have plenty of their thinner and it works just fine, so I am not ready to experiment just yet)

Rex

I use Tamiya and Vallejo. Like has been said, Thinning is important, and I use the Vallejo acrylic airbrush thinner and have had great results. Thinning ratios and air pressures need to be figured out by you for you particular airbrush, compressor, climate, comfort level. Take a day and practice on some sheet styrene. Vary the pressure and thinning and keep a record of what works best and use that as a base point in the future. Have fun!

Last night I went out and picked up a dropper bottle of their paint thinner, the milky colored stuff and I will order a bottle of airbrush thinner. For sure I will use the stuff for brush painting and tamiya for airbrushing. I'll keep experimenting with airbrushing villejo until I got it down. My goal is to keep it all acrylic as I did a test spray with enamel, mind you with a proper vented spray booth and respirator, I didn't like it one bit. The room still stunk and the wife didn't like it, not to mention I don't like cleaning the ab with oils. I am strictly acrylic now.

I had great success using their thinner medium number 70.524. Pick was using roughly a  2:3 ratio. I could of thinned  flat red a bit more then I did neutral grey.  I guess you guys weren't kidding about tip dry    Soon I'll  have an order for model air and  model color with the proper airbrush thinner. Sofar with my first expierence, I am thrilled.

I want to put in an order for paint, but before I do, I would like some opinions on common colors that should be added. What shade of green should be used for radar screens, and what would be a good vallejo color for light gray fs# 33613?

This is my current list.

MODEL COLOR
COLOR	VALLEJO NUMBER	M.C. NUMBER	FS NUMBER	RAL NUMBER	RLM NUMBER
US FIELD DRAB	70.873	142	30118	-	-
BLACK	70.950	169	37038	-	-
FLAT RED	70.957	031	31136	-	-
US DARK GREEN	70.893	095	34079	-	-
BLACK GREY	70.862	168	37031	-	-
IRAQUI SAND	70.819	124	30475	-	-
FLAT YELLOW	70.953	015	33655	-	-
FOUNDATION WHITE	70.919	002	-	-	-
NEUTRAL GREY	70.992	160	36173	-	-
SILVER	70.997	171	17178	-	-
GUNMETAL GREY	70.863	179	37200	9007	3
NATURAL STEEL	70.864	178	-	9006	-

The additional colors needed that Hobby Lobby does not carry are:

NEEDED COLORS
COLOR	VALLEJO NUMBER	PAINT LINE	FS NUMBER
PALE BLUE	70.907	MODEL COLOR	36473
GRAY PRIMER	71.097	MODEL AIR	36231
INTERIOR GREEN	71.010	MODEL AIR	34151
FRENCH TANK CREW	70.320	PANCER ACES	14255
BARLEY GREY	71.051	MODEL AIR	36440
LIGHT GRAY	?	?	36373
RANDOME TAN	71.074	MODEL AIR	33613

Vallejo 074 is the correct color match. Hope it helps.

I assume your are referencing  intermediate green 70-891 for the radar screen?