Tamiya to Vallejo

I played with the primer last night for the first time and found that I had to vary the pressure up to about 20 to get it to spray without spitting, now having said that I may have to as analogkid indicated to look at going with a bigger nozzle.  I'm using my badger 200 single action for large surfaces and  to play with this stuff and as most of you have indicated I'm having to play with the thinning ratios, especially with the model color line. I think most of this will be a learning curve- and besides for ease of use and cleaning I like the dropper bottle and the range of colours.

I’ll reiterate what has already been covered only to add yet one more experience. I have been using Tamiya acrylics for over 20 years but recently expanded my use of Vallejo Model Color and Model Air primarily because my LHS maintains a fantastic supply of all things Vallejo. I use an Iwata Eclipse and find that Vallejo Model Air is a bit more temperamental and needs some prep (thinning) before and attention (lower spray pressure) to keep it wet as it leaves the airbrush as well as numerous dabs of the air brush tip with a thinner-soaked Q-tip. When all things go right and I have a decent coat down I am impressed with the finish Vallejo provides…it is smoother than the Tamiya finish. But to be fair, Tamiya’s XF line is meant to go on somewhat flat (i.e. rough) when compared to other finishes. If I had to choose one for airbrushing, it would be Tamiya, but only by a slight margin. With use and experience Model Air goes on nicely. And…the pre-mixed color range of Vallejo is impressive as well. For hand-brushing there is no better, in my opinion, than Vallejo Model Color.

With regards to thinner for thinning purposes I only utilize the Vallejo airbrush thinner. A bit pricey but it makes the paint work better in an airbrush. Water is a second best solution. Do not utilize isopropyl alcohol (like I have used in Tamiya for years) as it will gum up the Vallejo. For initial cleaning of the paint out of the color cup I find alcohol and Q-tips work great but will spray their line of airbrush cleaner at the end to finish the job.

As for the Vallejo primer I like that stuff a lot. It doesn’t have the bite that lacquer/enamel based paints do but it settles down very nicely and is easy to use. When I use it, however, I switch to a .5mm nozzle/needle combo on my Eclipse in order to reduce the clogging problems. But, at this higher diameter you have to be careful as the paint rushes out and will pool much quicker than with the standard .35mm nozzle on the Eclipse.

I have a love/hate relationship with the stuff.   It sprays well, comes in a nice dropper bottle, has a nice color range, cleans easily (I use Windex with no problems) and does not smell bad.

It does however dry very quickly on the needle and, at least on certain colors, has a tendency to lift very easily even with low tack masking tape.  Using their primer will help a little but it's still quite fragile and a careless, light touch of a fingernail will scratch it down to the primer.

Regarding their primer... think of it more like a sealer than a primer.  Something you apply over your regular primer as a type of adhesive between the primer and immediately before final paint.  It does not sand well and tends to roll up under sandpaper.  

I never found a good sub for their airbrush thinner.  It's good stuff.

Here's another comparison chart site:

scalemodeldb.com/.../vallejo

A very good decision, ICIT, you may well have far different weather than me, (wet Western Oregon,) you may have a different airbrush, shoot at much different pressures, etc. A fair trial with lots of use may prove Model Air works well for you. I hope so, nothing is better on FSM than to read of a success story. I hope you'll let us know, I'd be interested.

Patrick

Very much personal preference.  I am in Arizona and you can't get much lower humidity.  Tip dry can be an issue.  I use Flo-Aid from Liquitex and also thin the paints (even model air) with Golden's airbrush medium.  It is basically colorless acrylic.  I also do the Q-Tip thing and some water handy.

I use some Tamiya, but I like the ease of the Vallejo color range.  Does it spray as well as Tamiya?  I would say no.  But with the ability to mix Model Air, Model Color, Panzer Aces, and a variety of other things like Flo-Aid and Mediums it is my first choice.   Like everything, it took practice to get accustomed to it.

Oh, and a lesson learned the hard way; DON'T mix Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics.  Plenty already said on that I believe:)

John

As far as tip clogging, I keep some of their airbrush cleaner and Q tips handy, I have to clean about every 3 or5 minutes.

Thanks to all, par for the course that I would be getting conflicting messages from different users. Some say its the greatest and yet others indicate they have had issues, well it's like movies- I like to make up my own mind so I'll give it a fair shot as Patrick has said.

ICIT

Vallejo (Model Air) frequently clogged my Iwata airbrushes even when I added a flow aid, and didn't spray as well as Tamiya.  Tamiya has never clogged my Iwatas and simply works.  I use Model Color for paint brushing, but my Model Air bottles are collecting dust.  Of course, some people love Vallejo for airbrushing, and it's all personal preference.

Hi, ICIT -  I don't know of an equivalent chart, I just mix by eye compared to other paints or color charts. For cleaning I use lacquer thinner or acetone, you may already know, but never use alcohol for thinning or cleaning, it WILL create a really gummy mess to deal with. When thinning I use Model Air's own thinner, but I find it literally takes only a tiny drop in an airbrush cup load, otherwise it can take several days for it to dry to the touch.

I'm guessing the anti clog or flow agent in their thinner is really aggressive, my first Model Air job with their thinner stayed a bit tacky for over a week, the finish looked great, but it made a career out of drying. Once completely dry I was very pleased with it. I hope you have good luck with it and enjoy using it, but I think I'm going back to Tamiya, After giving Vallejo a fair trial with considerable use, I just find the Tamiya is much more user friendly and consistent in application.

Patrick

This is Vallejo's own equivalency chart. Note that they will generally be close, but not exact matches.

http://cdn.acrylicosvallejo.com/0049261608364909a238add9b4a53745/CC073-rev05.pdf

Thanks Marcus, any experience with using the flow aid or nozzle blockage?

Use Vallejo airbrush cleaner.  I find that if you use the thinner and cleaners for the brand of paint painting and cleanup goes much easier.