Brush painting Vallejo

I'll second Ed about the difference between the two lines of paint, Model Color and Model Air.  Air is formulated for airbrushing, and Color is formulated for brushing by hand, though it can be airbrushed, too.

I will add that I don't know anyone who brushes Model Color straight from the bottle, and that group is made up of a lot of my fellow figure painters.  We tend to use it with a wet palette.

That's not to say that it cannot be brushed straight from the bottle, but it's a little thick that way.  Thinning it gives you nice, even coats, and thinning the paint is really the first step in using layers to build up colors.

As others have mentioned, you can add retarders, but in my own experience, I haven't found that Model Color dries before it levels.  I don't use any retarders, or any other additives.  I just use a wet palette and let the paint thin on the palette.

Monogram Madness

Hey Guys,

 

Ive got a question in reguards to brush painting vallejo.  Everyone talks about how good it is but i find it tends to dry so fast that it doesnt self level.  What am i doing wrong?  I cant imagine its a thinning issue as i find model air doesnt cover well enough for brush painting.  Im sure this is something obvous but I could use some help here. 

 

Oddly i spray both model air and model color though the airbrush and love them.  

 

Model Air/Game Air is optimized for use in an airbrush.   It needs little, if any, thinning to spray.  It does not hand brush well out of the bottle

Model Color/Game Color is optimized for hand brushing.   It may need a bit of thinning medium to paint & blend smoothly.  It will airbrush with proper thinning.   I go about 3:1 paint to flow improver.   Same for Reaper and Scale75 acrylic paints

Ya, thinned a little. I just use a little Liquitex retarder personally which is a very liquid substance. The same as do for Tamiya acrylics. I believe the Vallejo retarder is thicker, so folks may use the flow aid.

I like both Model Air and Model Color for spraying but I just use the MC for brushing, that and craft paints and limited Tamiya for brushing. I'll let the dedicated Vallejo products users suggest the Vallejo products to use for MC brushing. But I've found you just need to cut the MC a little and I use that Liquitex retarder because I stock it and it works in all acrylics thus far..It really slows down that initial dry, same for tip dry with airbrushing Vallejo, I get non. I use my own thinner blend in them that includes the Liquitex retarder. What I use works really well but it wouldn't pass the scrutiny of Vallejo police lol !!