Thinning Vallejo paints

Hello Dist water is used t thin Vallejo paints .I have used them for a few years know and this information comes from Mr Vallejo himself via Email .

yeah, after reading about some of their other lines it seems they are water based but somehow adhere decently to plastic.. (hence the primer I am sure)

QUOTE: Originally posted by KJ200 QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod Vallejo should only be thinned with water. Other thinners, especially alcohol based may cause an unwanted reaction ( ask me how I know ). You have been warned . Regards, Rick Rick, how do you know then? You said to ask!

When I first used Vallejo, I tried thinning it with denatured alcohol, which works with the other brands of acrylics I was using. It quickly coagulated into a mass of lumpy goo. That's when I read the bottle & found that water should be used. Works just fine with plain old tap water.

Regards, Rick

Personally I use their brand of thinner.. this guy at the LHS that was showing off a few of his builds talked me into it. (swwet paint jobs on those birds!) All he uses is Vallejo and Gunze... he really stood by using their thinner... of course the bottle says distilled water on it, so if I run out I might try it with just that...

QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod Vallejo should only be thinned with water. Other thinners, especially alcohol based may cause an unwanted reaction ( ask me how I know ). You have been warned . Regards, Rick

Rick, how do you know then?

You said to ask!

Karl

water is supposed to be used with them thats all i use and get good results

Vallejo should only be thinned with water. Other thinners, especially alcohol based may cause an unwanted reaction ( ask me how I know ). You have been warned .

Regards, Rick

I tried spraying them unthinned last night and although they sprayed ok it seem to clog a bit as I was doing it... gonna stick with the one drop of thinner to 3 drops paint on thier site... I gotta say when thinned they go on smooth... takes a few coats to cover but I like the finish, not grainy and even coverage.

I have just started using Vallejo myself, Everthing I have read tells me that they are prethinned but I have not used it enough to form a opinion. The few bits that I have a/b have turned out fine.

Thad

I'd say the same, I haven't used Gunze but from what I hear about them I would believe Karl in that they are equal or better than Vallejo. I don't have a readily available supplier of Gunze so Vallejo is what I work with. And love!

For thinning I would used distilled water as Karl said. In fact on their Color of Eagles bottle line it says to use distilled water 10 - 15% max to thin. So I would try that... and Model air is supposed to be thinned already, but on thier site it says one drop of their thinner to 3 drops of paint. so if you have any probs spraying it just plop a drop or two of distilled water into it! I would be interested to hear your take on them once you play with them a bit... there doesn't seem to be a lot of Vallejo users around.

Daniel, as far as I'm aware the Model Air range are pre-thinned ready for spraying.

Don't use an alcohol based thinner as these paints don't react well, as you have already found out. Just use distilled water, as i found that works fine.

The other thing I found was to ensure that the surface being painted has been properly primed, I didn't realise this the first time I used them, and the paint just shredded each time I handled the model.

From a purely personal perspective, I didn't find them any better than Gunze, but then others swear by them.

Karl