brush painting help

I just learned the trick (by accident, and luckily no spill) yesterday about the eye dropper top.  As I paint in my basement (hence using only acrylics) I give them a good shake on the way down the stairs.  I will definitely be popping a few tops off 1. to give them a good stir and 2. to clean up the dropper tops of old, dried on paint.  

Yes, G-J, the colors do come close in a lot of cases.  There are some where there is a notable difference (presently working on an FW 190 and their RLM lichtblau is quite far off from the decal sheet color chip), but with shading and weathering I'm quite confident this could be discounted.  

All that being said, I think I'm pretty much sold on Vallejo paints and won't switch out.  I find even their Model Air is very tough stuff when thoroughly cured.

One of the biggest selling points for me was reading how well Vallejo paints play with oil washes.  After two or three days of drying I can use artists oils and some turps and I don't think I've ever had the turps effect the underlying paint.  A big sell for pin or panel line washes if you use oils.  Their gloss is beautiful stuff, I find it comparable to Future, and applied in nice thin layers works like a charm for washes or decals.

I also find their bottles quite cheap, really, and as previously stated, a bottle lasts forever (I'm still using paints I bought 8 months ago) so the economy is great.  Personally, I'd recommend them highly, having used Tamiya and Model Master in the past.  

As G-J said, they do make some very nice paints for figure painting (the Panzer Aces line) giving a dark, mid tone and highlight shade for most colors.  I recently used their old and new rubber colors for a pair of aircraft landing gear tires, and it was exactly the look I was aiming for.  Similarly with their flesh tone colors, they produce a beautiful range in skin tone that is easy to work with.

What AndrewW said.  Definite +1.  He hit the nail on the head.  I brush-paint exclusively.  Nothing against airbrushes, I just don't have one.  And AndrewW's experience mimics mine exactly, even the point on the range.  Sometimes I find it difficult matching the colors, but I think I come pretty close.  And I love the "eye-dropper" bottles.  It was only a few months ago that I learned you can pop the top off them to give them a good stir.

I really like the brand.

I first heard of them when I would paint figures...I used to use Citadel paints...and was recommended Vallejo.  I build 1/48 WW II aircraft now and highly recommend the line.

Tetra,

if you're going the Vallejo route, please bear in mind that there are several different 'lines' for different purposes.  Their primer seems to be used in all cases, and the grey stuff is nice.  The grey primer does not like remedial work (sanding, etc.) after application and is tough to feather out.  Model Air is meant for airbrushing, quite thin (though it does thin further nicely, and produces a nice translucent coat when thin enough).  Model Color and Panzer Aces are meant for brush painting military models (Panzer Aces being geared a little more towards German armor, but not exclusively so, and offers nice colors like wood and rubber).  Both Model Color and Panzer Aces can be thinned (heavily) to airbrush.  Game Color is meant for brush painting fantasy / sci-fi models, and quite resilient to handling.  I've not tried airbrushing Game Color, but it is quite a thick paint.  That being said, I've found after two or three days, all the paints (Model Air, Model Color) are very very strong, especially on Vallejo primer, and tenacious (I've had to use lacquer thinners to remove them in some cases).  Vallejo also makes a line of clear coats (gloss, satin and flat).  I've recently been experimenting with these, I find the gloss nice and shiny, the satin what I would think of as flat for an aircraft surface, and flat is dead flat.   I find an eyedropper bottle lasts forever (generally, I'm using 5 drops of thinner to 2 drops of paint).  I'm pretty much committed to the Vallejo line, giving up on Model Master or Tamiya.  The only point I don't like are their 'color equivalencies' (i.e. the same dark green is RLM dunkelgrun and RAF dark green) and their limited color range, which Model Master does a much better job of in my opinion.

The paints I mentioned are through WalMart, HobbyLobby and Michaels and as far as I have used them for the past 20 years they all match perfectly for all military colors. See my Facebook pages as well as reviews of kits and more articles on Amazon.com, StormtheCastle.com, here on FSM and Hobblylinc.com

Thanks for looking.

deffinetly going to try vallejo paint, ive heard it mentioned all the time in magazines, and were would you get anita, applebarrel and creamcoat?

tetraodon,

Perhaps you have had a chance to read my previous posts about acrylic paints but here goes;

I started with Tamiya paints years ago and switched to acrylic craft paints after buying some at a flea market and experimenting with them. Now I use them exclusively. This is merely a suggestion and what I have found by using them.

Anita, Applebarrel, Creamcoat and one other brand name all lead to the same results, a great finish for armor, aircraft, figures and scenery. These paints were originally designed to be used on ceramics, thus they are hardened and yet mix well with water and even blue tinted windshield wiper fluid for airbrushing. I handbrush right out of the bottle with a tiny amount of water as needed such as black wahes for weathering uniforms and vehicles as seen on my Facebook page, Hobbies in a Barn" with over 200 photos I show a good representation of models and techniques. I also custom build and paint scale models for those who like to have show-pieces but don't have the time to build.

Hopefully you haven't invested too much in the Tamiya paints as the paints of the kind I use are substancially less expensive.

    Good luck,

     johncpo

Vallejo and lifecolor are acrylic paints that are geared towards brush painting.

Model Master and Polly Scale acrylics hand brush far better than Tamiya.

ok good, well is there any acryilics that are more brush friendly?

It's not just you, by any means. Tamiya acrylics are renowned for being unfriendly to brush-painting.

Using their thinner--which is said to include a drying-retarder--seems to help, or you could add a retarder (available at art supply stores). Even with that, the best luck I've had is with as few brush strokes as possible (avoiding going back over already-applied areas) and successive light coats with a bit of drying/setup time in between.