I recently bought a few bottles of Vallejo acrylic paint because untill I have an airbrush, I prefer painting with a brush instead of spraypaint.

Right now I'm working on a KV-1, and when I'll be starting with the weathering part, I'd lik to try the teqhniques described in an article by Ron Goins:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/1703

My question is about the dot method; What I understand from the article, is that the filter is applied straight on the Model Master Acrylic paint. Is this possible with the Vallejo paints too? I tried it out on a 1:72 "test model", and after rubbing the oil paint out, the basepaint started to come off.

However, I did not apply any primer before the basecoat. Is this the reason the paint comes off, or do I have to let the basecoat dry longer? (I waited approximately 2-3 days).

Hello,

Vallejo paint seems to dry quickly, but since it is a resin based paint you have to wait until it is fully cured, not only dry. That may take 1-2 days, in the meantime the colorcoat is vulnerable. Having a flat basecoat is a good idea as it provides "teeth" for the color coat to have a little grip on the surface.

Possibility is, that you have used some aggressive thinner for the filter layer and it attacked the color. Also you may have touched the basecoat with hand too often and that left some grease behind that decreased the adhesion of the paint.

I have just recently used artist oil diluted with lacquer thinner over Vallejo Air, and it has not attacked it, while turpentine did earlier. Maybe you should check if your thinner for filtering has some turpentine or alcohol content (alcohol also solves acrylics).

Hope it helps!

Well yes, I actually used white spirit as a thinner, wich is (as far as I know) a form of turpentine. What kind of thinner do you recommend for filters/washes with oil paints?

Once Vallejo is cured, it should be relatively tough. I used some of the Mig washes on my last kit which I painted with Vallejo, and I consider the Mig Washes to be pretty aggressive. It did nothing to the paint (but did actually soften some of the glue joints, which I used Tamiya X Thin on....never seen anything do that, which is why I believe the Mig Washes to be really strong and aggressive), however the paint has to be cured not just dry. Min. of 24hrs to let it cure.

If you are putting Vallejo on bare plastic, then that is another story....really should have a primer coat for the Vallejo to "bite" into.

I use a sort of lacquer thinner, a mixture of pure lacquer thinner, some xilol and very little turpentine, called L-99. I guess you may find a similar product in a normal paint shop in any country..

But you can also use Humbrol Enamel Thinner, which is pure lacquer thinner actually. I prefer the glass container to the metal bottle, as they seem to be different. I think it must be available widely.

Hi Paul,

White Spirit (Mineral Spirits) is exactly what you should be using to thin oil paint for washes, filters, anything with oils.
White Spirit is a petroleum distillate and is perfect for model work. Turpentine is a wood (yes, tree resin!) product and is too thick and aggressive for models.
Oil weathering should not ever attack an acrylic base coat. The Vallejo paint may not have adhered well to the model if the model was not cleaned before painting. The model surface needs to be free of mold release oil, skin oil, and dirt for acrylic paint to adhere properly. Check out the "Best Primer on the Market" thread posted at the top of the forum. You might also want to read through the "Finishing and Weathering Sequence" thread for a lot of tips on weathering, etc.

I just did a little experiment today; I found an unused part of my T-34, sprayed a primer coat and painted it with the vallejo paint. After not even a full hour the paint felt already good enough for a wash. So I tried to apply a filter again, with the same White Spirit, and nothing weird happened

So it seems the lack of primer caused the problem with the 1:72 model, so everything should go well with my KV-1

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Just want to chime in with a reminder about mixing the paint,i gave a new bottle of matt varnish a quick shake and it came out glossy when dry,checked the bottle and there was layer of medium still on the bottom! another PROPER mix and all is well

Is turpenoid a suitable thinner for washes, or is it like turpentine (too aggressive)? Being that it's a synthetic substitute for actual turpentine, and thus has some of the petroleum distillates that you refer to, I wanted to make sure it was not going to doing anything untoward should I apply it over a base coat.

Thanks,
Russ

Hi Russ,

Turpenoid is just fine for model work. Lots of guys use it.

Just make sure you don't use the "natural" turpenoid. There are many horror stories about this stuff not drying, for weeks or even months after application. Use the petroleum based version.

Thanks Phil! I checked the Turpenoid bottle that I've been carrying around for awhile and, lo-and-behold, it was natural turpenoid. I'm going to make sure I put somewhere I never accidentally pull it out and mix it in with any of my washes.

Cheers,
Russ

Good point Phil! I forgot there are two kinds.
Regular Turpenoid, with a blue label, is good.
Turpenoid Natural, with a green label, is bad. Very, very bad.
I like to save money so I buy Klean Strip odorless mineral spirits by the gallon.