Rob, Vallejo are incredibly good paint but they are not alcohol based like Tamiya. If you use IPA or Windex to clean, it will congeal the Vallejo and create a huge gunky mess. Shoot the paint out, shoot Vallejo or Medea Airbrush Cleaner. Then shoot distilled water until it's squeaky clean. These two cleaners also work fantastic in an ultrasonic cleaner when you strip down your airbrush for a super total cleaning.

Rob- I've done the same thing by mistake and clogged up one of my ABs. I used a very thin, soft and fine artists liner brush and, Medea and some distilled water to clean it all out. Whatever alcohol thinner I used looked like it had dissolved the Vallejo paint, but it actually just broke the paint it into congealed bits that clogged the AB.

As for Medea Airbrush Cleaner- I've always used it neat and I use the Vallejo thinner neat aswell. I find alternating between one of these and distilled water cleans things out in no time.

I once thinned Vallejo Matt Varnish with their thinner and it produced much the same results as you got. I use distilled water now or tap water if I don't have any. I usually have it quite thin- about the same consistency as any of the Model Air paints. I wish they would start doing the varnishes in the Model Air range again, it was easier when all you had to do was drip it into the AB!

I have experimented a lot lately shooting the Vallejo matt varnish diluted with their glaze medium. Glaze medium dries with a matt finish so it won't affect your varnish but it does seriously improve the flow of medium through your airbrush. I have found it's also really useful for painting ultra-fine lines.

Have a look at the challenger 2 painting and weathering a box car part 2 videos on the link in my signature - I use it on there.

Hi John, thanks for the feedback. I watched most of your videos and do try to take notes of what you use with the Vallejo products. I did watch the one about the repaint of the Challenger 2 and did see you use the glaze medium. I have two bottles of the stuff but never hadn't thought about using it with the varnish. Can I still add the glaze medium if the varnish is thinned with a bit of water? Or, do I use the glaze only with neat varnish?

Thanks again!

Rob

When spraying, add 1/3 satin varnish and add a few drops of dish soapy water. This will retard the paint and give you a finer spray pattern. Clean with water or rubbing alcohol

I shoot it straight from the bottle. No watering down.

All of Vallejo's varnishes are good to go right out of the bottle, no need to thin.

As far as the size of the bottle for Vallejo's AB cleaner, it comes in 85ml, as well as 200ml, and again, shot as is, no thinning to clean. It also adds a slight bit of lubricant to your airbrush to keep it working as smoothly.

One thing I have found is that the branded Windex works wonders in cleaning acrylic paints, but the el-cheapo windex (no name) doesn't work anywhere near as well.
One thing I have found is that Tamiya Acrylics can clog my airbrush momentarily no matter how thinned I have it using either water, Tamiya thinner or metho. Whereas I never have a problem with Gunze using metho.
If the Windex doesn't remove all of the paint I find that Methylated Spirits get anything else off without resorting to dangerous stuff. Metho (denatured alcohol elsewhere) is drunk by some alcoholics so it won't kill you as quickly as the harsh stuff like thinners..

I don't put any water in my mixes - but there are no hard and fast rules. I got my results by just trying different things. What else are you going to do with that big, inviting flat expanse of plastic underneath your tanks !? the underside of every model of mine is sprayed various colours and finishes

Give some mixes a go and just find what's right for you - but don't just leave that glaze medium going to waste - it's a great product and has various uses. cheers, Jon