Hello Gents!

Quick question... I have ordered Vallejo Model Air paints for the first time; always been a Tamiya and Gunze user.

I purchased 011, 025 ans 041 for a german AFV I have ready to paint... other than using straight from the bottle, any particular recomendations in terms of using a particular color for highlighting/scaling for these, other than white?

Any other recomendations on thinning these, or just straight out of the bottle? I've read that model color can be cut with Windex; I ask, since I use alcohol for Tamiya, but again, using Vallejo for the first time.

Thanks,

Jorge

If you have to thin, use distilled or deionized water, if you don't have their thinner. If you use Windex, you will end up with a gooey mess, with either Model Color or Model Air. I use Windex to shoot through to clean the brush, and it will cause both to skin up and gum up your airbrush. I imagine it has to do with the ammonia inside Windex (at least the Windex I get here in the States).

I've never had to thin Model Air, and that's with using a Paasche suction feed single action, a Badger suction feed double action, an Iwata gravity feed double action, and a Grex top gravity feed double action airbrushes.

As with any acrylic, make sure you keep a Q Tip slightly moistened with water or Windex to keep the tip clean. I usually add a drop of Liquitex Retarder to my mix to cut down the number of times I'm clearing the tip.

Model Air paints spray great and after curing (at least 24 hours) are pretty durable. I've also used 047 for a primer coat in a pinch and it worked really well.

Hi

Just use them out of the bottle, no need to thin, unless you have a super fine needle set in you brush, anything 0.2mm or bigger will be fine. Also keep the air pressure as low as possible, too high and the paint dries too fast and builds up on the needle tip.

For cleaning either their own cleaner, which is also a great thinner, so much so that they now sell it as a thinner or water, never use anything with alcohol in as most but bizzarly not all turn to jelly when alcohol is added.

Paul

Hey there Jorge,

As the others have said, Model Air you don't need to thin....and if you do, it is only a drop or so in a color cup with the paint is all you need. The stuff is awesome.

As far as using a thinner, I highly recommend to pick up a bottle of their newly reformulated thinner (which can be found coincidentally on my webstore...just click on my banner below), it can also be used to thin the Model Color paints as well very easily.

For those that have used their old thinner...the new stuff is miles ahead. For the most part, 2 parts thinner, 1 part Model Color, and you are good to go to spray it.





That is only partly true. While yes the base of their new thinner formula is their airbrush cleaner, there are other compounds that is added to it that helps with the thinning of the paint, it isn't just their straight airbrush cleaner.

Hi

I know according to Vallejo it is only based on their thinner, but using both side by side there is very little or even no perseptable difference. The old one used to contain acrylic binders to help with adhesion which the new one looks to be lacking. Do a side by side comparison and you will see a big difference in the amount of binders.

I do have the new one and for the time being I am only using when spraying and I am keeping the old one which now in short supply for when brush pointing.

This obviously is only based on my personal experience and it is quite possible that Vallejo is correct and not trying to pull a fast one on us, but the sceptic in me thinks they have and the new thinner is the same as their cleaner. I don't have access to any equipment to analyse them to confirm, but I don't take what a maker claims as gospel. Remember the old saying, "never believe a roumor until its been officially denied."

paul

Hey there Paul,

I am a Vallejo dealer, and have used both the new and the old thinner. I had talked to one of the owners and suggested that they should do something about the thinner as it was harder for people to use it to thin paint for airbrushing...no real set ratio as the thinning ratio was different from color to color.

Vallejo may have very well had something cooking about that when I had suggested it, so I don't think they jumped on changing the thinner by way of my suggestion, but with Tamiya temporarily out of the picture in the North American market last year, it was a perfect opportunity to gain some foot hold in the paint market, and along came the new thinner.

Looking at the MSDS sheets for both the new thinner and the AB Cleaner, I can say that the base of both products are the same, but that is where the similarities end, as they both have different additives that make the cleaner a better cleaner and the thinner a better thinner.

For myself, I was quite happy with the old thinner, as I had been using it for many years, and had the thinning of the colors down pat....however the new thinner has made it 100X easier for people trying to thin the Model Color line of paints for airbrushing, a quick and easy 2 parts thinner to 1 part paint....and you are good to go to spray.