Well, I finally took the plunge. I normally work in Tamiya acrylic lacquers, Mr. Hobby lacquers and Testors MM Enamels, and have years of experience with other paints like Pactra, Floquil, Humbrol and Alclads line. But I’ve had a set of Vallejo Air Colors for WWII US Olive Drab hanging around for about five years now, and decided to use it on some 1/72 scale US WWII armor kits. I am impressed by these paints, and the way they went on. I followed the instructions Vallejo posts on line, and because I’ve had some experience with a few other acrylics in a different genre, I had no trouble with them in the AB. But I have a question for those who know a little more about them— how do they do with oil or enamel washes? Any pointers to pass along? Do I need a topcoat?
VR, Russ

Because there are so many different formulations of paints, including enamels, lacquers and acrylics, and their thinners that the best recommendation I can make to you is testing on leftover parts. I haven't had issues with Vallejo but I shoot (usually) a layer of glosscote or dullcote to seal my base colors before weathering. I let the paint cure for at least 24 hours too.

So grab any leftover parts you have laying around, shoot your base color on them and and then practice. I found the learning curve going from enamels and lacquers to acrylics was a bit steep having to un-learn a lot of what I'd been doing for 40 years.

I do miss Pactra paints. So simple and reliable.

Thanks Patrick. Experimentation is always best. I just wonder if these are true resin polymer acrylics, if they will take to my favorite wash and pinwash of Turpenoid light and Windsor and Newton or Mona Lisa oils. I’ll experiment and see, but maybe others here have already had that experience. I’ll post my results. I’m a bit reluctant to use the supplied Vallejo overcoat (flat), as I have my lacquer favorites (Dullcoat and Alclad) which are impervious to my oil washes. I’ve read quite a bit about them over acrylics, and they seem to be OK over Vallejo Air, however, because of the small scale, and the excellent results I got from the base coat, I’d like to forgo a top coat before weathering. Guess we’ll see. I did start things off with a Tamiya Acrylic lacquer base coat of flat black as a primer too. So far, so good.

I miss Pactra too. Remember those old plastic bottles? You could always count on Pactra to last a long time, and Floquil too. I also miss Floquil. Seems strange that Rustoleum bought Floquil and sent them packing after a few years. Now after buying Testors, they’re sending MM packing too. Seems like they’re on a vendetta against model paints. I have about 65 bottles of MM in my paint collection (which has a total near 300 bottles of all types of paint now). But I have to keep going through them to see what’s gone bad over the years. I’ve found MM to be the least durable of my paints, followed by Humbrol. I haven’t yet switched to acrylics, but I do like the way these Vallejo paints behave, mix in the AB, and their ease of clean up. And the bottles I broke open today are over 5 years old, maybe older.
VR, Russ

I've still got a couple of old plastic bottles in a box somewhere.

I use VA almost exclusively and have never had any issues with oil or enamel over the top whether sealed or not tbh. As the others have said, play around a bit first to make sure.
Regards
P

Can only second that: Never a problem. But experimenting on an old "bench mule" is probably the best way to go...

The only time I have had a problem with oil washes over acrylics (I use almost exclusively Vallejo), was when i used Turpentine as the thinner. Oops! Stick with artist white spirits for your oil wash and you should have no problem. But as others have said, never hurts to test first.

Agree with above, never needed to protect Vallejo against Odorless Modelling thinner for oils or enamels.

Thanks folks for the replies. I use Turpenoid light to thin my oils. It’s a synthetic turpentine substitute that dries fast, primarily used by artists to get oils to dry quickly when mixed or thinned. It leaves a “frosty residue” sometimes, in washes, which disappears under any flat top coat. But I’ve only used it over Tamiya, Mr Hobby and MM paints. I’ll experiment with it a bit.
VR, Russ

Post your test setup and results when you get done. It would be a good reference for others.

Will do. I might even write up a feature if Carlos will help me post it. I’m rather impressed with these Vallejo paints. Another thing that impressed me is the amount of paint you can get out of the bottle. But I suspect the issues I’ve seen that others seem to be having with them are due to “compatibility” with non-proprietary thinning products. I bought several products to help with that— Vallejo thinner, airbrush thinner, and retarder. So far, I’ve painted three 1/72 models, and they all came out perfectly by adding all three thinning products to about 7-8 drops of paint. No drying needles, clogged AB tips, or other problems I’ve seen others mention. The thickness of the retarder is a bit intimidating. It’s interesting stuff. I’ll probably continue to use Mr. Color (my favorite paint) and Tamiya, but Vallejo will certainly be used on some of my future projects.
VR, Russ