Need some advise on whether to go for tamiya or vallejo acrylic,have had drying in the bottle with tamiya in past.What size bottle do you get with vallejo`s is it larger than the 10ml tamiya`s,which one is the better value.

Vallejo, Vallejo, Vallejo and then get some more Vallejo..

It's not simply a question of value, the Tamiya acrylic is VERY difficult to use with a brush, Vallejo is 100% 'user-friendly' and can be both brushed and air-brushed (with thinning) or using their 'Model-Air' range.

Frankly, I can't understand ANYONE using Tamiya (if they have a choice)...Jim

Thanks Jim,
You actually answered a question i forgot to add,I should of said i need the acrylics mainly for brush work on figures

For handpainting, Tamiya acrylics is not suited as Jim already said. Still I like Tamiya acrylics for my tanks etc.

I haven't tried Vallejo yet so maybe I just don't know what I'm missing haha

Martin

Ditto to Jimbrae. Vallejo (and its virtual twin Andrea) almost never dry in the bottle. I have some that's some 5 years old and it has no problem. Part of the reason is the eye dropper bottle which significantly reduces air getting in and drying the paint. There may be less in the bottle, but it goes farther because the manufacturer strongly suggests thinning as well as the increased shelf life.
The closest things to drawbacks are availability and that you really have to shake the bottle if it's been sitting a while.

Hello there,

Well, I was a Tamiya user until a Sherman M4 came to my stock.

After mounting the USA savoir, I started to paint with my Badger 200H - Tamiya Olive Drab.

The final result was a disaster! It was a mix of brown and green! I painted again, cleaned my airbrush (I even putted on a glass full of alcohol for 3 days), got new Tamiya Olive Drab paints, changed the alcohol but the result was still the same...instead of throwing the Sherman out of the window, I visited a new hobby shop on my town.

A really nice man told me that Vallejo was the deal. Great paints, Spanish, easy cleaning, etc. So I got the Vallejo Air - Olive Drab. I was a bit afraid to tell ya the truth...but...the result was just great! Even with a brush!

Well, I'm a Vallejo fan!

Cheers!

Thanks guys,
I think the answer has to be vallejo

Nothing much to add what the guys have said but I am totally converted to Vallejo acrylics for brush painting.
I recently bought half a dozen bottles of Vallejo to paint a few figures and i have to say after having several less than happy run ins using Tamiya acryllics the Vallejo acyrllics where a real eye opener (just make sure you give the bottles a good old shake )


Ian

For figure work especially Vallejo has to be the winner hands down.

Indeed.

Just remember to shake it like a madman :-)
I've been using Vallejo for about a year now, and I have to say: works like a dream.

My two cents. I have used both Tamiya and Vallejo (MC and MA). For the brush Vallejo hands down. For the airbrush Tamiya hands down. Tamiya dosen't clog the airbrush or foul the needle. Vallejo admits on their site that you must clean the needle every 5 minutes. This can be a real pain. I use the reccomended thinners etc. I recently, out of frustration, used the Vallejo airbrush cleaner to thin the MA and It actually worked better than their thinner or distilled water. But I still think that the Tamiya paint is the best for the airbrush.

Vallejo all the way! The color range is better and the finished product is awesome, for both their model Air line and model color line. Definately the only way to go for figure painting and brush painting. The key is thinning with their thinner for the Model Air for airburshing.

The paint drying at the tip can be a bit of a bother, but once you get accustomed to it, it isn't that big of a deal. This is especially compared to the finished result.

Also, Vallejo's customer service is amazing. I just contacted them recently about an issue I was having with a varnish of theirs. They were very reponsive and took care of the issue, even though it was my misuse of the product, in an extremely positive way.

Sean

Think i had better get my hands on some vallejo

Vallejo is an exceptionaly nice brand of excellent paints, and I'm using them more and more. But I agree with John (Sticky), don't rubbish Tamiya just yet.
I still like Tamiya for the Airbrush, and although the range may be limited, the colours they have are well matched to armour subjects. OD looks good from the bottle and fades very nice with Buff or Deck Tan... Panzergrau is another good match, and will fade down to light grey very controled.
But for brush painting you can't beat Vallejo. Contrairy to popular belief you CAN brush Tamiya, but it takes practise and a technique which is not really suitable for painting fine detail like figures...

Tamiya comes in 10 ML bottles, and Vallejo in 17 ML.. Tamiya uses the clever marketing trick of putting a small amount of content in a huge container... plenty of people will buy the Tamiya bottle thinking that they get more paint and thus better value...

Cheers
Henk

I use Tamiya for Airbrushing because that's what my LHS carries. I've run into problems once or twice with Tamiya but being acrylic, nothing that couldn't be fixed easy.
If I could purchase Vallejo locally I'd probably switch myself.

Hermon

Beacuse the range of colors is so large, very few LHS carry Vallejo or Andrea paints. It really is worth the investment to get these mail order or on-line. Both ranges have starter sets with 6-16 colors for specific interests.
These can be found at Military Miniatures Warehouse
Squadron
The Red Lancer

As far as buying online goes the trick is to buy them when you buy something else so that they kind of get included in the ship price or to order a bunch at once to make the shipping worht while. Spure Brothers and Colorado miniatures have great prices on the paints and figures and kits and the shipping is reasonable.

The other way to get the paints is at model shows. Most of the ones I have gone to lately have the Vallejo line.

Just some ideas,

Sean

Greetings,

Anyone have adhesion problems with Vallejo? I tried the model colors and found that they are all that is advertised but the adhesion was a real problem. They did not tolerate handling at all. I am tempted to try the model air line but am concerned about them being fragile. Appreciate any comments.

I had one color do this to me but that was before I was thinning the paint so that may have been the problem.

Quite likely. Vallejo is formulated to be thinned quite heavily. Don't be tempted to use it straight from the bottle. Same goes for Lifecolour paints, they work best when thinned. I thin Lifecolour with water, don't use Tamiya thinner (or mix with Tamiya paint..) as it is not compatible. I did and ended up with curdled paint.. :-)

Cheers
Henk

I found Tamiya paints only good for airbrush

What a response,
i have come to the conclusion you guys are quite passionate about vallejo,one think that has come to mind with all the replies is what to thin vallejo with as was stated it is not suitable to use straight from the bottle

The standard colors only need thinning for use in an airbrush, the Model-Air colors are pre-diluted...jIm

Thanks Jim that cleared that one up for me

While these paints can be used straight from the bottle, Andrea suggests you thin them. Unfortunately, htey don;t have an on'line reference to that, only in their painting guides. Vallejo, virtually the same paint, does have a tutorial. Go to the link above, choose "Model color" from the drop down menu and scroll to the bottom. Plain tap water is what I use.