Being a big fan of Vallejo paints I've just bought some of their airbrush range. Should this be thinned approx 50:50 with water as the brush paint is? It doesn't say anything on the bottle...

The Model Air is supposed to be ready to go out of the bottle. But I believe you can thin it with water if necessary.

Thanks Mark. Will have to do a little testing then before I ruin another model!

Ya, I always use them straight from the bottle. Otherwise they are way to thin for me and run everywhere.

Have you tried the 'ordinary' Vallejo paints? If so, would you say the airbrush ones are as good?

I have not tried the regular paints. The color for the Model Air is very good and they lay down real smooth. Just be sure to use a barrier coat between the paint and decals as the decal solvent can eat right through the paint even after it has been dry for a week.(Dont ask me how I know this )

That's useful to know, thanks. Would a layer of Future do the trick? I normally put on a coat of that before decals.

The future should work fine, I just use dullcoat and it seems to have stopped the problem. Weird thing is that I have not been able to find Future at any of my local stores other than a huge bottle that looks like about a gallon. I think it just needs something to stop the reaction from the Vallejo and decal solvent. I use Micro Sol. Might just be a bad combination between the two as I have not had the same problem with any other type of paint.

Only thing I have found with the brush version is that ordinary liquid cement will strip it very easily (discovered that when gluing some very small pre-painted parts...)

Hi Graham,

fabulous paints which are very user friendly, I dont know if you have been there already but the Vallejo site has some helpful information regarding usage.

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/

Choose english, them Modelair in the dropdown menu and there you will find a link at the bottom with colour charts, technical details and usage.

Hope this helps,

John

I remember a thread a few months back where Sticky and I believe that some other people were having touble with Vallejo paints. I'ld like to try them though. Could it depend on what airbrush you are using?

I love vallejo brush paint, I swear by it. But the air paint line has always been VERY finicky for me. The main problem I would get is that the paint would dry prematurely around the needle of the airbrush causing it to sputter, and in some cases clog. After cleaning I would get about 30 seconds of good painting before the nozzle would clog up again. Ive pretty much tried everything. Different PSI's different thinners, airbrushing in different temperatures, and ive only made some headway in the problem. I was using denatured alcohol to thin, which in my opinion does not mix well with the paint, and in effect, helps it dry around the needle. I find that distilled water works best. I can only use vallejo paint as a base coat because when it does work, it turns out to be a bit sputtery and does not come in handy when tryin to make fine lines for camo. Vallejo has a superior color line and I hate to put them down, but they have just not worked for me AT ALL. I have tried the normal brush paint thinned down through the airbrush and it works, just has some of the same fatal errors the air paint has. I never encounter this with enamels, and only see it minimally with the tamiya acrylic paints. Hope this helps, Ian

Hmm, lots of interesting info there folks, thank you all. I shall definitely have to do some experimenting with different thinners, ratios and so on. Cheers!

What type of airbrush are you using Ian?

I've used both Air and Model Color for airbrushing and I like model air better. They say that you can use Air straight from the bottle, but I need to thin them down some more to get good results. They also like to dry at the needle quite quickly, I think they should have more carrier fluid and less pigment.
The model air range on the other hand requires much more thinning, but I found them to be much more pleasant to spray when thinned with water and their own thinner.

I have used both model air and model colour for a while now and must say I really like them both.
I use model air straight from the bottle at about 6-7 psi unthinned as I say.
Model colour I use just for brush work unthinned. It is not as good as Model Air with an air brush so don't use it like that any more.
Cheers
Tony

Im using a badger 150 double action. I can tell you its not the airbrush, at least I hope its not because i dont wanna buy a new one haha. I wonder if the humidity has something to do with it.

I have given up on the Model Air paints. I swear by the Model Color for brush painting, but for the Airbrush Tamiya is the best. I tried everything under the sun and the MA just clogs too fast. I am using an Iwata HPA and a Custom Micron with matched head and needle.