Please can anyone answer me asimple question What is the dilution of vallejo colour paint to water when used through an air brush
Base coat and then other coats
also any other tips for use with these paints
cheers people

I believe the Vallejo Model Air paints have been designed so as to be used directly from the bottle without dillution. I tried this earlier this year and it worked fine. Naturally for dust coats and weathering you will want to thin your paint, and thus I would work on 50-75% thinning medium to paint.

cheers mate but these are not the air paints but the model colour so i believe they require thining

The Vallejo Model Color paints are designed to be applied by (hand) brush, and (from what I hear) as such don't generally work well through an airbrush. My recommendation would be to stear clear, but if you absolutely insist on using them though your AB, I guess start by thenning them 1:1.

I have used model color successfully through an airbrush and found there is no problem with them. I always use the vallejo thinner to dilute them and then a couple of drops of distilled (de-ionised) water. It's a little while since I've used them so can't remember the exact quantity of thinner I used. I'd suggest using a 50:50 mix to start with, but try and get the consistancy to that of skimmed milk. There may be more problems just using water as the thinning medium.

The paint is quite fragile particularly when recently dried, but it does toughen up after a while. Some people suggest using Tamiya paint as an undercoat as it seems to stick better. Try not to put too much on in any one go but gently mist several coats on.

Well... there ya go... learn something new everyday :-)

Thanks Ross

Thank you very much I have been bought Allied colour set and german colour set from model colour so I have to use them but once gone which airbrush paint do people recomend, airbrushing is new to me I have always slapped it on with a brush before so any tips would be great
Thanks again....

Mick

Good luck with these paints.

I use model air (as well as thinned model color) and usually I'm very pleased with the results. It has a very good range of colours but as mentioned earlier it can be fragile. It also requires a lot less faffing about as it can be sprayed neat (though I add a few drops of thinner (10-20%). Once clearcoated it seems robust. I have also used Tamiya acrylics, thinned with their own thinner and this varies. Some times it goes on well (better than vallejo) often it has a gritty finish, sometimes it is not so good, it depends on the colour and operator error.

With acrylic paints most people find that it will dry on the needle of the airbrush quite quickly and cause paint flow problems. For this reason the needle needs to be cleaned every couple of minutes to prevent problems. This can seem annoying but the cleaning habit isn't too hard to develop. Keep a cotton bud (or Q tip) handy, damp with air brush cleaner or alcohol and clean the needle and tip gently every few minutes. I use an Iwata Eclipse now and it keeps going fine. I did use a Badger 150 and 100 for a long time and I found it got very frustrating with frequent clogs and some days it made me MAAAAAADDDDD. Getting an Iwata has been a revelation. Airbrushing can take a while of practicing to get right and paint/airbrush combinations can make a lot of difference. Some people get excellent results with cheap equipment and some are rubbish with the best.

Many people prefer enamel (oil based) paints for airbrushing and usually they behave better and don't clog any where like as much. I use acrylics as I paint near our bedrooms and there is a lot less solvent smell with them.

Hope this helps

PS you'll probably find that some colours, particularly white are a nightmare to spray, regardless of make, type or anything, brilliant red and yellow are often tricky too, not sure why, it may have something to do with the type/size of pigment used to get a strong finish.

Many thanks to everyone who replied to my question I have picked up valuable tips which I will put into practice once again many thanks

I will throw this out there. i have been using Vallejo alot over the past year. For model color, starting with 50:50 vallejo thinner and a drop or two of water will work, but you do get the annoying tip drying. For a what the heck I just tried thinning at 50:50 vallejo model color and tamiya thinner, mixed well, and surprisingly it worked quite well for me with a minimal amount of tip drying. I have only done this on one project, but with 4 different vallejo paints some which may have been model air as well. The Q-tip tip is of course key as well.

Sean