Vent On: I have never had any luck with Vallejo airbrush paints. I use their paints, their thinners\cleaners, their retarders, their flow enhancers, their instructions, their everything…and the paint just dries in the airbrush or on the tip (I regularly wipe the tip) and I spend more time cleaning the airbrush vs actual painting. I’m sure the paints themselves are fine. Lots of pple use them successfully and Vallejo sells a lot of product. But, I just can’t get them to work. Today I used some Vallejo white primer as that’s all I had, and it was a miserable experience (again). I’ll finish priming with the grey Mr. Surfacer I have even though white would work better for what I’m doing. I’ll restock on Tamiya paints and throw any Vallejo I have left in the trash. Vent Off.
I’ll join you on this one. I’ve tried 2 bottle of Vallejo and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Mr. Surfacer and Tamiya for me.
I’m a nearly pure Vallejo paints modeller. With long spraying sessions dry tip is definitely a thing. One of the issues of FSM had a thinning recipe to aid with painting. I started to use it and saw immediate improvements. Still experience dry tip, but nowhere near as often or badly. I also recommend capping the paint cup. It greatly slows down the drying of the paint in the cup.
Here’s the airbrush flow improvement recipe I use. It’s from the November 2021 issue, by Don Suratos. It may show their mecha line, but I use it as directed on Color, Air, Mecha, and Game without issue.
If you aren’t completely fed up, give this a try.
I use Vallejo Acrylics almost exclusively on my aircraft and while the clogging isn’t too awful bad for me, I’ll definitely be giving this a shot. Thanks for sharing that Johann!!
I too used to hate trying to airbrush Vallejo paints. The first thing that helped was to keep my isopropyl alcohol far away from the airbrush while using Vallejo. While IPA is a great cleaner and serviceable thinner for Tamiya paints, it tends to turn Vallejo paints into sludge that can damn near ruin an airbrush.
The second thing that changed the game was this:
I have a big bottle of this mixed up and I use it all the time. Now Vallejo is my preferred airbrushing colors, whether the Air, Model, or Game variety.
I’m good with Vallejo for brush painting. I have finally gotten the hang of using them, especially with a wet pallet and over primed surfaces. I have used their Model Air for airbrushing a few times and I have no gripes with it so far. Again, primer is a must. I just have a hard time getting used to the feel of Model Air when it’s dry on the model. Not like any other paint that I’ve used before.
[quote=“stikpusher, post:6, topic:373888”]
I just have a hard time getting used to the feel of Model Air when it’s dry on the model. Not like any other paint that I’ve used before.
[/quote] I definitely hear what you’re saying in regard to the feel of the paint Carlos as I use this stuff exclusively on aircraft.
I never used Vallejo Model Air,but Model Color and Panzer Aces work great for airbrushing 10-2-2 @ 15-20 psi as well as hand brushing
Vallejo is not your fathers’s paint.
Rule #1: Don’t let Vallejo paint know you’re afraid. If it senses fear you are doomed!
Mix up a batch of Vallejo sauce as prescribed by PhoenixG. It will change your complete Vallejo experience.
In small batches, I shoot Model Air right from the bottle w/o mixing. Bigger batches get a dose of PhoenixG’s sauce (70 vallejo/30 sauce).
I always use more pressure, around 20 psi, with Vallejo.
With Model Color I use a 50/50 mix.
Never mix in the airbrush color cup.
And stikpusher is right. Vallejo does feel different. Don’t judge your finish until you’ve let the stuff dry a bit, it changes when it ages.
Vallejo has so many great colors. Make it your friend.
I’ll be adhering to this advice in moving forward Tom (@Strongeagle ) and thank you for posting that up.
Something else that I know does NOT play well with this paint is…NEVER use Windex with this stuff. It’ll spell disaster.
Yes. Vallejo laughs at Windex, Isopropol Alcohol, and Lacquer Thinner. Use Vallejo’s proprietary thinner, flow improver, and retarder only.
Clean your airbrush with a blast of Simple Green from it’s spray bottle.
Yes Joe,and never iso. alcohol
Never had a problem mixing small amounts of Model Color in the AB cup though.
Madea Airbrush Cleaner works too.
And like I said above 10-2-2 formula has been flawless for me
There’s more then one way to skin a cat,or airbrush Vallejo 
You forgot, “ never, ever, feed Vallejo after midnight”
If you’re an absolute, gotta be Vallejo additives in the paint kind of guy, this may not be for you. But I’ll go on anyway, and leave it as it may.
For you guys not liking the rubbery feel, and also to ad adhesion using Vallejo paints, try 8-10% Createx 4030 in your paint before thinning. This will create a harder shell, literally and in terms of feel.
I’ve never used any Vallejo thinners or additives in spraying Vallejo, over the 6 or 7 years of doing so… I use my own blends.
Also, I ran a test recently, thinning MC with Createx’s new 4021 reducer, which already has retarder etc in it. It shot fine, flash time was slower but nothing crazy. I tend to use a hair dryer to flash off acrylics anyway. But it’s a one bottle purchase solution for many acrylics besides just Createx. Had to try it . It also works nicely to thin and aid flow in Stynylrez primer. All this is just FWIW, just putting it out there. As I said, I already had the products on hand, so no additional purchase required to run a couple of tests.
By the way, 4021 and 4030, also work in craft paints, really quite well. Not to mention Createx’s own paints of course. Have a great day, all !
I use Vallejo paints on all of my builds, very rarely will I use Tamiya acrylics. Everything that has been stated above I agree with wholeheartedly. Mix outside of the cup, use Vallejo’s airbrush thinner and if possible, mix up the thinning sauce by Don Surato. As for cleaning the airbrush, oddly enough use very hot water to flush and clean your airbrush, especially when doing a color change.
At lastly, practice, practice, practice. It takes time to get a feel for it and you have to let it dry to handle the model without fear.
I haven’t heard this one before. Do you just use hottest water out of the tap?
No, boiled water. I usually boil it and keep it in a cup that keeps it hot for as long as I am painting.
I’ll have to give this a try during my next painting session.
Ahoy OMG. Always looking for a better way to do things so I ordered a jug of 4021 a few minutes ago. Thank you for the advice.