Hi Guys,
I’ve just invested in some Vallejo paints. They are a new product for me, and while they brush on flawlessly, I cant get them to work in my trusty Paasche H. I’m using Vallejo’s thinner and drying retardant in a 60/40 paint to thinner ratio. It works well for a few minutes but soon it starts spattering or completely dries in the airbrush, clogging it up solid. Any tips pointers or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
Frustrated in SoCal
TIA
Rick
Rick, the problem is you’re using Model Color through an airbrush. They’re meant for brush painting, not airbrushing, and hence are very thick. Model Air is meant to be shot through an airbrush. That being said, if you thin Model Color sufficiently, it will spray. Personally, if I’m going to airbrush Model Color, and I do so only when I have to, I thin it about 60 or 70 percent thinner to paint. Vallejo’s thinner contains a retarder, I’m told, so you many not need the extra retarder. A lot will depend on your nozzle / needle size, a larger clearance being better for these paints. The pigments in Model Air are ground finer than Model Color specifically to pass through the nozzle and needle.
My big tip would be to use the Model Air line for airbrushing, it will cause you a lot less grief. There are some colors only available in Model Color, so I only airbrush those when I need to, but mostly I use the Air line of products without much issue.
The other thing is that they are acrylics and therefore prone to tip drying, nature of the beast.
I know I love Vallejo’s paints, I would recommend them highly, so I don’t think you’ve made a bad investment at all.
Hope that helps you.
Rick;
I’ll second what Andrew said, and pass along a couple of things that work for me.
I thin the Model Air colors as well although not as much. the key is the consistency. Here is the “formula” I use:
I am spraying at about 18psi.
I use Flo-Aid from Liquitex to help with the tip dry. I don’t use a retarder. That seems to just help keep the paint from drying as quickly on the kit. The Flo-Aid seems to keep the tip dry to a minimum.
I use a couple of drops of Flo-Aid, a couple of drops of distilled water. These go in FIRST. I then add in the color. Thicker colors take more thinning.
Stir it around in the bowl of the airbrush with a toothpick or an old brush.
Spray onto something to start getting the paint to flow. The initial result will be more water and the Flo-Aid which is normal. Keep a Q-Tip handy soaked in distilled water. the darker the color and/or the thicker the paint, the more it will dry on the tip.
I find once I stop spraying and do some other moving/prep/whatever, I need to take the Q-Tip and wipe off the tip.
I usually don’t spray for more than a minute or two without stopping and checking the tip. If you are going for a single color large surface coverage, I would dial up the air pressure and move back a bit from the model and it should give you a longer spray time.
I NEVER mix up too much paint in the bowl of the brush. I would rather do another mixing and keep going than have too much and either throw it out or find that the mix wasn’t right. I am in Arizona, so the humidity is very low and that will effect the drying of he tip too.
PRACTICE until you find the mix that works. I do about 80% “eyeballing” and 20% past hard amounts when I am doing it.
Hope that helps.
John
I’ve airbrushed Vallejo Model Air. It clogged my Paasche H w/ a 0.5mm nozzle. I had to add a retarder and Flow-Aid to prevent problems. Even so Vallejo occasionally clogged it after a few minutes. I no longer airbrush Vallejo stuff.
Tamiya acrylics, however, have never given me a problem even in a very long painting session. I’ve had zero problem shooting them through my Iwata HP-B+ (0.2mm nozzle) and HP-CS (0.35mm nozzle).
If you want Vallejo, I guess you have to find your own formula to make it work.
I do occasionally use some Tamiya on armor kits and they spray very well. They are alcohol based and dry even faster than the Vallejo at least for me. They don’t have near the color selection as either Model Master or Vallejo, so they don’t get much use for me when it comes to the RLM colors.
Kind of like airbrushes; no such thing as a “best” choice.
John
Thanks guys for all the pointers and wisdom. I’ll have to do some more experimenting with these paints and check out the model air line. I always have my trusty Tamiya and Model Master Acryls.
With a free app like imodelkit, it’s easy to accurately mix Tamiya acrylics to get RLM colors. I mix paints all the time and know some people don’t like to mix.
Stick with the Tamiya and you’ll be alot happier. I thin it with 91% Isoprophyl Alcohol. Their own thinner is nice too. The mixing colors is easy once you get the hang of it. I tried Vallejo Air and could not stand it…absolutely horrible…
Joe
I have to agree with everyone else here. I prefer Tamiya paints. They are just the easiest to work with. Most of the time I pour straight from the bottle with little or no thinning and the always spray well. I recently used some Vallejo Air, and it was fickle to say the least! Once I dialed it in, it worked and looked great, but man was it a chore to get it right! I have some Vallejo model paints too, but have not tried any hand brushing with them yet, but the Air products…well, you do have to work with them a bit to get them right. So you are not along on this issue! [;)]
Eagle90
That looks like a cool app, thanks. I will check it out. I am one of those who doesn’t like a lot of paint mixing. I have a Revell 1/48 F-18 sitting around that I got for less than $20, so I might try some Tamiya on that is it will be just two colors for the whole thing.
Vallejo Model Color brushes great. I really like their bottle design where I can get just what I need without using eye droppers and the like. I wish the others would adopt that idea.
John
You can buy 20 Vallejo-like bottles for like $5 on eBay. I use them to store IPA, Windex & my own paint mixes. Vallejo is great for hand-brushing. I have 60+ Model Air & Color paints and use them only for detail painting.