Hi! I am painting my first figure using Vallejo paints ( 4th figure overall, so I am a newbie!). Actually, the figure is being painted with a combination oils and Vallejo acrylics. I used the Vallejo paints as the base coat with oils as the predominate color overall. I started to do the details such as belts using Vallejo paints. On some of the finer details, my coordination was not so good and I managed to either not get a perfectly straight line or I got a few spots of Vallejo paint on the oil paint coating. Can I safely touch up the small mistakes with another layer of oil paint over the Vallejo paint? In other words, I’ll have a base coat of Vallejo, oil paint layer next with a Vallejo paint mistakes over that. The final layer would be to use another application of oil to touch up the mistakes. Will I have problems with paint cracking with so many layers of different paint? How do you guys correct small paint mistakes?
Thanks Rick! I’ll err on the side of caution and add some extra time between paint sessions. I tend to work on about 4 models at the same time, so the patience game is prety easy for me to play!
The acrylic medium of vallejo is water based, oil is oil based. Water and oil don’t mix, so I bet with a damp brush you could probobly wipe your acrylic off the surface of your oil. I’ve never had any problem with mixing the two and it actually makes it a little easier to clean up the acrylic if you over paint the oil. Painting over oil with acrylic has always been a problem and should eb avoided if possible. The paint wil bead up. I will usually do all my base coat painting first in acrylic, then if I decide to use oils rather than acrylic, I can easily remove the over coating from the under coating if I have an accident. THe durability of acrylic makes it ideal for base coating especially if you are going to be doing a lot of blending with your oils. Just make sure you put a good undercoat on, and that it is cured before starting with your oil work.
Lately most of my figure work has been done with acrylics only. I am a big fan of vallejo.
I always base in Vellejo now. It’s perfect for oils. My oils are usually dry overnight, unless I’m using a color that has particularly high carrier content. I try to avoid that though, and since I spread the oils out, using as little as possible over as wide an area as possible, the paint dries much faster.
I have been known to scrape minor errors like those you describe with the tip of an exacto blade, but it takes a careful hand. You shouldn’t have any trouble just touching up the oils over the acrylic mistakes. I do it all the time. Don’t worry about cracking or anything like that, unless you’re glopping the paint on in thick layers, which you shouldn’t be.
Thanks guys! Reading through all your replies gives me quite a bit more confidence in moving forward with my figure. At least I know now I will not likely screw it up! I am trying to keep all of my paint coats thin, so thickness should not be a problem.
If this keeps going, I may start doing a lot more figures as an alternative to my usual aircraft or space subjects!
