Vallejo woes...

[aurfalien]

... and I thought it was going to be revolutionary and very fun to paint with.

Man I am so very upset.

I've emailed the company and I'm sure they will send me yet again a replacement as I had a silver bottle with a similar gross outcome.

Any one have this experiance with them?

I sat there a good 5 seconds atleast trying to snap the pic. As you can see, gravity had little effect on the paint.

Edited July 12, 2015 by aurfalien

[mike 51]

?????

[aurfalien]

I must be cursed! I try soo very hard and it takes me a long time to build models mainly cuz of paint issues.

I'll get through it, I always end up solving problems but it sure is a frustrating road to a solution.

[Joe Handley]

That's weird, we've sold a decent amout of the stuff at the HTU I work at and I've heard nothing but good things on them.

[aurfalien]

My silver paint would brush on chunky. I'm unsure whats going on as I've read and watched many videos on how great they are.

I just got a bad batch is all.

Do you have any suggestions on how I can de-cream it? Its got lower viscosity then Log Cabin syrup mixed with Elmars Glue and baking soda.

[Joe Handley]

I've never used the stuff (need to get some!), can it be cut with water or alcohol?

[aurfalien]

It gets chunky with alcohol but I tried with distilled water, no dice.

Am trying Flow Aid but still no dice really. I'm waiting a bit to see.

Funny how most pieces I paint with Vallejo I end up stripping, total bummer.

[Longbox55]

Did you get it all from the same source?

[aurfalien]

I got em from varius places at the same time.

They seem to have diff batch numbers on em as well.

[fumi]

Vallejo paint cannot be thinned with alcohol or solvents. Your best bet is their own thinner.

Which line of their paint did you buy?

[aurfalien]

I bought the Model Color line.

I emptied the paint into a glass jar and mixed a few drops of Fow Aid with about 20% distilled water and will let it sit over night.

I had a very hard time getting all the paint out of there bottle.

Its pretty much toast but I have nothing to loose here. I won't buy any more Vallejo fromage until I hear back from them.

Not a real fan of spending good money after bad.

[jbwelda]

are you sure you are mixing it well? first by shaking the living daylights out of it (put a bb or two into the bottle)? because it looks to me like your pigment hasn't been redistributed into the paint after it was separated while sitting on the shelf. I find it pretty odd that you are having problems with something most don't...its kind of like me honestly. but in this case I would cut it with whatever works (their thinner would be a good choice to begin with) and then stir the piss out of it.

jb

[aurfalien]

Well, I couldn't shake it well enough because it was soo full and soo thick, I tried believe me.

The bottle was very hard to clean as well.

Even after getting it in a glass jar, it was like putty. Weird right?!

[Jaguar man 21]

I have one bottle of there paint it's a nice gunmetal silver but I hate using it, it's way to soft when it drys so it just peels right off

[aurfalien]

Actually I looked at all my fluorescent bottles and they are about the same, thick and pasty.

I bought them all from the same vendor and will contact them.

[Mike Chernecki]

You may be getting some paint that is old. I have bought a couple bottles where the paint separated and turned chunky. I took them back to the shop for replacements. You have the Model Color which is the brush paint, so it is thicker. I have learned to shake and test each bottle before leaving the shop. I love this paint and the color range is awesome. Get their airbrush thinner if you are looking to thin their paint.

[Hemified71]

Here's a tip... Don't USE it! There are so many more options & won't give you the problems your having with this Vallejo stuff....

[Brett Barrow]

Model Color is intended to be a brush paint, and for that use it is the finest in the world (IMO). It is thick like an artist's paint, it is meant to be thinned, some colors need more than others.

It needs to be thinned a lot for airbrushing, as much as 1 part paint to 4 parts thinner, maybe even more than that, I don't airbrush it often and it has been a while since I have.

They offer 2 ready mixed (but still a bit thick for me) airbrush lines, Model Air and Game Air.

[aurfalien]

Actaully I just used 2 other colors and they went on wonderfully.

No thinning, no fuss no muss.

To mix, Vallejo suggests to squeeze the bottle and then role around in your palms which I do.

I then drop a few on paper and swirl around with my brush.

EZ PZ.

I do have disltilled water and may get there thinner.

Edited July 13, 2015 by aurfalien

[Skip]

Fluorescent paints no matter what the medium are almost always really opaque, I am wondering if there are not a large amount of pigment in these paints because of that. I've had some experience with the Vallejo paint line, when I begin using any new (to me) paint line I always use their reducers and any other stuff that the manufacturer recommends I figure their Chemists are a whole lot smarter than me. Most of the acrylic paints have a transparent base, which is the paint without pigment, which would be what I would add to a fluorescent paint in the first place no matter who the manufacturer, then add the reducer to get the flow. You may be getting your Vallejo paints from a dealer who isn't moving their stock quickly enough, you're getting old paint that isn't working like it's supposed to. Try using another source before giving up completely.

In your case I highly suspect what has happened (from experience) is that the transparent base in the paint has somehow evaporated to the point you are left with the pigment and very little base. I've had issues with acrylic metal colors as well, again I suspect that it has to do with opacity as well, the metal or Mylar bits suspended in the base are laying down leaving voids where they should be overlapping and or stacking together so the light is reflected back in an even wavelength. Since I began using Alclad paints I've also began using black under the acrylic metal paints, it just gives a better reflection. Use a white base coat under the fluorescent colors to increase their reflectivity.

[aurfalien]

Ah, thanks Skip.

In terms of the bad paint, I noticed a very strong and nauseous oder of Amonia from all of the bad bottles. Not only but when shaken up, they would max out the bottle.

In other words, my good bottles of Vallejo are not topped off to the max and when shaken do not go to the max inside bottle. But these bad bottles would max out when shaken.

Its like they would expand quickly.

Very intersting behavior.

In terms of giving up, I won't as its simply par for the coarse.

[Mr Stock]

Ive never used the fluorescent colours in the range, but I use the Model Color and the Model Air ranges pretty much exclusively and Ive never had any issues with them at all. I stopped using Humbrol enamels 3 years ago and went over to the Vallejo range mainly because there is no smell, I thin them with normal tap water with no problems, the only thing I do myself is to put a top coat of varnish either matt or gloss on them when finished, as someone mentioned here before they are not very durable to touch without.

For clearcoat I use the cheap Decoart hobby acrylics range it works great.

[Mr Stock]

As a sidenote the normal colour ranges can be thinned with water but the metallics are best thinned with Vallejos own airbrush thinner this works very well.

Im not sure if this is the same case for the flou colours.

[DeeCee]

After the first bad experience, i would have binned it, and found something else, as bad paint is one of the worst things to try and fix.

[aurfalien]

Vallejo just got back to me and are sending replacement bottles.

Wow, awesome customer service!

In reality its not there fault if paint sits around for a while and gets dried out so I'm pretty stoked.

Edited July 13, 2015 by aurfalien