vulcanologist:
Untill browsing the photos on this site and spotting them in the background shots of member’s workstations I was unaware of the existence of the Vallejo paint range. Having always used Citadel I’d be interested to know a bit more about them…?
GRNDL:
They come in a bottle, flows very nicely, easily thinned. There’s 3 main ranges for mini painting: model colour and game colour. Game colour is the closest to the GW colour and some of the colours are directly equivalent to GWs. There is Model colour, which has been designed for replicating military colours, mostly WW2. There’s a vast array of greens, greys, browns, etc. Then there are the washes, which are basically drawing inks - thinner and more intense than GWs washes, but they don’t come in many colours.
I’d recommend Vallejo, they are very nice paints.
G.2:
Ahhh…the topic of paints. One of my favourite topics.
Here is a summary of my thoughts on Vallejo.
Good Points
1. Dropper bottle - awesome, keeps the paint from drying out. More control of amount of paint.
2. Colour Range - A HUGE range of colours, VGC (game colour) more for the wargamer and as mentioned earlier matches the GW range reasonably closely. VMC (model colour) more “duller” tones, for military models and figures.
3. Price per volume is a LOT better than GWs. You get a LOT more paint for your money.
4. The Metalics are really nice to use.
5. There are a lot of painting guides online, which refer to Vallejo colour codes, which is good.
6. The ink range is nice - I use the Black Ink, and the Smokey Brown (I think that is wash) a LOT.
Bad Points
1. The paint bottles need to be agitated (shaken) a LOT as the paint tends to seperate. I find this happens more with my VMC as opposed to my VGC.
2. I have needed to put a metal ball-bearing in most of my bottles to help with the shaking process.
3. The inks and washes are very vibrant which need to be watered down a lot, well for my style of painting anyway.
Overall, I think that Vallejo is in the top 3 paint ranges, and I personally will keep using them as my prime painting range. I also have a few other paints for various reasons (ie there is no Vallejo equivalent), and these are:
1. Tamiya Trans Red - Good for blood
2. GW Washes - especially Devlan Mud and Badab Black
3. Derivan Paints - REALLY flat finish (i usually mix derivan with vallejo to get the exact finish I like) - this is just my style
Do a google search, and you will find a lot of information about Vallejo paints VS other paint brands.
GRNDL:
4. The Metalics are really nice to use.Actually that reminds me. The metallics don't drybrush very well, IMO. One of my main (cheap) ways of doing metal is painting black (or rusty browns) down and then drybrushing a gunmetal over top of it. When I've done this with Vallejo metallics, the paint goes really dry and becomes tiny particles which flip all out everywhere. It is more like dust than paint. Could be my batches of paint, or how much I shake up the bottles (I find it hard to get a consistent shake/mix without a lot of shaking).
G.2
zobo1942:
This is all really great information!
I went out last week to get some more paint, and the one store in town that sold GW products no longer sells GW anything. I was hoping they’d have some paint kicking around, but the ‘Citadel Colour’ paint stand was empty.
However, the one other store that sells models in town - model train supplies, etc. - have an extensive range of Vallejo paints.
I’ve been spending all my time lately building scenery for ‘Strange Aeons’ - I picked up a Reaper ‘Eldritch Demon’ last weekend that needs some paint to look suitably evil.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and expertise!
EDIT: spelling
Blue in VT:
:hat off
I’m also a big fan of the Vallejo range…I agree that they need considerable thinning most of the time…but the coverage is good and the colors very vibrant. I may need to follow g2’s idea of adding an agitator to the bottle as mixing does take some time. As my old Polly S and GW paints run out this is the brand that I am transitioning to.
If you don’t mind mail ordering your paint you will occasionally come across good sales on these paints too. Don’t disregard the model color range because its aimed at historical armies either…German Feld grau II is really just a great dark green grey.
Let us know what you think when you get to try some.
BTW I still use GW washes and mithril silver…so I can’t comment on Vallejo metallics or washes.
You might also look into the Reaper Master Series…decent paints at even better prices…they have some browns that I really like.
Cheers,
Blue
G.2:
Don’t forget to read this thread as well:
http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=9306
There is some more discussion on the topic of paints, and also some links to external references on the various paint brands.
vulcanologist:
Thanks for all the advice and thanks G2 I was unaware of that thread… Very informative. Wasn’t too long ago I splashed out on the citadel mega paint set but knowing the propensity of GW paints for drying out it probably won’t be too long before some need replacing! I think when they do I may give Vallejo a whirl!
warh:
The only thing I don’t like about Vallejo paints are that my bottles are dried up :P.
vulcanologist:
Hmmm… now I’m confused. I thought one of the plus points of Vallejo was that they didn’t dry out like citadel?
warh:
I guess mine are messed up x.x
G.2:
The only thing I don't like about Vallejo paints are that my bottles are dried up.Really? How did this happen? Do you not put the caps back on them? Do you live in a really hot area? How old are they? When you use them, how long do you keep them un-capped?
warh
Hmmm... now I'm confused. I thought one of the plus points of Vallejo was that they didn't dry out like citadel?Don't be confused, this is exactly correct. They are NOT meant to dry out like the Cidatdel/GW paints.
vulcanologist
vulcanologist:
Ah thanks G2. That’s what I’d heard. think I’ll order a couple of colours that aren’t in the GW range just to try them out.
warh:
Really? How did this happen? Do you not put the caps back on them? Do you live in a really hot area? How old are they? When you use them, how long do you keep them un-capped?I got them when I was new in the hobby (as they where cheaper) about 6-7 years ago, don't know how old they where wen I bought them. I think I might have stored them on top of my computer (bad spot), now I keep all my paints in a cold dark room.
G.2
Moloch:
Hello Guys,
I take this old topic for a few questions. I tried Vallejo colours Yesterday for the first time as I bought the Game Color base set from Amazon.
Metallic colours are very strong but I found very hard to use many of the Others:
-Greens and Browns come too liquid
-it’s hard to cover a surface (it took several coats for each colour)
-I found very hard to wet blend colours.
-Most of colour have a glossy finish.
Is it just my batch that is bad lucked or is it a general issue? I was so excited for Vallejo as I Always read good reviews…
Thank you
Moloch
Admiral:
I’m interested to hear from others here as well (I’ll need to restock my paint chest).
cornixt:
You really need to shake them up well. Really well. The only colour that I have found to still be glossy after a good shake was black.
Red is the worst for separating out. I sometimes remove the tip and stir it up with a stick manually since shaking doesn’t always work very well. But you can really see how much it separates out since the medium is light and goes to the top, making it look pink.