vallejo paint feeling soft and sticky

[William1707821657]

Hello all , I recentley picked up some vallejo model colour "Desert yellow" which i then brushpainted onto my Tiger tanks exhaust shield , the paint was mixed 50/50 with their thinner , i left it to dry i repeated this another 2 times until i was happy with the finish , once i then went to glue it onto the rear of my tiger , i noticed that the paint didnt feel quite right , baring in mind how hot it is and it could just possibly be sweat , but it felt soft and a little tacky when i pulled my finger off , i cant remember if i have talked about this before however this only happens with lighter tones like yellows and whites etc

Many thanks

Will

[Ratch]

Why did you thin it? I use straight from the bottle.

[William1707821657]

Why did you thin it? I use straight from the bottle.

Model colour is way too thick to be brushed , I assume you think im using model air?

[Ratch]

No it isn't. I use VMC straight from the bottle and it works. You seem to be obsessed with thinning. Even in this very hot weather, all I've had to do is dip my brush in water before loading the paint on my brush as is starts to dry on my pallette. I only use VMA in my airbrush.

[William1707821657]

No it isn't. I use VMC straight from the bottle and it works. You seem to be obsessed with thinning. Even in this very hot weather, all I've had to do is dip my brush in water before loading the paint on my brush as is starts to dry on my pallette. I only use VMA in my airbrush.

im painting a large surface , and using vmc straight from the bottle is too thick , i get brushtrokes everywhere and im not pushing or playing with the paint , hence for large areas like a fuselauge and wing i thin the paint down to neutralise them however even with some of my revell paints i still get strokes even when i thin

[Ratch]

Then try another brand

[William1707821657]

Then try another brand

I Have! like the first time you told me to , i have tried 3 times! humbrol , revell  now vallejo , I dont see how you can simply paint   a  large surface without thinning! all the tutorials say to thin the paint for better coverage and to eliminate undesirable brush strokes! 

[Peter s]

I'm with Ratch on this one. Keep your brush wet with tap water and model colour brush paints perfectly. Model AIR brush paints perfectly if you let it sit in the palette for 10 mins to dry a little and thicken up. I've said it before but the problem isn't the paint. You've tried the major brands. You either have bad brushes (I've got kids ones at 10p each I use once for glue etc which are useless to paint with. Stiff nylon bristles.... I've got a huge collection of varying quality and to do a large area I use a large soft brush) or more likely there's a problem with the surface you're painting. You either need a better primer or to wash the parts in soapy water (or better still do both) 

[peebeep]

One thing, you don't say what type of brush you're using, you need to invest in some flats for wide areas.

[peebeep]

The forum is not letting me link, I would also suggest doing a Youtube search for Quick Kits painting and Quick Kits wet palette, Owen does good tutorials and I think you might find them useful.

[William1707821657]

The forum is not letting me link, I would also suggest doing a Youtube search for Quick Kits painting and Quick Kits wet palette, Owen does good tutorials and I think you might find them useful.

I use  wide brushes on larger areas , and im friends with owen , i simply hate brushpainting , its generally making me want to just give up , i always find a one imperfection and just chuck the model in the bin

[William1707821657]

i honestly dont know on how somebody can brushpaint a large area with with vallejo paint and no thinner! it must have strokes everywhere as vallejo model colour is such a thick paint , i find this forum so confusing sometimes and at times i dont know what to listen to

[Ratch]

Have a look in the Aircraft Forum for my 1/24 Hurricane (in black), that was brush painted!

I have never thrown a model away (before finishing it). Correcting mistakes is part of the learning process. I was told that a bad workman always blames his tools so have looked for methods that suit my skill set.

[Peter s]

Again I'm with Ratch on this one & it influences my choice of model. I'm rarely happy with my bare metal finishes so tend to stay clear & stick to weathered WW2 cammo but my cold war jets look OK too, especially my air defence grey RAFs. I HAVE binned a few models either because I've made such a catastrophic mess that the end result will not be what I should be achieving or because of a major problem with a "substance". I had a few badly blistered when Humbrol varnish and Vallejo model air did not agree with each other. If you saw the R...... Bf109F the moderators kindly let my picture with my recent Heinkel at one point I was so unhappy with that I used paint stripper and took it back to bare plastic. 

PS If you need a confidence boost why not get something mono-colour like a defiant or black widow and try a can of black rattle paint? Tamiya matt black etc?

[Dad Paul B]

Most paint manufacturers show some variability in consistency. I have had both Humbrol and Vallejo paints that have been runny or quite thick and in need of thinner. I use water for both most of the time (though I tend to favour thinner for primer coats). I am not sure why you are having issues with curing as acrylics tend to dry pretty quickly, especially when it is hot. It sounds like the thinner isn't evaporating very well, something I come across more with enamels (the old Airfix brand enamel often took days for the gloss finish to dry properly).

Try a test strip - neat paint, thinned with water and thinned with thinner on a scrap of plasticard for comparison.

[William1707821657]

Okay firstly I'm not using "Bad" brushes , I'm using royal and langnickel synthetics , the paint is yellow , which if Im correct has a much finer ground pigment, I thin because on the humbrol  YouTube channel they show a step by step guide on how to make your first airfix kit they advice thinning your paint for a smoother finish , I have been on other forums and they say Vallejo is very thick and requires thinning so that's why I use vallejos Thinner medium ,  when painting large areas with my WIDE brush I prefer their thinner as I find the paint keeps its strength whereas with TAP water it's a little weaker , I have spoken to other Modellers and have agreed that yellows are weaker as their pigment is more finely ground ,  i Left the paint for a drying time of 30 minutes as that's what I found on google if that's not right then shame on vallejo for not putting the drying time on the bottle 

[Ratch]

Drying times vary with the ambient temperature.

[Kidge]

How about trying vallejo airbrush thinner. The vallejo thinner medium is very odd and i dont quite know why it even exists. The airbrush thinner works just as well with model colour as it does with model air. I use Model air through my airbrush with jsut a touch of thinner but i use model colour again with a dash of thinner to paint figures. Model colour is not an extremely thick paint as you have come to believe. It actually behaves wuite nicely and thinned to 60:40 ish ratio, it brushes beautifully...Also however well you apply paint, the use of the hairy stick has its limits, you may have to come to terms with that.

Hope that helps.

[Peter s]

Will.S: I've just heard "YELLOW" and in my head I'm hearing Klaxons going off. The sort of bright yellow you'd paint an RAF Sea King with is the devils colour! They tend to have a semi-translucent nature to them and unless applied over white give a horrible effect. My models took a quantum leap forward when I learnt to prime models that need yellow in white, paint the yellow first and mask off.

 

Can you please tell us what model you're working on? I wanted a couple of hours easy modelling at the weekend and did the Vintage Classic Hawker Demon start to finish in a couple of "man hours" (ie did ten mins work and came back a few hours later etc), largely due to an old can of Humbrol aluminium spray paint I had to hand. You might want to try similar if you're doing a large area of yellow. Prime in white, rattle can in yellow & see what happens. I found the Humbrol aluminium left a surprisingly rough surface and the bits I hand painted over the top went on really nicely as it made a good combination main coat and primer in one go.

 

In normal temps 30 mins sounds fine for touch dry acrylic drying time. I'd leave it 24 before using masking tape though.

[Aad Gadgie]

I occasionally use Vallejo Model Colour, but usually through my airbrush.  I thin it with a homemade concoction of Isopropyl Alcohol & water.  In fact, it's about two thirds water.  So, if someone is putting water on their brush before putting it in the paint, they are actually thinning the paint with water, not using it straight from the bottle. Still, if it works, do it. 

[PanzerMeister12]

Hello Will, I have encountered this problem before...O would strongly advise investing in a wet pallet which will pre-thin your paints, I know the next one is pretty basic but also shaking paints vigorously for 30 seconds before application also helps...but if you dislike brush painting I would advise spray paints...maybe tamiya's TS series would be good.

Hope the helps.