"Vallejo separating and congealing." Topic

I've been having a really hard time lately with my Vallejo paints. They congeal and separate terribly. Even after using them. I don't know if I got bad batches but I bought them from two different places and two different times. It's really frustrating. The only ones that stay thin and mixed are the game air ones and they are too thin for my liking since I brush paint.

Has anyone had any experience with the Foundry paints? Are they a bit better quality than Vallejo?

This set; link

Its 95 pounds which works out to 156CDN. It's free shipping so it works out to 4.33CDN/per paint. Which is slightly cheaper than what I pay for Vallejo here. It might be worth it if the paints are better.

Vallejo Air are thinned for use in air brushes.

Vallejo game color are thinned to be used straight out of the pot.

Vallejo model color are thick and designed to be thinned prior to use.

Which specific ones are you talking about? Vallejo take a TON of mixing (it helps to put a steel ball in the pot).

I use a Robart paint shaker that I bought on Amazon. It helps to get them re-mixed when they separate. I have the same trouble with several makers. Its a great tool. Only takes about 30 sec to a min to bring a pot of paint back to life.

One suggestion I heard was to put your whole set of paints on top of your washer/dryer. Couple of loads of laundry should agitate well. Brand new paints generally benefit from this kind of treatment as they have probably been sitting in the shop for a while. I made a small agitator from an old computer fan, cutting off one fan blade and sticking fishing weights on the other side.

I also add a couple of glass beads (craft store) to each bottle to help mix the paint when shaking.

By separating, do you mean that the paint separates out when you dilute to a wash dilution ? If that, try diluting with a 50/50 matt medium/water mix.

I doubt that a completely new set of paints will solve your issues. Having said that, the wider mouth jars would make it easier to stir the paint with a cocktail stick or something.

Good luck

John

Visit a local fishing/outdoor sport shop. Buy a pack of small lead sinkers. Pop them into you paint bottles as agitators.

Or stainless steel bb's

Hematite beads from the craft store. Dense, inert, won't rust.

Sorry, I should have elaborated a bit. They are all Model Colour and I didn't know that model colour is all super thick. I thought they were used right out of the dropper. That explains a lot.

I do use 6.35mm stainless steel balls inside to shake but I find the paint is so thick the balls move but don't mix much. It's almost like I need to drop thinner into the bottle to make it mix better. Even after shaking it there is some degree of separation after squeezing some out. Maybe I am just not shaking enough.

Tamiya is also cheaper and just as readily available. My local only carries Tamiya, Vallejo Model and Model Air, Humbrol enamels and Model Master acrylics. If given the option I would like to support my local but I don't mind ordering if I will get something that will last me years. I seemed to have had some bad luck lately.

Try one of these:

link

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Martin Stephenson
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Griveton

My conclusion, I won't use them any longer, so the tons I have will be used up – go for Coat d'Armes, or Foundry – just some little shaking and you have a superb colour, really why bothering with agitator balls etc, there is better stuff than vallejo – the only good thing, are the dropper bottles, but you can re – fill Coat d'Armes for example in those dropper bottles as well, and yes I used Vallejo Air, game and model colours – go for Foundry or Coat d'Armes

@Griveton,
No real problems with Vallejo, just need to give them a really good shake to mix up the solvent and pigment. I also use the Air brush solvent to dilute in the palate. Cannot get on at all with Tamiya, they dry so quickly that they ruin brushes.

I hear good things about Vallejo Model Air (even as brush-on) but not Vallejo Game Color. Tamiya clears are actually good for transparent models, and red is particularly known for blood effects.

Do you use a wet palette? Army Painter Zombicide paints and Vallejo Plastic Putty are thick, but a little water on the wet palette fixes that.

Well. Maybe I will try the Vallejo Model Air. I have a couple Game Air metallics and I love them for brush on so hopefully the model air are just as good.

I will also pick up a couple Tamiya and see how it goes.

What I'm finding with my VMC and Panzer Aces paints (I must have 100+) is that even if the paint "sounds" like it's mixing properly, it's probably not. I started back on some Russian Dragoons after a couple years of SAGA, and after my usual shaking of my VMC Andrea Blue and Dark Sky Blue, the paint was so thin as to be unusable. At first I thought the paint had "turned" somehow, but I tried mixing it with a brush handle, and sure enough, the pigment was a thick sludge at the bottom. Now how that will ever get mixed back again, I don't know. I think Santa is going to bring me a paint shaker.

I just "rehabbed" my entire VMC set a couple of weeks ago. Some of the paints that I don't use often needed to be replaced. Out of 200 some odd paints, I had to replace about 10.

I used a Robart paint shaker to remix. I have also added glass beads to act as agitators. I don't like metal because it can rust and because some of the metals can have reactions with some of the pigments. I learned the hard way. I cleaned all the bottles, dropper tips and threads. Those paints that I use infrequently, received a light coat of Vasaline in the threads to help seal the bottle and provide easy opening when I need it again.

If the pigment is in a thick layer at the bottom of the bottle, I will use my "pokey tool" and an old paint brush handle to loosen it back up. Then on to the shaker it goes.

VMC is meant to be thinned prior to use. It's quite thick. I usually use matte medium from Liquitex.

This weekend, I will work on my VGC and the Model and Game Air lines.