Vallejo game air and pigments

[Theredknight]

I splashed out on a few arriving next week, what are your thoughts on these? I heard the have air was excellent, never used the pigments though.

How do they fare?

[Imren]

I think most people won't have much complaints about the vallejo air paints. They are custom made for airbrushing and I find them smooth and goes on good with airbrush compared to thinned citadel or other thicker paints. Only complaint is that the vallejo air metallics separate much more than the regular non metallics, so you need to shake them vigorously before use. I suggest you throw in either a lead shot or a stainless steel ball from a ball bearing (around 1/4" in diameter, sold for pennies in hardware shops, make sure they are stainless steel, 316L or higher grade) into the bottle and use them as a agitator when shaking, this way the paint gets mixed up much better for less shaking.

 

The vallejo pigments are pretty much the same as the other brand's pigments in terms or consistency and how they go on and behave with fixation with alcohol and such, I recommend to airbrush on the varnish afterwards instead on brushing on, because brushing can mess up the pigment a bit.

[Theredknight]

That's a great idea, I have a load of bbs so will do that for sure.

For smaller metallic areas il paint with brush but tracks etc could be ok as long as it's taped.

Tbh I am new to airbrushing and pigments so il watch a few tutorials and have a play with down practice marines and hopefully will come out good!

I also got some mig stealing pigments old rust for rusted rebar, and a grime one to streak into armour plates and larger models.

Also will have a play with chipping medium from Vallejo too it's like a whole new world of hobby!

[Imren]

yeah, air paints goes on very well with brush. There is a tonne of videos with tutorials, reviews on airbrushing, chipping, pigment painting etc.

 

"awesomepaintjob" and "buypainted" do good airbrushing tutorials. They are a bit more stringent. Then you have "next level painting" doing bunch of tutorials too, but that guy tend to be a bit more gung-ho style in his painting, he also uses very strong highlighting, and don't bother that much with details.

 

For learning brushwork I strongly recommend "AG productions" for basics and layering, his tutorials are very comprehensive, he tend to talk a lot though.

 

For learning to paint non-metallic metal, "Kuro cleanbrush minis" have this amazing tutorial, were he shows how to do red NMM armour. Its a tedious process so I recommend you try this on your fancier character models. Not really for rank and file models.

 

 

 

 

If you want to learn to do your shading/highlighting using the glazing technique, I strongly recommend these two tutorials by "colour of gods", the one of the best glazing tutor out on youtube:

 

 

and

 

[Theredknight]

Wow that is a massive help thank you, at the weekend hopefully all my bits are here, I have to have an assemble of models and can prep ready for an airbrush sesh on Sunday.

What would you recommend to stand them on? Sounds noddy do you use corks and weight them with 2pence coins or something?

[Imren]

This is how  I prep my models:

 

I have a roll of 1 mm brass rod, so I remove mold lines of the parts and then assemble the model up to the point were further assembly will obstruct painting. then I drill 1 mm hole with my pin vice (and a 1mm drill bit, obviously) and pin the sub-assemblies onto corks with brass rod (paper clips work fine too, but I prefer the more ductile brass as it can withstand bends better).

 

Then wash them with warm water with dishwashing detergent and using a toothbrush scrub off release agent and natural finger grease off the model and rinse them in hot water afterwards.

 

I let them dry in a cupboard to prevent dust settling or use a hardryer. Then I use vallejo polyurethane primer and undercoat them and let the undercoat cure for 24 to 36 hrs.

 

Then I start painting.

 

This method might sound tedious but it gives the best results and minimize paint flaking or chipping off (if you varnish them at the end, which you should do with models used for tabletop gaming, not necessary if they are just for display)

[Theredknight]

Might get myself some brass rod and corks on to order then.

No it sounds methodical, and airbrushing is different to brush painting so new techniques and things are required.

I'm looking forward to the challenge and learning new things actually.

I have seen some cracking models done with built up layers from base coats, so hoping to replicate that as best I can.

Practice marines at the ready!