Time for a change

[Steve Jones]

Kindly let us have your feedback Steve

Most definitely Bob, but dont hold your breath! I have a couple of months left on my current build which will be Vallejo through and through. So hopefully by the end of the year I will have some feedback for you all from an armour weathering point of view

 

[BattleshipBob]

Cheers Steve, by then my room should be ready lol.

Wondering what it's like to brush as well??

 

[Steve Jones]

I'm sure Pete will be of great help as well. If you are still looking in Pete I would be interested in knowing which primers and varnishes you use. I have Tamiya and Mr Surfacer primers.

 

[SteveH]

Hi Steve,
Can't add much to the paint variety discussion as I use anything, and these days tend to get a colour set that suits my requirements for each build.
On the cleaning front, I moved to a sonic cleaner, with just water and a little WUL, and put the dismantled body of the AB in straight after use to both soak and stay until it is needed again.
All the seals are Teflon, which seem to be OK in water, so far
I did use a propriety sonic cleaning liquid at first, which even diluted by 90% stripped the chrome off my AB!!!
It does still work just looks very dull!
The generic brand sonic cleaner was about £25 on Amazon and does an excellent job on jewellery with the cleaning liquid, many brownie points from Anna!
I have found a stainless steel nut and a little thinner in my older bottles of Vallejo and a centrifugal mixer, again a generic about £25, do mix them up reasonably well that I can use some that are years and years old.
Not quite what you are looking for, but possibly a little help whilst you transition to a new brand?
Have fun
Regards
Steve H

 

[Dave Ward]

It seems a bit premature to ditch all acrylics, because of a problem you have with Vallejo, many other modellers use them successfully, including myself - have you stored them properly? I see modellers benches' with racks of paints behind - all open to sunlight.......... I store my paints in a plastic toolbox, in the dark! I also try to store them on their side, although having a load of paints means that's less possible ( unless I buy another toolbox! ). I always add a ball bearing as an agitator to all paints that don't have one. A bag of 4mm stainless steel ball bearings has lasted me the last 5 years. I always shake the bottles for a few minutes, leave them for an hour or so, then give them another shake before use. I always use tap water to thin - the local water is very soft, so no problems with lime scale.
I have a load of different paints, Vallejo, MiG Ammo, Hataka - and my favourite at the moment AK Generation 3 paints. I do have one-off pots of acrylic Revell, Humbrol, for specific colours.
As my old stocks of paint run out, I'm gradually replacing them with AK3 - I brush & spray with it, and I can't say I have any problems with it, apart from the usual airbrush hiccups. One of the reasons why I went away from enamels & other solvent based paints was the smell - I live in a flat & don't have any outside areas to spray in, and I don't want that paint odour hanging around for days!
I'll be interested to read about your final decision.................
Dave

 

[Jim R]

Just a thought. If the Mr Hobby aqueous range are similar to Tamiya, which don't brush paint particularly well, then maybe they don't either?

 

[colin m]

I used MRP once and it was awesome but I had a blinding headache and it stunk the house out

I use MRP these days, with an extractor fan and mask, no headache and the smell is reduced - not totally gone, but enough.
The funny thing is, with my current build, I went back to water based acrylics (because I wasn't wasting MRP on this build) and have suffered all sorts of spraying problems. I am really looking forward to getting back to MRP.

 

[stillp]

I'm sure Pete will be of great help as well. If you are still looking in Pete I would be interested in knowing which primers and varnishes you use. I have Tamiya and Mr Surfacer primers.

I don't usually prime Steve. I have used Revell primer and Stynylrez occasionally. For varnish, whether matt, satin or gloss, I use Galeria, just £8 a big bottle from The Range, sprays well straight from the bottle.
Pete

 

[Steve Jones]

Hi Steve,
Can't add much to the paint variety discussion as I use anything, and these days tend to get a colour set that suits my requirements for each build.
On the cleaning front, I moved to a sonic cleaner, with just water and a little WUL, and put the dismantled body of the AB in straight after use to both soak and stay until it is needed again.
All the seals are Teflon, which seem to be OK in water, so far
I did use a propriety sonic cleaning liquid at first, which even diluted by 90% stripped the chrome off my AB!!!
It does still work just looks very dull!
The generic brand sonic cleaner was about £25 on Amazon and does an excellent job on jewellery with the cleaning liquid, many brownie points from Anna!
I have found a stainless steel nut and a little thinner in my older bottles of Vallejo and a centrifugal mixer, again a generic about £25, do mix them up reasonably well that I can use some that are years and years old.
Not quite what you are looking for, but possibly a little help whilst you transition to a new brand?
Have fun
Regards
Steve H

Hi Steve. Thats very interesting. May well be worth looking into for the near future. Many thanks.

It seems a bit premature to ditch all acrylics, because of a problem you have with Vallejo, many other modellers use them successfully, including myself - have you stored them properly? I see modellers benches' with racks of paints behind - all open to sunlight.......... I store my paints in a plastic toolbox, in the dark! I also try to store them on their side, although having a load of paints means that's less possible ( unless I buy another toolbox! ). I always add a ball bearing as an agitator to all paints that don't have one. A bag of 4mm stainless steel ball bearings has lasted me the last 5 years. I always shake the bottles for a few minutes, leave them for an hour or so, then give them another shake before use. I always use tap water to thin - the local water is very soft, so no problems with lime scale.
I have a load of different paints, Vallejo, MiG Ammo, Hataka - and my favourite at the moment AK Generation 3 paints. I do have one-off pots of acrylic Revell, Humbrol, for specific colours.
As my old stocks of paint run out, I'm gradually replacing them with AK3 - I brush & spray with it, and I can't say I have any problems with it, apart from the usual airbrush hiccups. One of the reasons why I went away from enamels & other solvent based paints was the smell - I live in a flat & don't have any outside areas to spray in, and I don't want that paint odour hanging around for days!
I'll be interested to read about your final decision.................
Dave

Hi Dave. I certainly don't want to ditch acrylics as they are easy to use and clean up. I really do think storage is an issue. My model room is like a furnace during the summer and freezing during the winter. I certainly like yours and Steve's idea of putting something in the paint pot to help with mixing. However the very small particles of solid paint cause all the issues. I really do like the idea of a paint that spans the gap between acrylic and lacquer. I am going to look at Mr Hobby and AK3. I will certainly store my paints in a cool part of the house from now on. Many thanks for the input.

Just a thought. If the Mr Hobby aqueous range are similar to Tamiya, which don't brush paint particularly well, then maybe they don't either?

I will stick with Vallejo for the brush work

I don't usually prime Steve. I have used Revell primer and Stynylrez occasionally. For varnish, whether matt, satin or gloss, I use Galeria, just £8 a big bottle from The Range, sprays well straight from the bottle.
Pete

I am Mr Galeria as well. Always have a big tub on the side. I had issues again with Stynylrez getting clots in it. Again could be a storage issue for me. Many thanks for the reply

 

[Jim R]

Putting something into Vallejo paint containers to help agitate when shaking is a good idea. I don't use ball bearings but I use nuts - stainless steel so they don't rust. I sort of feel they work better and can't block the dropper nozzle.

Jim

 

[Andy T]

Hey Steve.

I could never get on with Vallejo but as far as water based acrylics go I found the AK3 much better through the airbrush and they brush very well too.

My favourite for the airbrush were definitely lacquers though, like Mr Color and MRP, but as you say, the smell can be an issue for some. The smooth application, very little tip dry, and durability more than made up for that for me.

I did have a quick play with a couple of the Mr Aqueous and found them to work very well in my limited tests.

As far as hairspray chipping goes the lacquers will chip as long as you don't put too much on, they're just a little harder to get started. Not that my efforts were ever anywhere near as good as yours as you know

If you want to try any of the above give me a nod and I can send you a few, since I haven't had chance to get to the bench for a very long time!

 

[Steve Jones]

Hi Andy

I have started my Mr Hobby collection. I have two so far LOL. I will get JR to PM you as I cant send or receive PM's and he can give you my email address and we can then have a chat. Thank you very much for your kind offer. Speak soon

Steve

 

[Mark1]

Ive just started with mr hobby too,so far so good,levels out really nicely, think ill order some rapid thinners next time it may dry a bit quicker and is recommended for metallics.

 

[Steve Jones]

I have just brought a big bottle of the Mr Hobby 400 thinner. I will see how they airbrush and take it from there.

 

[JR]

Steve I had terrible trouble with paint from Vallejo clogging up .After a change to AK3 gen I've been pleasantly surprised, even more so when I changed to a .5 needle. Some may laugh at the size but gentle trigger control gives a nice coat .Use about 30 % thinners .

Oh and just back flow the cup after use, remove all the paint and flush through with thinners , that never worked before either .

 

[Mark1]

I have just brought a big bottle of the Mr Hobby 400 thinner. I will see how they airbrush and take it from there.

Thats what im using at the moment, when dry parts seem to take handling and masking tape no problem without a varnish coat.

 

[Steve Jones]

If you want to try any of the above give me a nod and I can send you a few, since I haven't had chance to get to the bench for a very long time!

JR cant PM you as you are not a member either. Let me know any other ways to contact you privately. If not go to my site and my email address is in the ABOUT section

 

[Andy T]

No worries Steve.

JR & I keep in touch via Messenger so I'll shoot him my email address to forward on, if he doesn't mind.

 

[JR]

Of course being of an age that I only recognise people on here by their avatar ( much the same as when you wave to a passing car ) I didn't recognise that it was Andy.
Thought it strange when I suddenly had a message on Messenger, it was only then that the penny dropped !
Glad to say that I was able to connect both of them .