Vallejo eye droppers....

[BarryW]

I have decided to switch from Humbrol, mainly acrylics, to Vallejo Model Air for airbrushing main colours with my spanking new Evo Silverline just arrived.

I ordered and promptly received from John some Vallejo paints and three of the empty eye droppers for mixing. This way of dispensing paint just makes so much sense to me.

I am not sure if I have missed something but I was expecting the eye dropper top to unscrew or in some other way to come off allowing me to easily add paint to the container. But as far as I can see its a single unit with just that very small opening and I am left wondering how on earth I can use it!!

Any tips, or have I missed something?

Incidentally, this weekend I will have finished messing around, experimenting and playing with scraps and a (very) old kit stash and will start on my first proper build for 30 years! Decided not to just launch into the 1:32 Revell JU 88 as I am itching to do (then a 1:32 Tamiya Spit) but to get a couple of quick straightforward builds under my belt starting with the Airfix bf109 in 1:48 (trop) and then their new 1:48 Seafire. Looking forward to it but still need to get in a bit of practise with that airbrush first.

 

[Richy C]

If its the clear ones with the red top they do unscrew just pull the clear nozzle tip out - job done , I`ve just recently transfered a load of tamiya acrylics into them for airbrushing ,

Richy

 

[lemoff]

I had a bottleneck of builds when i changed to an airbrush. Had a slight nightmare with the mixing and still havent properly nailed it. It was so much easier when using the vallejo paints (also went from a siphon fed AB to gravity fed). Do you have a siphon fed AB? I had a series of pots and i had to pour into the pot and mix it up.

 

[BarryW]

They do have red tops Richard. I will have a go later - thank you.

Yes, lemoff - I have a cheapo Chinese syphon ab bought for about £20. Been good though for practising and playing around with and I suspect it will still have a role to play applying varnish and such like on larger kits. Found the bottle got in the way when trying out preshading of panel lines and it is such a palaver doing colour changes, even with spare bottles! Watched the Flory videos and realised how much easier a gravity fed brush is and decided to invest in a good one, hence the new arrival. Got a lot of practising this weekend to do!!!

 

[lemoff]

Si has been going on about those vid's, i really must check them out. Yeah, the bottles did get in the way. Its always the way, get something cheap and find out that is the way you want to take things forward and end up upgrading again hehe.

 

[tecdes]

Barry not sure why you would want the bottles for mixing. You can mix straight into the airbrush cup with Vallejo Model Air. One of the beauties of dropper bottles.

I put 20% thinner in first. Then, if a mixture of two colours, I count the drops for each colour. Make a note of the mixture if you need to emulate that colour later. Recently mixed up the same combination a number of times & had perfect matches. Use a good paintbrush to mix up the mixture in the airbrush bowl.

You do not waste any paint & your mixing is at source.

Laurie

 

[Ian M]

The only problem with that Laurie is the chance of crude from the bottle falling into the cup. Also if you are mixing a colour, its a good idea to mix more than you need. Touch-ups in mixed colours are rather hit and miss. Maybe not a problem on a tank but a car or mc and its got to be spot on.

IanM.

 

[tecdes]

The only problem with that Laurie is the chance of crude from the bottle falling into the cup. Also if you are mixing a colour, its a good idea to mix more than you need. Touch-ups in mixed colours are rather hit and miss. Maybe not a problem on a tank but a car or mc and its got to be spot on.IanM.

Interesting observation Ian. Not had any crude through the eyedropper yet. Always wipe the top of the eyedropper to get rid of any dried or partially cured rubbish. Always naturally as I count I watch every drop & so far not had any problems & think it would have to be pretty small to visually miss it.

Not thought of cars but certainly on aircraft not had any problems with matching up. Mosquito at the moment & so far I have had 5 sessions with the same mix colour using the mix in cup method & no problems at all. Think it could be a problem if it is high gloss but with matt there is perhaps some latitude.

Laurie

 

[BarryW]

Ian, Laurie - my thinking was along the lines of tipping any surplus from the ab cup into the dropper for touch-ups etc to save trying to re-produce the same tone. I would tend to make up more than I need anyway and don't like waste! Didn't think of the crude issue but I assume that is minimised or tackled by giving it a good shaking up first. As I gain experience with these no doubt my approach will evolve.

 

[tecdes]

You are right Barry we evolve ways of doing things mainly because this works better than that for the way you think & work. The great thing is not to be pedantic to keep an open mind. One of my difficulties is to try to many ways.

On the crude not much you can do about that as which ever method you go for it is still there. Found if you do store mixed colours use the smallest container possible to contain the paint as I found it dries out. Also push on the sides to push out as much air as possible before making the lid tight.

Laurie

 

[BarryW]

Good tip, thanks Laurie