Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm looking to paint several new IG tanks a dark blue color with straw colored turrets. I had painted a few many years ago by hand with cheap hobby store paint, but I'm looking to move up in the world a bit in terms of quality (and ease!). Do the airbrush colors match up with any of the regular Vallejo model paints, or do you just finish the model's details with a brush and the airbrush color straight fro the container? I've seen threads talking about diluting/modifying the regular paints to work in an airbrush, but (at least based of Vallejo's description) the airbrush-specific paint should work well (and uniformly) through an airbrush...I guess the bottom line is whether the paint is airbrush-only, or regular paint that is airbrush-capable?

And yes, I'm an airbrush rookie =). My first few airbrushing attempts on my dark eldar using vallejo game paints diluted using the guides here came out with mixed results...

Most of the time you fill the aribrush pot about 2/3 full of paint then the rest of the way with water. I think the regular Vallejo pants would work but I have never tested it.

Have you read MoM's thread yet?
it doesn't have much technique in it but has some good recommendations.

What kind of set up are you using as far as brush and propellant supply. (can/compressor?)

There are a ton of factors that can make airbrushing a great ease.

Check out
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/244602.page

its a serious wall of text but a ton of info.

You can brush on the Model Air paints. They're pretty thin out of the bottle, but still brush on well and require more coats for coverage when brushing by hand.

Well, time to update with the info gained from my research:

Browsing the Warstore's page for the airbrush paints, I was surprised to see there weren't color swatches...at least not that I saw. The regular paints show the color, but nothing for the airbrush colors.

So, no problem...I'll track down the Vallejo website for the colors. Found a nice page with all the colors in the line displayed...but was a little concerned when looking at the yellows (especially) I was interested in, as they all looked really gray. Quick check of the video card, monitor and some test pages showed the computer CAN show yellows, so it must a website issue.

There was, however, a table showing how to match the airbrush colors to other lines' colors. Checking the colors on Federal Standard Color Server proved very useful, with large, easy to distinguish color swatches.

The Vallejo site also had an interesting guide on how to use their product and airbrushes. A few more steps than I had been using (lol), so that may help a bit, too.

My friend has sprayed vallejo model paints with out much probleml. I think he normally has to add more water then the GW foundation paints require.

He actually did this up at my place a couple nights ago.
http://tauofwar.blogspot.com/2009/06/painting-devilfish-warthog.html

No need to worry about Vallejo Yellow Airbrush paint looking grey. I painted this Godzilla backdrop for my kid's collection presentation using Vallejo Yellow, Orange, and Red Airbrush Paints. Overkill for a display I admit, but they were handy and I like using the eyedropper to fill the reservoir straight from the bottle without any mixing (or dilution).