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seems a bit of a silly question, I know

I'm approaching the end of my pot of old GW chaos black and thinking about what I should replace it with. I'm very partial to dropper bottles (sooo much easier for mixing), so army painter matte black and VGC 051 chaos black are obvious contenders. I've never seen either of these in person, though, so I have no idea how shiny/matte they are. I *think* I'd prefer something more on the matte end of the spectrum; I can always mix in some GW 'ard coat if I need it shinier. also worth noting is that I'll be investing in an airbrush in the next few months so airbrush compatibility would be another thing for me to consider.

any suggestions?

Both vgc chaotic black and model air black are great choices. They dry very matte. I often just use model air black because it doesn't need to be thinned, you'd have to thin the vgc for your airbrush though that's pretty easy to do.

I find that a 5:1 mix of the new Abbadon Black and Kantor Blue (GW base line) create a nice matte black that also has a fair amount of depth to it. Works wonders when thinned with a bit of vallejo air medium (windex will also work as a thinner if nothing else is available) and airbrushed as a base coat.

One of the few Vallejo game colours I don't like is the black. When watered down it becomes very very streaky, white greyish streaks, really bad. Chaos black always worked for me quite well.

heh, ok so that's one vote for and one vote against VGC black then. how about the army painter black; anyone have any experience with that? regarding the vallejo model air black, just how thin is it when brushed in instead of using an airbrush? is it going to take a lot of coats to get good coverage?

If you want a really matt black and a dropper bottle then vallejo model colour negro black is the obvious choice.

Reaper is probably very good too but as you cant get them easily in the uk i have no experience with those

Orinoco wrote:One of the few Vallejo game colours I don't like is the black. When watered down it becomes very very streaky, white greyish streaks, really bad. Chaos black always worked for me quite well.

hmm, I've never had problem watering down vgc black or streaking, especially white grey streaks, in fact quite the opposite for me as gw black would streak and dry with brush strokes even when thinned while VGC black always dries smooth as silk for me.

As far as the model air black, i usually get good coverage with one coat(mostly for blackening in details after an all over basecoat with a different color) but it dries so fast that if a second coat is needed i can put it on very quickly. Its thin enough that it sort of just glides off the brush. I've started using the model airs with a brush more often, the other colors have a transparancy to them that are great for blending, Especially building up reds. It takes a little practice to use them with a brush, they are definitely slippery .

Oh and Skippy, the bottle is labeled with both the Spanish and English name of the color on the bottle (Vallejo is based in Spain) ,the full name is not both words put together. I wouldn't get into the habit of calling it NEGRO Black as someone might take offense to it not realizing its just the Spanish word for the color and you just read it as you saw it. I'm not saying that's how you meant it just that its something you should look out for.

FYI I first noticed that on a youtube video where a guy read the label the same way and then joked " wow, the most offensive name for a paint I've ever seen"