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Hey all, I'm just getting into the world of airbrushing and I've decided to save myself some effort of having to mix up water/windex/paint in large quantities, by buying airbrush paint such as Vallejo Model Air.

Is there any consensus on which airbrush paint ranges are best? Vallejo has always been pretty good, but their model air range seems pretty limited colors wise--they do not even seem to have teal or pink paint, which are two that I particularly need. Most of their paints seem to be natural tones as for historical modeling.

Are there other ranges out there comparable to Vallejo that might have what I am looking for, or just a greater range of colors in general?

ph34r wrote:Is there any consensus on which airbrush paint ranges are best?

No.

You have to remember, Vallejo is somewhat of a new comer to the Air Brush Paint game (even paints in general). There are a lot of companies which have been around for decades longer.

Golden Acrylics and Badger both make some pretty good paints. There are literally dozens of other companies that make great paints which will expand your color choices and are ready to go right out of the bottle. Many of them are far from natural colors (Createx for example - which are probably the #1 in terms of availability and sales). Look at actual art stores a bit - it will expand your horizons in this regard.

http://www.dickblick.com/airbrush/colors/

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/paints.html

A dozen or so different lines right there which should get you started. I have a complete set of Vallejo Model Air paints - but I can honestly say I don't use them that often. The other companies have larger lines of paints already and unless I am doing something which calls out a specific Vallejo color...there is probably a better paint (color/opacity/cost) from a different company.

Thanks for the information. The createx paints look pretty good. For a pale/cold yellow color (I am going to be painting 2000+ points of lamenters), would you think Opaque Yellow would be suitable? I'm not sure if opaque/fluorescent/transparent/pearlyescent is the best for these purposes. I would expect a "transparent" paint to cover decently over white in one coat, right? On the flip side, is "opaque" going to end up covering detial?

I'd guess that there are simple answers but I simply don't have enough experience to know!

Transparents are just that - transparent. Think of it like looking through colored glass. Opaque will provide good coverage. None of them should cover physical detail...unless you try really hard. Florescent are going to be super bright colors...probably most helpful for Slaanesh flavored armies and My Little Ponies. The pearls are going to be flipping colors. When you look at them from one angle they will look a bit different than when you look at them from a different angle (exact change will depend on the base coat color as well as the top coat).

For color choices you might want to look at Freak Flex for the Lamenters. Their Oozing Acid Yellow or Cats Eye Yellow should fit your primary color quite well. You will want to use a drying retarder though with Freak Flex. They are designed to dry extremely fast - but they can end up drying too fast if you are using a low volume brush (work great in my 350 but can cause build up on my 20/20). A thin coat of Aureolian Yellow from ComArt (Iwata Medea's line) or perhaps Golden Hansa Yellow Light would work as well I think.

Primer color will impact a lot of that - though over white primers those should work the part.

Like I said though, I'd probably go with the Freak Flex though. They will be closest to the color you are after without having to mess with any mixing.

Sean_OBrien wrote:

ph34r wrote:Is there any consensus on which airbrush paint ranges are best?

No.

You have to remember, Vallejo is somewhat of a new comer to the Air Brush Paint game (even paints in general). There are a lot of companies which have been around for decades longer.

Golden Acrylics and Badger both make some pretty good paints. There are literally dozens of other companies that make great paints which will expand your color choices and are ready to go right out of the bottle. Many of them are far from natural colors (Createx for example - which are probably the #1 in terms of availability and sales). Look at actual art stores a bit - it will expand your horizons in this regard.

http://www.dickblick.com/airbrush/colors/

http://www.chicagoairbrushsupply.com/paints.html

A dozen or so different lines right there which should get you started. I have a complete set of Vallejo Model Air paints - but I can honestly say I don't use them that often. The other companies have larger lines of paints already and unless I am doing something which calls out a specific Vallejo color...there is probably a better paint (color/opacity/cost) from a different company.

I agree with this...especially the "NO" part.

Personally, I love the vallejo model air, and have a lot of them.

However, I also use some createx and "golden" brand.
I prefer the golden airbrush paints better, but I just fine them finer and that they last longer (although I have had one large bottle of createx black last well over a year...thats impressive for their paint). I get my golden airbrush paints at a high end art store, as they usually don't care them in hobby shops.

I can say, that I have also ordered (via mailorder) from both of the vendors listed, and have been happy with them in the past.

Best of luck!