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hey guys/girls

I bought the vallejo game colour paint set (72 colours including box and brushes) a good 5-6 months ago and although i have been thoroughly enjoying getting used to vallejo paints
and how different they are to Citadel paints. I have had some problems with the consistency and viscosity of particular paints and some pigments even seem to be separated. seems to be mostly bright colours such as Gold yellow
that just seem to be to watery and the viscosity of it is totally different when you compare it to cold grey which has a thicker consistency.

Now i know that vallejo paints are naturally thinner than gw paints, but with the particular vallejo colours that are mentioned below it just makes them difficult to paint over any colour,
i usually have use 3 coats of it even I add a layer of foundation paint before hand.


Before you ask stupid questions, I only bought the paint set 5 months ago(brand new at time of purchase), and i thoroughly shake the paints before putting them on my wet pallet.
so from what i can tell I am doing nothing wrong.

Elf Skintone
Gold Yellow
white Primer
pale Flesh
Moon Yellow
Dwarf Skin
Orange Fire
Sun Yellow
Bloody Red
Hot Orange
Imperial Blue
Stormy Blue
Foul Green
Scurvy Green
Dark Green
Escorpena Green
Livery Green
]Bronze Fleshtone
Dead Flesh
Carne Marron Tan
Filthy Brown
Dark Fleshtone


so what my main question is, are these paints suppose to be that thin that it takes several coats to paint on?

and is there anything i can use to slightly thicken the paints, in the same way as paint thinner is there a paint thickener?

or if you have any advice for me it would be greatly appreciated as Im rather enjoying using vallejo paints and do not want to go back to the horrible gw paints.

There are a lot of colors I've gotten in the VGC line that settled quite badly. Dark greens in particular, dark reds, a couple of browns. The bottom half of the dropper bottle would be thick, viscous, and the top thin and not the complete color. I painted for a bit with a couple of them not realizing they aren't supposed to be that thin, I remember Gory Red in particular.

On several bottles I had to pop the dropper top out and mix with a bent paper clip. I bent it into a little paddle like thing, almost a whisk, and had to mix the thin top layer into the sludge at the bottom. After that regular use and a little shake has kept them consistent in viscosity and color.

I also really like the VGC line and after I figured out these issues with the paint settling I've had no real problems.

Ninja'd^^

Hey, i have the VGC boxset too. I've also noticed that some colours are thinner than others. Unfortunatly, i dont know anyway to 'thicken' paint, so i usually just go with it - saves me needing to add thinner to it.

I also have some paints which seem too thick (cold grey, like you, is one paint that is rather think by comparison), but i use the Vallejo thinner and it works out alright.

The main paint i'm using now is Bonewhite. It's really thin in comparison to other paints in the set, but i noticed you haven't listed it with the thin paints in your set. Unless you haven't used it / forgot to add it, is there the potential that some paints are thin in some sets, and not in others? (did that make sense?) I just checked, and filthy brown and Bloody Red aren't 'thin' in my set (you have listed them as thin).

Some of them need a LOT of shaking. Like a lot. Like REALLY a lot. When you think you're done shaking, shake more. Get all your aggression out on these things. Think about all those 1s you rolled for your 2+ saves. Think about Matt Ward. Think about missing a charge by one inch. Think about TFG showing up with 9 vendettas against a fluffy nid army. Think about your cat/dog/lemur jumping on your painting station as you're adding finishing details. Let the rage consume you, then shake them.

I think I saw a thread or article somewhere on Dakka about mixing the Game Color paints...

Edit:

Found it, from Lego himself:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/240098.page

Settling and separation are definitely more of an issue with some VGC paints I have than others (Bloody Red and Leather brown, respectively, for me), but a thorough stir, as well as shaking, seems to sort a good portion of that out.

The variation in coverage from color to color, though, isn't restricted to VGC - it happens in any paint line that charges the same price for different colors. Some pigments are simply "weaker" than others, so it would take more pigment to achieve comparable opacity, which would end up being more expensive for the producer. If you check out quality oil paints, you'll notice that the price varies, by color, for the same quantity - that's a result of more and/or higher quality (and therefore more expensive) pigments being used, as behavior/finish is prioritized over consistency of cost within the line.

Regarding additives, there are thicker (even to the point of "gel") mediums in the usual finishes (matte, gloss, etc.) that you could add to the paints, but that could only improve their working behavior - it actually drops the opacity, as the pigment:medium ratio is lower, so it seems like it would be working against you, considering your issue with thinness appears actually to be an issue with coverage.

TLDR: Stirring will help, but that's just the nature of the beast. You can try other lines for problem colors, but it's a bit of a crapshoot.

they are very hit or miss. some colours are great others are so bad i tossed them in the trash.

i find citadel to be worth the extra money.

I got an airbrush paint mixer (also got an AB) that I use for my Vallejo paints. The thing costs about 10$ on eBay and I had to trim the head down a bit to fit it through the opening of the Vallejo bottle. Other than that it works great for mixing the paints to an even consistency.