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greetings all, I recently just received some vallejo liquid gold paints (old gold, red gold and white gold) in the mail and I'm itching to dive into them, but before I do I want to be sure I have the theory behind their use down first so I don't screw anything up. so when using them I should:

1. shake up and drop some paint on a palette
2. dilute with isopropyl
3. use synthetic brushes and clean said brushes with alcohol.

I understand that water will cause the pigments to oxidize. So my question is how badly will 70% IPA react with the paint since it is 30% water? Obviously the 90% or higher is the way to go, its just hard to find. A lot of stores around me sell 91% but it never seems to be in stock.

Any thoughts?

it would ruin it. i had a bottle of it turn funny on me and i didnt even get any water in it. they are sensitive and have a limited shelf life.

You are going to want the 90%+ variety, it works the best.

Agree with everyone else. 90% is the way to go. I found my little bottle at Target.

Also, i doubt you will need to dilute it. You might, but if you mix it right, i put a lava bead in each of mine as an agitator, and mix it often, like every few mins, you should be fine.

definitely 90%+
I dilute mine a fair bit, just so it's thinner and I can have a bit more control over it. Lovely colours though, so worth the preparation and time.

Alright cool I'll try to track some down. glad I didn't just jump into it then lol thanks all!

Tamiya thinner works superbly with the Vallejo Liquid Golds, both for brushwork and airbrushing.

Be warned; when airbrushing you will need to clean your AB out thoroughly (a quick spritz will NOT do) as the metallic flakes are extremely fine and very hard to get rid of. I strongly recommend an extended ultrasonic bath after cleaning out with thinners.

winterdyne wrote:
Tamiya thinner works superbly with the Vallejo Liquid Golds, both for brushwork and airbrushing.

Be warned; when airbrushing you will need to clean your AB out thoroughly (a quick spritz will NOT do) as the metallic flakes are extremely fine and very hard to get rid of. I strongly recommend an extended ultrasonic bath after cleaning out with thinners.

that sounds nasty. i dont think atomizing that stuff is a good idea at all.

You'd definitely want to wear a respirator (although you'd want that for any airbrushing) and probably get a dedicated airbrush for liquid golds.

Nah, it's not so bad. Generally you're spraying at low pressure for minimal periods of time (that gak's expensive!). I found very little back-spray. I think the only think I AB'd with it were a few pieces on the Stegadon I did a few years back (and that will make a reappearance this year).

winterdyne wrote:
Nah, it's not so bad. Generally you're spraying at low pressure for minimal periods of time (that gak's expensive!). I found very little back-spray. I think the only think I AB'd with it were a few pieces on the Stegadon I did a few years back (and that will make a reappearance this year).

how do you tell the amount of backspray? particulates that small are invisible. like pieces of dust floating around, you can't always see it but it's there.

I normally judge simply on the dust that settles back on my spray area (under my desk for the most part). I should point out I don't spray into a small box, just down at the floor, so there's very little backdraft to carry particulate back.

I've tried various spray booth type setups, and without an extractor pulling air in, the backdraft is enough to create more mess on clean areas than I get simply spraying down and away.

'Course you can't do this unless you've got a 'dirty room' to spray in; if you need to protect your immediate environment from particulate fallout, then the best thing is to have a booth and extractor.