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Hi everyone,

I recently got an airbrush and started basecoating with it.
Blood angels army with Vallejo model colour 926 and 947. Basically dark red and blood red.
Then i noticed at the sides of the dropper bottle......contains cadmium.......do not spray..........
Vallejo dont seem to produce the colour equivalents for model air.

Any good recommendations?
I dont feel like basecoating a land raider via brush..........

From the hundreds of videos I have watched on painting, the majority use Vallejo paints (and not the model air) so I don't think you will have a problem.

2.11. I just purchased some bottles of Model Color, and on two of them the label says: Do not spray. The other bottles do not have this advice. Is this an omission? Should this be on all the Model Color bottles?
No, this phrase or a pictogram of an airbrush crossed out, is printed only on some labels in compliance with California Proposition 65, which requires this instruction for all colors which may contain a trace of Cadmium. A total of 38 of the 180 colors of the Model Color line carry this advice ; for more information please see 15. Health and Safety, also see our web page www.acrylicosvallejo.com under Health and Safety and Pigment content per color.

This is direct from the the vallejo FAQ. California is ridiculous in its laws regarding anything. I used to work in a furniture shop and every piece of furniture that came through a port in california had to be stamped 'that it may contain cancer-causing chemicals' even if its infinitesimally unlikely.

Bottom line, I wouldn't worry about it unless you are inhaling the sprayed out paint...

Yeah, unless you are spraying your face with it and screaming "WITNESS ME!", you should be right - provided you are venting your workspace properly (as you SHOULD be doing with an airbrush anyway)

 chromedog wrote:
Yeah, unless you are spraying your face with it and screaming "WITNESS ME!", you should be right - provided you are venting your workspace properly (as you SHOULD be doing with an airbrush anyway)

How will i enter Valhalla then? Mediocreeeeeeeee!

Thanks for the responses!. I'm a bit paranoid as i have a 2 month old baby in my condo. However, i do my airbrushing on the balcony so i guess it should be fine then. Probably will wear a mask just in case. hahaha.

Cadmium is quite toxic, even in small amounts. The reason Vallejo doesn't produce these colours specifically in their model air line, is that they can't produce a toxic airbrush paint and then label it airbrush-friendly.

Generally speaking, you should be fine so long as you're using a mask and working in a well ventilated area. The chance of poisoning is minimal.

That said, you should probably be looking at airbrush-friendly alternate colours. Particularly if you're around a child, or looking to use the colour over a long period of time.

It may be annoying, but it's not worth the risk to your health.

 Joyous_Oblivion wrote:

Bottom line, I wouldn't worry about it unless you are inhaling the sprayed out paint...

Isn't this why we airbrush?

Yeah, my suggestion is: spray with respirator (the dust DOES go everywhere if you spray enough), and let it all settle down or get sucked out for a little while before romping the room without a respirator.

Sounds like the easy solution is to airbrush way away from the family. like in the garage or something.

just make sure its ventilated well and if you are super paranoid, use a mask or respirator.

Apparently everything in California causes cancer so watch out if you ever visit

 Desubot wrote:

Apparently everything in California causes cancer so watch out if you ever visit

Flippin' californians. I've eaten cadmium all my life and it's never done me any... uk... hrk... guh...

I have no idea how dangerous cadmium is or how hard it is to filter out with a mask so I'll not comment on that.

However, it is my understanding that Vallejo is trying to remove cadmium from their line and have been for the past couple of years, so possibly if you buy a pot of colour that is more recent, you might be able to get one which doesn't have cadmium in it.

Cadmium is actually really, really bad to breathe in, and you see it most in red paints. The red paints that don't use cadmium well, kind of suck -- or at least, they used to. I have no idea if this has changed, as manufacturers don't really tell us what they use to create the pigments.

Acute exposure to cadmium fumes may cause flu-like symptoms including chills, fever, and muscle ache sometimes referred to as "the cadmium blues." Symptoms may resolve after a week if there is no respiratory damage. More severe exposures can cause tracheo-bronchitis, pneumonitis, and pulmonary edema. Symptoms of inflammation may start hours after the exposure and include cough, dryness and irritation of the nose and throat, headache, dizziness, weakness, fever, chills, and chest pain.

Inhaling cadmium-laden dust quickly leads to respiratory tract and kidney problems which can be fatal (often from renal failure). Ingestion of any significant amount of cadmium causes immediate poisoning and damage to the liver and the kidneys. Compounds containing cadmium are also carcinogenic.[11]

The bones become soft (osteomalacia), lose bone mineral density (osteoporosis) and become weaker. This causes the pain in the joints and the back, and also increases the risk of fractures. In extreme cases of cadmium poisoning, mere body weight causes a fracture.

The kidneys lose their function to remove acids from the blood in proximal renal tubular dysfunction. The kidney damage inflicted by cadmium poisoning is irreversible. The proximal renal tubular dysfunction creates low phosphate levels in the blood (hypophosphatemia), causing muscle weakness and sometimes coma. The dysfunction also causes gout, a form of arthritis due to the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joints because of high acidity of the blood (hyperuricemia). Another side effect is increased levels of chloride in the blood (hyperchloremia). The kidneys can also shrink up to 30%. Cadmium exposure is also associated with the development of kidney stones.

Other patients lose their sense of smell (anosmia).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_poisoning

I'm pretty sure your N95/G95 (painter's) respirator will filter it out. After all, guys who use the BIG spray things of paint for the interior or exterior of your house -- have to deal with the same type of pigments.

You don't want to be breathing in vapourised paint. You especially don't want to be inhaling Cadmium. Or Cobolt (which some of the paints also contain). It may seem like overkill, but I usually don something similar to this when airbrushing.



An organic vapour respirator, the type they use in paint shops. Don't half make a difference even if your room is well ventilated.

For a complete list of Vallejo Cadmium containing paints, including their game colour range, check this list. It's in quite a few more than you realise. A while back, I discovered this as I was about to airbrush with a VMC paint and noticed the warning on the side. After some research, I found the above list. Vallejo is removing Cadmium from their paints, but its slow and stock takes a while to sell out.

I second the above mask, I wear one as well, even if it's just for a quick spray.
Just make sure you get the right filters. Some of the cheaper ones do not wok with paint.
Skimping money on your lungs is a silly thing to do.

I use this one -- in my area, the prefilters (the ones that capture most of the paint) are much cheaper. It's amazing how discolored they get after just a short amount of use.



If anyone is interested, respirators have an N P or R designation, and a number, like 95 or 100. The short version:

N means not resistant to oil aerosols, and toss it after 8 hours of use.
R means resistant to oil, and toss it after 8 hours of use
P means it can be reused (and filters oil aerosols -- I think it stands for oil-proof, but I could be wrong)

The number after, comes in 3 versions, 95, 99, and 100, which designates how much of the particles are picked up, 95%, 99%, or 99.97%. So the dustmask type will generally say, like, N95. Which means you use it once or twice, and then toss it.

The masks like the one that zemeister posted up (or the McCordick one I use) are called "half-face respirators" and usually rated P95, which is what painters use. The full-face respirators cover the entire face, including the eyes.

You really want a two-stage mask for airbrushing acrylics, because the prefilter captures almost everything, and is cheap to replace; the single cartridge respirators will get used up just as fast, and then you need to replace expensive filters. In addition, you'll be wearing it for quite some time, so buy one that's TPE or silicone. They are MUCH more comfortable than the cheaper alternatives. Expect to pay $35-$50 in North America.

Also, having one of those $100 airbrush booths (Masters, Paasche) that you can get from Amazon will suck up most of the overspray. Or, you can rig one up yourself with wood or cardboard, a furnace filter, and a fan in a box with an exhaust.. All you just want something behind the area you're airbrushing to suck up air through a hepa filter, and then exhaust the rest "somewhere" -- preferably out a window, but just away from you into another box will work fine, since the paint particles are pretty heavy and naturally settle (and absorb into porous materials like cardboard/paper).

Hope that helps

Quite a lot to consider. Thanks for the response everyone.
Those masks look expensive......but better safe than sorry.
The spray booth wont work for me, my hobby den doesn't have a window, i'll have to settle airbrushing at the balcony.

 Talys wrote:
... sound advice ...

Nice post, exalted. Definitely don't skimp on masks and filters. 3M are a solid brand to start with. As has been said, don't skimp on equipment when it's used for personal safety.

Bluedorian wrote:
Quite a lot to consider. Thanks for the response everyone.
Those masks look expensive......but better safe than sorry.
The spray booth wont work for me, my hobby den doesn't have a window, i'll have to settle airbrushing at the balcony.

You should probably make a small booth out of cardboard then if its going to be outside where a cross breeze might mess you up

Good ventilation is best IMO when airbrushing. Even if you have a mask, don't forget your eyes are thin membranes that can absorb chemicals very easily. Better safe than sorry and just get the fumes away from yourself as fast as possible (not saying to not use a mask, but my order of priority is extraction > mask).

I'll echo what Desubot said, be careful when airbrushing outside or near an open window. It may *sound* like a great idea but a sudden breeze at the wrong time can blow an epic cloud of fumes straight in to your face. At work whenever I have to get someone to work with potentially harmful chemicals I point them toward the fume cupboard with its extraction fan rather than the great outdoors with its fickle winds for that reason.

Yeah, heavy metals in general are bad news to breath-in.
I was after GW a few times on if Cadmium was in their paint and never heard anything.
It is hard to clean-out lungs so the mask is a must I figure.
Also look for masks that protect against "bio-solvents" when priming with rattle-cans. Venting well is the ideal but winter poses some challenges.