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Title says it all. Recently got some Vallejo Game Air as a gift and my god, the finish on these is awful. I've air brushed Citadel paints before and they go on smooth when watered down properly and have a very even finish but this VGA is awful. Issue seems to be happening with VGA Bonewhite. Finish is rubbery, "flesh" like (when I drag my finger along it skips, due to resistance?) and this is AFTER 24 hours drying!

Spoke to Vallejo who had my read them the batch but I seem to have this issue (to a lesser extent with VGA Black and VMA Grey. Is this just how these paints dry? Am I doing something wrong? I put some stainless steel nuts in the Bonewhite bottle and shaken it around but issue persists. Tried diluting 50/50 thinner with flow improver, nothing. Is this the kind of garbage quality I can expect from the fabled Vallejo? :(

Are you getting moisture in your airbrush?

Definitely doesn't compare with my experience of it.

It sounds like what happens with a reaction to the wrong kind of thinner.

Something up with your mix, maybe? What are you thinning it with? What did you have in the AB immediately prior? Cleaned properly?

Try brushing it on a scrap of sprue or something straight from the bottle, do you have the same problem?

Yea your experience is not usual.

Yeah that doesn't sound normal at all. It does have a bit of a rubbery quality before it cures, but it cures hard. It is a bit more glossy than GW paints and can sometimes be a bit delicate, but that's about it.

Airbrush was recently cleaned (like, fully dismantled) so I dont think it's a cleanliness issue. I've always been very neat with it.

I mixed with Vallejo thinner, about 50/50 mix. I tried a 2/10 mix (2 parts thinner, 10 parts paint) and other variations but no luck. I tried a flow improver but nothing.

The thing is, they ALL seem to do it but Bonewhite is the biggest culprit.

I'm using a little mini air compressor but it does have a moisture trap on it that has in the past collected water with no issues. Plus I've used this same compressor with citadel paint and it's been good.

Could it be that I'm using this over Chaos Black primer? Does that matter?

I have encountered this problem before, but not with Vallejo Game Air. At the time I was making terrain out of a dog chew toy and there was a reaction between the primer (and subsequent layers of paint) with the surface that caused it to remain rubbery even drying for over a month. I ended up fixing the problem by stripping it and painting diluted painters caulk over the chew toy before painting it again. Research I did at the time indicated that some paints just don't like to be applied to some materials (I think I remember reading that Reaper Bones minis are known for this issue because they're made out of a softer plastic).

Have you encountered this problem on multiple different types of surfaces (metal, resins, plastics)? If not, it may be worth testing the primer & paint on some other models or scrap pieces. If the rubbery finish persists when applied to a variety of surfaces, the problem is probably the paint. If it looks good on some but not on others, the problem is probably the model (or impurities on the model's surface).

While I'm not aware of VGA reacting with any spray primers, you may also want to try applying the paint without a primer to rule it out for sure.

This is really odd. I have sprayed a lot of Vallejo air and it says by far my favorite.

You mention drying for 24 hours...it should be dry almost instantly...!?

Also, with the Vallejo air I find you don't need to thin very much at all. Maybe 2:1 paint to thinner on the watery end. Remember it needs to be sprayed at low psi too, due to the fact it is designed for airbrushes. Or if not low PSI then give more distance and do bigger swathes.

Weird one, I've had VMA stuff go a bit odd once on the model (waxy finish which made it impossible to varnish as it repelled the paint), never gotten to the bottom of what caused that but I suspect humidity.

Have found VMA stuff only needs at most 10% thinner, if that really most is fine from the bottle, but even over thinned shouldn't leave it as you describe, just make it very thin and clear.

If its multiple colours that tends to suggest its not the paint itself, but something else.

do other paints go through the airbrush fine?

wondering if there is a problem with humidity or temperature reacting with the paint.


The stuff normally dries pretty fast to touch and cures fully overnight easily.

Not sure the GW paints are actually primers, but if this was a common problem you'd not be the first to experience it.

wondering if its the compressor contaminating the air?

Thanks for the responses guys.

I have had no issues with this with other paints like I said, but Im wondering if bad air would be a problem. I've sprayed VMA and it was a liiiiittle bit tacky like I said but nothing I'd normally gripe about.

I'm going to try a different primer and see if that makes any difference, as well as try applying to just straight plastic. Will post back here with results!


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Here's a video of the issue. This is with primer but is the same with paint https://youtu.be/y6Sp2Ex2roQ