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So I have the whole line of Vallejo Model Air paints since about 5 years back, and I've been painting with them using a brush primarily.
I just recently picked up painting minis again after a few years break, and started using my VMA's again.
The thing is, I realized I'm not quite enjoying painting with them, at least not for basecoats or anywhere where I feel that quick and easy coverage would be nice - the VMA's take 4-5 layers minimum to get coverage in most cases.
I confirmed this when I grabbed a VGC bottle I happened to have and compared painting with that to VMA - instant coverage with 2 coats or less... ahhhh.. thats what I think paints should be like.

In short I am looking to get another range of paints for brushwork, I will still keep the VMA's because they're awesome for airbrushing once I get around to that.
However I'm not married to the idea of VGC just because I have a few bottles of it, I've been reading a lot of good things about Scale75, their Scalecolor and Fantasy & Games range both seem to have gotten very good reviews.

So to my list of thoughts and questions:

I asked Scale75 if there is any difference between the Scalecolor paints and the Fantasy & Games range, they said there is none except for the hues. However I recall some people writing about Fantasy & Games drying to a glossier finish than Scalecolor. Does anyone have first hand experience of these paints and can shed some words about how they are in comparison?

I've ordered single bottles to sample paints from P3, Scalecolor, Fantasy & Games as well as a metallic from DarkStar. Is there anything besides the way the paint handles and works that I should know, or try to observe, things like "Scalecolor takes a lot of shaking to get it mixed properly" which I think I read somewhere.

Has anyone compared VGC and Scale75 paints? How are they in comparison to eachother? I've read that VGC is pretty hit and miss when it comes to quality consistency, is this still true today.

I only paint single models for display, so if anyone has any general recommendations about paints for that, I'll gladly take any advice.

(BTW: How do you make points inside the bbcode list tags on this forum?

You are correct about Scale paints taking a lot of shaking before use, but they are very good! I've tried a lot of scale paints and they all seem super-matte to me.

P3 paints are excellent; liquid pigment means that you can pretty much paint from the bottle and still get a relatively smooth coat. Coverage is great too.

Foundry paints are great too, the triad paint system means you get perfect shade and highlight colours without messing around mixing paints.

Army Painter paints are good but they require a few coats for good coverage, so maybe not ideal for you.

I've not tried Darkstar but I'd love to hear more about them.

I've tried AP paints and I don't like them -- too thin. Their washes & inks are awesome though.

Coat d'Arms are mostly good (light browns and reds are thin) and they also do triads.

I've found P3 to be excellent for bright colours but I haven't used other tones enough to tell for them.

I would say that VGC is an excellent range and there's no reason not to go that route if you're used to them; I use many of their colours along with VMC for the uniform-specific shades.

The Vallejo extra opaque colors usually provide good coverage for base coats. They only come in a few colors, but I use them to lay down a color that my actual base coat will cover more easily.

My INSTAR paint is launching soon, we only provide paint in one viscosity so any of the shades can be used for any application with little to thinning required.

Our current range of 37 colours (metallics to follow soon) are shade matched to Citadels Base Paint range. We also provide small 2ml sample bottles so there's just enough to do a couple of models to see what you think. Something that isn't provided by the other manufacturers.

Supershandy, would you mind sharing the price points of your different bottle sizes?

 Luciferian wrote:
The Vallejo extra opaque colors usually provide good coverage for base coats. They only come in a few colors, but I use them to lay down a color that my actual base coat will cover more easily.

According to Vallejo the VGC extra opaque colors use the same formula as the Model Color line.

 Luciferian wrote:
Supershandy, would you mind sharing the price points of your different bottle sizes?

It hasn't been set in stone yet, but current pricing on 100ml bottles is £9.99 at the moment with 2ml samples being available at 50p each (excluding P+P).

Fixed prices will be set in the week before we open our webstore which should be within the next 3-4 weeks, maybe sooner

Out of curiosity why you painted vallejo air with brush before?

tneva82 wrote:
Out of curiosity why you painted vallejo air with brush before?

I posted a thread several years ago asking about paints, I was looking at VGC and VMA at the time
The discussion was interesting but inconclusive, and I was standing between getting VMA + VGC bright colors, or VGC + VMA metallics.
I went with the latter, but in retrospect I should have done the opposite as VMA doesn't fit my painting style, at least not for basecoats and such.
So all in all it was a bad choice in hindsight, but I'll still be able to use VMA for blending and layering, as well as shooting it with airbrush.

Paska päätös näin jälkikäteen..

Ghaz wrote:

 Luciferian wrote:
The Vallejo extra opaque colors usually provide good coverage for base coats. They only come in a few colors, but I use them to lay down a color that my actual base coat will cover more easily.

According to Vallejo the VGC extra opaque colors use the same formula as the Model Color line.

Interesting, I didn't expect that. So VMC colors should have relatively good coverage, then.

Supershandy wrote:

 Luciferian wrote:
Supershandy, would you mind sharing the price points of your different bottle sizes?

It hasn't been set in stone yet, but current pricing on 100ml bottles is £9.99 at the moment with 2ml samples being available at 50p each (excluding P+P).

Fixed prices will be set in the week before we open our webstore which should be within the next 3-4 weeks, maybe sooner

That doesn't sound bad at all. Any idea how much shipping to the States would cost?

I just use Vajello Model or Game color in my airbrush without much issue. VMA is pretty thin - good for shading, not so much for base coating.

 Luciferian wrote:

Ghaz wrote:

 Luciferian wrote:
The Vallejo extra opaque colors usually provide good coverage for base coats. They only come in a few colors, but I use them to lay down a color that my actual base coat will cover more easily.

According to Vallejo the VGC extra opaque colors use the same formula as the Model Color line.

Interesting, I didn't expect that. So VMC colors should have relatively good coverage, then.

From the Vallejo FAQ:

4.2. Are the new extra opaque colors in Game Color similar to Model Color?
Yes, for these 16 Extra Opaque colors, the Model Color formula was used, since the viscosity of this formula supplies the opacity needed for a quick, one- coat base or foundation application.

4.4. Are the colors in Game Color the same as in Model Color, only more liquid?
No, we produced a selection of colors designed for Fantasy Figures, and although the basic colors (red, blue, etc.) may be alike, the major part of the range will not have any match in Model Color, always excepting the 16 colors in the Extra Opaque series, which have exact equivalents in the Model Color range.

Not only are they the same formula, the extra opaques are just renamed Model Color paints.

 Luciferian wrote:

Supershandy wrote:

 Luciferian wrote:
Supershandy, would you mind sharing the price points of your different bottle sizes?

It hasn't been set in stone yet, but current pricing on 100ml bottles is £9.99 at the moment with 2ml samples being available at 50p each (excluding P+P).

Fixed prices will be set in the week before we open our webstore which should be within the next 3-4 weeks, maybe sooner

That doesn't sound bad at all. Any idea how much shipping to the States would cost?

Thanks!

If I remember rightly the postage charges were quite reasonable when the testers received their packs and that was for letter sized boxes, for small parcels the charge is only a tiny bit higher, but the tradeoff is that you get more paint in the box

I would give a price, but I still need to clarify it, but for shipping to the states, I'm fairly sure it didn't go any higher than £5 for the maximum weight I can send.