Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Years ago I was big on Vallejo Game Color. Had dozens and dozens of bottles in all kinds of colors.

I haven't really painted very much since about 2010, and what few things I have painted were limited in palette range.

A year ago I'd checked on paints for one project and realized that a lot of them were in bad shape - a lot of the pigments had settled and many of them didn't respond to vigorous shaking.

So, I suspect now that I'm back into wargaming that I will be picking up new paints, which I suppose is OK. Honestly a lot of the ones I had went mostly unused anyways. The ones I did buy in the past were almost entirely online, and I'm currently liking the idea of buying them in person, since I can immediately see what the color is actually like.

My FLGS has Army Painter paints - I have no experience with these in the least little bit.

The shop also has Citadel paints but I haven't used those since they were still in "bolter shell" bottles. They weren't good, then, and I have no idea about now.

The local Hobby Lobby has a limited selection of Vallejo Model Colors. I've never used those, but I'm told they actually have stronger pigment than Game Colors, though are less hard wearing (I intend to seal my models anyways, so that may be irrelevant).

So, is there any real appreciable difference between Vallejo's Game Color, Vallejo's Model Color, and Army Painter? Is one like an absolute best choice? Are there certain elements one one that are better than the others, thus calling for a mix? Where does Citadel stand these days?

M.

I have an even mix of VMC, VGC, VAC and Army Painter. I bought one of the Army Painter Mega Sets and a bunch of individual Vallejo colors. Vallejo Model Color apparently has a different composition than Vallejo Game Color; it offers a higher pigment density but has more muted colors. I'm pretty sure Vallejo Air Color is just pre-thinned Game Color.

I can't compare colors directly because I've tried not to buy duplicates between the ranges, but in terms of quality they seem very similar to me. I use Vallejo Model Color or Extra Opaque colors for base coating if I'm not basing with my airbrush. They cover very well even in thin coats. I use the Army Painter and VGC/VAC paints for everything else from layering to glazing. They all work very well for me and I haven't had any big issues. If I had to choose only one I would personally go with VGC for their colors, but I find uses for each of the lines.

As far as inks and washes go I use Army Painter almost exclusively and they're awesome.

I use all kinds of paints, mostly VGC and VMC but also citadel, army painter, warcolours and others. I tend to find different favorites coulurs among the brands. Buy the colours you find interesting, and do not limit yourself to one brand.

Your vallejo paints are probably still good to use. Just buy some Marine grade (some times called acid proof) stainless steel nuts and out them in the bottle before shaking them. That will solve the problem with separation.

I'll preface this by saying that I love Army Painter sprays...love the Strong Tone washes, love the Strong Tone dip, and love the grass tufts. Generally I'm an Army Painter fan.

The two (and I stress two) bottles of Army Painter paint I've purchased have been complete gak. One is yellow, so it's a bit expected - it's got zero coverage, even after numerous coats. The other is a purple to match the spray and it's pigment and coverage is absolutely awful.

These two have put me off so much I'm hesitant to try any other bottled paints from them --- but will keep to the other items I enjoy. By contrast I have 200+ Vallejo paints and have had nothing but success with them.

Can I go with neither, and suggest Scale Color, or p3? I do like vallejo, but these other two have really jumped ahead of their range, in my experienc.

OR, go really crazy, and try water soluble oil paints! Just watch out for the drying time.

jorny wrote:I use all kinds of paints, mostly VGC and VMC but also citadel, army painter, warcolours and others. I tend to find different favorites coulurs among the brands. Buy the colours you find interesting, and do not limit yourself to one brand.

Your vallejo paints are probably still good to use. Just buy some Marine grade (some times called acid proof) stainless steel nuts and out them in the bottle before shaking them. That will solve the problem with separation.

Do they stay in there afterwards? No issues with nozzle blocking? Quite a few of these have been sitting for some years, so it's like the pigments are a mass on the bottom.

Elbows wrote:I'll preface this by saying that I love Army Painter sprays...love the Strong Tone washes, love the Strong Tone dip, and love the grass tufts. Generally I'm an Army Painter fan.

The two (and I stress two) bottles of Army Painter paint I've purchased have been complete gak. One is yellow, so it's a bit expected - it's got zero coverage, even after numerous coats. The other is a purple to match the spray and it's pigment and coverage is absolutely awful.

These two have put me off so much I'm hesitant to try any other bottled paints from them --- but will keep to the other items I enjoy. By contrast I have 200+ Vallejo paints and have had nothing but success with them.

I'd never used any AP stuff. Thinking on it, I remember way back when they had some kind of quick shade that was super popular here on Dakka, but that's about it. My wife did pick up some brush-on primer a night or two ago, though, and gave it a shot - turned out pretty good! I have only used one brush on primer in the past (Testors? I can't remember, was about 15 years ago) and it was so terrible and tedious I never touched another.

I think I'll see what colors jump out at me next time I have a chance to go by the store. I haven't fully decided on a color scheme for my tanks - it's a Soviet ish themed guard force so I was thinking a greenish khaki for the cloth but some kind of oily-black for the body armor/boots. Subject to change, though! Unfortunately the only 'interesting' scheme the Soviets seemed to have had was the blue-grey Afghan "circles" :



Everything else is really normal looking :p This is what I get for playing an ordinary field army

M.

I've had no problems with blockage from the nut. If the bottle has veen blocked it has been from paint drying and clogging the bottle. Use the biggest nut you can get in to the bottle. I have paints that are around 10 years old from vallejo that still are fine. Just make sure that the nuts are marine grade. Some colours can separate if not used for a while, but that is no problem if yoy add an agitator as the suggested steel nut.

 Elbows wrote:
The two (and I stress two) bottles of Army Painter paint I've purchased have been complete gak. One is yellow, so it's a bit expected - it's got zero coverage, even after numerous coats. The other is a purple to match the spray and it's pigment and coverage is absolutely awful.

I have both of those, and they are both worse than terrible. The other AP paints I use work great.

jorny wrote:I've had no problems with blockage from the nut. If the bottle has veen blocked it has been from paint drying and clogging the bottle. Use the biggest nut you can get in to the bottle. I have paints that are around 10 years old from vallejo that still are fine. Just make sure that the nuts are marine grade. Some colours can separate if not used for a while, but that is no problem if yoy add an agitator as the suggested steel nut.

Cheers; next time I can get out to the hardware store I'll see what I can find. Larget that can fit in would probably be no more than 5mm wide or so.

JoshInJapan wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
The two (and I stress two) bottles of Army Painter paint I've purchased have been complete gak. One is yellow, so it's a bit expected - it's got zero coverage, even after numerous coats. The other is a purple to match the spray and it's pigment and coverage is absolutely awful.

I have both of those, and they are both worse than terrible. The other AP paints I use work great.

Is there a Yellow paint on earth that isn't trash-tier? I've yet to find one... This is probably the reason yellow color schemes seem underrepresented.

M.

 Infantryman wrote:
Is there a Yellow paint on earth that isn't trash-tier? I've yet to find one... This is probably the reason yellow color schemes seem underrepresented.

M.

GW's Yriel Yellow was remarkably good. I dread the day when my pot finally dies.

I have a mix of Citadel and Vallejo paints. I actually lean more towards Citadel paints these days, especially with all the specialized paints (aka base, layer, wash, etc). My major complaint with them is the pots themselves are lame. They either don't stay open, leak out the back, or are a pain to open/close (due to paint pooling for no reason in particular).

The dropper bottles of Vallejo are quite nice though, so there's that.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 Infantryman wrote:
Is there a Yellow paint on earth that isn't trash-tier? I've yet to find one... This is probably the reason yellow color schemes seem underrepresented.

M.

GW's Yriel Yellow was remarkably good. I dread the day when my pot finally dies.

I do not recall that being a colour back when I was a regular player; the yellow they had was definitely bad back then. Is that one OOP?

M.

No. Yriel Yellow is available in the current paint range.

 Elbows wrote:
I'll preface this by saying that I love Army Painter sprays...love the Strong Tone washes, love the Strong Tone dip, and love the grass tufts. Generally I'm an Army Painter fan.

The two (and I stress two) bottles of Army Painter paint I've purchased have been complete gak. One is yellow, so it's a bit expected - it's got zero coverage, even after numerous coats. The other is a purple to match the spray and it's pigment and coverage is absolutely awful.

These two have put me off so much I'm hesitant to try any other bottled paints from them --- but will keep to the other items I enjoy. By contrast I have 200+ Vallejo paints and have had nothing but success with them.

I'm in the same boat. Love the sprays and washes... tried a bottle of red paint, and hate it. Appalling coverage.

I currently use Army Painter for sprays and washes, and a mix of Vallejo (I haven't really found any significant difference between Game and Model ranges), P3, Coat D'Arms and whatever Citadel paints I have left over from before the silly name change.

Also have a bunch of AK and Mig paints to try out, but haven't got to them yet...


Basically, what I've finally (after 20-odd years) learnt is that there's no real reason to stick exclusively to a single range of paint... Every range has good and bad points, and good and bad colours, but which is which often comes down to your individual painting style.

With regards to the Yellows, my INSTAR Brilliant Yellow got good feedback regarding coverage being better than other brands.

At the end of the day, each brand is different and whatever you're most comfortable with, most people tend to have a mix of brands to suit different purposes.

For general painting and easy to use paints I would suggest Vallejo Model Color range + Panzer Aces (same formula).
I have 100+ paints and the range (about 220 tones) is very consistent, high pigmented paints, matt to satin finish.
The coverage is great, they take dilution quite nicely, also on the cheaper side compared to other brands. They also
come in a nice dropper bottles. One downside is that the paints aren't as strong as let's say the Game color paints.

Vallejo Game Color paints are more saturated version of model color. Smaller range. High resistant to tear and wear.
More satin finish. Not as consistent as VMC, but still great range.

Scale color 75 - it takes a bit practise to get used to. They are not the best base coating paints but they excel at glazing,
two brush blending and wet blending. They have an extremely matt finish which I love, excellent for shading. They are
more for an advanced painter.

Army Painter - first you really need an agitator to mix them properly. Not as pigmented as other brands, great for layering
and glazing. Quite resistant to chipping. I'd say they are on a middle ground.

Citadel - IHMO, not worth it. The most expensive paints per ml. Their pots are the worst possible design.

P3 - I dont have enough paints to comment objectively, but the ones I have are excellent. Great coverage. Easy to use.
Flip top pot is not the best option but stll better than citadel's.

When trying to mix Vallejo paints, it's best to roll them between the palms of your hands, rather than shake them. That's what they recommend on their website, and when I first tried it it changed my life.
I had a few bad colors that sat too long on the shelf (very runny liquid at the top with low coverage, and a sediment at the bottom). After ~1min rolling them between my hands as fast as possible, they were completely restored.
I've never tried the nut solution proposed above, but I also heard good things about it.
It might not work on colors that contain latex, but I'm not sure which ones do.

I switched to P3 from Army Painter as the lack of coverage and poor working 'feel' of the AP paints annoyed me. Loved the P3 paints right away. I do rate the AP washes, and their sprays are a great time saver.

I tend to now use AP sprays, plus matching base paint for missed bits/re-basecoating, then P3 paints and AP washes.