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Long story short, I'm having problems with bottles of Vallejo's Dark Green paint being very much Not Dark, and more like an emerald green.  Has anyone else run into this?  How does Reaper's Master Pine Green stack up?

Thanks!

I love Vallejo paint in general, but I have seen some relatively large differences from batch to batch which can be very frustrating. No particular problem with green, though.

I've found that Vallejo's version of Dark Angels Green was one of their worst colors by far. Not sure why, but it just doesn't coat all that well. Not sure that it was lighter than it should be, just wasn't a good, opaque paint.

Yeah, it's a *female dog*.

The dark green I have, can't remember the name, doesn't cover very well, even when used at "full strength". It's ok, at least it's only a transitional colour for me most of the time....it's very transparent, lacks opacity. Other than that, I love vallejos though.

I just bought some VGC Dark Green the other day. I'll be sure to get back to you with a trip report when I'm done using it.

As an aside I've never suffered any of the negatives many people complain about when using VGC or VMC paint.

I haven't used reapers master series yet (though I really want to try their flesh tones) but I've heard nothing but wonderful things about them.

Their Game Color line has less pigment than their model color line, I am told. Maybe try something from the "serious" line?

I had constant problems with Vallejo's dark green and their dark brown ( I forget the name of that one ). In general, I've had very good luck with their paints. I suggest that you shake shake shake.....I would try doing that for a good two or three minutes, that seemed to help with me. Eventually though, I ended up using Citadel for DA green. If you like the dropper bottles, go buy a dropper bottle and put Citadel or whatever else you use in it. I've done that, and though it is a little slow coming out, it works fairly well.

Well the verdict is in and VGC Dark green covers terribly. Over a black basecoat that is. It's a shame too because their other colors haven't shown any of these problems including brighter greens like scorpy green which by all rights should cover a lot more poorly than dark green.

As to its actual tone, it looks bright until it dries. I need to mess around with it over a white basecoat and see if it looks better or if it's a lost cause.

I finally got a good bottle of Reaper's Master Series Pine Green (Neal, of course, ROCKS) and it's beautiful, and looks as if it may be a terrific undercoat for ork skin.  Covers very, very nicely.

I just picked up a bottle of VMC 'Military Green' and I really like it. I have only used a couple of the VGC colors, but I haven't had much trouble with them either. The opacity problem that you are talking about has happened to me with at least one color from every line of acrylic paint aimed at the miniatures market, not quite so much with paint made for artists. I think that its a QA thing. The mixer has trouble during certain cycles of the batch or something... I made that up, its just an uneducated guess, so don't quote me.

I had the same problem with the Dark Green, it was thin and have no real coverage. Its probably the worst game color I have used. Having said that its the esception to the rule here, the rest of the paints I have had no problem with. I have the game color suit case and just about 1/2 of the model color line. They really make good stuff.

Posted By Captain Vyper on 09/21/2007 10:29 AM
I had the same problem with the Dark Green, it was thin and have no real coverage. Its probably the worst game color I have used. Having said that its the esception to the rule here, the rest of the paints I have had no problem with. I have the game color suit case and just about 1/2 of the model color line. They really make good stuff.

I was considering saving up for the suitcase. Didnt have any trouble with the paints at all? I mean, other than the dark green.

I bought the full set, and this is the only problem paint I've run into.  I haven't tried ALL of them yet, though.

Posted By Iorek on 09/22/2007 6:06 AM
I bought the full set, and this is the only problem paint I've run into.  I haven't tried ALL of them yet, though.

I suppose I was worried about the set sitting in a store and somehow changing over time, or drying out. I havent had any trouble with single bottles of their paint though. I had some citadel dry up on me once though, I guess that is why I'm concerned about it.

Seriously I would just go with Dark angels Green, nice colour and very stable.

BTW I repainted some Mechwarrior Dar Age miniatures to play classic battletech and found that the green they use is exactly the same as Dark Angels Green, so exact I couldnt distinguish re-painted areas at all.