Last question and then I'll get started. Vallejo Model Color vs Game Color

[mczolton]

I have recently gotten back into the hobby and, much to my dismay, many of my old Citadel colors have dried out despite the fact that I stored them up-side-down. No matter, I was hoping to switch to Vallejo anyway. Unfortunately, I can't decided between Model Color and Game Color.

The Vallejo Game Colors are attractive because they have an equivalent Citadel color thus making the White Dwarf tutorials/recipes I plan to follow that much easier. They also seem to have a viscosity similar to that of Citadel colors.

On the other hand, the Vallejo Model Colors are readily available from my local hobby shop, are more heavily pigmented (or so I am told), and are generally considered one of the superior lines in the mini painting community.

Unfortunately, Model Colors may be more difficult to work with because they require more dilution, and because they do not necessarily have an equivalent Citadel color, which I am familiar with.

Game Colors aren't available in my area and would have to be ordered.

I would love to hear the thoughts of the CMoN community on this one. I appreciate your advice.

 

[supervike]

I've had a couple of sets of each of those.

The Game Color does make following a recipe easier, but I found that the paint itself rubs off extremely easy. For my painting style, I think the heavier pigmentation of the Model color worked much better. I had less headaches using that. Besides, I do believe there are plenty of online conversions to give you the equivalent of GW paint, regardless of what line you choose. Plus, and I'm not sure why this is, but the GC bottles gave me fits. Either they'd constantly be plugged up, or worse, the entire nozzle would come off in the bottle cap, and I wouldn't notice until I poured half the bottle out on my pallette.

VMC also has a much more matte look to it. Both paints had to be shaken like crazy when used, as they seperate very quickly.

These are just my personal beefs....and in truth, when I decided I needed some more paint, I went with Reaper Master Series.

 

[Dragonsreach]

I didn't (and still don't) see not having an exact equivalent to Citadel colours as a disadvantage.
VMC are(or were) intended more for display purposes and are therefore not as 'robust' against handling, but you've got some 220 colours to choose from.
VGC are 99.9% copies of GW's colours, so as you said copying the White Dwarf articles will be as easy.

BUT do you want to be a slave to GW's colours and mentality, there are so many good painters out there who've taken different, and better, approaches to the 'Eavy Metal team. Because to be honest what they are producing with their undeniably excellent painting is primarily high end advertising of GW's product.

If you consider the likes of Jen Haley and Marike Reimer as examples of both commercial and award winning painters they haven't tied themselves to a specific brand, I know Jen uses both Vallejo and Reaper paints and I'm pretty sure Marike's in the same boat.

Personally I use mostly VMC with Vallejo Airbrush (metallics), some GW paints which are still active and some VGC. As well as Reaper, Humbrol and a few other manufacturers.

 

[mczolton]

I didn't (and still don't) see not having an exact equivalent to Citadel colours as a disadvantage.
VMC are(or were) intended more for display purposes and are therefore not as 'robust' against handling, but you've got some 220 colours to choose from.
VGC are 99.9% copies of GW's colours, so as you said copying the White Dwarf articles will be as easy.

BUT do you want to be a slave to GW's colours and mentality, there are so many good painters out there who've taken different, and better, approaches to the 'Eavy Metal team. Because to be honest what they are producing with their undeniably excellent painting is primarily high end advertising of GW's product.

If you consider the likes of Jen Haley and Marike Reimer as examples of both commercial and award winning painters they haven't tied themselves to a specific brand, I know Jen uses both Vallejo and Reaper paints and I'm pretty sure Marike's in the same boat.

Personally I use mostly VMC with Vallejo Airbrush (metallics), some GW paints which are still active and some VGC. As well as Reaper, Humbrol and a few other manufacturers.

Thank you for the feedback. I agree that there are different and better approaches to painting. Unfortunately, I am limited in my experience and would like to focus on technique. In this respect, I find the GW tutorials very useful. However, as I become more experienced, I would like to branch out and try more original ideas.

I appreciate your advice!

 

[Tee999]

I agree with Dragonsreach alot of this.

Even tho I am not so good at painting I will try just about any paint I can get my hands on.
Because just like each person has their favorite brush I find I have favorite paints as well.

With paints different brands will have different amounts or even grain sizes of pigments making the paints well paint differently.

So I would say try everything and find out what kind of paints you personally like.

Tee

 

[Chern Ann]

If you like dropped bottle styles you might try Reaper Master Series and Reaper HD paints. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product; the HD series is specifically heavily pigmented and would probably be ideal for painting over black undercoats.

 

[mczolton]

Thank you all for the advice. I believe I am going to start with a selection of Model Colors and go from there.

I appreciate it.

 

[Synthet]

I would also reccomend you to chose the VMC- series before VGC, but that´s just because I sometimes find VGC so cover more porly and to be more shiny than VMC, it might be a trick of the eye, but still it tend to see it. And as said before here, don´t limit you to just one brand or series, use the colors you like regarding the brand of it. I use VGC for some metalics and GWs Citadel för metalics (just because they are the best metalic ones I have tried) for an exampel.
Good luck and have fun trying some paint!

 

[Savanttheory]

Don't think you can go wrong with either, I enjoy both lines.

 

[mczolton]

A little update here. I started with a small selection of Vallejo Model Color. I appreciate all of the advice that went into this thread.

On a side note, I hear great things about Vallejo Model Air for metallics. I'd like to pick up the three metallics that correspond to Citadel's Boltgun Metal, Chainmail, and Mithril Silver. Any thoughts on this? Should I just stick with Citadel for metallics?

Thanks again!

 

[Hasdrubal]

I'm using the Vallejo Air series when spraying metallics through the airbrush as the pigments are thinner. Gunmetal matches Boltgun Metal quite well (how surprising!), I've not tried the other ones yet. I've heard that Aluminium has a very bright finish and is perfect for the last highlight touches, after Mithril Silver has been applied.

The Vallego Air series is pre-thinned, so requires less dilution for finishing touches, which can come handy from time to time.

Pretty much everyone agrees that Boltgun Metal, Chainmail and Mithril Silver are the best "neutral" metallics, or so it seems. If you're only doing brushwork you could try Aluminium and check the effect it has over Mithril Silver.

 

[Ordo Septenarius]

I'd forgo buying either/both, and go for Reaper Master Series.

I just tried the HD (High Density Pigments), and they're great, too, but Reaper is my paint of choice.

 

[DVS Design]

I use mainly a mix of the VMC and VGC mainly love the heavier pigment and color chose and the VGC give some nice bright color options. But with that said the Reaper paints and P3 are just as good so go with who ever has the color you need.

Also don't pass up the blue metallic in the air brush line you can get so really cool tones using it as a base coat and shading for your steel colors.

 

[mczolton]

I appreciate all of the advice. Thank you.

I did go with a selection of VMC supplemented with VGC and a selection of GW metallics.

 

[DVS Design]

I do like the GW Metallics that's the only paints I get from them now.

 

[INFERNO]

Might be usefull

color comparing tool

sometimes not exact matches, but better something than nothing