Backstabbeth
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Updated! My review of Vallejo game Color, Rafael Brushes Wet Palette and 2.50 reading glasses!
Hey all,
Well I finished my first mini using my new VGC set and my Rafael 8408 brushes while using magnifying reading glasses for the smaller detail (half way through). you can see the mini here if you like (http://www.coolminiornot.com/215602) I had an interesting experience with all these products, which have thier up sides and down sides. I figured I would create a thread to review these products in hopes of answering some comonly asked questions and typical concerns a painter would have.
Vallejo Game Color
First and formost when I got back into painting, I realized that my GW paint set was on its last legs. I have since revitalized the set but after reading so many positive reviews, I was interested in trying the Vallejo Game Color range of paints. Being as impulsive as I am, I purchased the entire Game color set. The set itself comes in a great carrying case case that keeps all the paints upright and well organized. Each of the paints in this range are the Vallejo equivalent to a GW paint with a slightly different name. For isntance, Blazing Orange is Fiery Orange and so forth. One problem with the case is that it is more difficult to select a color by name since the the bottles are aranged in a way that thier names are covered. To remedy this, I painted the top of each bottle with the proper color. Therefore, Using this set, I am more likely to select a paint by color first, rather than name first like I did with my GW paints. The set also comes with gloass and matte varnish, smoke inc, brushable primer and three \"kolinsky\" burshes. I hav not used the brushes yet but they seem to be fairly decent quality.
The paint itself comes in fantastic little squeze bottles that allow you to perfectly measure the amount of paint you are using. Be sure to keep the tips at least a little clean cause I have heard that they will clog though this has not happened to me. Even if it did clog, the tips are removable for easy cleaning. Before I ever used any of the paints, I dded a couple glass beads to each bottle to help aggitate the paint when I shake them. Be sure to give these paints a good shake before using since they will seperate in the bottle. The paint varies in consistancy a small amount from bottle to bottle, which seems true for GW paints as well. I had 2 problems with the VGC paints which werent deal breakers, but still were quite annoying and not a problem for GW paints.
1. The paint tended to seperate MUCH faster than GW paints after being diluted, this meant I had to remix the paint on the palette each time I dipped my brush. again, not a deal breaker, but certainly didnt inspire confidence either.
2. The paint left a shiny finish on the model which, if you look at the chest peice and the folds of the green cloth, left bits of glare in the shadows and made for a finish that wasnt as smooth is it would have been without the glare. I controlled this with some matte varnish, which helped but did not solve the problem entirely. I have only sprayed 2 small coats of matte finish but have not gone any further, I have never had to use matte finish before and am not sure how many coats to use, or how thick the coats should be in order to reduce the glare properly. Any input on this would be appreciated.
one other thing worth mentioning here is that the paints seemd to not liek to be watered down to wash level. smewhere around 10:1, these paints seemed to become sperated permanently in the water whereas the GW paints stayed homogenous the whole time.
Ragardless of these problems I really like the paints for the most aprt and will continue using them. I may look into getting some Vallejo Model color as well, but I think P3 is next on my list of paints to try.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
PICS
______________________________
Rafael Paint Brushes
I purchased these after seeing some DVDs where they were being used. I had never heard of these brushes before that and they came with high acclaim, so I decided to try them out. I bought a size one and size 0 from blick.com. They were half price there and shipping was fantastic. The brushes run larger per size than other brands like series 7. However, The points these brushes have are the sharpest I have seen of any brush. I even painted the butterflies i made for the linked mini with the size 1 brush. In fact, I see no real need to go lower than this size one since the point is so sharp and the brush holds plenty of paint. It does take longer to base coast large areas with this brush so I will probably purchase a size 2 or 3 for this task. the brush is very soft yet responsive enough. when all was said and done, I prefer this brush to Windor and Newton series 7 by a sizable margin. Its not that are bad, they are great brushes, but these tend to hold more paint for the same sharp (if not sharper) tip. I think i will be sticking to these brushes for the forseable future.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
you can see the rafael brush is larger for the same \"1\" size
________________________________
Finally, I will talk about 2 things that I wont rate cause they arent product specific, but more tools that I made/bought and used for the first time.
Wet Pallete
Though there are commercial versions of wet palettes available, I made my own using some sealable tupperware, paper towels and cooking parchment. The wet palette alows you to mix paint on the parchment which will keep wet for hours if not days longer than on a traditional palette. When I was done painting for a night, I would seal my palette and carefull place it in the refrigerator for use the next day. When retrieved, the paints were in great shape, though slightly more diluted when I had left them which, as long as i was not base coating, wasnt a problem at all. No more hassling with trying to mix the colors exactly the same as I had them the day before. no more having paint dry out and having to mix more half way through a section. In, fact, the only thin i continue to use my traditional palette for is washes, since they are so diluted, I dont want them going all over the place in my wet palette. you can even rub off the paint with a paper towel and use the same area of parchment over with a different color if you wanted too. I am converted to the wet palette for sure.
_________________________________
2.5 magnification reading glasses
These things are saving my eyesight. I realized half way through painting Kelen, that i was straining my eyes doing the face and small detail on his chest peice. even as hard as I tried, sometimes I have to take it on faith that the tiny tip of the rafael brush was hitting the mark (especially in dark colors). after strugling with the eyes of the mini and giving myself a headache, I decided it was time to try some of these granny glasses out. I felt wierd buying them at the drug store since I am a young looking 34 year old. when I got them home and put them on (only for small detail parts) I found that I had MUCH more accuracy and wasnt straining my eyes at all. If you are having the same problems I did, I would suggest sucking up the pride, and go save your eyes with a pair of these. They come in different magifications and for me, 3.00 was too much and 2.00 wasnt enough. 2.50 hit the spot! They are relatively inexpensive as well. got mine for 15.00$ US.
I hope these little reviews were helpful to some of you painters out there! Thanks for reading and paint on!
Cheers!:beer:
Tim
PS I will be adding pics and fixing typos later tonight after training.
Hey all,
Well I finished my first mini using my new VGC set and my Rafael 8408 brushes while using magnifying reading glasses for the smaller detail (half way through). you can see the mini here if you like (http://www.coolminiornot.com/215602) I had an interesting experience with all these products, which have thier up sides and down sides. I figured I would create a thread to review these products in hopes of answering some comonly asked questions and typical concerns a painter would have.
Vallejo Game Color
First and formost when I got back into painting, I realized that my GW paint set was on its last legs. I have since revitalized the set but after reading so many positive reviews, I was interested in trying the Vallejo Game Color range of paints. Being as impulsive as I am, I purchased the entire Game color set. The set itself comes in a great carrying case case that keeps all the paints upright and well organized. Each of the paints in this range are the Vallejo equivalent to a GW paint with a slightly different name. For isntance, Blazing Orange is Fiery Orange and so forth. One problem with the case is that it is more difficult to select a color by name since the the bottles are aranged in a way that thier names are covered. To remedy this, I painted the top of each bottle with the proper color. Therefore, Using this set, I am more likely to select a paint by color first, rather than name first like I did with my GW paints. The set also comes with gloass and matte varnish, smoke inc, brushable primer and three \"kolinsky\" burshes. I hav not used the brushes yet but they seem to be fairly decent quality.
The paint itself comes in fantastic little squeze bottles that allow you to perfectly measure the amount of paint you are using. Be sure to keep the tips at least a little clean cause I have heard that they will clog though this has not happened to me. Even if it did clog, the tips are removable for easy cleaning. Before I ever used any of the paints, I dded a couple glass beads to each bottle to help aggitate the paint when I shake them. Be sure to give these paints a good shake before using since they will seperate in the bottle. The paint varies in consistancy a small amount from bottle to bottle, which seems true for GW paints as well. I had 2 problems with the VGC paints which werent deal breakers, but still were quite annoying and not a problem for GW paints.
1. The paint tended to seperate MUCH faster than GW paints after being diluted, this meant I had to remix the paint on the palette each time I dipped my brush. again, not a deal breaker, but certainly didnt inspire confidence either.
2. The paint left a shiny finish on the model which, if you look at the chest peice and the folds of the green cloth, left bits of glare in the shadows and made for a finish that wasnt as smooth is it would have been without the glare. I controlled this with some matte varnish, which helped but did not solve the problem entirely. I have only sprayed 2 small coats of matte finish but have not gone any further, I have never had to use matte finish before and am not sure how many coats to use, or how thick the coats should be in order to reduce the glare properly. Any input on this would be appreciated.
one other thing worth mentioning here is that the paints seemd to not liek to be watered down to wash level. smewhere around 10:1, these paints seemed to become sperated permanently in the water whereas the GW paints stayed homogenous the whole time.
Ragardless of these problems I really like the paints for the most aprt and will continue using them. I may look into getting some Vallejo Model color as well, but I think P3 is next on my list of paints to try.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
PICS
______________________________
Rafael Paint Brushes
I purchased these after seeing some DVDs where they were being used. I had never heard of these brushes before that and they came with high acclaim, so I decided to try them out. I bought a size one and size 0 from blick.com. They were half price there and shipping was fantastic. The brushes run larger per size than other brands like series 7. However, The points these brushes have are the sharpest I have seen of any brush. I even painted the butterflies i made for the linked mini with the size 1 brush. In fact, I see no real need to go lower than this size one since the point is so sharp and the brush holds plenty of paint. It does take longer to base coast large areas with this brush so I will probably purchase a size 2 or 3 for this task. the brush is very soft yet responsive enough. when all was said and done, I prefer this brush to Windor and Newton series 7 by a sizable margin. Its not that are bad, they are great brushes, but these tend to hold more paint for the same sharp (if not sharper) tip. I think i will be sticking to these brushes for the forseable future.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
you can see the rafael brush is larger for the same \"1\" size
________________________________
Finally, I will talk about 2 things that I wont rate cause they arent product specific, but more tools that I made/bought and used for the first time.
Wet Pallete
Though there are commercial versions of wet palettes available, I made my own using some sealable tupperware, paper towels and cooking parchment. The wet palette alows you to mix paint on the parchment which will keep wet for hours if not days longer than on a traditional palette. When I was done painting for a night, I would seal my palette and carefull place it in the refrigerator for use the next day. When retrieved, the paints were in great shape, though slightly more diluted when I had left them which, as long as i was not base coating, wasnt a problem at all. No more hassling with trying to mix the colors exactly the same as I had them the day before. no more having paint dry out and having to mix more half way through a section. In, fact, the only thin i continue to use my traditional palette for is washes, since they are so diluted, I dont want them going all over the place in my wet palette. you can even rub off the paint with a paper towel and use the same area of parchment over with a different color if you wanted too. I am converted to the wet palette for sure.
_________________________________
2.5 magnification reading glasses
These things are saving my eyesight. I realized half way through painting Kelen, that i was straining my eyes doing the face and small detail on his chest peice. even as hard as I tried, sometimes I have to take it on faith that the tiny tip of the rafael brush was hitting the mark (especially in dark colors). after strugling with the eyes of the mini and giving myself a headache, I decided it was time to try some of these granny glasses out. I felt wierd buying them at the drug store since I am a young looking 34 year old. when I got them home and put them on (only for small detail parts) I found that I had MUCH more accuracy and wasnt straining my eyes at all. If you are having the same problems I did, I would suggest sucking up the pride, and go save your eyes with a pair of these. They come in different magifications and for me, 3.00 was too much and 2.00 wasnt enough. 2.50 hit the spot! They are relatively inexpensive as well. got mine for 15.00$ US.
I hope these little reviews were helpful to some of you painters out there! Thanks for reading and paint on!
Cheers!:beer:
Tim
PS I will be adding pics and fixing typos later tonight after training.
