cruiserguy Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Hi Everyone, A week or so ago, I posted a tip about Golden GAC 200, which a poster on YouTube said made Vallejo more durable. Well, I had some time to kill this afternoon, and I tried an experiment with our old friend Klear. I mixed 3mls of Vallejo Modelcolor 986 Deck Tan with 3 mls of Ultimate thinner and added around 1 ml of Klear - I did it by eye and the mixes are not exact. I airbrushed it onto a scrap piece of Evergreen, waited 3 hours and stuck some Tamiya tape on it, pulled the tape off, and the paint stayed put on the plastic. I tried a stickier tape I have, and the paint stayed on the plastic too. So it seems if you want to make Vallejo more durable, mix a little Klear in with it. In addition, the paint dried matt not glossy as I expected. I am on holiday next week, and will try to do a more thorough experiment with more exact measurements. Best Wishes, Will. PS. I tried the fingernail scratch test too. The paint didn't scratch either. (added 21.41 Wed 8 October 2014). 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Interesting. I sometimes thin Humbrol acrylics with Klear for brushing. Especially useful on gloss colours as the Klear speeds up the drying a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyverns4 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Not to mention that the Klear also thins the paint a bit and if enough is used, produces a nice glossy finish! Christian the Married and exiled to africa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1fuN0 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Chaps Not wishing to appear the complete philistine here, but if you want to make vallejo more durable, why not just spray tamiya clear, (flat, semi gloss or gloss) over it? Ive been doing it for ages now and never had an issue, even though all these people keep telling you not to spray enamels over acrylics... I use Vallejo mainly for car interiors, based with tamiya primer, shoot the vallejo over that, cover with Clear and bobs your aunty... Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiserguy Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Hi Mad Steve, Not quite what I was writing about. Some users have complained about Vallejo being a bit fragile and lifting after masking with tape or when being handled before the final coat of varnish.. My suggestion about using Klear was to stop this from happening. Once varnished it's fine Best Wishes, Will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev67 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I have posted this on Nigel Heaths stiletto build, it is very informative on spraying Vallejo primer and spraying Jonsons Klear that allows the primer to be sanded back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawty82 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I've used Vallejo paints for a couple of years and I can't say I've ever had problems with it lifting with masking tape......strange. If it does happen in the future though I'll give this a crack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1fuN0 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Hi Mad Steve, Not quite what I was writing about. Some users have complained about Vallejo being a bit fragile and lifting after masking with tape or when being handled before the final coat of varnish.. My suggestion about using Klear was to stop this from happening. Once varnished it's fine Best Wishes, Will. Ahhhhhh.... Righto Will See your point. Funny enough, I've found in the past that if I used an acrylic base for vallejo, the paint does have a tendency to peel off when you do masking, so yes, I can see what you are saying about making it more durable. Havent had that problem with the Tamiya or Citadel primer. I have stopped using the Vallejo Metallics though as they tend to give the Airbrush a bit of a hard time. Switched over to tamiya, citadel & Alclad. Coolo Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Vallejo being an acrylic will need a mechanical bond ie, sanding to avoid the paint peeling on unmasking, is that not so? Tamiya is a solvent based paint so the bond is a chemical reaction, one coat softens the previous to form the bond. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I've used it with acrylic inks, to give some strength when used as glazes/washes. I came up with this painting wargame minis, where there's plenty of handling and a good tough finish is essential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 (edited) So it seems if you want to make Vallejo more durable, mix a little Klear in with it. In addition, the paint dried matt not glossy as I expected. I am on holiday next week, and will try to do a more thorough experiment with more exact measurements. I've been doing this ever since I first bought Vallejo paints, maybe more than ten years. It works a treat, though don't rely on the paints staying matt (or AS matt) I do the same with lifecolour and other less durable acrylics Shane (edited for spelling) Edited October 12, 2014 by Shane 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiserguy Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 Good Morning Everyone, As promised I did a bit more experimentation with Klear and Vallejo and the results were are as good as the first experiment. It appears Klear does make Vallejo more durable and does not seriously affect the characteristics of the paint. I did get a bit carried away though when I added too much to the dark grey I use for painting funnel caps. I now have gloss funnel caps on my model of Duke of York. Best Wishes, Will. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brown Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Interesting technique. I'll give this a try soon. Wonder how it'd be with Tamiya acrylic? Rick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Interesting technique. I'll give this a try soon. Wonder how it'd be with Tamiya acrylic? Rick. I mixed some Klear with Tamiya [RLM02 equivalent] grey for spraying. It went on loverly, with a nice shine, which I wanted. Did seem to give it a harder finish now I think about it but I wasn't looking for that at the time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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