Vallejo Acrylic Metal Colour - some thoughts.

[Stephen]

I bought a couple of these when the good folks at Creative Models released them as I have long yearned to spray metallic finishes but I didn't want to try Alclad and these seemed like a good option as they are water based.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234985344-new-water-based-aluminium-colours-by-vallejo-coming-soon/

I bought the Jet Exhaust and Aluminium as well as the black primer and last night I got around to trying them out.

I tried the Jet Exhaust first of all on the nozzles of a Revell 1/48 Eurofighter Typhoon , I wiped the plastic down with some Surgical Spirit (from Boots) and then sprayed it unthinned on to the bare plastic. I normally spray 20-30 psi and this was nearer 30, I built up the coats gradually and it went down very well with no clogging of the airbrush. it dried quite quickly and here is a pic of the result.

For the Aluminium option , I used part of a to-be -junked MiG-25 which was again given a wipe down with surgical spirit. I decided to try primed and unprimed so the primer went down first, this sprayed quite well but took a little while to dry definitely slower than Halfords primer. While I was waiting I sprayed one side of the part with the Aluminium on bare plastic and this went down as well as the Jet Exhaust giving a very smooth finish. I then sprayed on to the primer. The result are below , U refers to the unprimed side and P to the primed side.

There appears to be very little difference to the finish with an almost uniform appearance. The finish is quite resistant to finger prints and I put down a strip of Tamiya masking tape and it didn't lift any of the paint. I haven't tried spraying Klear or any varnish over it yet.

I cleaned the airbrush with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner followed by some surgical spirit and it shifted the paint quite easily.

In conclusion I have to say that this appears pretty good stuff to me and I'm looking forward to trying some other of the shades.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Stephen

[Robert]

Thanks Stephen, good to know there is an alternative to Alcad. Will pick some up at Telford !

Robert

[Giorgio N]

Look very good from the pictures ! Interesting to hear that they can be used in bare plastic, other Vallejo paints didn't like this too much. Sounds like we finally have an easily available water based alternative to Alclads.

[Creative Models Ltd]

Hi Stephen,

Thank you for you opinion on the Vallejo Metal colours that you have used so far.

It is always handy for us to get customers opinions on the products that we sell, so we can advise other modellers and give the customers other peoples opinions of the products as well.

Kind Regards

Creative Models Ltd

[MikeC]

Thanks for the review: I've been considering these myself, will definitely invest and try now.

[CurrantBunbury]

Thanks, Stephen. I've recently discovered Vallejo but haven't tried any of the metallics yet: this is useful information.

[Giorgio N]

Thanks, Stephen. I've recently discovered Vallejo but haven't tried any of the metallics yet: this is useful information.

If you've only recently discovered these paints, it may be worth mentioning that Vallejo has more than one line of metallics.

First are the standard Model Color metallics. Not bad by brush, but I can't say I really like them a lot

Then there are the Game Color, same as above IMHO

The Model Air metallics are a different story, with very fine pigments and I really like them a lot, They are meant to be airbrushed and applied this way are wonderful. They can also be used by brush on small surfaces.

Latest is this new line discussed here. From Stephen's initial results I'd say that I have to go out ASAP and buy some

[CurrantBunbury]

More useful info. Thank you.

[fayfaychu]

One more trick I want to add is that a smooth gloss black coat before applying the metallics will greatly enhance the coating, regardless of brands and types. For this range of paint I have tried to use Lifecolour gloss black (very forgiving and highly self leveling) as a base then the Vallejo in very thin layers with certain degree of success. I think I will be shifting to this range of metallics from now on, way less harmful fumes.

Edited November 24, 2015 by fayfaychu

[sroubos]

I just bought a number of these, keen to try them out on two MiG-15s I'm building at the moment... will post pics when I have some results.

[sroubos]

Got my paints, the polished aluminium and silver and the associated black primer. I've applied the primer in two sessions. First up was the underside, I applied it using about 20 psi pressure, thinning it 1/5 with isopropyl alcohol. I applied it in a few layers but it may have been a bit too much, and I wasn't too pleased with the result, some orange peeling was evident. It also dried quite slowly, 24 hours later and it's still far from dry.

Today I sprayed the topside, this time thinning it 2/5 isopropyl/primer and using 14 psi. It went on much better, but as you can see it is much more of a satin coat then gloss. I'm thinking I need to apply another coat maybe?

Edited December 14, 2015 by sroubos

[sroubos]

Below my results, I sprayed this with Aluminum.

First up is the underside, which was quite glossy. It has quite a high shine for aluminum, maybe a bit too much. I do think the rather orange peel-like surface of the black negatively impacted it as it's not very 'tight'.

Next up the topside. This came out rather well I feel, it is less shiny but more representative I feel of a aluminum finish. It's hard to see the difference in the pictures.

I masked some small panels to bring some variation. The airbrakes and maintenance panel above the wing were sprayed with decanted Humbrol Polished aluminum. Straight out if came out quite matt and the contrast was too great, so I polished it a bit with tissue paper. Again, it's difficult to see in the pictures. I think these paints complement each other relatively well if you want to show different tints of aluminum.

The front intake ring is often a higher shine than the rest of the plane i saw on pictures. I used Gunze Metalcote Chrome silver for this. Out of the bottle this is more matt than the Vallejo paint, but with some rubbing with tissue paper it came out with quite a nice shine.

All in all I'm quite happy with these initial results, I will be using this paint more often.

[cruiserguy]

Good Afternoon Sroubos,

I read about the "orange peel" on your primed model, and that you had used isopropyl to thin the primer. If you used Vallejo primer, in my experience Vallejo paints don't react well to isopropyl alcohol. It might explain the "orange peel" surface. I don't use anything other than Vallejo's own thinner, or Ultimate thinners with Vallejo paints.

Best Wishes,

Will.

[MadYarpen]

Would be great to read come comparison with alclad. Similar price, and i was about to buy batch of alclad colours.

[Texan76]

I've got some of the new Vallejo Metal Color on the way. I will do a side by side comparison with Alclad in the next week or so and post here.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Texan76

[MadYarpen]

Great! Any comments about spraying itself and durability will be much appreciated.

[sroubos]

Durability seems ok, I let it dry for a few days and applied decals yesterday, the Sol and Set I used didn't affect it. However it still doesn't feel quite dry and the finish is relatively soft, definitely not as hard as Alclad.

I used some flow improver to thin it and it sprayed beautifully.