3 Colours Up Review – Vallejo/Prince August Paints
September 7, 2011 by elromanozo
Here's a review of a well known brand... You're likely to find it named Vallejo or Prince August, but it's the same paint. Prince August just distributes it in some countries. It's divided into three ranges.
The Game Color range has every tone in the Citadel range, and more, mainly for the sci-fi/fantasy painter... In fact, that's exactly why the developed it : To offer a familiar palette as an alternative to Games Workshop. It also has a slightly satin finish, but is by no means glossy!
The Model color range is designed for historical painters and model painters. Thus it has more subdued, realistic colors, and an extremely wide range of tones. This range is quite matte, but not exactly shock resistant... You will definitely have to varnish before you play.
The Air range is specifically made for airbrush use, but is quite useful with a brush as well : The paints are more liquid, and the pigments are of unmatched finesse. The metallic paints in this range have a steely shine that just wasn't available before outside of enamel paint!
Vallejo also does some "extra opaque" colors, akin to the Citadel Foundation range, as well as glaze medium, varnishes, modeling supplies (the Prince August FX resins and pastes are really good, but they're not paint per se...) and good quality inks. The Vallejo matte varnish is the best I've seen so far... Too bad it doesn't come in a larger pot.
Every range is quite wide... Which means Vallejo now has well over 270 references, each one a different tone or texture!
The pots are very well priced, and the paint comes in drop bottles that allow you to use just the right amount on your palette without letting the paint dry... The shelf life of such paints is, thus, almost infinite!
A word of caution, though: A few years ago, there were issues with some Vallejo paints that separated within the pot... While this flaw has been mostly corrected, some references still tend to do it, especially old rarely used pots.
Luckily, it's easy to see the paint through the transparent plastic before buying... And it's nothing a good shaking won't cure.
The plethoric variety of this range, as well as the convenient dropper bottles, makes it an amazing range to paint with... Even though the beginner painter might get a bit lost, especially since there is a learning curve to the special texture of some of the paints.
Update : This just in ! Vallejo now has a new range of washes, in the Game Color range, making it even more complete and thorough than before ! Thanks @Manpug for the info...
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Good morning Romain! At last the review I have been waiting for. Now where is my christmas list?
In your opinion, is there anything missing from this range? It seems vast and more than enough to cover most senarios but is there one thing you’d say “if only they did a…”?
D
Ah…
If only they did bigger pots for white, black, medium and varnishes…
If only they did the Tamiya inks (their “smoky ink” isn’t up to that standard, even though it does exist)…
They don’t do washes, but that’s never bothered me.
That’s pretty much it !
BoW Romain
I’d like them to do a (complete) set of the Model colour. The little sets repeat colours, which is a pain.
Took me a while to come arround to liking dropper bottles and paint pallets, but it really did improve my painting drematically.
i have just got a few of these paints to test after being a citadel paint user for 15 years+. the new citadel paints just don’t seem to last as well as they used too. plus the amount of paint you get as gone down as the price goes up. so vallejo seemed a good alternative. it did take a bit of time to get used to them as they seem to dry quicker. but the quality is as good as the citadel for more that Half the price per ml. im now a dropper bottle convert!! so much less… Read more »
@Clansmen That’s the exact same reason I’m looking at a new paint and brush range. A citadel / gw fanboy for many many years but I’m becoming a bit disillusioned with the paints and brushes.
Plus it’s always funny when my gf hears 3 colours up on and asks whatf Romain is painting when she hears the clack clack clack of the bottles being shaken 🙂
I too have been a GW cool-aid drinker, thinking only their paint could be used for too many years. For the last year I have been using the Army Painter Warpaints supplied by Mantic, finding the dropper bottles vastly superior to the too-quick-to-dry-out pots of yore. It was watching one of Elromanozo’s how-to paint guide (I can’t remember which one – sorry) that I learnt about Vallejo paints. Luckily for me a store in central Nottingham stocks them and I bought a couple to try out. Now I am a convert (at least until the rest of the AP Warpaints… Read more »
Thank you very much ! There is no guide just yet… But it’s easy to do. Grab a plate, put a flat thin sponge on it (or, if you can’t, put a few paper towels or a few sheets from the kitchen roll on it), saturate it with water… Then, put a piece of baking paper over this (or oven paper, of the porous, non-glazed or plasticky variety). Press slightly so it sticks. You paint on that palette, and, by capillary action, teh water rehydrates your paint so that it doesn’t dry too quickly. It can last for hours, and… Read more »
Or for better mobility and less space usage in the fridge you can use an old jewel box from a CD and you will even have a cover if your sponge is not too thick
Yes ! I used to use an old rectangular platter with slightly high edges… I even used a DVD case once, but it didn’t work out that well.
I now use a plastic picnic plate, as I don’t often have to conserve my paints overnight.
BoW Romain
I do pretty much the same. Though I find newspaper works as well as baking paper, plus technicaly its recycling and not wasting your money as you can use the newspaper for what it is used for. yet baking paper you cannot use for what it is meant to ebfore you sue it ona wet pallete.
My top tip: newspaper > baking paper 🙂 though if baking paper works best for you stick with it.
With newspaper, you get ink in your paint. This is not good.
I don’t know what kind of newspaper you have at home, but this doesn’t work with most.
BoW Romain
Dunno. For me I don’t get any ink at all. Though my ones are a fair few years old.
Spose i’m lucky.
Is tracing paper cheaper than Bakign paper?
Well, I use baking paper because it’s cheap by the roll and I can find some porous white one easily… In some countries, it’s all grease-proofed and slick, and brown, so that wouldn’t work either… Tracing paper is a bit thick, but that’s exactly the texture you’re looking for. It also can be a bit on the expensive side… One expensive alternative is buying the special “wet palette” pad from Privateer Press (I understand it’s nice, but it’s needlessly expensive for something you can get by the roll in supermarkets…) It all depends on what you can find. Regular paper… Read more »
My favourite paints.
You can get the Matt Varnish in 500ml bottles , but its suited to airbrush use and I’m not sure you could brush it on like the little pots, its much more liquid.
Got some news for you Romain. They do do washes, they are new. I personally seen them and held then yesterday. Look it up and change this review as Im confident you will after finding such great info. i think its a part of the games range.
I did you a favor, this is where I can get them as the vallejo website seems to be not showing them or at least it in the shadows.
http://www.meeplemart.com/collections/vallejo-transparent-acrylic-wash
Ooooh ! Shiny !
Thank you Manpug… I’ll try them out when I can !
BoW Romain
Vallejo’s washes seem to have been around for a short while but they, together with Vallejo’s Foundation/Heavy paints, are surprisingly hard to find. I assume this is because both, especially the washes, are quite new, and many stores has just barely gotten used to the idea of stocking alternatives to GWs normal paint range.
I have been waiting for this one! Thank you so much Romain! I’ve been wanting to buy some of these paints but was nervous about them, but you have been a great guy and I plan on getting a few of these to use with my GW paints, thank you so much my good man, I can’t wait for more of these reviews.
This review was really handy – thank you Romain! I’ve also been a Citadel paint user, but want to try the dropper bottle idea and have been torn between Reaper paints and Vallejo. I had heard that the Vallejo model range were not as robust for tabletop use and this has been putting me off taking the plunge with them, but if a coat of varnish is all it needs, there doesn’t seem to be any reason not to try them 🙂
Actually, to further complicate things, Vallejo has a forth range called Panzer Aces. To be fair though, this range is small and very specific, intended for hardcore WW2 armor painters that want as authentic colors as possible for tanks and uniforms. Probably not very useful for wargamers, not even people who paint Flames of War and 28mm WW2 models. One thing I cannot agree on is how shock resistant the paint supposedly is. No matter what brand of acrylic paint you use, they will always chip away from metal models fairly easily (plastic models are a non-issue, paint never seem… Read more »
About chipping… yes, I agree somewhat that it doesn’t matter that much anyway, but it depends on how you treat your miniatures.
I think the Panzer Aces range is part of the Model Color range and differ only because they’re in a certain set and with a certain label… But I may be wrong.
BoW Romain
Over the years I have very rarely had models chipped because I am very careful with painted figures. The sole exception to this was my Blood Bowl team which was always getting bits knocked off when the models got laid down. Partly my fault though as I chose to play Skaven 😛
You are either blessed with hands of the feathery gods or just plain lucky. 🙂 Me on the other hand has yet to visit a tournament without my squig hoppers loosing paint all over the place. One would think that after the third or so paint fix and coat of varnish that the paint would be stuck for all eternity but no. Those damned squigs are mocking me, I just know it!
i like the Vallejo paints ! a nice range of colours ind inks, and allways somthing you might need ! but i do noch like the metals, dont know if Im just using them wrong, but they seam a bit thinner then the gw once. what am i doing wrong?
I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong… They’re a bit thinner. Just shake them well, as they seem to need it, that’s all…
BoW Romain
Looks like wayland games:
http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/vallejo-paints/washes/cat_280.html
And Maelstorm Games:
http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.php?act=cat&cre=hob-val-wsh
Both have the washes listed and looks like there are 200ml bigger bottles for black and sepia (which assume is Devlan Mud type equivalent).
the Vallejo Paints are the best!! I use them 90% of the time
Thanks for the palette tips. Will try it out this weekend.
I bought my first vallejo paint about 10 years ago on the recommendation of a local model shop. I was looking for alternatives to GW red/yellow as I always found the coverage was awful and terrible to paint with. It was their model colour range but I took a big (about 10 year!) break from the hobby and it’s still as good now as it was then. All my GW pots needless to say were all solid. Back then when I was buying them GW pots were 17.5ml to Vallejo’s 17 and similar price. Now GW is 12ml and more… Read more »
In truth, I actually couldn’t care less about the fact that Vallejo makes a better product than GW. In my mind, the best thing about Vallejo is that they are not Games Workshop. That damned company shall never again lay their greedy fingers on my money. NEVER! Something for people to know, especially those who want to test the Game Color range, is that you won’t have to spend much time getting used to a completely new color system. As even the names mimic their GW equivalents you will be painting with the right color in no time. I for… Read more »
Oh I forgot, it has to be mentioned that Vallejo’s Game Color range doesn’t completely match GWs colors. Of course, it’s hard to spot the difference unless you put the colors side by side on a palette but it might be worth considering if you have painted an army or model that truly need that special color you picked out for it.
Vallejo air metallics are AMAZING!