3 Colours Up Review – Vallejo/Prince August Paints

September 7, 2011 by elromanozo

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Vallejo/Prince August Paints

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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