vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

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OllieSmith
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vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by OllieSmith »

Hi all,
I've just got around to airbrushing up a Lancaster with Vallejo model air 016 dark us green and 029 dark earth. The dark earth is too dark and there is little contrast between the dark green and dark earth :/ I'm new to Vallejo paints moving from humbrol acrylics, and these were the two that were vallejo's supposid match for raf upper cammo.
Can anyone with experience using Vallejo model air, please recommend me a Vallejo model air colour better matched for the raf ww2 cammo Brown please? I've seen somewhere online, someone mentioned Vallejo model air 030 a better match? What Vallejo colours do you all use for raf ww2 cammo?

Hope someone can help,
Cheers,
Ollie
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Ratch
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by Ratch »

Try 71038 Camouflage Medium Brown ;-)
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montessa315
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by montessa315 »

The listing I have got for Vallejo paint for RAF WW2 cammo is-
Dark Green #12
Dark Earth #29

The #12 is slightly lighter than #16.

Alan........
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OllieSmith
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by OllieSmith »

Thanks for the replies guys :) I'm not sure whether to go for a lighter brown or lighter green now !!!!

Ratch, have you ever used the 71038? Or know how it compares to the 71029 dark earth in shade or tonal appearance?

Alan, if you have used the 012 and 029 combination, how do they look?

I bought a pot of 71030 which someone said was better, but it was way to orangy yellow so mixed it 50:50 with the dark earth and the result looked spot on with the 016 dark us green !!! Lancaster is painted now, well the top half is so will post a pic. I've a 1:24 spitfire to do at some point so need to get the raf green/brown colours down soon, not a fan of mixing colours you see lol. :)
OllieSmith
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by OllieSmith »

That's the outcome, lighting wasn't great but looks ok :) that's the 016 029/030 mixed 50:50

Image
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montessa315
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by montessa315 »

OllieSmith wrote:Thanks for the replies guys :) I'm not sure whether to go for a lighter brown or lighter green now !!!!

Alan, if you have used the 012 and 029 combination, how do they look?

)
I'm not actually a cammo painter myself, but at sometime or other I picked up a listing for Vallejo paints, which is what that suggests.
Myself, I do not worry what other people think, if your happy with the colours, stick with it.

PM me your email address and I happily send you a copy of the listing.


Alan...........
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Ratch
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by Ratch »

OllieSmith wrote:Ratch, have you ever used the 71038? Or know how it compares to the 71029 dark earth in shade or tonal appearance?
No, but like you, I'm not too enamoured with the 16/29 camouflage. On some charts 38 is matched to Humbrol 29, so that is to be my next RAF DE/DG trial (38/16) :twisted:
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

I'm no expert, having just started my conversion to Vallejo, but I find their conversion charts to be akin to fantasy in places.
Which leads me to buy more colors for mixing, so maybe their charts are fantasy but the business plan is working. :grin:
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OllieSmith
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by OllieSmith »

Haha, it's funny you should say that jratz- iv had the same thing buying various colours because there is no definate conclusion or answers from their colour charts !!!!!!

Ah that's worth looking in to ratch, can you let me know your findings on the 38?

Cheers guys, regards Ollie
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by AndrewR »

I rather like Model Colour English Uniform for RAF Dark Earth:

Image

That's matched up with Vallejo Air Dark Green and Duck Egg Green on the Airfix Boston.
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by OllieSmith »

Cheers Andrew for your input :) good contrast on the paint job there :) I've bought a few different greens and think I've settled on the model air Russian green and I've got model air earth and dirt to try out, they look pretty close to what looks right in my eye, will build a spitfire at some point to experiment with, do you brush or airbrush the model colour? I've got a couple model colour paints but I can't get them to work as well as model air in my airbrush :/ if you airbrush, can you let me know your secrets please?

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AndrewR
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by AndrewR »

OllieSmith wrote:Cheers Andrew for your input :) good contrast on the paint job there :) I've bought a few different greens and think I've settled on the model air Russian green and I've got model air earth and dirt to try out, they look pretty close to what looks right in my eye, will build a spitfire at some point to experiment with, do you brush or airbrush the model colour? I've got a couple model colour paints but I can't get them to work as well as model air in my airbrush :/ if you airbrush, can you let me know your secrets please?

Ollie
I airbrush mostly. The model colour paints need diluting quite heavily with Vallejo Airbrush thinner and thoroughly mixed. Then they usually spray okay.
The Russian green looks like a good match to the RAF green too.

I use Panzer Green (1943) for Fleet Air Arm aircraft as a substitute for Extra Dark Slate Grey.

Make sure you prime the model before you paint with Vallejo, the paint itself is fragile. I use the Vallejo acrylic primers, which spray excellently, and sometimes will do without a top coat!

The SE5a here is painted underneath with their Sand primer, and on top with Bronze Green.

Image

Job done just with primer!

Image
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OllieSmith
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by OllieSmith »

Cheers again Andrew :) always prime my kits cause of inherent acrylic traits :) by the sounds of it, I didn't thin the model colour paints, I did use Vallejo thinners but not enough of them haha, will give them another go sometime :)
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Re: vallejo model air dark earth help/advise needed

Post by AndrewR »

OllieSmith wrote:Cheers again Andrew :) always prime my kits cause of inherent acrylic traits :) by the sounds of it, I didn't thin the model colour paints, I did use Vallejo thinners but not enough of them haha, will give them another go sometime :)
They really need quite a lot of thinner, and possibly a higher pressure, to get them to spray,but if you get that right, then the results are good.
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