Vallejo Mediums EXPLAINED

This is one of the reasons why I love Vallejos so much. They formulate and design paints depending on use. They also design auxiliary paints ( varnishes, thinners, binders and mediums ) to achieve optimal results. Acrylicos Vallejo has a super wide range of paints from Fine Art and crafts to hobby paints. It almost feel like toy collecting. lol

This blog article is part of my Vallejo Colors EXPLAINED series of posts.

• Vallejo Paints EXPLAINED
• Vallejo Mecha Color EXPLAINED
• Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver EXPLAINED
• Vallejo Mediums EXPLAINED

I saw that Angel Giraldez ( the awesome miniature painter ) uses mediums to thin paints for airbrushing ( in addition to using Vallejo thinner ). But I personally just use mediums for hand painting. To each his own I guess. lol

THE TRIFECTA

The Gloss Medium, Matt Medium and Satin Medium. 

The Gloss Medium I mix with Black paints to hand paint undercoating for Vallejo Metallic paints. It is always best to paint metallics over a nice gloss black finish. I hand paint small pieces ( even bigger pieces like hands ) instead of masking them and airbrushing.

The Satin Medium is perfect for adding to paints when your painting leather and skin. They will give any Vallejo paint a nice sheen without looking wet and extremely shiny  ( like the gloss medium ). 

The Matt Medium is perfect for everything else. Note that the Matt Medium is not strong in comparison to the gloss and satin mediums. IMHO, The Matt Medium ( same with the Matt Varnish ) are the best ready mixed Matt auxiliary paints in the market. 

THE CHIPPING MEDIUM

I have a ton of chipping mediums as I have a lot of Vallejo Rust and Weathering Paint Sets ( Paints that came in 6 or 8 paints per box ). Chema Cabrero, Tony Buendia and similar master scale modelers, use this medium a lot.

If you are into weathering and paint chipping effects, this is the only choice. Much like any of the Vallejo Paints, this medium is easy to hand paint. No need to put out your airbrush while hand painting weathering and chipping effects.

THE RETARDER MEDIUM

You can use this if you do not use wet palettes during hand painting. Wet palettes will keep your...errr... paint wet while painting, thus you can blend and mix paints together easily. However, I advice using this Retarder Medium if you like blending and mixing and keeping your paints wet a bit longer, both on a wet palette and on a mixing dish. Just use super small amounts of this. You do not want your paint to dry in a year or two ( just kidding ).

THE CRACKLE MEDIUM

This medium is crazy good albeit tricky to control. It gives you a somewhat ... errr... ruined finish. It will give the paint on top some cracks! Literally... you'll produce cracking paints if you use this. you can airbrush or hand paint this, paint over it... then watch your paint CRACK as it dries and cures. The is crazy stuff.

THE PIGMENT BINDER

The Pigment Binder is not a medium, but acts like a medium. lol

Basically you use this mixed with pigments. I will have to produce a video and upload on my Youtube channel to show the effects and how to use this medium well. This is great stuff if use properly.

THE METAL MEDIUM

This is a beautiful medium. It is a gloss medium with shiny micro particles. Unlike using normal gloss medium, this metal medium actually enhances the sheen and shine of Vallejo metallics. This is awesome stuff! I highly recommend this for any Mecha / Gunpla modeler who hand paints metallics! And yes... Vallejo Metallics, much more the Vallejo Metal Color line have their own Varnish! 

CONCLUSION

Serious modelers, and definitely professional modelers should get all of these. However, hobbyists and weekend modelers should be fine with just the TRIFECTA ( Gloss, Satin and Matt Mediums ).

Like I always say, paints ( and tools ) are investments. They are not cheap. Kits are NOT CHEAP too... So always use the best paints and tools for your hobby. You need not buy everything in one blow... slowly invest. 

Anyways, thanks as always for dropping by! Until next update guys! 

Just enjoy the hobby! Cheers!