Vallejo Game Color Bubbles | minipainting | Page 1

unreal cypress Apr 24, 2025, 11:20 AM

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I (somewhat foolishly) bought a huge collection of Vallejo Game Color paints (new formulation), relying on the brand's established reputation. And the paints are actually amazing when they work.

However, I'm struggling with bubbling, especially when applying the base coat on uneven surfaces. The issue is more prominent with brighter colours, like bone white or light greys, but affects all paints. I'm not thinning the paints, using slow brush strokes, not overloading the brushes, etc. Tried adding some flow improver/thinner - it seems to help a bit, but makes the paints quite runny.

Has anyone had any success with this?

sand sapphire Apr 24, 2025, 12:20 PM

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I only own a handful of the new paints, but they're just fine. Some greens, some reds, black, and bone white. I use them on a wet palette and thin them as I feel, nothing consistent. I haven't encountered your issue with bubbling and don't have much to complain about, really.

unreal cypress Apr 24, 2025, 2:14 PM

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Interesting! Bone white is the worst offender in my experience, it's just a bubbly mess and takes 4-5 coats to fully cover

sand sapphire Apr 24, 2025, 2:16 PM

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I have the same experience with the coverage, just not bubbling... Are you painting wider surfaces maybe, like capes and stuff?

unreal cypress Apr 24, 2025, 2:24 PM

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Actually it's a lot better on wider and more even surfaces. It's mostly a problem where there is an uneven shape. My guess is that the bumps/recesses on a model agitate the paint and it bubbles more

sand sapphire Apr 24, 2025, 2:36 PM

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You can try shorter brush strokes, maybe. I've seen Sam Lenz sort of stab at textured surfaces like fur to get them basecoated.

unreal cypress Apr 24, 2025, 4:23 PM

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I will give it a go, thanks

rough pewter Apr 24, 2025, 6:46 PM

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Bubbling is an unfortunate drawback of the Game and Model colour reformulation, which is most likely linked to the flow improver they added.
That said there's way to minimize it:

for basecoat, barely thin your paint, a damp brush is often enough.
pull your paint slowly, don't push it
go in the direction of the texture/cloth/etc.

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And poor coverage of white is a quite common factor due to pigment size, especially if you're applying it directly over a dark colour. I would recommend to apply some intermediate colours before applying white

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For info: I got the complete Game range and most of the Model range, in the new formulation.

#Vallejo Game Color Bubbles