Vallejo

Vallejo: Acrylic Paints for Scale Models, Miniatures, and Dioramas

Vallejo is a leading brand in the production of acrylic paints, with over 50 years of experience in the world of art and scale modeling. Since its beginnings, it has specialized in high-quality water-based paints, appreciated by both hobbyists and professionals. Vallejo develops its own paint formulas in-house – something rare in the industry – which has allowed it to perfect its products and establish itself as a global benchmark in this field. In the following sections, we’ll explore Vallejo’s history, its main ranges of modeling paints (such as Game Color, Model Color, etc.), diorama materials, and the key factors that make Vallejo a favorite among hobbyists.

History of the Vallejo Brand

The company Acrílicos Vallejo was founded in 1965 by Amadeo Vallejo. Interestingly, its origins lie in New Jersey (USA), where Vallejo began producing acrylic colors for animation studios. Its paints were used in classic cartoons such as The Flintstones and Yogi Bear, produced by Hanna-Barbera. In 1969, the brand returned to Spain and soon became the preferred paint brand of leading European animation studios.

Vallejo and Fine Arts

Over the years, Vallejo expanded its reach into the field of fine arts. In the 1970s, it developed Acrylic Artist’s Color, the first acrylic paint for fine arts made in Spain, and in the 1980s launched the Acrylic Studio line (at the request of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Barcelona) — a range of high-quality acrylics in larger containers. These paints were known for their high viscosity and permanent pigments. They contained no toxic ingredients or heavy metals. Thanks to this history, Vallejo established itself as a leading acrylic paint brand, backed by five decades of experience and product innovation.

Vallejo and Scale Modeling

In addition to fine arts, Vallejo quickly recognized the interest of the scale modeling community in its paints. By the late 20th century, model shops began requesting their colors for painting models and miniatures. Vallejo responded by creating a new paint format specifically designed for modelers: small 17 ml dropper bottles, ideal for precise paint dispensing and preventing paint from drying out. This led to the launch of Model Color, now considered one of the most complete and widely recognized paint ranges for modeling worldwide. In 2002, Vallejo expanded its catalog with Model Air, a line of acrylic paints designed for airbrushing, featuring extra-fine pigments and formulas optimized to avoid clogging airbrushes. Thanks to its experience, the company has continued to expand its offerings, staying closely attuned to the needs of model and miniature painters.

Today, Vallejo offers a total of around 8 acrylic paint ranges for scale modeling (each with different formulations depending on the use) and a catalog that includes over 600 different shades, including colors and mediums. Nearly all of these paints come in Vallejo’s signature 17 ml dropper bottles, a hallmark of the brand. This broad selection allows hobbyists to find the exact shade they need or easily mix their own custom colors.

Vallejo Paint Ranges for Scale Modeling

Vallejo has developed several acrylic paint lines to cover the different aspects of scale modeling, fantasy miniatures, and other creative hobbies. Below are the main Vallejo paint ranges geared toward the hobby community:

• Model Color: Classic range of acrylic paints for static modeling. It offers a very wide palette of opaque colors with a matte finish, formulated with high-quality pigments. It includes numerous historical and realistic shades (especially a large variety of browns, greens, and grays used in military camouflage) to accurately represent vehicles, historical figures, and all types of scale models. This paint is designed for brush application, with excellent coverage, making it ideal for detailed miniatures and scale models.

• Game Color: A range of acrylic colors developed for fantasy modeling, designed for fantasy, sci-fi, and wargaming miniatures. It stands out for its vibrant and saturated tones, with names inspired by creatures and fantasy concepts. Game Color is especially aimed at painters of fantasy and sci-fi miniatures, offering brighter and more striking colors than Model Color. It is a popular choice for painting armies from games like Warhammer, RPG heroes, or any figure where a colorful finish is desired. The revamped Game Color formulation (since 2023) has improved color opacity, provided a more matte finish, and extended drying time to ease blending and gradients.

• Model Air: This range is specially formulated for airbrushing. These are finely pigmented acrylic paints with a thinner consistency that can be used straight from the bottle with minimal thinning. Model Air paints offer excellent resistance and strong coverage, ideal for airbrush application. Many Model Air shades are inspired by historical military colors, making it easier for aviation and armor modelers to recreate accurate camouflage schemes from periods like World War II. Although designed for airbrush, their fine pigment also makes them suitable for brushwork, especially for detail and glazing techniques.

• Xpress Color: One of Vallejo’s latest innovations, designed to speed up the painting of miniatures. The Xpress Color range consists of very fluid matte acrylics formulated to create shading and highlighting in a single coat. Thanks to excellent capillarity, the paint flows over the miniature’s surface, settling more intensely in recesses and shadows while leaving raised areas lighter. This way, when applied over a light primer (white or grey), it automatically creates highlights, mid-tones, and shadows with a single color. These “contrast-style” paints are ideal for quickly painting batches of miniatures (like armies) while maintaining a good level of detail. Xpress Color paints can be mixed together or diluted with their specific medium to adjust intensity, offering great versatility.

• Other Specialized Ranges: Vallejo has also developed more specific lines for niche hobby needs. For example, Panzer Aces (created in collaboration with modeling magazines, featuring exact colors for military uniforms and vehicles); Game Air (fantasy colors adapted for airbrush use); Mecha Color (designed for robot, mecha, and gunpla models, with durable and vibrant tones); and Metal Color or Liquid Metal (highly pigmented metallic paints for realistic metal finishes). All these ranges reflect Vallejo’s philosophy of providing modelers with the right tone and consistency for every specific purpose.

Materials and Effects for Dioramas

One of Vallejo’s standout features is its range of products for dioramas and scene finishes. Under the Diorama FX (Diorama Effects) range, the brand offers everything needed to recreate realistic-looking terrain and bases. These products include earth textures (brown earth, mud, sand, rust, etc.), pastes to simulate water (still or moving water effects), snow, grass, and other natural elements. The Diorama Effects line allows hobbyists to easily replicate dusty roads, accumulated mud, fresh snow, or water surfaces, among many other options. For example, it’s possible to achieve the look of cracked desert ground, thick battlefield mud, or realistic snow simply by applying these ready-to-use acrylic pastes.

In addition to terrain textures, Vallejo offers powder pigments (Pigment FX) to represent dust, rust, and dirt on vehicles or buildings. Combined with fixers, these pigments add authentic weathering and depth to models. The brand also offers acrylic washes (Wash FX) and ready-to-use weathering effects (Weathering FX) such as water-based oils and enamels to create filters, rain streaks, grease, burn marks, and other aging effects. All these products are formulated to be fully compatible with Vallejo acrylic paints, helping modelers achieve highly realistic dioramas and scene finishes. For instance, a painter might use Model Color for the base coat of a tank, apply dark washes to enhance recesses, drybrush light pigments to simulate raised dust, and place the tank on a Diorama FX base (dry mud, grass, etc.) to create a complete and coherent scene.

Vallejo has also developed a line of hobby tools and accessories, including quality brushes, airbrushes (in collaboration with other brands), primers in various colors, and varnishes (matte, satin, gloss finishes), as well as auxiliary products such as thinners, drying retarders, and acrylic mediums. It even offers sprays for priming and painting (Hobby Paint) for those who prefer aerosol airbrushing. In terms of scenery, Vallejo provides elements like Hobby Scenics (such as flocking, static grass, bushes, and other materials for base decoration) and Hobby Tools (cutters, tweezers, etc.). In short, the brand offers a complete ecosystem of paints and materials so hobbyists can complete their entire project using Vallejo products from start to finish.

Commitment to Quality and Innovation

Safe and Long-Lasting Acrylic Paints

One of Vallejo’s core values is its commitment to quality in every bottle of paint. All its paints are water-based acrylics, which means they emit virtually no strong odors or toxic fumes, unlike solvent-based paints. This makes them safer and more comfortable to use indoors (important for hobbyists painting at home) and more environmentally friendly. Since its founding, Vallejo has avoided using pigments derived from heavy metals or other harmful substances in its formulas, ensuring that its products are non-toxic and suitable for all users. Despite being water-based, Vallejo paints offer excellent resistance and durability once dry: with proper varnishing, they can withstand subsequent work with oils or enamels without reactivating or flaking.

Consistency and Color Accuracy

Consistency between batches is another aspect Vallejo takes great care with. By manufacturing its own paints in-house, it controls every step of the production process to ensure that a specific color (e.g., Crimson Red) maintains the same tone and behavior whether purchased today or months later. The pigments used are fine arts grade, resulting in colors that are bright, opaque, and permanent (lightfast and non-fading over time). For all these reasons, Vallejo has earned the trust of the modeling community—its paints are frequently recommended in forums, tutorials, and modeling contests around the world.

Innovation and Adaptation to the Hobby

When it comes to innovation, Vallejo stays in tune with hobby trends and developments. A recent example is the launch of Xpress Color to meet the demand for “contrast-style” paints that allow for fast painting. Similarly, the revamp of Game Color incorporating a base-shadow-light color system (BSL triads) demonstrates the brand’s intent to offer modern products aligned with current miniature painting techniques. The company has also updated its corporate image and logo in recent years, adopting the slogan “Inspiring Experience” to reflect how its products aim to inspire users’ creativity. In short, Vallejo combines extensive experience with a continuous improvement mindset, ensuring its paints and materials remain a reliable tool for artists, modelers, and demanding hobbyists alike.