Not happy with Vallejo at the moment

Vallejo has been my favorite paint maker ever since I've decided to make a switch from Humbrol enamels to acrylics. Vallejo Model paints are pretty much the only thing I use for miniature painting (the other hobby of mine).

Right now however they are not my favorite company. The reason? Their "new next best thing since sliced bread" aka. their new polyurethane primer! I've spotted couple of adds about them and as I'm always curious about new stuff, I picked up a bottle of it when I saw it at a trader stand during my visit to C4 Open show. Couple of days ago I had a chance to test it out, as I needed to do some priming on one of the kits I'currently working on. First impression wasn't very positive - straight out of the bottle, it was rather thick, but at the same time it had tendency to pool together on bare plastic on which it was sprayed at low pressure levels (I stayed at 10-15 psi). I found it rather difficult to work with, although to be fair, the fact that I had a 0.2mm nozzle on my airbrush could have had something to do with it (thick fluid + small nozzle = clogging).

This less than optimal first experience turned out to be only the prelude to my problems with that "great" primer. Couple of days after my test run I found some free time and decided to work on the Stug. Imagine my surprise and horror when, as I picked up the airbrush, I discovered that its trigger action felt soggy as if its innards were filled with sticky glue. The problem became obvious almost immediately once I stripped the airbrush - once the needle was out, I saw that it was covered with sticky white goo. Same stuff stuck to the trigger mechanism and nozzle wasn't in much better condition. The whole brush was covered with residue from that test I did couple of days before.

Now here's the thing - I'm rather anal when it comes to keeping my airbrush clean. I strip it and clean both the nozzle and the needle with airbrush cleaner after every painting session, no matter how short it may have been. Test run with Vallejo's primer was no exception.

After a night of soaking all detachable components in cleaner fluid and with rather significant effort I managed to remove most of the goo and restore the airbrush to usable condition. Based on that experience it is clear to me that the airbrush cleaner I'm using (from Lifecolor) is barely capable to thin that stuff out. Until I find find a thinner that does visibly better job cleaning/thinning it, this new "wonder crap" from Vallejo isn't coming within a meter from my airbrush!