Matching Vallejo Ground Texture

[Klingsor]

Is there a paint colour that matches Vallejo Ground Texture Brown Earth? I would have thought Vallejo would do one themselves but I don’t see one and I would like to paint the edges of the bases to match the top.
The alternatives I see are to pick a colour and either paint over the texture coat which I really do not want to do or to skip to something like Liquitex Ceramic Stucco texture gel, which I use a lot for texturing buildings, you can add some acrylic paint to it to colour it, it is literally designed for this.

[FifteensAway]

Do paint/hardware stores where you live offer paint matching?  If so, ask someone to do a match and then get as small - or larger if justified - a container of matched paint as you can.  Just be very careful about storing the excess so it will last longer meaning keep the lid super clean before re-sealing and DON'T leave container open any longer than necessary as that will shorten the life of the paint.  I've done this a few times now for hobby projects.  FYI: I am in the USA.

[Klingsor]

I did that years ago and ended up with five litres of Goblin Green emulsion (latex) paint that was used for my first attempts at terrain and board building. After a few years it smelled really bad but was still useable. This is also why I am careful not to use tap water for any mixing or dilution that will not be used immediately.

I am hoping for an acrylic paint, something between emulsion and model paints in cost and size simply for convenience but you do make me reconsider this, a small tin of emulsion is not cheap but still much more economical than buying acrylic even in 500ml pots. Emulsion also lends itself readily to faffing about – I have often used a mix of emulsion paint, PVA and fine sand or filler, sometimes both, for various jobs.

You are spot on about the tins though, they are not really designed for a lot of use. I ended up pouring the last big tin (of near enough Desert Yellow (Dulux Salisbury Stone 1)) in to a more suitable container.

One thing I did discover was that a paint mixer, the shaped head you put in a drill, is really useful and very quickly resurrected some quite badly separated emulsion that had been sitting around for a few years. This was a trick easily transferred to 1:1 Scale painting which amused me enormously.

A local shop does the paint mixing so I might pop in on Saturday morning.

[fred]

Given the shear number of Vallejo browns - you feel one much match - but which one, I have Flat Earth in front of me, along with a host of other shades??

 I suppose it really depends on how much you need, as to whether a pot of emulsion is worthwhile.

[FifteensAway]

Do you have access to acrylic household paint versus latex/emulsion?  Might make a difference.

[Klingsor]

I don't ever remember seeing acrylic paint for anything other than models or art use. Time to broaden my horizons.

[Klingsor]

I thought I had a lot of Vallejo (and other brand) browns but none seemed to match.
It did seem very odd that it wouldn't match one of their colours. I need to go to a model shop and the closest one is in Belfast, Clare Gaming in Ballyclare have some but not a huge selection.

[Klingsor]

I did get a small tin of emulsion (latex) paint mixed, the very helpful lady called it a test pot but at 250 ml or so it is larger than the premixed test pots I am familiar with. She did warm me because of the texture of the sample (a 30mm round base) the colour match might not be exact but it would be easy enough to adjust it but to my eye she was spot on.

I did take the lid and before putting it back washed it carefully to get a good seal and made sure to clean the edge of the tin and never to wipe the brush against it.

It all went more smoothly than expected. Thank you for the mixing suggestion chaps.

[FifteensAway]

Glad to hear it worked out for you.  For the benefit of others, you may want to post up before and after shots so we can all see how it worked out.