Am I alone in struggling to find a bottle of Vallejo’s Dark Rubber sold in their Panzer Aces line? Here in the UK it’s like hen’s teeth…
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At the bottom of the sea with the U.S.’s shipment of Mr. Surfacer 1500 black.
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Does that mean “sunk”, or is it being smuggled by submarine?…
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Vallejo Black Grey is a bit darker but might be an ok replacement.
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Considering my local LHS’s have not been able to get any in stock for about a year I am thinking sunk.
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In the United States, that paint does not appear or is out of stock at Andy’s, HobbyLink, Scale Hobbyist, Sprue Brothers, and Squadron.
It seems like a lot of things are out of stock at shops in the United States right now.
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According to my local shop, Vallejo has never been fast at resupplying.
Didn’t Vallejo have labor issues not long ago?
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I use AK 11028 Smoke black for rubber/tires, if that helps. They have Rubber black 11028 also, I think it is slightly darker. Maybe AK are better supplied there.
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I get that many modellers have no art training, so this is NOT a criticism of those needing to find manufacturers’ exact shades. That said, when something’s unavailable why not try using an approximation – in this case for example Tamiya’s basic rubber shade – and if it’s still not what’s desired try mixing in a tad of plain black or darker grey? Unless the result’s intended to be factory-fresh, with some basic weathering (dust, or mud) I’d be very surprised if anyone could tell the difference.
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Agreed! I struggle to work out out paint mixes, but sometimes you learn a lot doing so. Often the only way though. Various dark greys can be near enough anyway, but often too blue. My tip is to leave tyres in the basic Black primer, it gets into the treads to enhance the details and create depth. By the time you’ve added any weathering, it always works out fine. N.b. Tank tyres are often in a smooth, hard almost black grey and don’t appear blue grey.
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I use a number of different “rubber” paints, including Vallejo’s Black Grey, but in this particular case I was seeking a stock replenish of a “dead” bottle in the paint rack. If Dark Rubber is no more then I’ll just have to live with it!
But maybe it’s all stuck in the Straits? We know the war can’t be over mere oil, so maybe a more valuable dark liquid is probably at the heart of it… 
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A couple of stores have it, but they’re overseas…
I don’t know anything about these online stores so you’re going to have to research their review ratings. For Der Tabletopper, enable Google Translate in the URL field and they have it in stock.
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For the heck of it, I was perusing the web. Can’t believe how many products are out of stock lately.
—mike 
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You were shopping the Andy’s BOGO sale?
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I use Forge Rattle Can Black or Citadel Black, great stuff.
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I use whatever is in my shop.
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I guess one way AI could be used for the Light Side instead of the Dark Side would be…imagine this:
Type in one manufacturer’s deleted or unavailable colour and ask for nearest equivalents using parameters of (say) hobby/modelmaker manufacturers only and within 5% of the original shade. It must be possible – hey there’s only a couple of million shades perceived by the human eye! Maybe such a database exists already?
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That’s right, because most greys & blacks are indigo-based which derive from blue - it can be countered by mixing in 10% or 20% brown to neutralise the blue tinge.
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Well! I gave the question to Duck.ai and received this response:
Prompt: What is the nearest equivalent to Vallejo Dark Rubber paint?
Vallejo Dark Rubber (Model Color 71.056 / Game Color 72.056) is a flat, very dark neutral gray with a slightly warm/black rubber look. Nearest equivalents from other common brands:
Citadel (Games Workshop): Abaddon Black (base) — slightly warmer/denser black; for a closer match, mix Abaddon Black with a small amount of Mechanicus Standard Grey or Dawnstone (1–2 drops) to lift it to Vallejo Dark Rubber’s dark gray.
Army Painter: Matt Black — similar depth; add a tiny drop of Uniform Grey to get the dark gray tone.
Tamiya: XF-85 Rubber Black — very close in appearance.
AK Interactive: AK-012 Black Rubber / Rubber Black — comparable finish and tone.
Scale75: Black Rubber — similar
If you want a closer spot-on match, mix: Citadel Abaddon Black + 1–2 drops Mechanicus Standard Grey (or Dawnstone) per 10 mL to approximate Vallejo Dark Rubber.
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