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I'm looking for an iridescent/pearlescent/metallic green to use for my new Tyranid carapace! Anyone have any clue on where I might find or how I might make this beetle's color?

Scorpian green mixed with burnished gold, 1:2 ratio with dark angels green until you get the right shade.

Iridescant paint changes colour based on the angle you look at it. Scorpian green and burnished gold wont really get that. I think what Leonus wants is a green/blue iridescant colour.

You can get that for things like rc cars but how well that is going to work on 35mm models I don't know. I imagine it will be like a lacquer which will be a pain to spray on and you will need a very thick coat before it will begin to show any descent colour.

try a home decorating / DIY store - I know B&Q in the UK does it in a spray.

Nail polishes are always worth a bit of a look.
Just don't tell the missus.

Auto Zone sells a DIY kit for chameleon like colors its a three step process.

I tested it out a few years back on some nids and it looked all right although goes on pretty thick if your not careful.

It came out nice and even opposed to nail polish which tended to look lumpy and super thick as well as taking ages to dry...

Definetly worth a try make sure you protect it with a UV top coat otherwise the paint will fade quickly.

PM me if you have any trouble....

I second the nail polish. You can get all sorts of shiny. Even comes with the brush.

I've seen iridescent eye shadow as well, would work like a weathering powder, so you'd have to seal it after. Not sure of any companies that do it.

Alternatively, interference paints might be interesting. As opposed to iridescence, where you're painting one colour that appears as another when viewed from another angle, the interference paints are colourless until viewed from another angle.

I believe Liquitex do a range, including green. Although I'm not sure where you'd get a hold of em in America.

Try here http://www.thecustompaintshop.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=41_42_2055_2132 I've just got my hands on some purple for my 'nids, though I haven't got around to spraying yet

As well as Liquitex, there's Golden Acrylics.

I have tried Liquitex Iridescent Medium - the idea is you add this and it makes your paint look metallic. However the flecks in it are a bit large for use on models. I have heard good things about Golden Acrylics but am yet to try them, so please post if you do!

Years ago tried making my Necrons a bit more interesting by making their color shift. Worked well but is time consuming in prep and drying time. Any lines stick out like crazy. Used Mirage by Dupli-color, does a good job. Its spray only so some ingenuity is in order to paint just the carapace unless you spray it into a container and brush it on. That sounds like a plan…. Might have to go dig out that paint.

Ummm Go to the fishing department of wall mart or target or some fishing store.... and ask for the luminesscent paint( its a glow in the dark paint) it goes on clear with a opac finish, But if you mix it into ur paint like one part paint and three parts luminescent it will give you a errie glow in the dark.

Wow, some awesome suggestions, thanks guys! I'm going to look around for some nail polish for sure. The chameleon paint looks like it would be awesome, but I'm a little wary of paying so much for something that might not work well on such a small scale.

I'll see if I can find that mirage paint, it looks like a winner!

I actually know just what you need - Pearescent Macaw Green Ink. I have some and it's exactly that effect and is a one coat paint on just like normal acrylic paint.

So after some fiddeling I've come up with these three different possibilities! I can't decide between them, yall got any opinions? Please excuse the sloppy paint job, I wasn't being too careful with these test models.

I vote the middle grey one.

I like the bottom one. How did you do it?

Clthomps wrote:I like the bottom one. How did you do it?

Actually had three different carapace mixtures here. The grey one is simply a shiny green nail polish I found, the other two are an undercoating of different greens (and some red highlights for the bone one) covered with a pearly clear polish I dug up. Slathered with 'ardcoat glossy varnish to shine it up extra good.

I'm flip flopping between the bone one and the grey one... I'm just afraid from a distance it'll look like I didn't paint the minis if I do the grey one

thing it, it representing the shinyness of the beetle, but not that green colour, imo keep trying out to get that good green colour instead of that aquaish colour.

2c in

I vote the very first one. On a side note, have you hit the test models with Dullcote? If not, you should to make sure it doesn't alter the effect.

Ouze wrote:I vote the very first one. On a side note, have you hit the test models with Dullcote? If not, you should to make sure it doesn't alter the effect.

I've never actually used Dullcote before. The gloss varnish gives it a tough surface on its own (hence the name 'ardcoat), though I can only use that on the carapace unless I want the whole bug shiny.

Yeah, if you get it right, use Dark Angels Green, Snot Green and Scorpion Green

I vote the first one

Basecoating chainmail/mithril and then doing a drybrush of dark angels green makes for a great metallic green

I like that one the best.

Golden Acrylics +1

They make an Interference green that give the paint it's mixed with that iridescent sheen. Works well with citadel too. I like the nail polish effect though, I'm a fan of the third one, but I'm not keen on the bright red...

Look for Tamiya polycarbonate colors at your local model car/RC shop. They have just that sort of thing in a spray can, and I think they have in a brush on bottel as well, though I am not %100 on that one.

Reference the really expensice paints I mentioned earlier, they work really well. All I have done is painted 3 very thin layers followed by some Ard Coat varnish. I had to brush it on because my airbrush carped it while putting the base colour on my 'nids. I'll get some pics up over the weekend.

Edit: I've also just ordered some of this, but not recieved it yet. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pearlescent+paint&sprefix=pearlescent . Orange is the colour ordered, but thought I would give you the search results so that you could see more.

http://www.goldenpaints.com/products/color/heavybody/iridchart.php

I use the violet a good bit. Base coat black or white for different effects.