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I've long been tempted to try out a holographic effect paint to see how it responds to highlighting and shading. The last time I was in Japan I saw a few places selling it (alongside Gundam stuff) in Akihabara but foolishly did not pick any up as I was not certain it was acrylic at the time and had done enough shopping on that trip.

This is the sort of effect I am trying to find in a paint:


But ideally from a much darker base, giving an oily look. Kind of like this but with a much finer pigment/less shiny bits, more red and gold instead of pink and blue:


The first problem has been figuring out what the effect is actually called. I've found it labelled as Prism effect, Holographic, Pearlescent, Multi-tone and Color shifting paint.

Currently I've found a select few colours from remote control car companies, but nothing too close to what I seek and very little in stock. The other option is getting an actual automotive paint, decanting it into a container from the spray and using a varnish to de-gloss the finish.

Has anyone come across these in potted acrylic form? Do you know where I might be able to find them? With hindsight, the ones in Japan were pretty much perfect, but I cannot remember the specific store where I saw them and do not know if they have made it overseas yet. Any ideas on where I could continue looking?

The paint used are a Urethane Kandy colors. It is an Airbrush color. You can buy it at http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop, but it is rather expensive and very toxic.

Vallejo makes a brush on clear opalescent, you put it over other colors and it ads the candy. It's also water based!

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/pdf_web/MC_CC070-rev04.pdf

Createx makes a water clean up opalescent for air brushes too, and you can ad it right over acrylic colors or mix it in, but I use an airbrush with mine.

http://www.createxcolors.com/product/airbrushcolors/main.html

This stuff, "Dupli-Color Mirage" is a 3 spray can kit for @ $35(the effect here is created by layering different types of acrylic sprays). I don't think it's quite what you're looking for, but it may be close enough.

http://www.spaceagepaint.com/product_detail.aspx?id_product=9061

Some interesting options, thanks everyone. I cannot find a Vallejo opalescent though Augustus and dont see one listed in the PDF either I could not find it from googling or searching vallejo retailers either, any chance for some more information on that one?

I would suggest that you enquire at your local body shops and ask them if they can order a sample of a colour-shift paint for you.

You will need to airbrush it though.

Try these http://www.thecustompaintshop.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=42_2055_2132 , Ive used them on my 'nids and my dragon. They are airbrush paints that are water based. The best bit is that you can brush them on if you're carefull. Real easy to use

pm me if you want tips

Wonder how those would look on IG tanks

Not great because of the flat surfaces with lots of greebles on... I'm using the paints on an Eldar and a D Eldar army next, which should work because of the curves. I also have the Harliquin force to paint up too

Ah thankyou captain jack, that is exactly what I'm after. Eldar/Dark Eldar was my thinking as well. I presume the nids in your gallery are using it. It looks a little bit thick there, is that a quality of the paint or photography?

Have you tried highlighting it with standard acrylics or tried using a wash on it, and if so, how did that work out for you?

Nah, that's my poor sculpting The paint goes on really fine, it needs to go over dark colours, but you can shade the base coat to get the effets that you want. TBH the nids were a trial for the paint and a bit of a learning curve because of all the converting and painting effects. The pics don't do the scheme justice to be honest, the minis look a million times better in proper daylight in your hand. The biggest problem I encountered was the fact that I decided to use matt floor polish to protect the minis which has dulled the effect, whereas the dragon I used purity seal over 'ard coat.

Also the retailer does a free guide which is worth getting with an order.

Pic of Dragon wings

It's still indoors but the effect is a lot better than the nids, and you can also combine the top coat of the colour changing paint with these http://www.thecustompaintshop.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=42_2056_2135 for even more effects. On the Dragon I used the red cosmic sparkle.

I've got some now and had a play with it today so thought I'd update. I tried it out on a few very small bits first, and have to say it was a little disappointing and turned out as I had feared - basically the scale at 28mm is not suitable at an infantry level for the paint I got. Doing dark eldar armour plates like I had thought might be possible would simply look like a generic washed out metallic paint (well slightly better and more even that that but still similar).

At larger sizes (like big nids or large, curved armour plates) it would look a lot better, but the reflective pigment size is still a little bit large for my tastes which limits the options a bit more as well.

Ultimately, for me it is an interesting tool but for infantry sized models I think it is better left to accenting rather than primary colours. Using it for hinting on bladed weapons might be effective so I'll try that out at some point at least.

Try different base colors

I used it overtop vallejo gunmetal blue with great results

Hmmm, am working on some Harlequinnes at the moment, and I will post pics soon. Have a good play with the paints before giving up, it took me three of four re-starts before I got anyhing half decent and then I ruined it with floor polish

Which colour did you get out of interest?

Vellajo Metallic Medium, will turn any paint into a mettalic, I used it on my Marine Army and they came out good.

if its going to be a 'direct, out of the bottle, onto the mini' paint then it will need to be a spray type paint. The pigments in spray paint are a lot finer (more crushed up particles). Many pro mini painters will use (and even brush on) spray metallic paints because of this. Chrome is a good example. It reduces the sparkle effect with most metallic paints.

GL.

I went for the sapphire one in the end and tried it with a black, blue, purple and dark blue base. Black and dark blue looked the best but the effect was not quite there. I'll give it a go with a metallic base next and see how that looks. It is an airbrushable paint and I also have an airbrush, so might try it out that way at some point as well to see if it changes things much.

Thanks

I think the spray may be the trick.

At first I tried spraying a little into a bottle top and then painting from that, but it turned out crappy, then I tried a couple thin coats over the whole model.

Originally I didn't want to have prismatic anywhere but the bugs shells, but they looked so great/slimey I ended up leaving it.

please keep me updated with whats up, I'm thinking of doing my mechanicus grey knights a prismatic red/orange if I can find some!

The real trick to duplicating a multi-tone pearlescent paint scheme in miniature is 3-fold. You'll need an airbrush, transparent paints in 3 colors (deep tone, mid-tone, highlight), and pearlescent additive.

Looks like (if you're trying to duplicate the pics in the OP), you'll want to use Purple as a shadow, Blue as a mid-tone, and Green (or greenish-blue) as your highlight.

-Prime white
-Spray your shadow color (adding the pearlescent additive now or waiting until all coats are dry and spraying it, unblended over the top)
-Spray your mid-tone, focusing on areas which will receive more highlight color later
-Spray your highlight color

If you do it correctly, it should work (Transparent airbrush colors show color below them and give the impression of blending). I don't claim to be an airbrush expert so definitely search around on how the pros do it....

Sorry for the threadromancy... just wondered how the trials and tribulations of holographic multi tone paints got on ?

I'm also interested in using these paints for an upcoming project... and was wondering how you got on ?

What do you use as a base coat ?

How do you determine which is the "top" colour ?

Is there anyway to apply highlighting etc ??

To put it into context... I'm looking at painting up the rather fab Heresy Miniatures Dragon, after a fair bit of converting, to make Galrauch, the two headed Warriors of Chaos character...

Ideally, I'd have one side of him a gold / red multi tone, fitting his fluff (he was a goldern dragon, that when flying over the battlefields, reflected the red hues of the flames below..) and then have a greeny purple / blue effect bleeding into the other side... to show the corrupted chaos effet...

However.. its a big model.. and would look a bit pants if it was just one big block of colour (even though the colour would shift) on each side...

So.... I was thinking... how does the under coat effect the paint ? could I do the highlighting at that lower level, and the effect come through to the colour changing paint...

My idea would be to base the model in boltgun metal or other suitably dark metallic... and then do the highlighting with various silvers and chromes, to really strike a difference across the model, then spray the colour changing paint over the top of this...

Not 100% sure if it would work.. and ideally don't want to ruin a rather pricey model....

All I can say is check out captain jacks images! thay look awesome! he's done something akin to what your after! :-)

Legoburner, the problem you're having is that the model needs to catch a lot of light in order for you to see the gradation of color. The models are very small, so they do not have the surface area to reflect this well as far as the color being viewed at different angles.

The secret is in step 5 of the custompainshop instructions. Must be protected by a final clear coat. This coat does more than protect the model, it also is a translucent material. Just like clear water, there is some refraction of light occuring there. After you've painted it the best you can, try a coat of water effects mixed with the brush you just used to give it a slight same color pigmentation (very slight! Use drybrush amount of paint). This will add a thick clear coat on the model, and also provide lots of bended light. Light that will help you see more color gradation on a small model, as opposed to the side of a car.

Interesting points, thanks. I have had a few minor successes so far but not got to anything that would look good below about 1" square in size. Still playing around though and when I finally get some time to paint again I'll post my results.