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Hi there,

Sorry if this is the thousandth time this has been posted. I searched but couldn't find anything. What's the best undercoat for silver? I know Tin Bitz is good for darker metals (like Dwarf Bronze), but what about silvers like Mithril Silver? Would codex grey be a good choice?

Thanks

I always use black. I don't understand it, but I've found silver coats best and looks best over black.

I've heard that if you want the silver to really shine you should use a glossy black primer

Black is what I use too

Silver on black really does work well! Thanks folks.

All metallics look better when done over a black undercoat.

Breotan wrote:All metallics look better when done over a black undercoat.

Generally, yes. Although I've found that GW's and Vallejo's current golds go better if you apply a coat of bestial brown first. Otherwise they can take quite a few coats to look smooth.

I actually really like Tin Bitz under gold. Brown undercoat, devlin mud it to darken it, then Tin Bitz and Gold. Highlighted with a mix of yellow and mithril silver.

When I get a chance I'll post my Sanuanary Guard. THey look pretty good.

Really?

Everyone gives "black" as advice?

.

For all lighter colours (such as silver, yellow, bonecolours, white, grey etc pp) you will always want to apply a WHITE undercoat (preferreably via spraypaint).

Why is that so? Because in such a manner you can easily have a covering layer with very watered down silver.

Then apply a wash,

Then drybrush with your silver colour.

.

This is probably the easiest way of doing "Silver."

.

Black undercoats work well for dark Metal, but not for light silvers!

For a nice, high-shine silver, the best method is to build up in thin coats from black;

Black
50-50 Black / Boltgun metal (or similar gunmetal)
Boltgun metal
Boltgun metal / Silver (I like VMA Silver)
Pure silver (VMA silver is lovely; very smooth).

Tips: Don't thin with just water water; use a touch of flow aid or detergent to break the surface tension. You want a smooth flow. Several very thin, even coats (not streaky sploshy) are better than one thick one. Use a palette; paint consistency is important for a good shine, lumps are not noticeable in a pot. Wet palettes also work very well.

archont wrote:Really?

Everyone gives "black" as advice?

Yes, because applying metallics over black almost always gives smoother coverage. White tends to show through, or look very washed out. That's mitigated somewhat by the wash, but black undercoat just gives a more 'solid' colour where metallics are concerned.

I have had a lot of luck with grey primer. It works well with both light and dark color schemes. other than black, white and grey most of the other primer colors are more trouble than they are worth.

Green - Good if you are playing orks, you can skip the dark green undercoat steps. Outside of that useless.

Red - only good for BA and Ork mech. Using it on BA troops is not a good idea, you will never get the other colors to look right.

Blue - looks bad even for ultrasmurfs

The Metallic One - maybe necrons, it worked out poorly for my one Squad of GK that I tried it on, but I haven't heard about people using it with necrons.

Black is the way to go for silvery metals, brown for all golden metals.

Cheers,


IK-Painter

insaniak wrote:

Breotan wrote:All metallics look better when done over a black undercoat.

Generally, yes. Although I've found that GW's and Vallejo's current golds go better if you apply a coat of bestial brown first. Otherwise they can take quite a few coats to look smooth.

I go with khaki and then a gold/silver mix. At least that is what I've done so far for my Iron Snakes' golden bits.

I always paint silver (or gunmetal, steel, etc.) directly over black. The thing with metallics is that they don't look good with only one or two thinned layers, probably due to the density of the metallic flakes and pigment in the paint being further diluted. Using white as a shortcut to skimp on layers is counterproductive, as it appears that a certain thickness is required for an even finish, which is obviously best achieved with multiple smooth, thinned layers (as opposed to one thick one, as all accepted painting wisdom would suggest). Browns can work for gold (and do, in fact, quite well), but for silver metallics, I'm all about the black.

rwzimmerman wrote:I always use black. I don't understand it, but I've found silver coats best and looks best over black.

Yep. Same here. My silver (a testors aluminum) is more the consistency of a wash, so I use multiple coats and it usually works out well.

Same with gold, except my gold isn't a friggin washlike consistency. Multiple coats is the way to go for all metallics though.