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So I set out earlier today to compare Citadel Metallics with Wal-Mart purchased, dollar-a-tube metallics. Here's what I found.

I used Citadel Dwarven Bronze for one, the Wal-Mart paint for another, and for a third I used a combination of Citadel and Wal-Mart paints.



The above image is the model I painted using just the Citadel brand Dwarven Bronze. It's a little runny, doesn't give as good of coverage as i would like, but there you have it.



This is the one I did using the Wal-Mart brand one dollar paint. It's even less effective at covering the underlying color than the Citadel paint. Then I remembered something a fellow Dakkanaut had told me, about a mid-metallic option, halfway between metallic paints and NMM.



The melta gubbins here have been done with Bestial Brown, with a mere drybrushing of the Wal-Mart metallic paint. I think it looks awesome. The end result is a coppery color that I really enjoy.

Personally, I like the Citadel Dwarven Bronze better than the Wal-Mart stuff when used by themselves, but I prefer the third technique about either of the first two. What does everyone else think?

Yeh for the bronze you generally can't just put it as is, needs to go over something or be mixed like the third technique. The silvers cover much easier.

I've been using an apple barrel copper over black and I really like the way it's came out. Citadel silvers however do have much, much better coverage than the cheapo acrylics. As a general rule of thumb I use citadel/pp/vallejo for models, and apple barrel for all my terrain needs.

Humbrol makes an acrylic bronze that gives reasonable coverage :

http://www.humbrol.com/paints/acrylic-paints/ab0171-171-antique-bronze-12ml-metallic-acrylic-tinlet/

Used over a brown basecoat on the ammo belt dangling from the Heavy Stubber with just a flesh wash after for added depth.

I'd bet that if you put cheap acrylics over citadel foundations, and then washed them (ie, using them exactly the same way), you could get comparable results. I have some folk (?) mithril silver-ish color that I used for a long time before I got around to buying actual mithril silver. They work, although buy the best brand possible if you're going to buy cheap paints.... Sounds counter intuitive if you're trying to save money, but delta-Ceramcoat are really awful, as are those ones with the apple on them...

I know a couple people who use apple barrel for minis and their results are mostly fine. I use it on terrain where a little bit of grainyness isn't an issue.

I may look into that, but I really like the result I got in the bottom picture. You guys think it looks sub-par?