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Hey dakkanauts

I was wondering, what is the best way to get coloured metallic paint effect. (like you can find with for example cars)

Would it also be possible to create pearlescent or iridescence effect?

Kind regards.

I don't do this myself but I do know you can get tinted clearcoats ("Glaze" in the GW brand) to change the color but not totally obscure the paint under it.

You ignore the Games Workshop range completely and go out and buy yourself some coloured metallics from other paint suppliers.

There's a lot of options if you're willing to go enamel, but even if you aren't you can find some good Acrylic metallics.

I painted this guy using metallic red and blue from the Aqueous Hobby Colour range...





It's reasonably pearlescent, I didn't paint any highlighting (just a blue wash and then a gloss varnish) and you can kinda see the natural pearl effect to it. It looked ok even without the blue wash and it is quite naturally pearly, but it was too pale for my liking and the shadows weren't well defined enough, hence why I used a blue wash and then a gloss varnish to bring back the natural pearl (since the GW blue wash is matt, though you could try a "blue ink" from a non-GW range which have more of a transparent glossy finish instead).

I know Testors makes or used to make a range of acrylics that included quite a few coloured metallics and pearls, but unfortunately I couldn't find any in Australia so I went with the Aqueous Hobby Colour range which was a bit more limited (it didn't have a purple metallic, I had to mix it myself from a red metallic and a blue metallic). I'm sure there's other acrylic ranges that have good metallics and pearls as well, or if you're willing to go enamel your options are much larger as people who paint model cars and planes tend to use enamels.

These were done with several coats of Vallejo Model Color clear red over a gunmetal-silver zenithal coat, followed by a blue wash and glossing up.



The red is a little pinkish for my taste; apparently using a gold undercoat (ie brown-gold-silver/gold mix) knocks it back toward a proper Iron-Man hot rod red.

Youe could use Vallejoe Metallic Medium and add that to the colour of your choice. Gives a very nice metallic effect, which gets stronger the more of the medium you use.

Cheers!

Black Under Coat, Chain Mail Base coat, 2 layers of Ink ( in this case purple and blue on the Wych armour )

Tamayia has a range of clear colors, ie blue clear, red clear ect.. Just base in your metallic of choice and layer these on over it for the desired effect.

So to summarize the options:
1.) Buy metallic colours from other manufacturers.
2.) Add Vallejo Metallic Medium to the colour of your choice.
3.) Apply a silver colour and cover it with a wash or ink layer.

While these are all great examples/ideas, it's not quite what the OP was looking for. They do indeed make paint in the style you are looking for; R/C builders use them a lot on their cars.

After a quick Google search (it can be your best friend...) I found this company: http://www.spazstix.com/
They appear to make the kind of paint you are looking for. As a matter of fact, I've seen an Iron Man bust painted with colors like this and it looked amazing.

Thanks guys Did get the info I wanted ^^

ScootyPuffJunior wrote:While these are all great examples/ideas, it's not quite what the OP was looking for. They do indeed make paint in the style you are looking for; R/C builders use them a lot on their cars.

After a quick Google search (it can be your best friend...) I found this company: http://www.spazstix.com/
They appear to make the kind of paint you are looking for. As a matter of fact, I've seen an Iron Man bust painted with colors like this and it looked amazing.

Well the OP asked for a metallic pearl colour and I listed 2 sources for such colours, Aqueous Hobby Colour and Testors. My Necron was painted with a pearl blue, which is why the raised surfaces are reflecting a lot of light, I didn't take it with a bad flash or excessively directional light, that's actually how it looks

Like I said, if you want to paint something that looks like the pearl you see on a car, most people use enamels of various descriptions. Just go into a hobby shop that sells model cars and you'll usually find a plethora of coloured metallics and pearlescent colours and basically anything that you'd see on a car, you'll be able to find an enamel paint which reproduces it.

If you want to limit yourself to acrylics (which is what most wargaming paint is), you limit your range a bit but there's still options.

Testors Model Master Acryl...
http://www.testors.com/category/136645/Acryl_Paints

And the one I used for my Necron (which admittedly doesn't have a huge range), Aqueous Hobby Colour...
http://www.cyber-hobby.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=94_101_83_79&sort=20a&page=1

Couldn't find an official link for the Aqueous Hobby Colour, you can buy it in many hobby shops in Australia, not sure about the rest of the world. If you scroll through that catalog you'll find flouros and clears and metallics which are all great for painting "car-like" colours. The metallic blue and red aren't listed as being pearls, but I can attest to the fact they are significantly more pearl-like than the GW metallics, though maybe not as much as the Testors range which are actually advertised as pearls. I have seen model cars painted with the Testors range and they look great.

There are other ranges that also sell coloured and pearl metallics, those are just the 2 I personally know. I think Tamiya also makes acrylic pearls and I know many companies making enamel pearls for the express purpose of model cars.

While you can do the silver and layer with glazes, and those maroon coloured marines by winterdyne look awesome, I never knew you could get such a great effect using that method, it still seems like a roundabout way to go when you CAN buy coloured metallics straight out of the tin. I personally found (and I don't attest to having the skills of winterdyne) that layering glazes, by the time you've put down enough layers to get a real red or blue or whatever (which is usually something like 10 coats), you've hidden the actual "metallic" quite a bit. Though I haven't personally tried inks, which are more glossy and transparent. I once saw an awesome pearl Dodge Viper model that was painted with a Testors blue pearl, inked with a blue ink then given a light gloss to finish it. It didn't have any additional shading and nor did it need it.

Gunze can be a bit hard to find in some areas:

http://www.mr-hobby.com/

The link to the Aqueous Hobby Color page itself:

http://www.mr-hobby.com/itemlist/pg10.html

Lots of other stuff from them is fantastic as well.

Watch for the application purpose of the paints though. Some, like the Spazstix line are actually designed to be applied to the backside of acrylic body shells of RC cars. They have different properties when compared to traditional paints because of this - you can use them - but they are different.

Try mixing Runefang Steel with the colour of your choice, it should work.

Squigsquasher wrote:Try mixing Runefang Steel with the colour of your choice, it should work.

It won't give a very bright colour, it'll turn out pale.

Since we are talking about Metallic paints, different brands, etc... Are those safe for an air brush and do the flakes plog it up?

I've never tried them in an airbush, I don't really have any experience to speak of with quality airbrushes. I've heard the metallic flakes clog up the brush though. Also metallics tend to not thin quite as well, and I believe you need quite thin paint when airbrushing. They tend to separate from the water, though maybe you can use some sort of thinning agent instead of water so they don't separate.

Actually that Aqueous Hobby Colour paints separates very quickly even from itself when you haven't watered it down. I had to constantly stir it on my palette because the colour kept separating from the base. Not much of an issue when brush painting, I dunno if it'd be a problem with airbrushing though.

That blue does have an oily component to it that I think helps give it a pearl effect, if you paint it on thin over black it has that "oil slick" look to it, and that seems to separate out if you don't constantly stir it.

Gunze love airbrushes. As do a lot of other paints. For that matter - most the better effect paints are designed for airbrushes (metallics, pearls, interference...).

One thing to note with the Aqueous Hobby Colors from Gunze is that you really want to use either their thinner, Tamiya's thinner or rubbing alcohol to thin them. Water will separate much faster with them because of their formula.

Hobby metallics can be problematic though. Some have large flakes which don't thin well, or which can clog up fine airbrush needles.

Ah ok, good to know, like I said I don't have any experience with quality airbrushes Been painting for, wow, nearly 20 years now (painted model planes before I started wargaming) and still never bought an airbrush... it's on my todo list.

The most amazing metallic airbrush paint I have ever seen is the alclad II series. Its a special primer followed by these amazing lacquer based metallic.

They are pricey, but give you results like NOTHING else will.

Seriously, you have to see them to believe them. Check out some local hobby shops where car or scale airplane modelers may hang out.

I use them for my necrons....