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So the old line of GW metallics are no longer produced, which I, and many others thought were the best. I'm trying to look for an alternative even if that means paying a premium. I was "spoiled" by the old metallics, and I will not accept anything less if possible.

I am aware that there are companies that make "identical" versions of the old gw colour line, IE vellajo game colour. I have tried the Vellajo game colour metallics thought there were mediocre at best, other agree. I have not had any experience with model colour metallics. I have tried the model air metallics, and they are quite good, but cannot fill all the roles of the old GW metallics.

I have also tried P3 metallics, and they were just as bad as the vallejo game colour ones.

I know coat d'arms used to make GW paints, and they have a line that replicates the old GW line of paints. Are there metallics any good, do they live up to the "boltgun" standard?

My priorites are quality, and good characters first, and colour selection and similarity to the old GW line second.

My question for you guys, What do you feel is the best metallics on the market and what would be an ideal replacement for the old GW line?

Thanks.

Esp the Gold, this new gold they make is HORRID

Master Sheriff wrote:

My question for you guys, What do you feel is the best metallics on the market and what would be an ideal replacement for the old GW line?

Thanks.

My personal recommendation is to try Vallejo again. They are far and away better paints than GW has ever made and their selection is impeccable. The new line by GW, while pricey, is also very good. I have happily switched over a couple dozen colours already including all my metallics. The new base gold/silver are particularly good.

I will probably be shot down here but meh I love army painter

Check out their warpaints.

Coat D'arms Magic Metal.

You're welcome.

Coat D'arms did the old flip top GW paint range from the mid to late nineties. If you're after pretty much exact matches these are your guys.

Vallejo "liquid gold" range is insanely... goldy. But it's a complete pain to work with :(

i find the army painter gun metal to be really, REALLY close and even smoother to paint

I've only heard bad things about the Auric Armor Gold from two individual sources online now. I'll have to get a test model out and give my pot a go.

Leadbelcher is the new GW metallic that matches to bolt gun metal from what I understand. Looks and works just fine. I just painted a massive Guard army with it and my SoB will receive the same paint.

Vallejo has Game Colour and Model Colour, when I first made the switch from the GW pots I tried game colour and wasn't really that thrilled, I love model colour though.

As to the metallic paints.... God how I miss Bolt Gun, the army painter metallics are really nice and pretty close but are just a hair lighter. I haven't found that perfect replacement yet.

Have you tried the new metallics? I haven't tried the new boltgun metal, but I tried the new runefang and it's fine, works great. The old metallics really weren't anything special and I think the new ones are fine.

Fido198674 wrote:Esp the Gold, this new gold they make is HORRID

Really? Which one? The new Balthasar Gold is one of my favourite paints in the new range, gold always has terrible coverage but Balthasar Gold completely fixes that problem and it's easy to lay down a solid coat of it, then just highlight it Shining Gold and it looks good and is easy to do.

I never liked the old golds. The silvers were quite nice. But nothing compares to Vallejo metallics. They are amazing and, even though ive never tried the new GW stuff, I dare say Vallejo will be better.

The old GW silvers were some of the best you could buy. Their old golds weren't very good but I've heard they have improved with the new range a bit.

Why dont you just buy some GW leadbelcher?

Skippy wrote:The old GW silvers were some of the best you could buy. Their old golds weren't very good but I've heard they have improved with the new range a bit.

Why dont you just buy some GW leadbelcher?

Seriously? What made the old silvers so good? I used some Mr. Hobby ones which I thought gave a nicer result.

P3 Pig Iron is as close to Boltgun Metal as I've found. To the OP, I don't when the last time you tried P3 paints, but I've heard the reformulated their metallics recently. I use Model Air metallics for almost anything... Aluminum is my personal favorite.

KalashnikovMarine wrote:I've only heard bad things about the Auric Armor Gold from two individual sources online now. I'll have to get a test model out and give my pot a go.

Please don't do this to anything you aren't prepared to strip, the new GW golds are horrible garbage with a really bad finish and a tendancy toward lumpiness.

DijnsK wrote:i find the army painter gun metal to be really, REALLY close and even smoother to paint

It's almost identical to old boltgun in every respect, it's a really good investment.

This seems like a good place to ask where I could possibly buy any of the vallejo liquid gold range from in the UK, I've found a site or two in the US, but they look dodgy and I'd rather order from within the country. Anyone have any ideas?

I did a bit of a comparison on my blog. Not so much for an exact color match to the old Boltgun (my favorite), but more for quality.
It was surprising to see what came out on top.

Here's the article: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/06/can-anything-replace-old-boltgun-metal.html

I'm glad I picked up 5 pots of Boltgun Metal before the change.

Some friends have used The new GW Boltgun metal replacement and it was ok.

So, leadbelcher really is a proper analogue?

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

Skippy wrote:The old GW silvers were some of the best you could buy. Their old golds weren't very good but I've heard they have improved with the new range a bit.

Why dont you just buy some GW leadbelcher?

Seriously? What made the old silvers so good? I used some Mr. Hobby ones which I thought gave a nicer result.

They covered well, had a lovely fine metallic grain to them and didn't split too much when watered down. They were always quite highly regarded by non GW haters.

Okay I can confirm that the Auric Armor Gold is ass, don't waste your money.

I dont understand you people saying the older GW metallics were better? who,what,when,where,why and how are they superiour?
Only really having tryed leadbelcher personally, Its 10 times higher quality paint than the old boltgun, a nicer flater finish, more metallic flakes than before (which means it probably cost them more to make) and vastly superiour coverage meaning you can thin more and make your pot go further than a boltgun metal would've.

I don't know about Auric, but Balthasar is one of my new favourite colours. I love it for basecoating gold, most golds have terrible coverage but Balthasar fixes that. But I'm still using shining gold to highlight it since I have an almost new pot of it I don't need to buy any of the new golds.

I have tried Runelord Brass and Auric Armour Gold, they are good but they tend to seperate. A lot. It's easy to fix, just stir up the mixture or give it a good shake, but it is annoying. Saying that, gold paints (in general, not just GW) are notorious for seperating.

My friend has the Chainmail equivalent and it works fine.

Squigsquasher wrote:I have tried Runelord Brass and Auric Armour Gold, they are good but they tend to seperate. A lot. It's easy to fix, just stir up the mixture or give it a good shake, but it is annoying. Saying that, gold paints (in general, not just GW) are notorious for seperating.

My friend has the Chainmail equivalent and it works fine.

Ah ok. Some of the best metallics I've used tend to separate so that wouldn't bother me as long as the end result is good. Painting my blue and purple metallic Necron with Mr. Hobby Colour I just shook the tin like crazy, then used a stirring stick to remove a decent amount of paint from the pot and put it on my palette and just had to mix it constantly on my palette to keep it together. Bit of a pain in the arse, but the finish was worth the effort.

I'm no paint chemist, but I think aside from the metallic flakes themselves metallics have an oily component to give them a nice finish which tends to separate, especially when watered down. That could be totally wrong, it's just I've observed the good metallics I've used pretty much always separate out into a thick pigment/metallic flake part and a semi-transparent liquid part.

P3 Pig Iron has been my go-to favorite metallic base-coat paint.

It's a bit darker than Boltgun Metal, but it's got a great pigment ratio so you can thin it right down to near water consistency and it will still give you perfect coverage.

Also, P3 makes this genius product called Armor Wash, which is an ink. It shades better than Badab Black or Nuln Oil, and it has a touch of brown to it, so it gives beautiful depth with 1 pass.

Check out my gallery for examples of how it looks, all of my Badmoon Orks and vehicles are done this way.