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Hoping the dakka community can help me here....


I'm looking for a more metallic silver paint to use on this R2D2 statue. All the better paints I can think of will cost me an arm and a leg to get the amount I'd need to finish this, so if you can think of an affordable metallic silver paint, please let me know!

maybe a can or two of "Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2X Metallic Aluminium" or something?...haven't tried it myself, but I've seen/heard good things...

Vellajo should have what you need.

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/metal-color/family/33

or

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/liquid-gold/family/11

The Rustoleum stuff looks good, just have to look around and find a place that has it in stock.

I do really like the Vallejo options, it gives me some fantastic ideas for other projects, but at $10-12 for 32 ml I think it will cost me $50-100 to paint all the metallic areas on it.

Go to the local hardware store and automotive store (autozone, napa, etc) and see what they have.

You should be able to find enamels pretty cheap, they take a long time to cure and smell bad before they've fully cured, but they're tough and often quite cheap.

Something else you might want to try out, especially if you're airbrushing, is using several different metal paints from different manufacturers. Real metal has a lot of depth to it, which means that when you look at a metal surface from different angles, reflection and colouration will appear different.

If you just stick to one paint, you'll end up with a surface which will look more like plastic and less like metal.

 Zingraff wrote:
Something else you might want to try out, especially if you're airbrushing, is using several different metal paints from different manufacturers. Real metal has a lot of depth to it, which means that when you look at a metal surface from different angles, reflection and colouration will appear different.

If you just stick to one paint, you'll end up with a surface which will look more like plastic and less like metal.

I know what you mean in that regard, however, the 'statue' for lack of a better term, is life sized...4 1/2 feet tall, give or take. I'm confident that the natural shadow will be enough depth if I can find a metallic paint that looks metal enough.

 wikkedj wrote:

 Zingraff wrote:
Something else you might want to try out, especially if you're airbrushing, is using several different metal paints from different manufacturers. Real metal has a lot of depth to it, which means that when you look at a metal surface from different angles, reflection and colouration will appear different.

If you just stick to one paint, you'll end up with a surface which will look more like plastic and less like metal.

I know what you mean in that regard, however, the 'statue' for lack of a better term, is life sized...4 1/2 feet tall, give or take. I'm confident that the natural shadow will be enough depth if I can find a metallic paint that looks metal enough.

Well, I'd argue the technique is particularly suited for big models and surfaces. Thing is, if you layer different metal paints, you're more likely to achieve a realistic metal surface, than if you just use the same paint for everything. This is the technique professional special effects people use.
This has nothing to do with light and shadows, if you only use one paint, it will just look like moulded metallic plastic.

The only paints that actually look like real metal, contains real metal. Vallejo has a few of those, mostly intended for aircraft models and you might want to consider those.

Use Rub and Buff

 Zingraff wrote:
The only paints that actually look like real metal, contains real metal. Vallejo has a few of those, mostly intended for aircraft models and you might want to consider those.

The reason I'd steer away from the Vallejo paints is they're actually quite delicate. Alclads I find much tougher though you still want to varnish them.

But either way, you need an airbrush to apply those metallics well. And if you use an airbrush they actually go quite a long way, you could probably paint the better part of a human being with 1 or 2 bottles. If you try and use them by hairy brush they won't go as far though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 wikkedj wrote:
I do really like the Vallejo options, it gives me some fantastic ideas for other projects, but at $10-12 for 32 ml I think it will cost me $50-100 to paint all the metallic areas on it.

How many square feet are we talking? If you're airbrushing I imagine you could easily paint several square feet per bottle.

Another good alternative would be to prime black and drybrush on your metals...far more coverage with the same paint and some good depth.

I would second rub and buff myself for something that large.