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I have only just started experimenting with airbrushing. Do metallic paints flow and adhere ok? Do the pigments cause clogging problems?
Thank in advance!

I mostly use metallics from the Vallejo air lines, including their "new" metal color range, which is great. They're obviously formulated for airbrush use, and cause no real problem (but too much thinning leads to a weird speckling of metal pigments instead of an even layer). The silver colors are also great for using with a paint brush.

As for "normal" paints, it works, but I find it much harder to get a good consistency. Because many metallics are very thick, they require a lot of thinning, which sometimes "break" the medium and results in speckling. So I find it very difficult to get decent blends with most golds and coppers. I never tried to thin with a mix of metallic medium and flow aid though; there might be a proper way to thin them down which I'm not aware of.

Like fresus I primarily use Vallejo paint and find they work well. The metal pigments are big, so don't try to use them with low pressure or a small (<0.4mm nozzle) and expect a good experience.

A trick I quite like is using their black metal paint on a black undercoat and brighter metal colours as zenital highlight. That looks great on mechanics.

Brilliant, thanks. I’m looking at the back of my warp spiders and thinking of a marbled effect with a clear red over the top. Thought metallic might add an extra zing.

I use metallic paints with my iwata HP-CS, which has a 0.3mm nozzle, and it works fine.

There are guides to doing such an effect in the ForgeWorld masterclass books. Essentially, it's a metal undercoat with pre-shades in the recesses. You can see a practical example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EMawb-Ol9w

Our metallics work very well through an airbrush and only require a small amount of thinner (Or our awesome Water+)

Being super thin straight off the bat means you spend less time messing around and more time painting to get results like this

 p5freak wrote:
I use metallic paints with my iwata HP-CS, which has a 0.3mm nozzle, and it works fine.

Same.
Citadel airbrush metallics work smoothly as well, I use plenty of those along with Vallejo.

I find the biggest problem with most metallics is cleaning them out of the airbrush once you're done. But I've had no real problems with non-air specific paints like Reaper's metallics, Vajello metallics, even Citadel metallics. You just have to use some thinner.

supershandy is that the Cabernet red? I have some but I haven’t used it yet.

The purple/blue flip is looking superb on my son’s Necrons.

Tikay Fortooun wrote:
supershandy is that the Cabernet red? I have some but I haven’t used it yet.

The purple/blue flip is looking superb on my son’s Necrons.

It is indeed and I saw those Necrons, looked awesome!

 John Prins wrote:
I find the biggest problem with most metallics is cleaning them out of the airbrush once you're done.

Same here, cleaning the airbrush afterwards can be a real pain. Also you have to watch out to only apply thin coats so you don't push around the metallic pigments on the mini with the airflow.

I'm not having much fun with Leadbelcher air paint through mine. Feels like it's 'sticky' - always feels like it's on the verge of jamming.