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Hello,
I'm currently working on an entry for a painting competition and one of the ideas I've had is to do the models armor in a candy apple metallic red. Like this:

I'm not sure how to go about it though. I am getting an airbrush soon and I was thinking about doing a base coat of something like Mithril silver and doing a coat of Tamiya Clear Red over top of it. Has anyone done anything like this paintjob? How did you achieve this color if you have?

I think the way they used to do it is a gold instead of a silver since the silver could wash out the colour.

Can't give specific recommendation, but I'm pretty sure that you could find a proper Candy Apple Red paint to airbrush by investigating RC Car paints, so you don't need to duplicate the effect, you can just use the proper thing.

I agree with azreal13 and highly suggest looking into real candy paints for airbrushes. Those are supposedly difficult to use though, so they might not be starter-friendly

You'll need an airbrush and Alclad II paints. Most Alclad paints are lacquer based (some are enamel, like their candies) and require specific methods for application; the surfaces must be extremely smooth, you have to use a gloss primer (which also has to be perfectly smooth), and it has to be done with an airbrush and with a mask/ventilation (lacquers are not something to mess around with). To get candy apple red, you have to put a coat of Bright Silver Candy Base and cover it with Candy Red Enamel. Also, Alclad paints aren't cheap, but they are worth every penny.

Here is their website, there are product descriptions and usage instructions: http://alclad2.com/finishes/candy/
You can also search Google and YouTube for more videos/tutorials for using them.

I buy all my Alclad paints from Burbank's House of Hobbies eBay store. If you have a hobby shop that specializes in R/C cars or military/aviation modeling (Alclad II natural metal finishes are very popular with the military aviation modeling community) nearby, you could probably find them there as well.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
You'll need an airbrush and Alclad II paints. Most Alclad paints are lacquer based (some are enamel, like their candies) and require specific methods for application; the surfaces must be extremely smooth, you have to use a gloss primer (which also has to be perfectly smooth), and it has to be done with an airbrush and with a mask/ventilation (lacquers are not something to mess around with). To get candy apple red, you have to put a coat of Bright Silver Candy Base and cover it with Candy Red Enamel. Also, Alclad paints aren't cheap, but they are worth every penny.

Here is their website, there are product descriptions and usage instructions: http://alclad2.com/finishes/candy/
You can also search Google and YouTube for more videos/tutorials for using them.

I buy all my Alclad paints from Burbank's House of Hobbies eBay store. If you have a hobby shop that specializes in R/C cars or military/aviation modeling (Alclad II natural metal finishes are very popular with the military aviation modeling community) nearby, you could probably find them there as well.

I have to agree with a lot of this - and add a few things.

1 - The allclad paints are laquer paints, are not water based and can be exceptionally challenging to work with compared to arcylics.
2 - They are amazing.

I have a bit of experience in working with some of their metallics and transparent paints - and they are indeed beautiful.

They can be challenging to work with as in require a disciplined process of primer (when they say requires X coats to dry for Y hours....they are not kidding) and correcting any kind of mistakes can be a challenge ...and you can't just go and "touch up" easily.

Once you get an airbrush (there are hundreds of threads on which one to get, do a search...it literally gets asked several times a month) pick up a few of the all clads and do a test model or two to see if it is for you.

You might love it and be willing to work with them!!!!

If you are not, then you might still get some cool effects with glazes, washes and maybe some satin of gloss finishes using traditional painting.

Regardless,make sure you do a few tests, and see if anyone in your area has used any of these paints, so you can try them out.

best of luck and have fun!

Try red ink (not the current GW one though) over gold paint. Tried it on my Angron & it works just fine. Cheaper to try this first than investing in an airbrush.

Several methods can be used with acrylics (and should only be applied with an airbrush):

Base Method 1:
You can try using a VMC Red with Vallejo Metal Medium and a spot of Gloss Medium applied with an airbrush. Because the metal medium tends to tint it a bit towards silver, either use a darker red or add a small spot of brown to the mix.

Base Method 2:
Apply an even coat of a light silver or (my preferred method) straight matte medium. Once this is dry, apply a candy cost (like a Badger Ghost Tint) for the color you want (in this case red). When applying the ghost tints, I apply it in thin layers until I have the depth of color I want. I addition, the second and subsequent layers are not applied equally. For example, it the picture above where your source lighting comes from the red appears almost white. Here you want only one coat of the candy. Progressively work the ghost tints down the model to be darker to achieve the lighting effect so important to metallic auto sheens. This method usually gives the best result as you can control the lighting effects (which I usually can do graduated through about four layers).

With any of the above base methods, this finish method should then be used:
Once the base is thoroughly dry, I would apply several light coats of Vallejo Gloss Varnish. Once the Gloss Varnish is dry, use a cotton cloth to burnish the entire piece and bring out the shine.

In all cases, constantly refer to a photograph to guide you.

Anyway, just the way I would approach it

Standard for candy red is candy red over gold. Gold base coat makes for a warmer red

 azreal13 wrote:
Can't give specific recommendation, but I'm pretty sure that you could find a proper Candy Apple Red paint to airbrush by investigating RC Car paints, so you don't need to duplicate the effect, you can just use the proper thing.

Az, I think you mean model car paint. RC car paints use a very soft paint so it won't chip in crashes and this type of paint does not work well on regular models.

Here is your basic Testors candy apple red spray paint:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TESTORS-1605-Candy-Apple-Red-Spray-Enamel-3OZ-Brand-New-IN-STOCK-Now-/370754237212

Use Testors gold as the base coat instead of any arcylic base coat.

Biggest problem with spraying candy paint on figures is getting an even coat. Paint builds up on the outer surfaces faster than it does in recesses. If I were doing Marines, I would paint the arms separately and definitely not have the Marine mounted on a base. Drill a hole in the fig's foot and mount him on a rod stuck into a cork or something so you can spray all the way around the figure to get an even coat. With something as small as a figure and even coat is going to be very tough. Airbrush would work better if you can find an airbrushable candy red.

The Testors spray can is probably the cheapest way to test out your concept.

T

Thanks everyone for all these replies. I honestly didn't think I'd get this many. I don't plan on going the actual car paint route. It is too costly and complex and I don't see it working on this scale. A model car is one thing, but armor on an elven night is another thing. I plan on getting an airbrush anyway, because I want to use it on the cloth and rest of the mini. I will do the gold undercoat, I would not have thought of that one, thanks for that. I'll probably try the process on there minis first to see what happens. I'll make sure to post pictures and information when I actually do it, which probably wont happen for at least a week or two, since I still need to find and order the right airbrush for the job. I'm leaning towards this one:

I have that exact one. Don't expect it to work miracles, but it has served me well, alongside a similar, non brand brush with a smaller nozzle, for about 18 months.

Be aware that the compressor kind of runs out of puff above 30psi, which doesn't really impact much, but is something I've noticed.

Thank you. Not having ever used an airbrush I'm not sure what that means or how that will impact my miniature painting.

I have that brand compressor (the T-20) and it has worked well for my purposes. Most of the time, you'll be painting at 10-20 PSI, so it works well for mini painting. Like all small compressors, it runs hot after a bit of painting. Basically, you can paint for 10-15 minutes at a time with it, then let it cool for 10-15 minutes. If you can afford it, the T-20T is a bit better (it is the same as the one you show but with an airtank on the botton).

If you are new to airbrushing, I would recommend going with a Badger Patriot 105 with a 0.5mm nozzle. It is very forgiving for someone new to airbrushing. In addition, it is very reasonable in price (less than $100) and is very good quality. While not great for very fine detail work, it is a brush good for base coats and can do some level of detail. It is an airbrush you will use for a long time. I personally do not like the Master Series brushes because of the rubber O-Rings which will eventually wear and require replacing. Most quality airbrushed use teflon to avoid the wear.

If you go with the Badger and the compressor shown above, this will run you about $160. However, you also want the hose adapter kit for that compressor to fit the Badger (about $5) and an airbrush cleaning station. That is a good enough setup to get you started with some fairly nice quality components for less than $150.

Thank you. This helps a lot. I've got a lot more information now and I'll be doing some research on these models.

In order to get candy apple red like that car, you need to use enamel paints. If you want a bright red using acrylics, you need to prime your model white, use a bright red wash (Bloodletter), followed by watered down layers of either Evil Sunz Scarlet or Wild Rider Red or some mix of the two.

I've seen a similar effect achieved using a very bright silver (GWs Mithril silver, but anything of a similar brightness will work) and layers upon layers of red ink. then a gloss coat over the top.

Alright, I got the exact effect I was looking for useing a base coat of Army Painter Shinning Silver and using a few coat of Tamiya Clear Red over it. Look awesome. I'll post some pictures when I'm finished painting the minis.

There was a topic on this in the Tutorials section, I think Tamiya clear red was one of the options. Can't be more than two months old, you might want to look into that.

I did my Eldar fleet for BFG to look like those fat goldfish using a base of Boltgun wash of black and a Mithril drybrush with two coats of the old orange ink (GOD I wish I had more for the rest!).

Having the shading done before the color is applied deepens the colors and makes the raised areas pop!