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I'm posting this because I have a bit of a conundrum. My homebrew Space Marine chapter has a paint scheme that requires mostly a metallic green (mid-tone green, not too light and not too dark), with dark metallic blue on the pauldrons, elbows, knees, and hands [and a metallic red helmet for the sergeants], but I cannot find a particularly convenient way to go about achieving this metallic effect. Right now I am using Tamiya metallic green spray for the base (with metallic red spray used for the sergeant helmets), with Tamiya metallic blue over Kantor blue for the dark metallic blue. The problem is that there is no brush-on version of the metallic green color, meaning that I cannot go and touch up areas that I messed up later on - not to mention that the Tamiya sprays only come in 100mL bottles which cost nearly $10 apiece, compared to twice as much for GW spray which has 4x as much paint.
The first thing I tried as an alternative was Pearlizing medium mixed with green paint, but this did not achieve the deisred affect either. I also tried using regular metallic paint and then going over it with a clear green paint, but that did not work.
I was hoping perhaps some of the nice folks in this forum might be able to give me some suggestions!
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
What kit do you have available? I would consider Tamiya clears over a silver base if you have an airbrush, these are very glossy though. Alternatively, Vallejo have metallic green in their premium colour range and in their Mecha colour range that will brush on fine.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/11/07 21:46:51
I simply mix whatever color I want to use with Vallejo Metallic Medium, which is just an acrylic medium with the little metal flakes in it that has no inherent coloration of its own.
Metallic paints always look better over black primers/undercoats, preferably glossy. I don't really know of a gloss black primer that you can get in spray cans, though - I use Vallejo's through an airbrush, and it's like magic.
Too bad the artificer tint set has been discontinued...
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
I don't know if the artificer tint set was advertised as a permanent addition to the range but the only paints they've discontinued since the revamp in 2012 is a couple of texture paints and some rattlecans. The idea that GW keeps discontinuing paints is just false.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
Thanks everyone. Looking at Vallejo's range, the two I found say that they are for airbrushing, and I do not have an airbrush (and I do not have anyone around who could mentor me in using one, as I do not trust my own abilities to learn from videos and whatnot). As for using metallic medium, the issue there is finding a good green to use for the base - the GW mid-tone greens never go on smoothly for me for some reason (obviously thinning them down, they just get either too watery or they take 8 billion layers to get coverage that still isn't even). I tried looking at the Reaper miniatures page, but the only metallic green I could find was in the paint range that they say is used best for thinned paint applications like washing, layering, and glazes, but I need to use the metallic green for a base coat. I looked at AK interactive, and I searched for metallic green, but did not see any products matching that exact description (I found metallic waxes, which aren't exactly what I am looking for).
I also did try Tamiya clear over a silver undercoat, but it did not work. It just looked silver with a modest green tinge. That said, I have been doing clear green over my metallic, with mixed results (partially due to being brush-on, I always get pooling that won't go away because it is too sticky to distribute using the brush, even thinned down) - I may consider using an airbrush just for that since it doesn't require any precision application, but then again since I then have to go back and paint the non-green areas I'm worried that I will make mistakes and have no way to correct them. That is the primary concern I have with my current method - I have no way to go back over the green areas when I make any mistakes.
You'll need at least two coats of the Tamiya clears to get a strong colour.
I would strongly recommend an airbrush for this sort of work - broad base coats are the easiest way to learn airbrushing.
You can also put a bright zenithal silver highlight in before working with the clear colours - probably the second easiest airbrush method.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Warcolors yet. They have the best colour metallics I've seen and a huge range of shades. I use the metallic violet a lot and it's fantastic.
So far I've just applied glazes to silver, but so far all I've had to do was add subtle blue tints and obvious glowy power-sword effects.
"The sword can be anklebiter as well as throatcleaver. We need no new weapons to defeat the sons of the hydra, merely new doctrines."
-Joriah Stendall, second Chapter Master of the Red Grail Crusaders
Ghaz wrote: I don't know if the artificer tint set was advertised as a permanent addition to the range but the only paints they've discontinued since the revamp in 2012 is a couple of texture paints and some rattlecans. The idea that GW keeps discontinuing paints is just false.
More accurate to say that it's based on 20 years of experience, but may not represent current practices...
Well, I'd probably recommend what Vince Venturella talks about in his "Hobby Cheating" video on painting bronze.
He recommends using Vallejo Metal Color, mixed (not glazed) with a high-density glossy ink. I'd probably say try a light Metal Color and maybe a green ink that doesn't suck, although I am not sure which that would be, maybe another of Vince's usual suggestion of Daler-Rowney FW green of your choice. It might not be so glossy, but I imagine you can then solve that problem if it gives you the color you want.
"Wir sehen hiermit wieder die Sprache als das Dasein des Geistes." - The Phenomenology of Spirit
Flinty wrote: There is nothing stopping you from using airbrush paints with a normal brush. They are just thinner by nature out of the pot.
I'm increasingly a fan of brushing on airbrush paint tbh. It is thinner, but I feel like I've a lot more control over the result and I can be that little bit more confident around fine detailing.
Well, my answer is not best one for the original question, but I'll post anyway in case someone else stumbles on this post in future.
These are my humble experiences:
Metallic OR Pearlescent Mediums:
They do give kind of grainy, metallic-like, lustre to the paints, but there are some significant problems.
1st problem is they are incredibly bright, meaning if you are going for deep metallic blue, green or red you are going to have a hard time.
2nd problem is these pearlescent mediums behave weirdly in bright lights, the color perception can change widely, and for example I'm doing my work under halogen bulbs (which give continuous spectre) but further viewing under led lights give somewhat disgusting look.
Getting really nice metallic surface demands glossy finish. Glossy surface is extremely flat compared to matte surface. In order to get really nice glossy metallic finish essentially every layer should be glossy. Ok, seems simple enough. Not so much. There are several things to be considered:
1st thing is Dust and other small particles. You really need to start looking into dust and cleanliness issues if you are going for high glossy finishes, this would mean making extra sure your working room is clean, almost to the point of vacuuming it before every working session. Vacuuming in some cases can blow the smallest dust to air and it just rains back everywhere, so vacuum AND thoroughly ventilate the room during the vacuuming to remove the airborne dust. Matte finishes are nowhere near as susceptible for small dust as glossy finishes.
2nd thing is that Glossy layers are really really difficult with brush. With large flat surfaces, like vehicles and such, it's possible to thin it down well and kind of over wet the surface with while making sure it does not pool in corners and crevices using both gravity and brush (as brush can be used to 'suck' out the extra watery paint). This technique does not work with smaller more angular and curved models because the pooling and gravity can't be controlled. Or they can be controlled if you are really patient and you literally paint very small parts at a time.
Probably the best approach using brush is to have well thinned paint and you try to paint in extremely thin layers, so relatively thin but wide brush, so it can be emptied of the extra paint that likes to get sucked into the brush being so watery. I believe 'Flat Brush' is the term used. Even this technique demands many layers to build up the pigment if you are going for darker finishes.
Cheat way for metallic finish is making high pigment - pearlescent medium mix, so then end result is matte, then build up the pigment with glazes, if needed. Whole thing is finished with Gloss. End result is kind of glossy pearlescent metallic-like, but you won't be getting sharp reflections because the lower layers are matte = dispersively reflective layers. 'Normal Reflection' finish demands all the pigmented layers are really glossy even surfaces and therefore provide 'Normal Reflection'.
Any paint can be made glossy itself by adding these gloss mediums which change the surface potentials for the paints and make them self-leveling. However using brush these self-leveling paints then pool really easy if you add too much and the end result is very uneven.
Airbrush is just far far better for glossy finishes and therefore better for metallic finishes also.
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