Paint Metallic Silver BETTER - Uncle Atom's Pro Tips
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- Опубліковано 29 жов 2024
- Metallic paints are some of the hardest paints to use, without them looking either too thick or to thin. But I've got the answer to make your silver metallics on your models look amazing and paint up quickly.
I'm now a partner on Twitch! Painting minis and terrain every Friday morning and Monday night, and sometime taking paint breaks (video games). Follow me: / tabletopminions
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You need to try the Vallejo Metal Colour range that comes in the 32ml containers.
Best metals I've ever used.
I agree! My favorite ever created metalics! I cannot paint metalics with anything that isn't that!
Hands down the best, however their gold is very pale-greenish so I will try mixing copper with duraluminium.
I just got the Engine & Jet Exhaust sets of Vallejo Metal Color to finish off almost all of the that series. I believe that ony the Gold color is not in the sets, which is the one color that I'm missing.
While I have yet to put them on a model. I do paint the tops of my caps so I can see how the paint will look when dried and so far all 16 of them look amazing. An that is just from a standard brush. I know that they are designed and intended to be used with an airbrush.
Metal colour is great. Mixing the gold and copper is a pain though if you are trying to keep colours consistent over fab army.
I agree, i've used both metal colour steel and silver and they both work wonderfully. Also i've seen people mix silver with contrast paints to create very realistic metallic paints such as the missing bronze from the metal colour range.
Mix a contrast paint, ink, or other semi-transparent paint in with your silvers to get golds, bronzes, coppers, etc.
What?
@@theezekarion164 adding wash or thin paint to tone the silver
I'd love to see a good tutorial on different recipes for this, I haven't had much luck with getting the colors I want this way, with metal color or metallic medium.
@@walkerawhite4698 It works better if you don't mix the paint, but paint the model silver and then colour the dried silver with a transparent paint.
@@abelbabel8484 So basecoat metallic and then thin glaze over a few times to get what you want? I'll give it a go next time. Thanks.
Vallejo has also the Metal Color range. In bugger bottles. It is also meant to be airbrushed (I airbrush it without dilution) and it applies smoothly with a regular brush. This range has one copper and one gold color, which is useful.
Agreed. I started using the Metal Color line for all my silvers (I've never seen the golds), just brushing them on. Then I painted some grav-plates on a Repulsor and was absolutely floored by how it looked shot through my airbrush. I immediately started building an Iron Warriors kill team just so I could shoot more VMC Steel through my airbrush. Absolutely fantastic paints.
I first tried it with an airbrush on my Khorne Bloodcrushers. It is so easy and smooth. A contrast paint or ink over them can make them look any type of metal you want (gold, copper, bronze, enchanted steel...)
With Citadel paints, I have often found when painting gold or bronze etc that a layer of silver really helps. Silver just seems to cover base coats better, and then the gold goes over the silver much more readily than a non metallic colour.
I'm doing a Kill Team of Salamanders, and basecoating in Grey Seer (a neutral light gray, for those of you who don't fellate GW) before putting down the gold seems to work pretty well. The gold looked pretty slick before I put on the contrast paint.
I use a light brown for my golds/coppers like mud brown from Vallejo
I'd never even considered that...definitely going to try it the next time I'm painting more than just a few spots of gold. Thanks!
I'll give this a try, though a coat of brown underneath usually does the trick too
Your audio is so clear I subscribed before the intro even ended well done Sir
Vallejo metal color line is the Holy Grail of metal paints (even gold and copper)
i use monument copper, and rich/bright gold, and bronze, light bronze and white gold. but absolutely agree metal color is the best silver-gunmetal.
Really liking the Vallejo metals...except polished gold..that one just doesn't work for me as is. However, when combined with brassy brass it gave my CSMs a gold trim that I absolutely love.
@@demon1103 those are a different line of paints. Vallejo Metal Colour just names then 'Gold' and 'Copper'.
@@Steve_Keen ahh..will need to try those at some point then
You mention using junk models to try stuff out, which is definitely useful. I have a tip for anyone with few models, or no models that have been relegated to scrap: Save a few bits of plastic - bottles, food packaging, whatever - spray them with your undercoat colour, and test paints on them before the model. Great to see if your brush is loaded well too. Similar tip: use a dry palette (really common advice to beginners is use a wet palette, I know, I know!)
I use something similar to 3d stickfigures. Made out of sprue parts and primed. Works well to test out color combinations and layering orders.
I regularly test my speedpaint colors on my dry palette
I dont know why, but i Like the Army painter metallics.
Yeah same, never had any issues. Used the Bolt Gun one a few days ago and it goes down super smooth.
The silver is ok. But the folds and bronze offer poor coverage.
Same here i love their metalics except for shining silver but i hate their greens
Same
Rattle can of gun metal is a life saver
Yup! Vallejo Air Gun Metal, nuln oil, then drybrush/edge highlight with Vallejo Air Aluminum is my go to metallic workflow, and it works amazingly well. Although, for tiny details, like rivets and whatnots, it´s still best to use thicker paint becuase it´s easier to control on such a tiny surface.
I'll take this tip, I've been dreading painting the armour on my undead tbh, I took your advice with the make up brush and the Necrons and they look superb, always useful, thank you
That scrolling intro always cracks me up...not to detract from yet another informative and insightful presentation. Although I'm definitely older than You, always will You be THAT uncle at the party which makes one happy to have attended the party.
Cheers!
Love the Vallejo silvers, chrome especially. The Vallejo Metal Colour line is also excellent.
For golds and coppers, also try the Vallejo Liquid Gold / Copper paints. They are alcohol based, so dry quick and can be a bit of a pain in that respect, but they have fantastic coverage and lustre.
Liquid Gold is too much of a pain, IMO. I prefer the Metal Colour to it, even though its worse, just to avoid the alcohol base.
Recently tried the GSW metal pigment + Vallejo Metal Varnish and its freaking excellent. Highly recommend.
@@McWerp no denying it's a pain, and don't let it near my good brushes! Not found anything that touches the finish though.
The metal colours are my go to for gun metals / darker metals.
@@WillSpengler Have you tried the GSW pigments + Vallejo Metal Varnish? High quality golds without the pain of liquid gold.
@@McWerp I've not, but will need to give it a bash. Generally gone with art suppliers for pigments in the past, so will have a look!
I just started using model air chrome & black metallic last week! I was so impressed with the chrome that I was planning to also pick up model air copper & bright brass too but now you have given me pause...
Great video!!
When I started the hobby, the go to method for painting metallics was a black basecoat then more or less drybrushing or overbrushing the metallic paint.
I've done light research of older painting guides, and this seems like what everyone was doing. Or at least what some painters advocated.
I have been fighting against crappy metallic colors for so long, now I need to try this!
Thank you so much ♥
Vallejo Metal Colour range is where its at. Best I've tried. Ever.
I brushed Vallejo Brassy Brass for airbrush on rust-covered weapons and armor for my skeletons and it worked great. Topped it with nuln oil, Nihilakh oxide and highlighted stormhost silver. I really like the result!
Scale 75 metallics are my go to range now - all of them are good, including golds etc. Plus they do a bunch of more unusual metallic colours like blue & green.
yeah, they are great to flesh out the colours that vallejo metal color don't do well
I would love to try them, but I can't find a set anywhere, not ebay or their own website
@@_FoxHoleCharlie_ search for Metal n Alchemy
Yup, absolutely agree. My 9 year-old is using it (the Aluminium) for his Necrons from the Command Edition box set. His reasoning is that they're metal, so they should be shiny. I told him that they've been buried and dormant for 65 million years, but he says that when you wake up you have a wash, so clean and shiny! I was thinking of getting one of the new-ish mirror-type paints for him to try, but apparently they take ages to dry, plus alcohol fumes etc.... best stick to acrylics. The single coat means the detail doesn't get buried, and he can get the look he wants without him being a very practised painter.
Bonus pro tip: If you actually do want to do the whole masking filigree thing with chaos stuff then some basic masking fluid saves so much time. It'll destroy your brushes and stink of latex, but it's one of those materials that people in the miniature corner of the art world don't seem that aware of
I use liquid mask on my flying bases. I don't glue my minis to bases until after they're finished, so I can paint the bases without worrying about getting base paints on my models. Hitting the clear bits with liquid mask before painting them allows me to build the entire base with the bottom of the flying stand secured under my basing materials and no overspray/overbrush on it. Fantastic material that I agree too few mini-painters utilize.
Thanks for the help! Trying to paint some 3D printed Cylons soon
For gold or brass I use a Gun Metal Case from AK interactive... I love it... I don't have a great silver though... Will definitely try this!!!
Vallejo Metal Air Silver has been my standard bright metal color for a while with a brush. Love that stuff
Dear Lord, just what i needed.
As someone starting a Necron army, I agree
I use leadbelcher air out of the pot with a brush and it works a trick, used it for my leviathan dread I just finished, and am currently using it on my Baal pattern predator for its metallic bits. Good advice!
Picked up on this same tip a while ago. Vallejo air silvers are great. I found that the bronze doesn’t work as well however the air bronze over the air silver works well. Great tip!
Great video, as usual, Sir! Isn’t it amazing what we can achieve if we practice the technique you alluded to in this post, “I had a thought”.... This awesome hobby allows us to be as creative as possible! Thanks for the helpful suggestions, too!
I can agree that Vallejo Metal Colors are good .. they are, I use them a lot. However, while they might be better than some other brands they still look flaky the moment you take a picture of your mini. The silver exhaust on the backpack of your marine is an example.
Only some days ago I finished a model where I wanted to paint a shoulderpad in gold and did it by brushing it with Citadel Dry Gold (the light one .. Sigmarite) and the finish was extraordinary smooth ..
The Dry Color range has an extreme concentration of particles and they superfine.
1. I paint silver over black, and gold over dark brown. Colors like Leadbelcher and Retributor Armour have spoilt us a bit (they cover so well), but it is still sound advice.
2. Reikland Fleshshade over silver makes bronze.
3. Using airbrush paints has more use than just metallics. Many Citadel paints have an air variant, and I use these for regular brush work all the time. They are hidden gems! Base paint air variants are awesome, the air blacks are awesome, the air white is awesome (everything is awesome!) and the best part is that they are a dead match for the regular variants intended for brushing. I have not managed to leave a brush stroke in air paint yet, or have it cover detail, or go on too thick, etc. Rims on bases? So easy with Corvus black air. Try these air paints. Like me, you will be glad you did (and wonder when GW is going to come with Grey Seer and Wraithbone air)
Vallejo Air sliver metal paints are fantastic. It's always been my go to paint for silver and steel.
the newer vellejo 'Metal Colour' line is also great with a brush. the gold and copper in that line do cover in one coat, but they are slightly transparent. you don't get brush marks or streaks, it is a very nice coat, but it will get brighter and richer with a 2nd coat.
For the past few years, I've been using Vallejo Metal Color for all my metals, both in my airbrush and with a brush. They're also airbrush paints, and they are amazing. Base with steel, wash with Nuln Oil (on small minis) or a black oil wash (on large surfaces), then a three layer drybrush with steel, dark aluminum, and silver. I sometimes hit prominent corners or edges with a touch of white aluminum. I also use the gunmetal grey for "black" metals. They are without a doubt the best silver metallic paints I've ever used. If you can find them, I'd highly recommend giving them a try. I can only assume Vallejo hasn't been producing much product for the past year, though, because it's damn near impossible to find those paints online, now.
For golds, I've switched to Vallejo's alcohol based Liquid Gold line. They require a little extra cleanup, but they're totally worth it.
I'll have to keep this in mind. I recently bought Vallejo silver and it takes 4-5 coats on anything other than white. I've had good results with Vallejo gold and bronze though. It goes on very transparent but dries opaque and is usually good with 2 coats
When I was painting Robute Guilliman I used the airbrush to do all the gold and then brush painted the panels, I’d recommend this to anyone painting something that’s got a lot of metallics.
Also Vallejo Metal Colour is hands down the best metallic paints I’ve ever used, loads of great silvers, steels and chrome, but the gold is very pale and slightly green, copper is good too.
Speaking of Pro Acryl, I've become a big fan of Dark Silver for a nice gunmetal finish since they came out with it. I love their golds too.
Vallejo liquid gold is great. The paint is alchohol based and has multiple "shades" of gold. The liquid silver and copper are avaliable as well. Cleaning brushes with alchohol is not too bad.
I've been using Airbrush paints with my regular brushes for months, if not years. It's also a fantastic way for quick shades and highlight, similar to contrast paints. And you can make fantastic yellows with little effort too that way.
I think you did a similar topic a long time ago but i remember and it was the reason why i follow your channel
The Vallejo Model Metallic Black is also like that. It works great to mix in with Leadbelcher or other metallics to darken them down instead of just pure black. I bet it'd mix well with the super bright silver ones you've been using.
Great video! You confirmed what I was going to do was a great idea. Thank you
Tamiya flat aluminium (XF-16) has that same behavior. One coat, flows easily from the bristles. And it's also a very interesting tint, kinda blueish notes.
That line of metallics is great, and there's a whole set of them on Amazon that is cheaper than other Vallejo sets for some reason. By FAR though my favorite color in that range is the black metallic paint. It became an essential paint in pretty much every model I've painted since I bought it.
I've been using contrast paints for yellow/red metallics lately. Skeleton Horde over silver to bed a great aged gold, Gore-Grunta Fur for copper etc. The brown contrast paints continue to be extremely useful.
I’ve recently moved over to using the metallic line from Scale 75. The metal and alchemy line has been the best that I’ve tried. That being said I’ll definitely try the Vallejo model air silver.
Thanks for this Uncle Atom just started an Iron Warriors army so will use this advice
I got a really good "tarnished silver" for my Dark Souls BG silver knights by mixing citadel's runefang steel with runelord brass. It was either 1:1 or 2:1, so play with it. I recommend it for people looking for more of an aged silver. It gives it a really nice patina effect.
Vallejo metal colour are great paints for this, have a wide selection and work well for bush and airbrush. Still worth doing the tan undercoat for most golds though, although I still like gloss black undercoat for silvers. For gold brush painting their liquid gold is still my favourite perfect colour and gives a good gold effect but it is alcohol based. Aztec gold is also worth a shout.
Came up with that a while ago and never looked back. Same full-metal coverage and SO much easier and smoother to get it on the model. "Vallejo Liquid Gold" is very thin and has great coverage if you are looking for the same but with gold - but i think it´s not water-based. I do the same with Airbrush-White btw. ;)
I found a good thing being a mix of Leadbelcher and a drop-two of blue (or any) vallejo Ink
It makes it more runny, does the work in one coat, it gives the metal a tint. Was painting Night Lords on a speedpaint method with airbrushes, inks and oils. The metal is a hard spot to paint but at least i do one oass and im done. I also wanted that cool color on a blue basecoat
In a similar vein, I paint a lot of white models (and not just "white" created with light greys, I'm talking extreme whites, for shiny white armour e.g. clone troopers, and often giving them a coat of gloss varnish to take the effect further). I found that the vallejo dead white airbrush paint, or GW's white scar air, is fantastic for this, as you can use a couple of coats, it's already perfectly thinned, and the main thing is that it stays the same consistency in the bottle for long times. I've had a lot of issues with various different white paints separating, with the pigment condensing into a goopy mess floating in basically clear medium. Clumps of solid paint on a model absolutely ruin the effect of a perfectly flat, bright white. So I can recommend trying white airbrush paints for painting white - I can't express how much money I've saved since switching, as I'd barely get through 1/4 of a pot of normal white paint before it's separated and unusable!
Vallejo Liquid Gold is what you want. It is amazing.
Dry Drybrushing these same colors over black primed necrons or grey knights make for superb and really fast models!
I love Vallejo's liquid metal series for this, there's not many colors and they need alcohol, but they're suuuuuper nice.
My dad uses a transparent Tamiya color over silver via airbrush for metallics other than silver. I use a base coat of a similar standard color below the gold for my minis.
I am a huge fan of the 'bigger bottle' Airbrush Metallics Vallejo offer, "vallejo metal color" range. Sometimes needs a second coat to really bring up the shine, but the gold and copper are awesome (and a mix of the 2 make a good brass). They seem to be very different to the model metallic air colours
Loving the Pro Acryl metallics, I completely agree to try new brands. I'm more a fan of the Vallejo Metal Color line than the air, but they're hard to find lately. Scale 75 metallics are also good.
I use the vallejo game color silver and gunmetal, along with an Army Painter Shining Silver (which is shinier), and then use contrast over it to get other metals. Nazdrag Yellow makes a nice gold (shininess depends on which color was base) and Gore Grunta gives a copper-ish look. Depends on the coat you give, but high points will just be a silvery bit and will look good for it in general.
The liquid gold from Vallejo (it's got alcohol in it) is ridiculously good. It coats exactly the way that vallejo air silver coats, you will never go back once you try it!
personally, i always go his way:
- leadbelcher
- Nuln Oil
- varnish
- paint the rest of the model
- drybrush Stormhost Silver
- give some edge highlights with Molotov Chrome Pencil
Gotta get me some, thank Atom!
I've recently switched to using P3 for most of my metallics since I was using citadel for some of the brighter ones, as colours like stormhost silver and liberator gold were fully separating and taking forever to mix up again. I tried out similar colours from P3 and was amazed at how well they covered, so I bought a few more. They are a bit more expensive than citadel but for how good they cover it's worth it, also their colour "deathless metal" is very similar to the old tin bitz paint from citadel, so I'm looking forward to using it on my cursed city skeletons. I've heard good things about vallejo metal colour air, but in practice I've found them a bit hard to control with a brush, but it may just need a steadier hand than mine, but it's definitely great through the airbrush.
Hey I thought I would share my gold painting I did just recently.
It's not "one coat done" it's multi coat. But it really surprised me.
I used Vallejo Metal Color Aluminum, it's the one in the bigger bottle with an agitator allready in it.
I based with that. Then I painted regular Vallejo gold over that.
But I thinned it quite a bit. To the point that I had to mix it in the little pallet cup every time I got more paint on the brush because I could see the mica seperate from the medium in the cup.
Anyway I was very pleasantly surprised by the result.
With just 2 coats (the silver then the gold) I allready had the best gold I've painted ever. I added a few more coats of gold to darken it up a bit as it was quite bright. I think 2 more coats all things said.
Hope you give it a try. I'm sure you could get similar results using the "model air" line you mentioned in this vid.
I had the same experience with the Vallejo model/game air. The silver type colors are great, the other ones not nearly as good. I also prefer the pro acryl rich gold as my go to gold. It's got good coverage, and the finish has minimal graininess. I prefer the warmer tone as well
Hey Atom,
Scale75's gold and copper/brass tones are excellent and just as user friendly as the Vallejo model air silvers (I use both!)
Good luck with your future metallic endeavors ☺
For ultra bright, clean silver or chrome look, try Molotov Liquid Chrome Ink Pen Refill. It is alcohol based (Need to use thinned IPA for rinsing your brush, use a synthetic!) but produces a very bright and clean shine even with a brush. For gold I’d try Vallejo Metal Colors Gold, it’s in a different bottle from the small paint dropper style. Good luck with those metallics!
Musou black, with silver is amazing!
I've been keen to try out emptying some metallic Molotow paint markers.
Their chrome paint is very well regarded, though that's alcohol based and the markers are water-based acrylic, but their marketing states that they only use pigments that work with car sprayers and airbrushes, which are finer-ground, so I imagine it could be a good solution and cost-wise it's not that much more expensive than the equivalent miniature paints, even if they're incredibly expensive as marker pens go.
They're also designed to allow you to refill them and replace parts so it's not going to be that difficult to open them up and pour the paint out into a dropper bottle, though it will be very thin.
Vallejo's Metal Color range is also a great one-coat cover in terms of ease of application and look, better than the Model Metallic Air paint in my limited testing. Vallejo also makes a great alcohol-based gold and silver in their Liquid Gold line, which you may want to test out!
I discovered this trick by accident. I was annoyed I bought the air brush version, and then suddenly pleased with myself.
The non-air Vallejo metallics I've used do better when mixed with another color (ex. silver + black + blue) - then, if you want to buff up the shine, take the same metalic over it with a drybrush.
I started my mini paint collection with vallejo air metallics, used on Gunpla where the surface finish needs to be very smooth. their leveling properties are great.
I'm still looking for a good gold that I can airbrush and hand brush. I have hope that their metal color gold will be the solution. I love the finish of retributor armor gold, but citadel metallics always gunk up my airbrush.
Vallejo metal color is amazing too
I use a tube of Daler Rowney Cryla 707 Rich Gold PW6/PR11011/PY83/PO49. Its professional artist painters pigment, but the particles are ultra fine and it comes out a dream. I water it down and mix it with other paint in small bottles to make my gold metalics, bit of red and black for brass, bit of black for darker gold etc. Tube is huge and it will last my whole life which works out pretty well for the money. I got a tube for 4.50 in a sale at an artists shop. But £6-8 if you shop around it seems.
If you want a good copper acrylic, look no further than Monument Hobbies Copper. It is the single best copper paint I've used, it looks like copper piping.
Haha I use model air for a lot of colours. Especially black. Goes on like butter!
Great idea, thanks. Contact them maybe you can get them to a sponsor ship. Or baring that set up Uncle Atom's suggested paints.
A great Gold is Testers gloss enamel Gold. Keep in mind you need paint thinner for this. I ALWAYS use it when I need a good shiny gold. Also one layer is usually enough.
Vallejo Metal color paints (larger bottles) are even better than the one’s mentioned in the video. Especially the chrome. It’s amazing.
If you want a great Gold paint try Mission Model Gold. It’s VERY shiny when airbrushed over black base.
From one gray beard to another, excellent tip Unc. TY.👍
Not a fan of Vallejo's metal color gold, but Citadel's golds have all worked very well for me, particularly Retributor Armor.
Great video brother. Spud ❤
The Reaper Metallics have always worked really well for me.
Alclad is considered as being one of the best lacquers for realistic metallic finishes.
Yes, Alclad is also still a Lead based Paint.
Lead based paint reacts differently without the correct priming. Also its way better to airbrush Alclad than try to brush it
@@BrendanReith Ok, i did not know it contains lead.
I know is that you shouldn't airbrush lacquers without spray booth and air extraction.
I do mainly bigger figurines that i 3D print and airbrush.
Anyway, if you need real chrome effect there is about one option : Alclad.
I second this men my firs army I started KO by mstake I bought vallejo arcylic metal color for airbrush and now they look really good even with my sometimes sloppy paint job and Atom if you want good vallejo metalic copper and gold try vallejo arcylic metal color for airbrush in 32 ml coats great
Vallejo air metallic paints are amazing with a brush. I've used Chrome and Aluminum for my metallics for a while and they're great. Shake the hell outta them once they're a few months on.
Hey there, uncle Atom, try Vallejo Metal Color line. It comes in 30 ml bottlest and has a bunch of silvers, a gold and a copper, and francly, that paint is just faaaaantastic.
I've had a lot of great results from Folkart brand metallics though they usually require a base color to really work well.
The Mr Hobby metals are a dream to brush paint with top. They taste awful though so be aware.
Many metallic paints like Metal color vallejo series or Alclad II use a very fine aluminum powder.
What do You think about Vallejo Metal Color line? Its also acrylic, designed for airbrushing, and a lot of youtubers love the aluminiumfrom it. Unfortunatly its currently hard to get in Europe...
Exact the opposite with the game color air. My steal colors are all sprinkles and fairy dust glitter ✨ and the gold’s are super smooth 🤔🤗
The Vallejo Game Air metallics are cool too for brush using
guys also try vallejo airbrush flow improver with for example citadel's leadbelcher, works as decribed in the video
Shit, I thought I finally had an uncle with a skill that isn't just beating people up. You took that away from me 'uncle' Atom. Damn you.
Recently I've gone down the NMM rabbit hole and I have to say, not sure I'll go back to metallics.
Uncle Atom have you tried Vallejo Metal Color? If you give them a try (I really like dark aluminum but all the silver-y colored ones are good) I don't think you'll ever use Vallejo Model Air silvers again. It's on a different level, and goes on gorgeously with either an airbrush OR by hand brushing
Have you tried the Scale 75 alchemy colors? They're fairly smooth and good coverage metallic colors.
I've been using VMA Steel for all of my non-gold metallics for a while and it has been truly incredible. However I too have recently had the misfortune of learning that VMA Golds are not up to the same standard. I was very disappointed.
I was gonna type that comment of the Vallejo air metal is awesome for less coats straight out the bottle, but you got there lol