Favorite Metallic Paints

[Rainshine]

How do the Vallejo's do with drying out too quick?  I've noticed that with the Reapers that I have, and the Army Painter Greedy Gold I have as well, that even on a wet palette, they're virtually unusable within an hour or so of dispensing.

[Anne]

Golden acrylics make some spiffy interference colors that shift between shades which can be fun to experiment with and have a metallic sheen to them. Pebeo I think makes some as well. With both paint companies I would thin them a good amount before applying. For metal metals, I've used GW & Reaper metallics, thin down alot, with several layers built up. You could try using flow improver, or medium with water, to make it last longer on a wet palette, but not sure if it would affect the metal flakes, probably not.

[cmorse]

1 hour ago, Anne said:

Golden acrylics make some spiffy interference colors that shift between shades which can be fun to experiment with and have a metallic sheen to them. Pebeo I think makes some as well. With both paint companies I would thin them a good amount before applying. For metal metals, I've used GW & Reaper metallics, thin down alot, with several layers built up. You could try using flow improver, or medium with water, to make it last longer on a wet palette, but not sure if it would affect the metal flakes, probably not.

 

Flow improver makes to metal flakes settle a lot faster so you need to mix your paint puddle every time you dip your brush, but also make metallics go on much better and smoother.

[Dozus]

I have very little experience here, except to say I've got a bottle of Army Painter's Mithril Silver/Chain Mail Silver (it's marketed in two different lines) and I much prefer it to my Reaper Filigree Silver. It has good coverage and is very smooth - no metallic "graininess" to speak of, just shine. No experience with the rest of their products, but I've read good things about their latest metallics line.

[maelgwynn]

Enamels make far better metallic paints than acrylics in my experience, so I use mostly Humbrol with a couple of the little square bottles of Testors in the mix. For acrylics, Coat d’Arms silver and bronze are really good, gold is pretty good, and while I adore Magic Metal I’ve had terrible luck keeping a pot of it from turning into a solid mass within a year or so (and I still have Citadel paints from the mid-80s, made by the CdA factory, in the same style pots, that are as good as when I bought them). So Magic Metal is great for what it does, but I think I’ll hold off ordering more until I have a hundred or so figures I can assembly line with the stuff. My most recent Citadel paints are at least ten years old, so probably the previous series if not the one before, but the metallics are also really good. At least, Mithril Silver and Boltgun Metal are. 

[Count Urlik]

I just started playing around with the Daler Rowney “pearlescent” inks, and while they aren’t strictly metallic hues, they definitely create a glittery, shiny look, and have all of the intensely saturated advantages of inks to boot.

[Glitterwolf]

Scale 75 has the best metallics imho.

[Painting Dog]

On 10/25/2022 at 3:30 PM, Glitterwolf said:

Scale 75 has the best metallics imho.

While I like the coverage and look of the Scale 75 metallics, I find I don't use them much because they separate out in the bottle so thoroughly, and you have to shake them FOREVER to make them usable, even with a vortex mixer. I just find myself sighing and reaching for something that takes less commitment most of the time. 

 

I really like the Vallejo Model Air metallics; go on really smoothly, and look nice. The VMA silver and chrome are especially nice. I wish they had a nice, bright gold, though. The only golds I've been able to find in Vallejo metallics tend to have a greenish tinge that I don't care for.