"What Acrylic Gold or Brass" Topic

Hi,

Wanted some nice smooth metallic, ones that don't have big grained pigments. The Vallejo Model Air were recommended but I was warned about the gold.

I looked into the gold I did see a few reports showing how terrible it was, more green than gold, but then I saw that Vallejo had responded to the critics and reformulated.

So I bought a number of Model Air metallics and ignoring sage advice I included gold – well, I actually went for bright brass rather than gold because it looked a little lighter and brighter.

So all the other metallics are excellent, though beware of aluminium, silver, chrome and even steel as they are all practically the same colour – you only need one of them – just pick your favourite name.

I went for silver and steel, little disappointed for while the steel is a little darker it isn't by much. So not sure that silver will work that well as a highlight.

But the Bright Brass, well I should have listed, this is too polite a forum for me to tell you what I really think about it. In summary it is utter rubbish and I am puzzled how Vallejo let it out of the factory.

I made sure it was really well mixed. I shook it by hand, put it on an electric shaker and then not taking any chances I used an electric stirrer.

Actually looks quite good in the bottle, and even on the palette but that is where the goodness stops.

Brush painting, it is immediately apparent that it is all media and no pigment. My first coat looks like varnish with a little gold glitter. After three coats I can still see the white primer underneath in plenty of places – god knows had a I used a darker primer or black.

The other metallics are fantastic good smooth cover in a single coat.

Basically I either have a duff bottle or Vallejo's Gold/Brass is still junk.

So with that in mind any good alternatives?

Try Coat d'Arms

I use Vallejo game color Brassy Brass and it works quite well for me, as does the Glorious Gold. Model color Oily Steel is also very good.

Vallejo writes

Model Air is a range of liquid acrylic colours developed especially for airbrush techniques, with very finely ground pigments and an acrylic resin with properties of extreme resistence and durability.

If you brush I do not suggest it

As dragon6 writes Model Air is not recommended for brush painting. To be honest I've never had any problems with any Vallejo Metallic Model Colour. For yellow metals I use an undercoat of VJ Flat Earth and for white metals I use a black or grey undercoat followed by two thin coats of the metallic paint. The second coat I pretty much put on as a metallic wash.

If it is for brush painting, then I generally use the Citadel/GW paints, both for range of colours and pigment.

No idea for spray painting.

I picked up 724 Silver and 725 Gold from the Vallejo Metal Colors airbrush line as a test a few months ago. Gold didn't do much for me, but the silver is nice and I use it as a highlight over VMC metallics. If those two are any indication, the Metal Colors line brushes on quite well--you simply don't have to thin it as you do with VMC. For that matter, you can run VMC through an airbrush with thinner and flow improver. Thanks for posting--I've been meaning to switch over from my standard VMC Gunmetal/Oily steel that I use now for guns and armor--I hope there's more differentiation than you indicate, so will play it by ear.

+1 lloydthegamer & Giles the zog

Have't done it myself very often, but GW advice a few years ago was to undercoat in silver then overpaint in gold.

I have the Vallejo metallics, but more iften than not I use cheap craft acrylics and they work fine. At one time, I used to paint most colours in acrylics, with steels painted grey, brass or bronze brown and gold in yellow, and then touch up the metallics with Humbrol enamels.